Assessing the Floristic Biodiversity and Carbon Stock in a Republic of Congo’s Forest Ecosystem - Open Access Library Journal

OALibJ > Vol.6 No.8, August 2019

Assessing the Floristic Biodiversity and Carbon Stock in a Republic of Congo’s Forest Ecosystem ()

HTML XML

Download as PDF (Size: 1467KB) PP. 1-20

DOI: 10.4236/oalib.1105638 406 Downloads 1,026 Views

Author(s)

Donatien Nzala^1*, Romeo Ekoungoulou^1,2*, Bernadin Y. Ngoumba¹

Affiliation(s)

¹Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Agronomie et de Foresterie, Université Marien Ngouabi, Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.
²Beijing Key Laboratory of Forest Resources and Ecosystem Process, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China.

ABSTRACT

Reforestation management goes through the knowledge of the tired out evolution after a forestry rest. The aim of this study was to assess biodi-versity concerning Terminalia superba Engl. & Diels and its undergrowth, and then quantify sequestered carbon stocks to appreciate the impact of reforestation on forest recovery and the enhancement of carbon stocks. The study was conducted at Bilala artificial forest in southeastern Republic of Congo, in Kouilou Department (Mayombe), close to Mvouti District with an altitude of 30 m. The floristic inventory was carried out in 9 rectangular sub-plots of 20 × 25 m each, installed in three blocks of Terminalia superba Engl. & Diels, for a total area of 0.5 ha. These blocks consisted of the 64, 31 and 20 years old plantations. Within ten sub-plots censuses, all trees with a DBH ≥5 cm were identified and measured. 51 trees of Terminalia superba Engl. & Diels and around 3007 trees in its undergrowth have been recorded belonging to 33 botanical families and 52 species. The results showed that the biomass recorded in this forest has been 275 t·ha^﹣1 and the carbon stock was 129.6 t·ha^﹣1. Terminalia superba Engl. Diels had for itself a biomass of 181.42 t·ha^﹣1 out of the 275 t·ha^﹣1 quantified. The amount of CO2 captured in the atmosphere by the recorded floristic procession deducted from this carbon stock was 475.89 tons of CO2, with an economic value equal to US$ 2379.45 or XAF 1,413,278. This study demonstrated that the forestry method of reforestation has a positive impact on biodiversity recovery and carbon sequestration.

KEYWORDS

Bilala, Biomass, Carbon Stock, Reforestation, Terminalia superba

Share and Cite:

Nzala, D. , Ekoungoulou, R. and Ngoumba, B. (2019) Assessing the Floristic Biodiversity and Carbon Stock in a Republic of Congo’s Forest Ecosystem. Open Access Library Journal, 6, 1-20. doi: 10.4236/oalib.1105638.

Journals Menu

Follow SCIRP

	+1 323-425-8868
	customer@scirp.org
	+86 18163351462(WhatsApp)
	1655362766

	Paper Publishing WeChat

Journals Menu

Home

About SCIRP

Service

Policies