Evaluating the Carbon Stock in Above-and Below-Ground Biomass in a Moist Central African Forest

Romeo Ekoungoulou^{1, 2}, Shukui Niu¹, Jean Joël Loumeto², Suspense Averti Ifo^{2, 3}, Yannick Enock Bocko², Fleury Edgard Koula Mikieleko², Eusebe Devalon Mpane Guiekisse¹, Hamidou Senou^{4, 5} and Xiaodong Liu^1,

¹Laboratory of Ecological Planning and Management, College of Forestry, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China

²Département de Biologie et Physiologie Végétales, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Université Marien Ngouabi, BP 69 Brazzaville, Republic of Congo

³Département des Sciences Naturelles, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Université Marien Ngouabi, BP 237 Brazzaville, Republic of Congo

⁴School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China

⁵Institut Polytechnique Rural de Formation et de Recherche Appliquée (IPR/IFRA) de Katibougou, BP 06 Koulikoro,Mali

Cite this paper:
Romeo Ekoungoulou, Shukui Niu, Jean Joël Loumeto, Suspense Averti Ifo, Yannick Enock Bocko, Fleury Edgard Koula Mikieleko, Eusebe Devalon Mpane Guiekisse, Hamidou Senou and Xiaodong Liu. Evaluating the Carbon Stock in Above-and Below-Ground Biomass in a Moist Central African Forest. Applied Ecology and Environmental Sciences. 2015; 3(2):51-59. doi: 10.12691/aees-3-2-4

Abstract

Thestudyaimed to estimate the carbon stocks of above-and below-ground biomass in Lesio-louna forest (Republic of Congo). The methodology of allometric equations was used to measure the carbon stocks of Lesio-lounamoist forest. The research was done with 22 circular plots, each 1,256 m². In the 22 plots, we made measurements on a total of 347 trees with 197 trees for the class of 10-30 cm diameter, 131 trees for the class of 30-60 cm diameter and 19 trees in the diameter class > 60 cm. The results shows that in the whole forest, the average carbon stock across the 22 plots studied was 168.601 t C ha^-1 for aboveground biomass (AGB), or 81% and 39.55t C ha^-1 for belowground biomass (BGB), or 19%. The total carbon stocks in all the biomass was 3,395 t C for aboveground biomass (AGB) and 909.689 t C for belowground biomass (BGB).This study indicates that the forests in the studied sites are an important carbon sink, and they can also play a key role in global climate change mitigation. Lesio-louna tropical forest has the capacity to trap vast amounts of carbon which would otherwise escape into the atmosphere as CO₂, one of the worst greenhouse gases (GHG) offenders.

Keywords:
Carbon Stocks Gallery Forest Secondary Forest Aboveground Biomass Belowground Biomass Lesio-louna forest

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