Structure and floristic composition of the Tropical Humid Forest of the Community of San Jerónimo

Abstract

Forest biodiversity is one of the most important topics for sustainable forest management. In 2015, a forest inventory was carried out applying the methodology of Dauber (1995), in the community of San Jerónimo, Río Coco, with the purpose of knowing the floristic, structural aspects, the biodiversity rating and proposing sustainable forest management alternatives. A floristic richness of 45 families, 82 genres and 88 species was found. The most representative families were Moraceae and Fabaceae. The mixing coefficient was (1: 3), Shannon index (3.84), and Simpson's index (0.97), which indicates high richness and heterogeneity. The 86.87% of the registered individuals were grouped in the diameter class below 39.9 cm and 61.71% of the individuals are in the middle stratum, with heights between 11 and 20.9 m. The most important species within the forest according to the IVI were Dialium guianense (aubl) Steud with 35.09 and Tetragastris panamensis Kuntze with 27.84. Three alternatives of forest management are proposed under the community forestry model: i). - Forest management, ii). - Forest exploitation and iii). - Management model for payments for environmental services.