PARENT SESSION
Oral Session #3: Plant Population Ecology. Presiding: N. Fetcher.
Monday, August 6, 2001. 8:00 AM to 11:30 AM. Hall of Ideas L&M.

Effects of bark harvest on populations of the African cherry (Prunus africana) on Mount Oku, Northwest Province, Cameroon.

Stewart, Kristine¹, ¹

ABSTRACT- The African cherry, Prunus africana, has captured attention due to the efficacy of its bark extracts in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia and is now an endangered species. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of bark harvest on population structure and on population dynamics by using matrix models in harvested and unharvested plots located in the Kilum-Ijim Forest Preserve on Mount Oku, Cameroon. Harvest simulations examined the effect on the population growth rate () with differing levels of mortality of harvest-sized and large trees and differing harvest frequencies. Management simulations examined the effect of increasing seedling, small sapling, and large sapling survivorship. Size class frequencies for the entire forest decreased in a reverse j-shaped curve, indicating adequate recruitment in the absence of harvest. The value of for the pooled data was 0.9931 suggesting a slightly declining population. The elasticity matrix for the pooled data indicated survival of large trees contributed 42% to the dominant latent root. Survivorship of these trees were reflected in the sensitivity analysis. Simulations to examine harvesting frequency indicated lambda returns to pre-harvest conditions if trees are re-harvested after 10-15 years, but only if the large trees are left unharvested.

KEY WORDS: bark harvesting, Prunus africana, matrix population models, non-timber forest products