Abstract

The 36 statements obtained from sampling investigation in Galangashi protected areas (Northern Togo) were subjected to floristic processing and several multivariate analyses to study the overall plant diversity, to determine the distribution of life form and phytogeographic type; to identify and describe the main plant communities’ and the ligneous structure of these plant communities. Detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) and hierarchical clustering was used for ordination and classification of samples to determine the plant groupings. The plant community was defined by indicator value such as fidelity and abundance. The results showed that four plant communities were discriminated from 36 statements. The statements were well distributed in the factorial plan form by axe 1 and 3 of DCA. The plant communities were distributed along the moisture gradient in the DCA ordination. The Sudano-Zambesian species followed by Sudanian species were the phytogeographic types most found. Moreover, micro-phanerophytes were the most represented life form. The diversity indices in both plant communities are well significant and indicate a good distribution of species in the area. In overall, the vegetation condition of the protected area is somehow disturbed while most of the plant communities are stable. These results confirmed the assertion that Galangashi ecosystem still presents a typology of less disturbed area.

Key words: Diversity, DCA, Galangashi, phytogeographiy, plant community