Logging impact on genetic diversity and basal area of jatoba in south-western Amazon

Hymenaea courbaril L. is a heavily exploited tropical tree species due to the quality of its timber. We evaluated the impact of sustainable forest management, following the Brazilian guidelines, on H. courbaril density, basal area and genetic diversity. The study was conducted from 2008 to 2009, in three forest populations located in south-western Brazilian Amazonia. We calculated basal area and density of individuals for each population before and after logging. Tree density varied from 0.04 to 0.25 trees. ha-1 before logging and the area showing greatest pre-logging density suffered the strongest decline in density (-50%) and basal area (-53,8%). We observed a decrease in the total number of alleles and loss of rare alleles. Ecological and genetic impacts of logging varied according to the initial conditions of our populations (in population structure and density). Based on our results, we recommend that management plans consider cutting limits per species per plot in order to avoid super-exploitation of species that are locally more frequent.