Influence of anthropization on flora and the carbon stock of the corridor's vegetation at the Benoue National Park of Cameroon

Abstract

This study was conducted to examine the impact of anthropic activities carried out by migrants population on six corridors (Buffalo, Giraffe, forest Gallery, Cobe défassa, Derby Eland and Hippotrague) crossing two hunting areas if interest (HAI 1 and 4) made of five riverside villages (Banda-Wani, Sakdjé, Dogba, Djaba and Guidjiba) in the Benoue National Park (BNP) of Cameroon. The main objectives were to (i) determine the various threats to the established corridors, (ii) assess the influence of anthropogenic activities on flora and the fauna passing through the corridors, and (iii) estimate the carbon stocks in the investigated corridors. Floristic surveys were conducted in the selected six sites of 50 m x 20 m, divided each in 10 subplots. In the investigated corridors, nine types of anthropogenic activities were identified in total. However the main anthropogenic activities were: logging (53.56%), agriculture (20.23%) and overgrazing (6.21%). The main users of the corridor's natural resources are farmers (100%), gold miners (51.38%) and charcoal producers (32.78%). Plants species such as Piliostigma thonningii (82.674%), Combretum spp. (78.18%) and Tamarindus indica (75.06%) are the most endangered species. The Shannon diversity index is high in all corridors (between 4.30 and 5.07) and the equitability index is regular everywhere (between 0.50 and 0.59). This study showed that, conservation and recovery efforts in the BNP need to be increased. There is an urgent need for the Cameroonian government to set up a protection and participatory management system to safeguard the wildlife biodiversity in the National park of Benoue (BNP).