Tree Species Diversity And Density Pattern In Afi River Forest Reserve Nigeria

Abstract Afi River Forest Reserves in Cross River State Nigeria was assessed for tree species diversity and density pattern. Multistage 3 stage sampling technique was adopted for data collection. 10 tertiary plots were randomly established within the secondary plots and trees randomly selected for measurement within the tertiary plots 0.20 ha. Growth data including diameter at breast height dbh at 1.3m diameters over bark at the base middle and top merchantable height and total height were collected on trees with dbh 268805 10 cm in all the 10 tertiary sample plots. The results indicate that an average number of trees per hectare of 323 68 species were encountered in the study area. Population densities of the tree species ranged from 1 to 29 ha-1. This means some tree species encountered translates to one stand per hectare. Pycnanthus angolensis was the most abundant with a total of 29 treeha. The basal areaha in the study area was 102.77m2 and the species richness index obtained was 10.444 which indicate high species richness. The value of Shannon-Wiener Index HI is 3.827 which is quite high. The results show that the forest reserve is a well-stocked tropical rainforest in Nigeria. The high species diversity and the relative richness in timber species of the forest reserve does not correlate well with the abundance because the abundance of each of the species was quite low and density poor. However the presence of higher percentage of the lower diameter tree in the forest reserve indicates that the forest reserve is vigour and healthy.