Monitoring Forest Vegetation and Carbon Change in the Upper Guinea Forest (UGF) - Gola Forest National Park, Wonegizi-Wologizi Forest, Sapo National Park, Grebro-Krahn National Park

This database is a combination of sets of Plant data generated in the Upper Guinea Forest specifically in the Gola Forest National Park, Wonegizi-Wologizi Forest, Sapo National Park, Grebro-Krahn National Park and their buffer zones all in Liberia. The timeline for this database was planned for September 2022 to October 2024. This project was funded by USAID through Tetra Tech/West Africa Biodiversity and Low Emission Development and implemented by Reptile and Amphibian Program Sierra Leone (RAP-SL), under a project titled: “Building Capacity to Monitor Forest Vegetation and Carbon Change in the Upper Guinea Forest through Permanent Sample Plots”. This project is controlled and managed under project number: WABiLED-G-003-RAP-SL. At the Wonegizi-Wologizi forest which are at separate locations, two one-hectare permanent plots were sampled at the lowland forest of Wonegizi (1-ha) and the lowland forest of Wologizi (1-ha). At the Gola Forest National Park, two one-hectare permanent plots were sampled at the lowland rainforest at Timbah town about 4 km apart. At the lowland forest of Sapo National Park, 1-ha permanent plot was sampled at the Jalah town axes in the park. At Grebro-Krahn National Park, 1-ha permanent plot was sampled at the Deliyee axes in the park. Sixty temporal plots were sampled at the community fallows in five communities (twenty plots) around Gola Forest, five communities (twenty plots) around Wonegizi-Wologizi and five communities (twenty plots) around Sapo and Grebro-Krahn forest. All plots, followed Forest Plots methodology (www.forestplots.net). The one-hectare plot sizes were square of 100 x 100 m and Coordinates (latitude, longitude and altitude) of all plots were recorded at the four corners of each plot. Plots were selected based on physical and human factors like climate, altitude, and slopes. All permanent plots were located in well managed protected areas, and temporal plots in disturb and fallow land. Plot data was replicated independently using quadrants. Diameter of all trees in each permanent plot (DBH ≥ 10 cm (100 mm) were recorded with the help of a diameter tape and tagged with a continuous serial number. Tree height of 60 trees, ten trees per diameter class were measured DBH 10 – 20 cm, 21 – 30 cm, 31 – 40 cm, 41 – 50 cm, 51 – 60 cm and >60 cm with the help of a Forestry Pro II Rangefinder. Temporal plot data were collected in smaller plots of 20 x 50 m. Plots were selected base on the degree of forest used. Young growth forest was classified as fallow land for 5 – 7 years and old growth forest as fallows for 10 – 15 years. In temporal plots, all trees with diameter (DBH ≥ 10 cm) (100 mm) were measured with the aid of a diameter tape and height measured using Forestry Pro II Rangefinder. Trees in temporal plots were not tagged. Temporal plots were georeferenced at a single start point (latitude, longitude and altitude). Specimens of doubtful species in the survey were collected, press, dried and identified at the newly Forestry Training Institute (FTI) herbarium in Liberia. Specimens were identified using floras and monographs (Hawthorne and Jongkind, 2006, Hawthorne and Gyakari, 2006, Hutchinson, J., Dalziel et al., 1954-1972). Specimens for well-known species were not collected. Photographs of some species were captured. In the field and herbarium, specimens were identified by a Botanist (Moses N. Sainge) and Botanist from FTI (Philomena Yarwoah, Alexander W. Saye). All collected specimens were deposited at the newly FTI herbarium in Tubmanburg, Liberia. Taxonomy identification followed Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) IV (2016) and the African Plant database (version 4.0.0, http://africanplantdatabase.ch.>). The current database is based on plot surveys, morphospecies identification, physical specimens and observations in permanent and temporal sample plots. In all, a total of 5403 occurrence records are presented in this database, accounting to two classes, 17 orders, 52 families, 175 genera and 308 species. Data was collected at 20 sites. Five sites of Permanent Sample Plots and fifteen sites of Temporal sample plots in lowland rainforest, mid-elevation rainforest, young growth fallows of 5 – 7 years and old growth fallows of 10 – 15 years. This database will be hosted by GBIF South Africa, published by Reptile and Amphibian Program Sierra Leone (RAP-SL), and will be made available to Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) portal for visibility.