Phytoecological Characterization and Carbon Sequestration of Gallery Forests in the Mandara Mountains (Far North, Cameroon)

This work was carried out in the Mandara Mountains a Sahelian area located in the Far-North Region of Cameroon. The main objective was to provide practical and useful information that will help to develop better conservation strategy of remaining gallery forests in the Mandara Mountains. Floristic inventories were carried out in 150 plots of 1000 m² each, installed at the edges of the rivers, along the strip of riparian formations using the phytosociological survey method suggested by Braun-Blanquet. A total of 100 woody species sorted into 67 genera and 30 families were identified. Concerning the herbaceous group, 122 species belonging to 87 genera and 26 families were inventoried. Regarding species number, the most abundant families were Fabaceae (18.47%) and Poaceae (17.12%) followed by Malvaceae (5.86%) and Asteraceae (5.41%) respectively. Analysis of the horizontal and vertical distribution indicates that gallery forest species are much more concentrated in the small diameter class and a high number of seedlings. The abundance of species with a wide phytogeographical distribution is an important indicator for characterizing the flora of gallery forests. The investigated sites are dominated by therophytes species, reflecting a Sudano-Sahelian climate. The estimated average of carbon stock was 54.83 ± 24.21 tC/ha and the corresponding CO 2 equivalence was 201.05 ± 88.77 tCO 2 /ha. Azadirachta indica (5.73 tC/ha), followed by Acacia albida (5.69 tC/ha) and Mangifera indica (5.12 tC/ha) were recorded as the species that stores more carbon in the studied sites. In order to maintain this indispensable ecological role, it is advisable to implement policies for the conservation of forest resources with the participation of local populations.