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Global Research Journal of Agricultural and Biological Sciences Vol.3(4) pp.336 –346 October 2012.
Available online http://www.globalresearchjournals.org/?a=journal&id=grjabs
Copyright ©2012 Global Research Journals
Full Length Research.
SUSTAINING PERICOPSIS ELATA (HARMS) VAN MEEUWEN IN THE TALA TALA FOREST, NORTH CONGO
Jean Lagarde BETTI1 , Salomon Janvier BELINGA2 , Dagobert SAMBA3
1Department of Botany, Faculty of Sciences, University of Douala, BP 24 157 Cameroon.
2Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife, Cameroon, Phone: 00 (237) 99 75 64 81.
3Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife, Cameroon, Phone: 00 (237) 94 52 43 39.
1Corresponding Author’s E-mail: lagardebetti@yahoo.fr, Phone : 00 (237) 77 30 32 72.
Abstract
A study for estimating the stock of the stems of Pericopsis elata was carried out in February – April 2011 in the Tala Tala forest management unit, vast of 621 120 ha, based in the north region of the Republic of Congo. The management inventory was conducted in four sites of at least 5 000 ha each, with a sampling intensity of 1.52%. Fifty height (58) trees of Pericopsis elata, a tree species listed in the Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES), were recorded. The average density recorded is 0.18 trees/ha in the four sites. The density of P. elata is more high in logged forests (0.57 trees/ha) than in non-perturbed forests. Simulation of the minimum managed diameter was done based on growth rate, mortality rate, logging damages, and the rotation or the periodicity of logging. The best diameter which conciliates both the conservation and economic concerns on P. elata in the Tala Tala forest is 90 cm. This diameter yields a reconstitution rate of 1.55 (> 0.5) and is high than the minimum exploitable diameter fixed by the Congolese forest administration and which is 60 cm. Diameter 90 cm allows the local timber company to harvest a forest possibility of 3 483.26 m3 of P. elata in 15 833 ha of forest.
Keywords: Threatened species; Pericopsis elata; reconstitution rate, Tala Tala forest management unit; Stock; possibility; CITES.