Assisted Natural Regeneration increases plant diversity and tree biomass in fallow land in the Central African Republic
Abstract
In the Botambi area, south of Bangui in the Central African Republic, deforestation linked to shifting cultivation is leading to the disap-pearance of the dense, semi-deciduous rain-forest, which is being replaced by fallow land overrun by exotic shrubs and grassy savan-nahs, forcing farmers to clear new forests. The Assisted Natural Regeneration (ANR) technique was trialled in a heavily degraded forest lands-cape (the village of Botéké) and a less degraded one (Salanga). On the ANR plots, farmers selec-ted and retained useful young trees in their fields whilst weeding their crops between 2019 and 2021, after which the plots were left fallow. The impact of ANR on the floristic diversity of post-crop fallow land was studied by analy-sing the kinetics of diversity parameters (at the time of the first ANR treatment, and at 7, 13, and 24 months after ANR) and the impact on the above-ground biomass of tree vegetation via mean square diameter and Lorey height at 5, 12, 29 and 53 months after Slash-and-burn. In each village, 11 ANR plots and 10 control plots without ANR, covering an area of 0.231 ha, were cleared and cultivated in early 2019 and moni-tored. At each inventory, all trees on the plots were identified by their botanical name, height and diameter at breast height. With regard to biodiversity, the relative frequency of species and the diversity index were calculated, and the vegetation in each plot was then classi-fied based on the frequency of the two domi-nant species. Finally, all plots belonging to the same facies were grouped together to produce 9 'plot facies'. For all plots, diversity is higher at Salanga (Shannon index 2.41 and evenness 0.86) than at Botéké (Shannon index 1.90 and evenness 0.78), and the ANR allows the vege-tation to evolve very quickly towards a certain 'stability'. In Botéké, above-ground biomass at 12 months was close to 0, but by 53 months it remained at 0.3 t/ha in the control plots, whereas it reached 0.7 t/ha in the ANR treatment. At Salanga, above-ground biomass at 53 mon-ths was 0.9 t/ha in the control plots, whereas it reached 3.2 t/ha in the ANR treatment. ANR the-refore promotes an accelerated and significant accumulation of above-ground biomass in fal-low plots compared to the control, particularly in areas with low levels of degradation.
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BibTeX
@article{kpolita2026assisted,
title = {{Assisted Natural Regeneration increases plant diversity and tree biomass in fallow land in the Central African Republic}},
author = {Arnot Kpolita and Régis Peltier and Olga Diane Bombo-Yongo and Emilien Dubiez and Slim Saïdi and Bruno Hérault},
journal = {Bois et Forêts des Tropiques},
year = {2026},
month = jun,
doi = {10.19182/bft2026.363.a37702},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05752665v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Assisted Natural Regeneration increases plant diversity and tree biomass in fallow land in the Central African Republic
AU - Arnot Kpolita
AU - Régis Peltier
AU - Olga Diane Bombo-Yongo
AU - Emilien Dubiez
AU - Slim Saïdi
AU - Bruno Hérault
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/06/20
JO - Bois et Forêts des Tropiques
DO - 10.19182/bft2026.363.a37702
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05752665v1
AB - In the Botambi area, south of Bangui in the Central African Republic, deforestation linked to shifting cultivation is leading to the disap-pearance of the dense, semi-deciduous rain-forest, which is being replaced by fallow land overrun by exotic shrubs and grassy savan-nahs, forcing farmers to clear new forests. The Assisted Natural Regeneration (ANR) technique was trialled in a heavily degraded forest lands-cape (the village of Botéké) and a less degraded one (Salanga). On the ANR plots, farmers selec-ted and retained useful young trees in their fields whilst weeding their crops between 2019 and 2021, after which the plots were left fallow. The impact of ANR on the floristic diversity of post-crop fallow land was studied by analy-sing the kinetics of diversity parameters (at the time of the first ANR treatment, and at 7, 13, and 24 months after ANR) and the impact on the above-ground biomass of tree vegetation via mean square diameter and Lorey height at 5, 12, 29 and 53 months after Slash-and-burn. In each village, 11 ANR plots and 10 control plots without ANR, covering an area of 0.231 ha, were cleared and cultivated in early 2019 and moni-tored. At each inventory, all trees on the plots were identified by their botanical name, height and diameter at breast height. With regard to biodiversity, the relative frequency of species and the diversity index were calculated, and the vegetation in each plot was then classi-fied based on the frequency of the two domi-nant species. Finally, all plots belonging to the same facies were grouped together to produce 9 'plot facies'. For all plots, diversity is higher at Salanga (Shannon index 2.41 and evenness 0.86) than at Botéké (Shannon index 1.90 and evenness 0.78), and the ANR allows the vege-tation to evolve very quickly towards a certain 'stability'. In Botéké, above-ground biomass at 12 months was close to 0, but by 53 months it remained at 0.3 t/ha in the control plots, whereas it reached 0.7 t/ha in the ANR treatment. At Salanga, above-ground biomass at 53 mon-ths was 0.9 t/ha in the control plots, whereas it reached 3.2 t/ha in the ANR treatment. ANR the-refore promotes an accelerated and significant accumulation of above-ground biomass in fal-low plots compared to the control, particularly in areas with low levels of degradation.
SN - 0006-579X
ER -