Assessment of Forest Carbon Sequestered in Dead Wood from Secondary Forest, Wildlife Reserve, Lefini Republic of Congo

Dead wood, referred to here as necromass, is considered to be an important reservoir of forest carbon. In Congo, studies on the estimation of carbon in deadwood are scarce, so very little data exists that could contribute to the reflection on the national forest carbon measurement and monitoring program. It is in this context that this study on the estimation of forest carbon stored in dead wood from a secondary forest, in the "Bateke Plateau" landscape, was conducted. One hundred and three (103) standing deadwood samples and thirty-two (32) ground-lying deadwood samples, all ≥ 10 cm in diameter, were recorded over 1.79 km of transects, using the linear intersection sampling method. These deadwoods are mostly not in an advanced stage of decomposition, and are most abundant in smaller diameter classes. On average, the total carbon stock contained in the necromass is 0.067 t. ha-1 (±0.08). This carbon stock does not represent a significant share (0.01%) of the total above-ground carbon for trees ≥ 10 cm in diameter in plot 1. This study also showed that the carbon stock in the necromass varies very little between the study plots but not according to the type of dead wood considered. These results suggest that it is very important to reduce anthropogenic pressure on the forests of the Léfini Wildlife Reserve in order to strengthen carbon sinks.