Student measuring the dbh, Gbegourou

Student measuring the dbh, Gbegourou
We were at Gbegourou, one of the sites of Honore Biaou, training students. This students was taking the diameter at breast height (dbh) of a Pterocarpus erinaceus tree within a plot. Pterocarpus is another fodder tree species in the region. It is not as used as Khaya senegalensis but the fruits are sought after by the fulani to feed their cattle. During the training, those are other information we gave to students. We explain the ecology of different species and tell story of our experience about how to recognize species, indigenous knowledge of the plant, and the way they identify them.
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# Posted on Saturday, 03 September 2005 at 3:02 PM

Back to Africa

Back to Africa
I am back to Benin for my fieldwork. I visited already one of my populations in Boukoussiera and brought in a group of 80 students members of the African Section of the International Association of Agricultural and related sciences Students (IAAS). The country is dry now because of the harmattan. People are puting fire in the savanna for hunting and land clearing. I expect many of my seedlings populations to be wiped out by fire or other anthropogenic factors in heavily harvested populations. We'll see what happen!
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# Posted on Monday, 26 December 2005 at 10:19 AM
Edited on Wednesday, 18 January 2006 at 4:44 AM

Get into the village's life

Get into the village's life
During the training in Boukoussiera, students tried to get used to how people live in the village. In this picture, few students were having a local meal called "tchokourou". It is the staple food in the north of Benin. It is also called pounded yam, made out of boiled and pounded yam (Dioscorea spp.).
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# Posted on Wednesday, 18 January 2006 at 4:48 AM

Leading and traing IAAS students

Leading and traing IAAS students
I was leading a group of 5 students, IAAS members through the Boukoussiera forest. The group I was leading was in charge of charactherizing the natural vegetation, the one that is not really disturbed by people. The group of students was in charge of recording the species richness and density in that forest. Another group was in charge of doing the same thing in a nearby disturbed forest. In the end, the tzo groups reported their findings to the whole goup of 80 students. Participants students had the opportunity to understand how agriculture and other human related activites can affect the species richness and density in a dry dense forest.
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# Posted on Wednesday, 18 January 2006 at 4:58 AM

How to collect data?

How to collect data?
Dogue January 23, 2006, we just arrived and I have to explain to my students interns how to collect data. I took out my fieldbook and show how the data has been collected last year, which parameters were measured and what they mean, and the modification we will be making this time. I like the way the students worked that day. It was fast, and we did not miss any individual previously tagged. On the picture, Ulysse, my self, Rachidi, and Herman Eric (from the left to the right).
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# Posted on Saturday, 08 July 2006 at 3:21 AM