TITLE:
Typology and Agroecology of Agroecosystems in Vegetation Dynamics in the Ecotones of the Mbam and Inoubou
AUTHORS:
Alex Bruno Dong Etchike, Lucie Félicité Temgoua, Bertine Tiokeng, Marie Caroline Momo Solefack, Martin Benoit Ngassoum, Pierre Marie Mapongmetsem
KEYWORDS:
Agroforests, Agroecosystem, Center Cameroon, Dynamics, Agroecology, Typology
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Forestry,
Vol.14 No.1,
November
30,
2023
ABSTRACT: Agroforestry systems strongly characterize the
Cameroonian agrarian landscape. Agroforests are among those structuring the
ecotones of Mbam and Inoubou in the Central Cameroon region. Numerous works on
agroecosystems of Central and South Cameroon, few have come out contribution of
the structure of these traditional systems in the dynamics of the vegetation of
these forest-savannah ecotones. The present contribution has the overall
objective of demonstrating the structural efficiency of agroforests the
dynamics of ecotone vegetation, but also in the conservation of biodiversity.
To do this, a participatory analysis was carried out with 56 farmers
distributed in the five villages of Makénéné. Botanical inventories
supplemented socio-economic household surveys. The data collected was subjected
to various analyzes (univariate test, analysis of variance, multivariate test,
PCA, CAH). The results reveal that 55.2% of agroforests are less than 15 years
old and those with an area greater than 1500 m2 predominate (33%).
They are mainly young with generally small surface areas. The horizontal
structure reveals that the largest diameter classes are those of [20 - 30 cm[ and [10 - 20 cm[ with a very low rate of basal area. Agroforests with trees over 10 m
high are dominant in five villages of Makénéné. Two types of structural
profiles characterize the agroforestry flora of the area, namely intensive
pluristratified home gardens on savannah and intensive pluristratified
agroforests under forest-savannah transition vegetation. Principal Component
Analysis (PCA) and Ascending Hierarchical Clustering (HAC) show three
Agroforest Clusters each. The PCA distribution reveals that woody biomass (Y)
is strongly correlated with tree diameter (DBH) and significantly with height
(Cluster 2). The age (AAG) (Cluster 1) of these agroforests, on the other hand,
remains independent of the density (DST) of these trees (Cluster 3). The
agroforests in the Nyokon, Carrière and Mocksud villages are the most effective
in terms of conserving woody diversity while the agroforests of the Kinding ndé
and Nyokon villages are more efficient in the reforestation processes. These
results could be considered as effective and quantifiable tools for the
certification of numerous cash crops such as cocoa and coffee, which will make
it possible to valorize this local knowledge in terms of scientific and in the
development of various programs and writing of technical notes.