Awessou K. G. B. auteur aut IRD Peugeot Christophe auteur aut IRD Rocheteau Alain auteur aut IRD Séguis Luc auteur aut IRD Do Frédéric auteur aut IRD Galle Sylvie auteur aut IRD Bellanger M. auteur aut IRD Agbossou E. auteur aut IRD Seghieri Josiane auteur aut IRD text journalArticle eng text/pdf born digital access Average population growth in the African Sudanian belt is 3 % per year. This leads to a significant increase in cultivated areas at the expense of fallows and forests. For centuries, rural populations have been practicing agroforestry dominated by Vitellaria paradoxa parklands. We wanted to know whether agroforestry can improve local rainfall recycling as well as forest. We compared transpiration and its seasonal variations between Vitellaria paradoxa, the dominant species in fallows, and Isoberlinia doka, the dominant species in dry forests in the Sudanian belt. The fallow and dry forest we studied are located in northwestern Benin, where average annual rainfall is 1200 mm. Sap flow density (SFD) was measured by transient thermal dissipation, from which tree transpiration was deduced. Transpiration of five trees per species was estimated by taking into account the radial profile of SFD. The effect of the species and of the season on transpiration was tested with a generalized linear mixed model. Over the three-year study period, daily transpiration of the agroforestry trees, V. paradoxa (diameters 8-38 cm) ranged between 4.4 and 26.8 L day(-1) while that of the forest trees, I. doka, (diameters 20-38 cm) ranged from 9.8 to 92.6 L day(-1). Daily transpiration of V. paradoxa was significantly lower (15 %) in the dry season than in the rainy season, whereas daily transpiration by I. doka was significantly higher (13 %) in the dry season than in the rainy season. Our results indicate that the woody cover of agroforestry systems is less efficient in recycling local rainfall than forest cover, not only due to lower tree density but also to species composition. specialized Benin Isoberlinia doka Land use changes Transient thermal dissipation method Vitellaria paradoxa Water use BENIN ZONE SOUDANNIENNE 082 076 072 91 3 403-413 2017 0167-4366 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010070226 10.1007/s10457-016-9937-8 0167-4366 [F B010070226] https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010070226 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/intranet/publi/2017/07/010070226.pdf Accès réservé (Intranet de l'IRD) IRD - Base Horizon / Pleins textes 2017-07-26 2023-07-11 fdi:010070226 fre