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

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to inventory trees and estimate the carbon stocks of hedgerows and eucalyptus plantations in comparison to the Kouoghap sacred forest, which is the sole landscape that has preserved its original nature. The sacred forest, hedgerows, and Eucalyptus plantations, which are the primary land use types in the Batoufam location, were used for this study. Inventory data of trees with diameter \(\ge\) 10 cm were made in 5 transects of 800 m x 5 m for the sacred forest and 10 transects of 300m x 5m for hedgerows and Eucalyptus plantations. Allometric equations were used to estimate the above and below ground biomass of trees, while the destructive approach was used to quantify the litter gathered in 30 square plots of 0.5m x 0.5m. In the sacred forest and hedgerows, a total of 70 and 11 tree species were found. Eucalyptus plantations, on the other hand, are monospecific (only one trees species was found). The Shannon index (3.51) showed a rich floristic diversity in the sacred forest and weak diversity in hedgerows (1.94). With the increase in diameter classes of the sacred forest and hedgerows, the abundance of trees declines, resulting in an irregular appearance in the Eucalyptus plantations. No significant difference was found between these three land use according to the carbon stocks which varied from 130 to 196 tC.ha-1 for aboveground and from 31 to 47 tC.ha-1 for belowground carbon. As compared to, that of litter which was significantly different between the sacred forest (6.40 tC.ha-1), hedgerows (9.39 tC.ha-1) and Eucalyptus plantations (10.96 tC.ha-1). This study verified the importance of sacred forests in biodiversity conservation, as well as the need to consider alternative types of land use in strategies to fight climate change due to the amount of carbon they store.