Ecological Survey Of Commercially Valued Rainforest Trees In Cocoa Plantations In Cross River State, Nigeria
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Abstract
The study was designed to identify, enumerate and collate information on the commercially valued rainforest tree species growing in cocoa plantations located in four local government areas (cocoa growing areas) of Cross River State, Nigeria, namely Akamkpa, Boki, Etung, and Ikom. Four 50 m x 50 m plots of cocoa plantations were randomly laid for data collection in each of the randomly selected cocoa growing areas. A total of 286 trees species were identified and enumeratedwhile180 were commercially valued rain forest trees. The stand distributions were examined by classifying the trees into diameter-classes. All the trees encountered were identified and measured for diameter at breast height (1.3 m) using diameter tape. The five diameter classes were recorded as follows: 10-20 cm (class 1); 20-30 cm (class 2); 30-40 cm (class 3); 40-50 cm (class 4); 50-60 cm (class5) and 60 cm above (class 6). The economic importance of each species was identified. The basal areas of each species were calculated to determine the density. The result showed that diameter class six (6) had the highest diameter values of 56 m2 , 29 m2, 28 m2 and 19 m2 for Ikom, Etung, Akamkpa and Boki cocoa plantation respectively, while the basal area (m2per/ha) of all trees (pooled) in each of the plantations valued was 67.49 m2, 517.47 m2 , 3093.30 m2 and 603.49 m2 respectively. These commercially valued rainforest tree species in cocoa plantations studies are many and of standard sizes. It is recommended that they should be conserved for sustainable future utilization.
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