Abstract

The human use of plant resources and land to face increasing population needs in Africa to the regression or even the disappearance of some useful multi-purpose species such as Diospyros mespiliformis Hochst. Ex A. Rich. Increasing climatic variability is an additional threat for these species. The present study aims to identify the areas that are potentially favorable to D. mespiliformis conservation or regeneration in Niger and to analyze the impact of the current climate change. Thus to assess the D. mespiliformis distribution areas, the geographic coordinates of D. mespiliformis, the bioclimatic data, the soil and vegetation cover were collected and used to modeling based on the principle of maximum entropy (MaxEnt). The soil cover, annual cumulated precipitations and the average temperature are the most determining variables. This study also shows that the ecological niche of D. mespiliformis is located in the Central and Eastern bioclimates, within which almost 3% of the surface is very favorable under the current climate conditions and may reach 3. 94 % under 2050 ones after. These results indicate that the climate change expected in Niger is expected to be more favorable to the studied species than the current climate conditions. This represents an opportunity for its domestication.

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