A 17 year successional enrichment plantation of tree recruitment and restoration in a tropical rainforest forest

Abstract

The Enrichment Plantation of Akure Forest Reserve is one of the forests currently experiencing a17-year-long post-disturbance following deforestation and fragmentation in the country. To better understand the contribution of enrichment planting on forest regeneration and restoration, the Enrichment Plantation after 17 years of post-disturbance was examined. We studied the recruitment drive of aboveground and underbrush stands of an Enrichment plantation in a tropical forest. We assess the trees diversity, species compositions, species richness, and growth forms of the vegetations. A total of 3 (50 m × 50 m) plots were sampled with a total of 47 aboveground tree species and 45 underbrush stands from Enrichment plantation were identified. The result shows an increase in the diversity and an even distribution of the species of the aboveground forest trees, compared to the underbrush stands. Conversely, the aboveground forest trees have lower species richness as compared to the level of underbrush stands. The sapling density was significantly higher than the aboveground tree of the forest (one-way ANOVA: P < 0.05 and P = 0.000). The mean ± standard deviation of 2.41 ± 1.55 aboveground tree species was extremely low to what was obtained of tree sapling (17.55 ± 8.06) in the forest structure. It was also observed that the aboveground forest trees and underbrush stands are somewhat similar in species compositions, which implies that sapling recruitment is a key determinant of the tree species composition of the forest. It is then concluded that the method adopted for restoration encouraged species diversity in this successional forest among the aboveground trees species and underbrush.