Diversité Floristique Et Structurale De Deux Forêts Communautaires Sous Exploitation Au Cameroun: Cas De Kompia Et Nkolenyeng

The attribution of community forests to local populations has emerged as a new participative management system of plant biodiversity in Cameroon. Further to the intensification of anthropogenic activities in these forests, the logging impact on this biodiversity remains poorly known. This study was conducted in two different community forests located in the Kompia and Nkolenyeng villages, respectively. It aims to provide information on the state of the flora and plant structure of the community forests subjected to logging activities. Floristic inventories were carried out in nine biotope types using the variable-area sampling method. A total of 2772 individuals with dbh ≥ 10 cm were recorded in the community forests. In the whole biotopes, the species richness ranges from 19 to 98 species, the Shannon diversity index from 3.63 to 5.99 and the Pielou evenness from 0.65 to 0.93. The density of trees ranges from 73 ± 27 to 661 ± 119 stems ha-1 , the basal area from 15.68 ± 13.14 to 70.05 ± 28.76 m² ha-1 , the mean diameter of 18.85 ± 4.80 to 57.39 ± 20.70 cm and the canopy height from 12.26 ± 1.22 to 25.18 ± 1.02 m, on the average between biotopes. The two community forests showed decrease in tree density, a proliferation of the pioneer species, increase of small-diameter light-demanding species, a scarcity of large-diameter trees, and lowering of canopy height. These changes could compromise the sustainable management of these forests and their ability to ensure long-term local development. The large number of useful species identified in the two community forests is a reason to reinforce the preservation and management measures of the plant biodiversity of these forest areas