Long-term effect of timber harvesting in the Bartica Triangle, Central Guyana

In one of the longest time series available, we present a comparison between forest inventories of 1924, 1964 and 1999 of an 800 km(2) forest-harvesting area in Central Guyana. Harvesting mainly targeted one species Chlorocardium rodiei (Greenheart), of which the population declined by 63% over the 75 years of harvesting. The decline of the population was not only detectable in the harvested size classes (>30 cm) but also among the smaller size classes. In 1999, however, Greenheart still ranked third in abundance. There was little change in the overall species composition, proportion of disperser groups or proportion of functional groups in the tree community. There were also no detectable changes in tree diversity. The conservation value of these unique forests can still be considered high. Thus, while the long-term sustainability of Greenheart harvesting is low, other ecological criteria of sustainability are met. Short-term recovery of Greenheart is not to be expected due to low population growth and small numbers of seed trees. Strategic choices will have to be made with regard to harvesting the remaining Greenheart stands-three scenarios are discussed. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.