Studies on Diversity, Structure and Carbon Stocks from Three Pools in the Kouoghap Sacred Forest, Hedgerows and Eucalyptus Plantations in the Batoufam Locality , West Cameroon | Chapter 1 | Modern Advances in Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences Vol. 6

 The goal of this research was to count trees and calculate carbon stocks in hedgerows and eucalyptus plantations in comparison to the Kouoghap sacred forest, which is the only landscape that has retained its natural state. This study was conducted in the holy forest, hedgerows, and Eucalyptus plantations, which are the predominant land use categories in the Batoufam location. For the sacred forest, 5 transects of 800 m x 5 m and 10 transects of 300 m x 5 m were used to inventory trees with a diameter of less than 10 cm, and 10 transects of 300 m × 5 m were used for hedgerows and Eucalyptus plantations. The above and below ground biomass of trees were estimated using allometric equations, whereas the litter obtained in 30 square plots of 0.5m x 0.5m was quantified using the destructive approach. A total of 70 and 11 tree species were discovered in the sacred forest and hedgerows, respectively. Plantations of Eucalyptus, on the other hand, are monospecific (only one trees species was found). The Shannon index (3.51) revealed that the sacred forest had a lot of floristic variety and hedgerows had a lot of it (1.94). The abundance of trees decreases as the diameter classes of the sacred forest and hedgerows grow, resulting in an uneven appearance in the Eucalyptus plantations. According to carbon stocks, which ranged from 130 to 196 tC.ha-1 for aboveground carbon and 31 to 47 tC.ha-1 for belowground carbon, there was no substantial difference between these three land uses. Compared to litter, which differed considerably across holy forests (6.40 tC.ha-1), hedgerows (9.39 tC.ha-1), and Eucalyptus plantations (10.96 tC.ha-1). Because of the quantity of carbon they store, this study confirmed the importance of holy forests in biodiversity protection as well as the necessity to explore alternate types of land use in climate change plans.

Author (S) Details

Frederic C. Lounang Tchatchouang
Department of Geography, University of Yaoundé I, Yaoundé, PO. BOX: 812, Cameroon.

Cedric Chimi Djomo
Institute of Agricultural Research for Development (IRAD), PO. BOX: 2123, Cameroon and Department of Plant Biology, University of Yaoundé I, Yaoundé, PO. BOX: 812, Cameroon.

Vice Clotèxe Tajeukem
Department of Plant Biology, University of Yaoundé I, Yaoundé, PO. BOX: 812, Cameroon.

Paul Djibrilla
Department of Geography, University of Maroua, Maroua, PO. BOX: 814, Cameroon.

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