Les Forêts Sacrées Dans Les Hautes Terres De l’OuestCameroun : Intérêt Dans La Conservation De La Biodiversité

Abstract

The vegetation of the Western Highlands is almost domesticated, and the original species are found in forest relics called sacred forest. These sacred forests also have an important number of floristic species. This work aims to assess the floristic diversity and to make a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the flora of some sacred forests in West Cameroon. The conservation status of the species was also determined using IUCN redlist. The census of individuals was carried out on 41 plots of 25 m x 25 m established in the selected forests. The number of plots per forest depended on the size of the forest. Within each plot, all individuals with a diameter greater or equal to 10 cm at breast height (1.30 m) were considered. The Shannon and Simpson diversity index were used to assess phytodiversity; importance values for species and families were calculated. The ANOVA test was used to compare the data. Overall, 2829 individuals with a diameter of ≥ 10 cm belonging to 91 species, 85 genera and 47 families were inventoried. Diversity index values are low (0.73 and 2.49 bits per plot for the Shannon index; 0.02 to 0.89 bits per plot for the Simpson index). These reflect the low floristic diversity of the area. The basal area varies from 14,44 m2. ha-1 to 65.6 m2. ha-1 per zone.