Structural analysis of the Chambura Gorge forest (Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda)

The Chambura Gorge, part of the Queen Elizabeth National Park (QENP), is completely covered by a forest which so far has not been exploited and whose species, composition and structure are barely known. It was therefore of interest to analyse this area as a typical example of a primary natural forest and as a peculiar habitat inside the QENP ecosystem. The forest cover has a typical structure, distributed into layers, but the lower layer is locally poor of saplings belonging to a possible cohort of regeneration. This process is likely to be observable on a wider scale of analysis. None of the species reach their potential maximum height, as measured in other areas and in a typical rain forest. However, the vegetation of Chambura Gorge is very representative of the local edaphic conditions and microclimate. In the structural analysis no relationships were found between the diameters and heights of the observed trees, if considered all together. If considered individually, only the most abundant species, Cleistopholis patens, showed any relationship between diameter and height.