Abstract
The study aimed at evaluating the natural regeneration of some characteristic species in the Loukaya peri-urban forest was carried out in Brazzaville, over three surveys of one hectare each. The botanical inventory of the 23 species monitored covers the subjects of 2 ≤ d0.20 1.30 ≥ 10 cm. The study shows 1255 individuals of which 68.27% are 2 ≤ d0.20 < 10 cm. While being tropophilic and mesophilic, this ecosystem is pauciflorous and paucispecific. The phytoecological data show that this formation, which is a link in the African dense humid forest, presents values far below those known elsewhere; while being faithful to the forests of the Cataractes Plateau. As for the rate of natural regeneration, this index is greater than or equal to 100 for 69.56% of the taxa. Sarcochores and heliophytes are the taxa that best support this natural regeneration. This high rate of regeneration would be correlated with the high level of anthropization, whose large canopy gaps are accompanied by a flow of light conducive to the installation of seedlings.
Highlights
The peri-urban forest of Loukaya is subject to an exceptional level of anthropic pressure, which negatively affects biodiversity in all three dimensions
In this tropophilic and mesophilic ecosystem, anthropic activities would be the cause of the poor generation of the woody population, especially sarcochorous taxa
The flora-fauna association in tropical forests is fundamental to their dynamics
Summary
Forests provide communities with several tangible and intangible assets known as ecosystem goods and services [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] This range of products represents a source of socio-cultural and economic goods (handicrafts, food, water, fuelwood, service and timber, traditional medicine, agricultural land...), and much more subtle ecological and environmental functions that enhance life, such as climate regulation, carbon sequestration, maintenance of air quality... The expansion of the city of Brazzaville in recent years, under demographic pressure and anarchic urbanization, has resulted in the integration of formerly suburban territories into the urban fabric [14] This operation leads to the degradation and sometimes disappearance of peri-urban ecosystems, notwithstanding the direct (physiological, socio-cultural, economic, aesthetic, scientific, educational) and indirect (climatic, environmental) benefits resulting from their maintenance [15] [16]. The forest islands resulting from the degradation of the Patte d’Oie in Brazzaville, the peri-urban forest of Djoumouna whose area declined by 49.41% between 1998 and 2017 and the disappearance of the Tsiémé, Glaciaire, Corniche and Ravine forests in Chad are a perfect illustration of this [10] [17] [18] [19]
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