Floristic Characteristics, Diversity and Structure of the Woody Vegetation of the Mayo-Oulo Forest Reserve, North Cameroon

Wassingsa Thomas, Tchobsala and Philippe Kosma

Background and Objective: The conservation and rational management of forest reserves require preliminary studies of ecological and floristic characterization. It is for this reason that the present study on the woody vegetation of the forest reserve of Mayo-Oulo subjected to human activities was undertaken. The aim of this study was to evaluate its floristic composition, floristic diversity and woody stand structure. Materials and Methods: The experimental set-up is a split plot with the villages constituting the main treatments. Data were collected through floristic surveys in 36 plots of 100×100 m, counting individuals of size >1.8 m and measuring DBH at 1.30 m from the ground for trees made and were subject to analysis of variance and multifactor text. Floristic richness, diversity indices, structure and biological and phytogeographic types were determined. Results: This resulted in 2174 individuals divided into 29 species, 24 genera and 14 families with dominance of Fabaceae, Shannon’s diversity index ranged from 1.21 to 2.33 bits and Pielou's equitability from 0.41 to 0.79. The density is 60.38 ind ha^–1, the basal area is 2.62 m² ha^–1 and vertical and horizontal structures are "L" shaped. Microphanerophytes (62.06%) and phytogeographic types dominate biological types by multi-regional and pantropical species. Conclusion: The results confirmed the poverty and low diversity of the reserve, which is evidence of the state of degradation and disturbance of the woody stratum of the studied formation. This constitutes basic data for the development of conservation strategies and sustainable management of forest resources.

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