Sustainable management of rainforest in cross river state, nigeria

Abstract

The study evaluate the matric models using trees stand parameters such as stem density, in-growth, rates of growth and mortality rate to predict the tree stand structure of the most complex tropical rainforest ecosystem in Cross River State, Nigeria. The model represented all tree species covering matrix for 6 years. The forest decline due to dominant eigenvalue (A) of the matrix R was 0.977, which is the intrinsic rate of natural increase with less than zero. A sensitivity analysis revealed that large recruitment rate of 87% was required to restore stability to the forest while only 16% improvement in growth rate would ensure sustenance and hence stabilized the forest.