Les sols très superficiels des plateaux latéritiques du Niger occidental sont très sensibles à l'érosion, dès que la couverture végétale, en général contractée disparait pour des raisons climatiques ou anthropiques. Dans certains villages, les paysans mettent en application des techniques de récupération des glacis dénudés.
Western Niger lateritic plateaux formally occupied by tiger bush are mainly secondary ecosystems affected by crusting and soil compaction that impedes infiltration and induces intense erosion, which hampered lowlands millet fields. Restoration of these plateaux is essential, but, failure is frequently reported about early species establishment. It’s therefore necessary to examine the mechanisms and factors of early plants recovery which areimportant for vegetation restoration. Vegetation data have beenrecorded in 31 plots, at four sites with similar environmental characteristics and different land use histories:Unrevegetated area, 1-3-years old revegetated area,6-years old revegetated area and 14-years old revegetated area.We also measured 16 environmental variables in each plot to examine the driving forces of succession and the vegetation-environment relationships. TWINSPAN results revealed that plant species could be classified into six plant communities representing 4 succession stages.
