Occurrence Records of Mosses from Benin (West Africa): The BryoBen Project, National Herbarium of Benin

They play essential ecological roles in soil formation, nutrient cycling, water retention, microhabitat regulation, and forest regeneration and are widely recognized as sensitive bioindicators of environmental and climate change. Despite their importance, bryophytes remain poorly studied in West Africa.

In Benin, bryophyte research is particularly limited due to the absence of a national database, insufficient taxonomic expertise, lack of identification resources, and the exclusion of these organisms from biodiversity assessments. To address this gap, the BryoBen project (bryoben-jrs.org) was initiated to document bryophyte diversity and establish the first quantitative baseline for the country. This dataset provides georeferenced occurrence records of mosses (Bryophyta) collected through field surveys in 18 municipalities across Benin.