TITLE:
Assessing the Carbon Stock of Logs and Snags in a Congo Basin Forest Ecosystem
AUTHORS:
Romeo Ekoungoulou, Anderson Junior Mopiane Foundou, Felix Koubouana
KEYWORDS:
Coarse Woody Debris, Decomposition, Diameter, Layer Deadwood, Standing Deadwood
JOURNAL NAME:
Natural Science,
Vol.18 No.10,
October
30,
2026
ABSTRACT: Forests act as carbon sinks because the trees that make them up absorb carbon dioxide. Forest carbon is stored in living and dead trees, litter and the soil. The study carried out in the Likouala Department, Dongou District, aims to improve understanding of how forest ecosystems function through coarse woody debris. The research was conducted in six rectangular plots, each measuring 5000 m2 (200 m × 25 m), with a total of 312 large woody debris. All individuals with a DBH ≥ 10 cm were inventoried to estimate the carbon stock of coarse woody debris. The results of this study revealed that the average carbon stock of standing deadwood (snags) was 5.7 t·ha−1, and the average carbon stock of logs was 36.95 t C ha−1 in the study area. It should be noted that classes with larger diameters store more carbon than those with smaller diameters. Regarding decomposition classes, it’s the less advanced classes that store more carbon. Furthermore, this study has shown that windthrow plays a decisive role in the production of large woody debris.