Wood Density Determination with the Perspective to Decarbonisation of Tropical Forest Species from the Luki Biosphere Reserve in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Abstract

Specimens of the forest species such as Pentaclethra macrophylla, Petersianthus macrocarpus, Pycnanthus angolensis and Terminalia superba have been sampled from LUKI Biosphere reserve in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in order to determine their wood density with the perspective to decarbonisation. These parameters have been found out experimentally utilizing a drying technique in an oven including techniques of immersion in an Erlenmeyer full of water. The corresponding results indicated that the four species wood density is respectively 0.85, 0.80, 0.77 and 0.51. These preliminary results will be useful in our ongoing project on carbon dioxide absorption capacity of Congo rainforest tree species.