AN ASSESSMENT OF CLIMATE AND VEGETAL RESOURCES OF TABALAK WETLAND WATERSHED

Abstract

The objective of this study was to assess how climate change and variability affect Tabalak wetland watershed vegetation.  Thus, three (3) villages (Kéhéhé, Tabalak and Tsaouna) were identified according to their morphological units and their socio-economic activities to form the experimental sites where all the primary data were collected. GPS coordinates were used to identify the units of measurement. Fieldwork and forest inventory were also carried out in 63 plots, in which 48 on the east-west and 15 on the west-east axes. Our findings showed that in the last 40 years (1980-2020) there was increasing variability of temperature in Tahoua area including Tabalak watershed with mean values of 38.96°C in 1980 to 40.04 °C in 2020. The decadal changes are shown increase of 0.6 °C between 1980 and 2020 .For the vegetation cover, the composition shows degradation in plant cover with only 10 species belonging to 6 families in the area. However, diversity index, equitability index and regeneration rate are low.