Title: Ecology of the Tropical Semi-deciduous Forest and its Possibility of the Sustaining Use in East Cameroon, West Africa
Abstract: To clarify the savannization mechanism of tropical rain forests, I conducted this ecological study of the semi-deciduous forest and its soils in the forest-savanna contact zone in East Cameroon. The soil under the semi-deciduous forest belonged to the typical type of ferrallitic soil. An investigation on the forest vegetation revealed the scanty regeneration in the semi-deciduous forest. Then, I considered that this forest lasts only for a single generation. However, the semi-deciduous forest was presumably a collection of tree species having the high ecological amplitude for environmental conditions. Finally, based on the ecological recognition of the semi-deciduous forest, I considered a way of its protection and a possibility of the sustaining use as forest resources.