Spatial distribution and carbon storage of a native bamboo species in the high Guinea savannah of Cameroon: Oxytenanthera abyssinica (A. Rich.) Munro

ABSTRACT

Landsat 8 OLI imageries were used in order to increase data on the distribution and carbon stocks of Oxytenanthera abyssinica (A. Rich.) Munro in the Guinea savannah of Cameroon, Eight circular plots of 100 m² were established in O. abyssinica stands in Beyala hill. Five per cent of bamboo were harvested, each bamboo sorted into leaves, branches and culm; weighed; and sub-samples taken to the laboratory. Sub-samples were oven-dried for biomass estimation. The results showed that O. abyssinica covered 451,308.36 ha. The density of culm per clump was 4374/184 per ha. Carbon storage capacity of O. abyssinica was 13.13 tC.ha⁻¹.

KEYWORDS:

• Climate change mitigation
• O. abyssinica
• Cameroon

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to INBAR for the financial support to conduct this study; to the junior research assistants from the laboratory of Environmental Geomatics for their field and laboratory support in data collection and analysis; to all stakeholders who assisted with this study; and to all those who reviewed this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.