The use of forest inventory data for a National Protected Area Strategy inGuyana

Forest inventories are largely neglected in the debate of national parks se lection in Guyana (and probably elsewhere). Because taxonomic data are ofte n scant and biased towards are as of high collecting effort, large scale fo rest inventory data can be a useful tool adding to a knowledge database for forests. In this paper the use of forest inventories to select national pa rks in Guyana is assessed. With the data of a large scale inventory five fo rest regions could be distinguished and two were added on the base of exist ing other information. Forest composition in Guyana is largely determined b y geology at a national level and soil type at regional level. Species dive rsity is higher in the south of Guyana, possibly due to higher disturbance and is also higher on the better soils. It is concluded that a selection of national parks in Guyana should include a sample of all seven regions, inc luding as much soil variation as possible. Because of land use conflicts in central Guyana, this area is in need of quick attention of Guyana's policy makers.