Regeneration Ecology of the Useful Flora of the Putu Range Rainforest, Liberia

TLDR: This study from West Africa supports the findings of others working in the neotropics that disturbed and secondary vegetation classes are important sources of useful plants, particularly medicines.

Abstract: Regeneration Ecology of the Useful Flora of the Putu Range Rainforest, Liberia. We test the hypothesis that useful plants in general, and medicines in particular, are more likely to be pioneer and herbaceous species than any other guild or habit, using data from six communities in southeastern Liberia. Of 624 surveyed species from seven locally defined vegetation classes, 228 species (36 %) were found to be useful in the categories of food, medicine, materials, and social use. Five habits account for 98 % of surveyed species: Trees, treelets (including two palm species), lianes (including root climbers), shrubs, and herbs. Four guilds account for 93 % of the surveyed species: Swamp, shade–bearer, pioneer, and non–pioneer light demander (NPLD) species. A significantly higher proportion of pioneers is found to be useful overall (55 %) and useful medicinally (69 %) than for any other guild. However, the shade–bearing guild provides the greatest number of useful species (92 species) and the greatest number of medicinal species (55 species). Fifteen species were shortlisted by the communities for their particular importance, of which only one is a pioneer species. A similar proportion of species of each habit (about one–third of species) was found to be useful overall. In the case of medicinal use in particular, a significantly larger proportion of herbs (63 %) is medicinal than for any other habit. Our study from West Africa supports the findings of others working in the neotropics that disturbed and secondary vegetation classes are important sources of useful plants, particularly medicines. However, the greatest number of useful species are shade–bearing, which are most abundant in primary forest. Familiarity with and accessibility of old–growth forests to the communities of our study site due to Liberia’s recent history is likely responsible for their usefulness.