Floristic composition, growth temperament and conservation status of woody plant species in the Cameroonian tropical rainforests

Ecological Processes

Table 3 Numbers of species and individuals by growth temperament category with respect to light in the understories and canopies of the rural forests

	Essiengbot-Mbankoho rural forest		Nbgwassa-Opkweng rural forest
	No. of species (%)	No. of individuals (%)	No. of species (%)	No. of individuals (%)
Understory (individuals < 10 cm dbh)
P	111 (23.72)^a	4368 (40.45)^a	119 (22.29)^a	11,171 (44.69)^a
NPLD	97 (20.73)^a	2151 (19.92)^b	113 (21.16)^a	5368 (21.47)^b
SB	244 (52.14)^b	4240 (39.27)^a	284 (53.18)^b	8408 (33.63)^c
Unidentified	16 (3.42)^c	39 (0.36)^c	18 (3.37)^c	52 (0.21)^d
Total	468 (100.00)	10,798 (100.00)	534 (100.00)	24,999 (100.00)
Canopy (trees ≥ 10 cm dbh)
P	55 (24.23)^a	460 (35.36)^a	58 (25.78)^a	554 (32.74)^a
NPLD	87 (38.33)^b	561 (43.12)^b	79 (35.11)^b	852 (50.36)^b
SB	78 (34.36)^b	272 (20.91)^c	83 (36.89)^b	276 (16.31)^c
Unidentified	7 (3.08)^c	8 (0.61)^d	5 (2.22)^c	10 (0.59)^d
Total	227 (100.00)	1301(100.00)	225 (100.00)	1692 (100.00)

P pioneer, NPLD non-pioneer light-demanding, SB shade-bearer. Proportion (in %) of species and individuals are noted parenthetically. Values followed by different letters (a, b, c, d) within a column indicate a significant difference between the growth temperament categories in relation to light (χ²-test, p < 0.05)