[en] Landscape Ecological Survey of the Bipindi-Akom II ... - ITTO

types are defined by floristic composition and the (external) foliage coverage of the species.
Interpretation of successional status, overall physiognomy and general site descriptors descriptors reveals
a strong correlation of the plant communities with altitude and disturbance. The The communities
discerned are: submontane forest (altitude> 700 m asl), three types of lowland evergreen forest
« 350 m asl; 350-500 m asl; 500-700 m asl), swamp forest, young secondary forest and thicket
on recently abandoned agricultural fields.
The legend of the 1: 100,000 landscape ecological map is based on altitude, landform, soil and and
vegetation, and has a hierarchical hierarchical structure. A total of 14 main mapping units has been
discerned. These These 14 units have been further further subdivided according to vegetation characteristics
brought about by human human influences (shifting (shifting cultivation) into 34 units. The landscape ecological ecological
map presents the landscape in in its complexity of landforms, soils and vegetation. Cross reference
of the inventory data reveals a strong strong relationship between vegetation, altitude and soils. This
supports the notion that natural vegetation can be seen as a response variable to to environmental
factors such as climate and soil. Since vegetation proves to be correlated with altitude, which
is assumed to be related to climatic factors, the latter has been taken as the highest entry of the
map' legend. On this basis, the TCP research area is divided into five ecological zones (A-E).
The overall orientation of the ecological zones is NNE-SSW and follows the general orientation
of the geological structures in Southwest Cameroon. The landscape of the TCP research area
changes changes considerably from from west to east. east. Altitude rises from approximately 40 40 to over 1000 m
as!. asl. Dissected erosional plains, hilly and rolling uplands dominate the western part of the area
whereas complexes of hills and mountains are found solely in the east. Going from west to east
the soils change from Ebimimbang to Ebom and Nyangong thereby increasing in clay content.
Valley bottoms are found throughout the area but are more frequent and wider in the west. The
natural vegetation changes from low altitude evergreen forest with many littoral species to a
submontane vegetation with characteristics of cloud forest. Human activities have influenced
this gradient by logging and and shifting shifting cultivation. Along Along the main access roads roads and in the the vicinity
of villages mosaics are found of actual actual fields, thickets on recently abandoned fields, young young
secondary forest and residual patches of tropical moist forest.
12