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Plant diversity in a Central African rain forest: Implications for biodiversity conservation in Cameroon
Recently other botanists such as Beentje (1980), Hall (1991), Thomas (1992),
Wieringa (1994), van der Burgt (1997), Parren (1997), van Gemerden (1997-99),
van Andel (2000-2001), and botanists from the National Herbarium in Yaounde also
collected in the area.
A first attempt to classify the vegetation types of Cameroon was made by Letouzey
(1968 & 1985). He adopted the phytogeographic approach to interpret and map the
vegetation of Cameroon at a scale of 1:500,000 with definitions and descriptions of
the different vegetation types using black and white aerial photos taken during the
1960’s. It should be noted that he did not cover the country evenly during his field
trips in various parts of Cameroon and apparently the Campo-Ma’an area was not
fully investigated. However, he described and mapped several vegetation types and
sub-types in the Campo-Ma’an area by using indicator species such as Calpocalyx
heitzii and Sacoglottis gabonensis. The main vegetation type was defined as Atlantic
Biafran forest rich in Caesalpinioideae with 5 sub-types dependent on the
occurrence of Caesalpinioideae, Calpocalyx heitzii (Leguminosae-Mimosoideae),
Sacoglottis gabonensis (Humiriaceae) and other coastal indicators. Kaji (1985)
studied the floristic composition and the structure of the Atlantic Biafran forest rich
in Caesalpinioideae with Calpocalyx heitzii and Sacoglottis gabonensis near
Nkoelon and Mvini. In 1991, a three-month canopy raft expedition was organized in
the former Campo Faunal Reserve by the “OPERATION CANOPEE” with the aim
of carrying out scientific research in the canopy of a tropical rain forest. A canopy
raft made of a hot air balloon was used to get access to the canopy in order to study
the flora and its pollination ecology. Many scientists from different disciplines took
part in this expedition. Each team was given a rather short time in the balloon,
limiting data collection for their research. In addition to this botanical work, some
information on timber species came from exploitation inventories carried out by
ONADEF (1991) in the former Ma’an Reserve.
Thomas & Thomas (1993) executed a two-month biodiversity survey of the Campo-
Ma’an area that included botanical, wildlife and socio-economic studies. The main
aim of this rapid multidisciplinary assessment was to provide the GEF-World Bank
Biodiversity and Management Project with a state of knowledge report on the
Campo-Ma’an biodiversity and to provide recommendations for its conservation and
sustainable management. Although during this study an effort was made to supply a
description of the various vegetation types encountered, the report was largely based
on existing literature, since two months of field work was not enough to carry out a
sound biodiversity assessment in such a large area. Recently, Sunderland et al.
(1997) established 3 plots of 1 ha each in the former Campo Faunal Reserve to study
its vegetation. The report of this survey provided information on the vegetation
types recorded in the plots, as well as their species composition, dominance and
frequency. van Gemerden & Hazeu (1999) did a landscape ecological survey of the
Bipindi-Akom II-Lolodorf region located north of the Campo-Ma’an area. The main
objective of this study was to provide a scientific framework for the sustainable land
use planning of the area.
Although many botanists have visited the Campo-Ma’an area, their main aim was to
collect herbarium specimens essential for taxonomic studies and the production of
the flora of Cameroon. Most other botanical research was sporadic and localized to
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