Evaluation of carbon stocks in above- and below-ground biomass in Central Africa: case study of Lesio-louna tropical rainforest of Congo

Abstract. The study was aimed to estimate the carbon stocks of above- and below-ground biomass in Lesio-louna forest of Congo. The methodology of allometric equations was used to measure the carbon stocks of Lesio-louna natural forest. We are based precisely on the model II which is also called non-destructive method or indirect method of measuring carbon stocks. While there has been use of parameters such as the DBH and wood density. The research was done with 22 circular plots each 1256 m². In the 22 plots studied, 19 plots are in the gallery forest and three plots in the secondary forest. Also, 22 circular plots were distributed in 5 sites studies of Lesio-louna forest, including: Inkou forest island, Iboubikro, Ngoyili, Blue lake and Ngambali. So, there are two forest types (secondary forest and gallery forest) in this forest ecosystem. In the 5 sites studied, we made measurements on a total of 347 trees with 197 trees for the class of 10–30 cm diameter, 131 trees for the class of 30–60 cm diameter and 19 trees in the diameter class > 60 cm. The results show that in the whole forest, average carbon stock for the 22 plots of the study was 168.601 t C ha⁻¹ for AGB, or 81% and 39.551 t C ha⁻¹ for BGB, or 19%. The total carbon stocks in all the biomass was 3395.365 t C for AGB, which is 3.395365 × 10^–6 Gt C and 909.689934 t C for BGB, which was 9.09689934 × 10^–7 Gt C. In this forest, the carbon stock was more important in AGB compared to BGB with respectively 3395.365 t C against 909.689934 t C. Plot10 (AGB = 363.899 t C ha⁻¹ and BGB = 85.516 t C ha⁻¹) was the most dominant in terms of carbon quantification in Lesio-louna.