Andropogon chevalieri

Human activities have reduced, degraded, and fragmented both the West Sudanian Savanna and Guinean Forest-savanna Mosaic ecoregions. Both ecoregions are considered critical/endangered. Population densities of 50 to 100 persons/km² are found widely. There are considerable pressures on the land from seasonal farming, grazing animals, cutting trees and bushes for wood, burning woody material for charcoal, and from wild fires. Climatic desiccation is a further threat, exacerbating human pressures, as the ability of the ecosystem to recover from overuse is reduced when there is little rainfall. Although many protected areas exist, most are under-resourced "paper parks" with little active enforcement on the ground.

Andropogon chevalieri, being a widespread and hardy grass, is unlikely to be seriously threatened by these processes, however. Many other Andropogon species are considered weeds, again indicating that this species can adapt to significant disturbance and possibly even thrive under these conditions.

Many specimens of A. chevalieri have been collected from Niokolo-Koba National Park in Senegal, which has also been a World Heritage Site and Biosphere Reserve since 1981. However, there has been a serious deterioration in its state of conservation over the last few years with widespread cattle grazing, commercial timber exploitation and poaching occurring within the park.

Andropogon chevalieri is on the target species list for the Millennium Seed Bank Project and was included in the Mali Collection Guide compiled by the Species Targeting Team. Seed for banking (in Mali and the UK), however, has not been collected as yet.