Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-12T21:38:51.021Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The association between rainforest disturbance and recovery, tree community composition, and community traits in the Yangambi area in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 August 2022

Jonas Depecker Open the ORCID record for Jonas Depecker [Opens in a new window] ,
Justin A. Asimonyio ,
Ronald Miteho ,
Yves Hatangi ,
Jean-Léon Kambale ,
Lauren Verleysen ,
Piet Stoffelen Open the ORCID record for Piet Stoffelen [Opens in a new window] ,
Steven B. Janssens Open the ORCID record for Steven B. Janssens [Opens in a new window] ,
Benoit Dhed’a  and
Filip Vandelook Open the ORCID record for Filip Vandelook [Opens in a new window]
...Show all authors
Jonas Depecker*
Affiliation:
Division of Ecology, Evolution, and Biodiversity Conservation, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium Meise Botanic Garden, Nieuwelaan 38, 1860Meise, Belgium KU Leuven Plant Institute, Leuven, Belgium
Justin A. Asimonyio
Affiliation:
Centre de Surveillance de la Biodiversité et Université de Kisangani, Kisangani, DR Congo
Ronald Miteho
Affiliation:
Université de Kisangani, Kisangani, DR Congo
Yves Hatangi
Affiliation:
Meise Botanic Garden, Nieuwelaan 38, 1860Meise, Belgium Université de Kisangani, Kisangani, DR Congo
Jean-Léon Kambale
Affiliation:
Centre de Surveillance de la Biodiversité et Université de Kisangani, Kisangani, DR Congo
Lauren Verleysen
Affiliation:
Division of Ecology, Evolution, and Biodiversity Conservation, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium Plant Sciences Unit, Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Carittasstraat 39, 9090Melle, Belgium
Piet Stoffelen
Affiliation:
Meise Botanic Garden, Nieuwelaan 38, 1860Meise, Belgium
Steven B. Janssens
Affiliation:
Meise Botanic Garden, Nieuwelaan 38, 1860Meise, Belgium Division of Molecular Biotechnology of Plants and Micro-organisms, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium KU Leuven Plant Institute, Leuven, Belgium
Benoit Dhed’a
Affiliation:
Université de Kisangani, Kisangani, DR Congo
Filip Vandelook
Affiliation:
Meise Botanic Garden, Nieuwelaan 38, 1860Meise, Belgium KU Leuven Plant Institute, Leuven, Belgium
Olivier Honnay
Affiliation:
Division of Ecology, Evolution, and Biodiversity Conservation, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium KU Leuven Plant Institute, Leuven, Belgium
*
Author for correspondence: Jonas Depecker, Email: jonas.depecker@kuleuven.be
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Despite their key role in biodiversity conservation, forests in the Congo Basin are increasingly threatened by human activities, but it remains challenging to assess the impact of forest degradation under a more or less intact canopy. Likewise, forest recovery following agricultural abandonment remains poorly understood in the Congo Basin. Here, we surveyed 125 vegetation quadrats across 25 forest inventory plots in the Yangambi area. We aimed to find associations between both selective logging and forest recovery, and a range of forest community and tree community trait characteristics, as compared to reference undisturbed old-growth forest. We found that plots in undisturbed old-growth forest harboured both more tree individuals and tree species with a higher wood density as compared to plots in disturbed old-growth forest. In addition, their tree community composition was significantly different, whereas species diversity recovered since relatively recent agricultural abandonment (< 60 years), community composition and forest structure remained significantly different from the plots in undisturbed old-growth forest. Our study provides some insights into the rate of forest recovery in the Congo basin after agricultural abandonment and highlights the need of proper conservation of the remaining relatively undisturbed old-growth forests. Finally, we stress the need for more extensive vegetation surveys in the Congo Basin to further unravel the effects of anthropogenic disturbance.

Keywords

Africahistorical land-uselowland rainforestspecific leaf areawood density
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 38 , Issue 6 , November 2022 , pp. 426 - 436
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

AFR100 (2021) AFR100 Partners Manual: Principles, Governance, and Core Processes.Google Scholar
Arbizu, PM (2017). pairwiseAdonis: Pairwise Multilevel comparison using Adonis. R package version 0.0.1.Google Scholar
Baboo, B, Sagar, R, Bargali, SS and Verma, H (2017) Tree species composition, regeneration and diversity of an Indian dry tropical forest protected area. Tropical Ecology, 58, 409–423.Google Scholar
Barlow, J, Lennox, GD, Ferreira, J, Berenguer, E, Lees, AC, Nally, RM, Thomson, JR, Ferraz, SFDB, Louzada, J, Oliveira, VHF, Parry, L, Ribeiro de Castro Solar, R, Vieira, ICG, Aragão, LEOC, Begotti, RA, Braga, RF, Cardoso, TM, Cosme de Oliveira Junior, R, Souza, CM Jr, Moura, NG, Nunes, SS, Siqueira, JV, Pardini, R, Silveira, J, Vaz-de-Mello, FZ, Veiga, RCS, Venturieri, A and Gardner, TA (2016) Anthropogenic disturbance in tropical forests can double biodiversity loss from deforestation. Nature 535, 144–147.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bauters, M, Vercleyen, O, Vanlauwe, B, Six, J, Bonyoma, B, Badjoko, H, Hubau, W, Hoyt, A, Boudin, M, Verbeeck, H and Boeckx, P (2019) Long-term recovery of the functional community assembly and carbon pools in an African tropical forest succession. Biotropica 51, 319–329.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bobo, KS, Waltert, M, Sainge, NM, Njokagbor, J, Fermon, H and Mühlenberg, M (2006) From forest to farmland: species richness patterns of trees and understorey plants along a gradient of forest conversion in Southwestern Cameroon. Biodiversity and Conservation 15, 4097–4117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brudvig, LA (2011) The restoration of biodiversity: where has research been and where does it need to go? American Journal of Botany 98, 549–558.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carrasco, LR, Webb, EL, Symes, WS, Koh, LP, and Sodhi, NS (2017) Global economic trade-offs between wild nature and tropical agriculture. PLOS Biology 15, e2001657.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carreño-Rocabado, G, Peña-Claros, M, Bongers, F, Alarcón, A, Licona, J-C and Poorter, L (2012) Effects of disturbance intensity on species and functional diversity in a tropical forest. Journal of Ecology 100, 1453–1463.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carsan, S, Orwa, C, Harwood, C, Kindt, R, Stroebel, A, Neufeldt, H and Jamnadass, R (2012) African Wood Density Database. Nairobi: World Agroforesty Centre.Google Scholar
Chao, A and Jost, L (2012) Coverage-based rarefaction and extrapolation: standardizing samples by completeness rather than size. Ecology 93, 2533–2547.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chaturvedi, RK, Raghubanshi, AS and Singh, JS (2012) Effect of grazing and harvesting on diversity, recruitment and carbon accumulation of juvenile trees in tropical dry forests. Forest Ecology and Management 284, 152–162.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chaturvedi, RK, Tripathi, A, Raghubanshi, AS and Singh, JS (2021) Functional traits indicate a continuum of tree drought strategies across a soil water availability gradient in a tropical dry forest. Forest Ecology and Management 482, 118740.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chave, J, Coomes, D, Jansen, S, Lewis, SL, Swenson, NG and Zanne, AE (2009) Towards a worldwide wood economics spectrum. Ecology Letters 12, 351–366.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chazdon, RL (2008) Beyond deforestation: restoring forests and ecosystem services on degraded lands. Science 320, 1458–1460.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crouzeilles, R, Curran, M, Ferreira, MS, Lindenmayer, DB, Grelle, CEV and Rey Benayas, JM (2016) A global meta-analysis on the ecological drivers of forest restoration success. Nature Communications 7, 11666.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Curtis, PG, Slay, CM, Harris, NL, Tyukavina, A and Hansen, MC (2018) Classifying drivers of global forest loss. Science 361, 1108–1111.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davies, GM and Gray, A (2015) Don’t let spurious accusations of pseudoreplication limit our ability to learn from natural experiments (and other messy kinds of ecological monitoring). Ecology and Evolution 5, 5295–5304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Bello, F, Lavorel, S, Hallett, LM, Valencia, E, Garnier, E, Roscher, C, Conti, L, Galland, T, Goberna, M, Májeková, M, Montesinos-Navarro, A, Pausas, JG, Verdú, M, E-Vojtkó, A, Götzenberger, L and Lepš, JC (2021) Functional trait effects on ecosystem stability: assembling the jigsaw puzzle. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 36, 822–836.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
De Cáceres, M and Legendre, P (2009) Associations between species and groups of sites: indices and statistical inference. Ecology 90, 3566–3574.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dufrene, M and Legendre, P (1997) Species assemblages and indicator species: the need for a flexible asymmetrical approach. Ecological Monographs 67, 345–366.Google Scholar
Edwards, DP, Tobias, JA, Sheil, D, Meijaard, E and Laurance, WF (2014) Maintaining ecosystem function and services in logged tropical forests. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 29, 511–520.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ernst, C, Philippe, M, Astrid, V, Catherine, B, Musampa, C and Pierre, D (2013) National forest cover change in Congo Basin: deforestation, reforestation, degradation and regeneration for the years 1990, 2000 and 2005. Global Change Biology 19, 1173–1187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evrard, C (1954) 6. Yangambi. B. Vegetation. In Carte des sols et de la vegetation du Congo Belge et du Ruanda-Urundi. L’institu national pour l’etude agronomiqe du Congo Belge (INEAC).Google Scholar
FAO and UNEP (2020) The State of the World’s Forests 2020. In Forests, biodiversity and people. FAO and UNEP.Google Scholar
Fayolle, A, Picard, N, Doucet, JL, Swaine, M, Bayol, N, Bénédet, F and Gourlet-Fleury, S (2014) A new insight in the structure, composition and functioning of central African moist forests. Forest Ecology and Management 329, 195–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ganivet, E, Unggang, J, Bodos, V, Demies, M, Ling, CY, Sang, J and Bloomberg, M (2020) Assessing tree species diversity and structure of mixed dipterocarp forest remnants in a fragmented landscape of north-western Borneo, Sarawak, Malaysia. Ecological Indicators 112, 106117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gebeyehu, G, Soromessa, T, Bekele, T and Teketay, D (2019) Species composition, stand structure, and regeneration status of tree species in dry Afromontane forests of Awi Zone, northwestern Ethiopia. Ecosystem Health and Sustainability 5, 199–215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gerland, P, Raftery, AE, Ševčíková, H, Li, N, Gu, D, Spoorenberg, T, Alkema, L, Fosdick, BK, Chunn, J, Lalic, N, Bay, G, Buettner, T, Heilig, GH and Wilmoth, J (2014) World population stabilization unlikely this century. Science 346, 234–237.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hall, JS, Harris, DJ, Medjibe, V and Ashton, PMS (2003) The effects of selective logging on forest structure and tree species composition in a Central African forest: implications for management of conservation areas. Forest Ecology and Management 183, 249–264.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harja, D, Rahayu, S and Pambudi, S (2021) Tree Functional Attributes and Ecological Database. Nairobi: World Agroforestry Centre.Google Scholar
Harris, NL, Gibbs, DA, Baccini, A, Birdsey, RA, de Bruin, S, Farina, M, Fatoyinbo, L, Hansen, MC, Herold, M, Houghton, RA, Potapov, PV, Suarez, DR, Roman-Cuesta, RM, Saatchi, SS, Slay, CM, Turubanova, SA and Tyukavina, A (2021) Global maps of twenty-first century forest carbon fluxes. Nature Climate Change 11, 234–240.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayward, RM, Banin, LF, Burslem, DFRP, Chapman, DS, Philipson, CD, Cutler, MEJ, Reynolds, G, Nilus, R and Dent, DH (2021) Three decades of post-logging tree community recovery in naturally regenerating and actively restored dipterocarp forest in Borneo. Forest Ecology and Management 488, 119036.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heym, M, Uhl, E, Moshammer, R, Dieler, J, Stimm, K and Pretzsch, H (2021) Utilising forest inventory data for biodiversity assessment. Ecological Indicators 121, 107196.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hosonuma, N, Herold, M, De Sy, V, De Fries, RS, Brockhaus, M, Verchot, L, Angelsen, A and Romijn, E (2012) An assessment of deforestation and forest degradation drivers in developing countries. Environmental Research Letters 7, 044009.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hsieh, TC, Ma, K H and Chao, A (2016) iNEXT: an R package for rarefaction and extrapolation of species diversity (Hill numbers). Methods in Ecology and Evolution 7, 1451–1456.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hubau, W, Lewis, SL, Phillips, OL, Affum-Baffoe, K, Beeckman, H, Cuní-Sanchez, A, Daniels, AK, Ewango, CEN, Fauset, S, Mukinzi, JM, Sheil, D, Sonké, B, Sullivan, MJP, Sunderland, TCH, Taedoumg, H, Thomas, SC, White, LJT, Abernethy, KA, Adu-Bredu, S, Amani, CA, Baker, TR, Banin, LF, Baya, F, Begne, SK, Bennett, AC, Benedet, F, Bitariho, R, Bocko, YE, Boeckx, P, Boundja, P, Brienen, RJW, Brncic, T, Chezeaux, E, Chuyong, GB, Clark, CJ, Collins, M, Comiskey, JA, Coomes, DA, Dargie, GC, de Haulleville, T, Kamdem, MND, Doucet, J, Esquivel-Muelbert, A, Feldpausch, TR, Fofanah, A, Foli, EG, Gilpin, M, Gloor, E, Gonmadje, C, Gourlet-Fleury, S, Hall, JS, Hamilton, AC, Harris, DJ, Hart, TB, Hockemba, MBN, Hladik, A, Ifo, SA, Jeffery, KJ, Jucker, T, Yakusu, EK, Kearsley, E, Kenfack, D, Koch, A, Leal, MA, Levesley, A, Lindsell, JA, Lisingo, J, Lopez-Gonzalez, G, Lovett, JC, Makana, J, Malhi, Y, Marshall, AR, Martin, J, Martin, EH, Mbayu, FM, Medjibe, VP, Mihindou, V, Mitchard, ETA, Moore, S, Munishi, PKT, Bengone, NN, Ojo, L, Ondo, FE, Peh, KS, Pickavance, GC, Poulsen, AD, Poulsen, JR, Qie, L, Reitsma, J, Rovero, F, Swaine, MD, Talbot, J, Taplin, J, Taylor, DM, Thomas, DW, Toirambe, B, Mukendi, JT, Tuagben, D, Umunay, PM, van der Heijden, GMF, Verbeeck, H, Vleminckx, J, Willcock, S, Wöll, H, Woods, JT and Zemagho, L   (2020) Asynchronous carbon sink saturation in African and Amazonian tropical forests. Nature 579, 80–87.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ifo, SA, Moutsambote, J-M, Koubouana, F, Yoka, J, Ndzai, SF, Bouetou-Kadilamio, LNO, Mampouya, H, Jourdain, C, Bocko, Y, Mantota, AB, Mbemba, M, Mouanga-Sokath, D, Odende, R, Mondzali, LR, Wenina, YEM, Ouissika, BC and Joel, LJ (2016) Tree species diversity, richness, and similarity in intact and degraded forest in the tropical rainforest of the Congo Basin: case of the forest of Likouala in the Republic of Congo. International Journal of Forestry Research 2016, 1–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Imai, N, Tanaka, A, Samejima, H, Sugau, JB, Pereira, JT, Titin, J, Kurniawan, Y and Kitayama, K (2014) Tree community composition as an indicator in biodiversity monitoring of REDD+. Forest Ecology and Management 313, 169–179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jayathilake, HM, Prescott, GW, Carrasco, LR, Rao, M and Symes, WS (2021) Drivers of deforestation and degradation for 28 tropical conservation landscapes. Ambio 50, 215–228.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Katovai, E, Burley, AL and Mayfield, MM (2012) Understory plant species and functional diversity in the degraded wet tropical forests of Kolombangara Island, Solomon Islands. Biological Conservation 145, 214–224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kier, G, Mutke, J, Dinerstein, E, Ricketts, TH, Küper, W, Kreft, H and Barthlott, W (2005) Global patterns of plant diversity and floristic knowledge. Journal of Biogeography 32, 1107–1116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lambin, EF, Geist, HJ and Lepers, E (2003) Dynamics of land-use and land-cover change in tropical regions. Annual Review of Environment and Resources 28, 205–241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Letcher, SG and Chazdon, RL (2009) Rapid recovery of biomass, species richness, and species composition in a forest chronosequence in Northeastern Costa Rica. Biotropica 41, 608–617.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liebsch, D, Marques, MCM and Goldenberg, R (2008) How long does the Atlantic Rain Forest take to recover after a disturbance? Changes in species composition and ecological features during secondary succession. Biological Conservation 141, 1717–1725.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Madani, N, Kimball, JS, Ballantyne, AP, Affleck, DLR, van Bodegom, PM, Reich, PB, Kattge, J, Sala, A, Nazeri, M, Jones, MO, Zhao, M and Running, SW (2018) Future global productivity will be affected by plant trait response to climate. Scientific Reports  8, 2870.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mahayani, NPD, Slik, FJW, Savini, T, Webb, EL and Gale, GA (2020) Rapid recovery of phylogenetic diversity, community structure and composition of Bornean tropical forest a decade after logging and post-logging silvicultural interventions. Forest Ecology and Management 476, 118467.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Makana, JR and Thomas, SC (2006) Impacts of selective logging and agricultural clearing on forest structure, floristic composition and diversity, and timber tree regeneration in the Ituri Forest, Democratic Republic of Congo. Biodiversity and Conservation 15, 1375–1397.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Makelele, IA, Verheyen, K, Boeckx, P, Cizungu Ntaboba, L, Mujinya Bazirake, B, Ewango, C and Bauters, M (2021) Afrotropical secondary forests exhibit fast diversity and functional recovery, but slow compositional and carbon recovery after shifting cultivation. Journal of Vegetation Science 32, 1–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malhi, Y, Adu-Bredu, S, Asare, RA, Lewis, SL and Mayaux, P (2013) African rainforests: past, present and future. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 368, 20120312.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Matricardi, EAT, Skole, DL, Costa, OB, Pedlowski, MA, Samek, JH and Miguel, EP (2020) Long-term forest degradation surpasses deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. Science, 369, 1378–1382.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McElhinny, C, Gibbons, P, Brack, C and Bauhus, J (2005) Forest and woodland stand structural complexity: its definition and measurement. Forest Ecology and Management, 218, 1–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meunier, Q, Doucet, J-L and Moumbogou, C (2015) Arbres Utiles du Gabon. Liège: Les presses agronomiques de Gembloux.Google Scholar
Millet, J, Pascal, JP and Kiet, LC (2010) Effects of disturbance over 60 years on a lowland forest in southern Vietnam. Journal of Tropical Forest Science 22, 237–246.Google Scholar
Mirabel, A, Hérault, B and Marcon, E (2020) Diverging taxonomic and functional trajectories following disturbance in a Neotropical forest. Science of the Total Environment 720, 137397.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mitchell, B (1971) A comparison of Chi-square Smirnov tests. Area 3, 237–241.Google Scholar
Oberleitner, F, Egger, C, Oberdorfer, S, Dullinger, S, Wanek, W and Hietz, P (2021) Recovery of aboveground biomass, species richness and composition in tropical secondary forests in SW Costa Rica. Forest Ecology and Management 479, 118580.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oksanen, AJ, Blanchet, FG, Friendly, M, Kindt, R, Legendre, P, Mcglinn, D, Minchin, PR, Hara, RBO, Simpson, GL, Solymos, P, Stevens, MHH, Szoecs, E and Wagner, H (2020) Package ‘vegan.’Google Scholar
Oksanen, L (2004) The devil lies in details: reply to Stuart Hurlbert. Oikos 104, 598–605.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Osuri, AM, Ratnam, J, Varnam, V, Alvarez-Loayza, P, Astaiza, JH, Bradford, M, Fletcher, C, Ndoundou-Hockemba, M, Jansen, PA, Kenfack, D, Marshall, AR, Ramesh, BR, Rovero, F and Sankaran, M (2016) Contrasting effects of defaunation on aboveground carbon storage across the global tropics. Nature Communications 7, 11351.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oyugi, JO, Brown, JS and Whelan, CJ (2008) Effects of human disturbance on composition and structure of Brachystegia woodland in Arabuko-Sokoke Forest, Kenya. African Journal of Ecology 46, 374–383.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parmentier, I, Malhi, Y, Senterre, B, Whittaker, RJ, N ATD, Alonso, A, Balinga, MPB, Bakayoko, A, Bongers, F, Chatelain, C, Comiskey, JA, Cortay, R, Kandem, MD, Doucet, J, Gautier, L, Hawthorne, WD, Issembe, YA, Kouamé, FN, Kouka, LA, Leal, ME, Lejoly, J, Lewis, SL, Nusbaumer, L, Parren, MPE, Peh, KS, Phillips, OL, Sheil, D, Sonké, B, Sosef, MSM, Sunderland, TCH, Stropp, J, Ter Steege, H, Swaine, MD, Tchouto, MGP, Van Gemerden, BS, Van Valkenburg, JLCH and Wöll, H (2007) The odd man out? Might climate explain the lower tree α-diversity of African rain forests relative to Amazonian rain forests? Journal of Ecology 95, 1058–1071.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peres, CA, Barlow, J and Laurance, WF (2006) Detecting anthropogenic disturbance in tropical forests. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 21, 227–229.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Perez, TM, Rodriguez, J and Heberling, JM (2020) Herbarium-based measurements reliably estimate three functional traits. American Journal of Botany 107, 1–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
(PROTA) Plant Resources of Tropical Africa (2021) PROTA4U.Google Scholar
Pérez-Harguindeguy, N, Díaz, S, Garnier, E, Lavorel, S, Poorter, H, Jaureguiberry, P, Bret-Harte, MS, Cornwell, WK, Craine, JM, Gurvich, DE, Urcelay, C, Veneklaas, EJ, Reich, PB, Poorter, L, Wright, IJ, Ray, P, Enrico, L, Pausas, JG, de Vos, AC, Buchmann, N, Funes, G, Quétier, F, Hodgson, JG, Thompson, K, Morgan, HD, ter Steege, H, van der Heijden, MGA, Sack, L, Blonder, B, Poschlod, P, Vaieretti, MV, Conti, G, Staver, AC, Aquino, S and Cornelissen, JHC (2013) New handbook for standardised measurement of plant functional traits worldwide. Australian Journal of Botany, 61, 167–234.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poorter, L (2009) Leaf traits show different relationships with shade tolerance in moist versus dry tropical forests. New Phytologist 181, 890–900.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Poorter, L, Craven, D, Jakovac, CC, van der Sande, MT, Amissah, L, Bongers, F, Chazdon, RL, Farrior, CE, Kambach, S, Meave, JA, Muñoz, R, Norden, N, Rüger, N, van Breugel, M, Zambrano, AMA, Amani, B, Andrade, JS, Brancalion, PHS, Broadbent, EN, de Foresta, H, Dent, DH, Derroire, G, DeWalt, SJ, Dupuy, JM, Durán, SM, Fantini, AC, Finegan, B, Hernández-Jaramillo, A, Hernández-Stefanoni, JL, Hietz, P, Junqueira, AB, N'dja, JK, Letcher, SG, Lohbeck, M, López-Camacho, R, Martínez-Ramos, M, Melo, FPL, Mora, F, Müller, SC, N'Guessan, AE, Oberleitner, F, Ortiz-Malavassi, E, Pérez-García, EA, Pinho, BX, Piotto, D, Powers, JS, Rodríguez-Buriticá, S, Rozendaal, DMA, Ruíz, J, Tabarelli, M, Teixeira, HM, Sampaio, EVSB, van der Wal, H, Villa, PM, Fernandes, GW, Santos, BA, Aguilar-Cano, J, de Almeido-Cortez, JS, Alvarez-Davila, E, Arreola-Villa, F, Balvanera, P, Becknell, JM, Cabral, GAL, Castellanos-Castro, C, de Jong, BHJ, Nieto, JE, Espírito-Santo, MM, Fandino, MC, García, H, García-Villalobos, D, Hall, JS, Idárraga, A, Jiménez-Montoya, J, Kennard, D, Marín-Spiotta, E, Mesquita, R, Nunes, YRF, Ochoa-Gaona, S, Peña-Claros, M, Pérez-Cárdenas, N, Rodríguez-Velázquez, J, Villanueva, LS, Schwartz, NB, Steininger, MK, Veloso, MDM, Vester, HFM, Vieira, ICG, Williamson, GB, Zanini, K and Hérault, B (2021) Multidimensional tropical forest recovery. Science, 374, 1370–1376.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
R Core Team (2020) R: A language and environment for statistical computing. Vienna, Austria: R Foundation for Statistical Computing.Google Scholar
Ricotta, C, Podani, J, and Uv, ED (2017) On some properties of the Bray-Curtis dissimilarity and their ecological meaning. Ecological Complexity 31, 201–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(RMCA) Royal Museum for Central Africa (2021) Data derived via DRYAD.Google Scholar
Rueden, CT, Schindelin, J, Hiner, MC, Dezonia, BE, Walter, AE, Arena, ET and Eliceiri, KW (2017) ImageJ2: ImageJ for the next generation of scientific image data. BMC Bioinformatics 18, 529.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Saranpää, P (2003) Wood density and growth. In Barnett, J. R. & Jeronimidis, G. (Eds.), Wood Quality and Its Biological Basis. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing.Google Scholar
Sasaki, N and Putz, FE (2009) Critical need for new definitions of “forest” and “forest degradation” in global climate change agreements. Conservation Letters 2, 226–232.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shapiro, AC, Grantham, HS, Aguilar-Amuchastegui, N, Murray, NJ, Gond, V, Bonfils, D and Rickenbach, O (2021) Forest condition in the Congo Basin for the assessment of ecosystem conservation status. Ecological Indicators 122 1470–1160.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slik, JWF, Arroyo-Rodríguez, V, Aiba, SI, Alvarez-Loayza, P, Alves, LF, Ashton, P, Balvanera, P, Bastian, ML, Bellingham, PJ, Van Den Berg, E, Bernacci, L, Bispo, PC, Blanc, L, Böhning-Gaese, K, Boeckx, P, Bongers, F, Boyle, B, Bradford, M, Brearley, FQ, Hockemba, MB, Bunyavejchewin, S, Matos, DCL, Castillo-Santiago, M, Catharino, ELM, Chai, S, Chen, Y, Colwell, RK, Chazdon, RL, Clark, C, Clark, DB, Clark, DA, Culmsee, H, Damas, K, Dattaraja, HS, Dauby, G, Davidar, P, DeWalt, SJ, Doucet, J, Duque, A, Durigan, G, Eichhorn, KAO, Eisenlohr, PV, Eler, E, Ewango, C, Farwig, N, Feeley, KJ, Ferreira, L, Field, R, Filho, ATO, Fletcher, C, Forshed, O, Franco, G, Fredriksson, G, Gillespie, T, Gillet, J, Amarnath, G, Griffith, DM, Grogan, J, Gunatilleke, N, Harris, D, Harrison, R, Hector, A, Homeier, J, Imai, N, Itoh, A, Jansen, PA, Joly, CA, de Jong, BHJ, Kartawinata, K, Kearsley, E, Kelly, DL, Kenfack, D, Kessler, M, Kitayama, K, Kooyman, R, Larney, E, Laumonier, Y, Laurance, S, Laurance, WF, Lawes, MJ, do Amaral, IL, Letcher, SG, Lindesll, J, Lu, X, Mansor, A, Marjokorpi, A, Martin, E, Meilby, H, Melo, FPL, Metcalfe, DJ, Medjibe, VP, Metzger, JP, Millet, J, Mohandass, D, Montero, JC, Valeriano, MM, Mugerwa, B, Nagamasu, H, Nilus, R, Ochoa-Gaona, S, Onrizal, Page, N, Parolin, P, Parren, P, Parthasaranthy, N, Paudel, E, Permana, A, Piedade, MTF, Pitman, NCA, Poorter, L, Poulsen, AD, Poulsen, J, Powers, J, Prasad, RC, Puyravaud, J, Razafimahaimodison, J, Reitsma, J, dos Santos, JR, Spironello, WR, Romero-Saltos, H, Rovero, F, Rozak, AH , Ruokolainen, K, Rutishauser, E, Saiter, F, Saner, P, Santos, BA, Santos, F, Sarker, SK, Satdichanh, M, Schmitt, CB, Schöngart, J, Schulze, M, Suganuma, MS, Sheil, D, Pinheiro, ES, Sist, E, Stevart, T, Sukumar, R, Sun, IF, Sunderland, T, Suresh, HS, Suzuki, E, Tabarelli, M, Tang, J, Targhetta, N, Theilade, I, Thomas, DW, Tchouto, P, Hurtado, J, Valencia, R, van Valkenburg, JLCH, van Do, T, Vasquez, R, Verbeeck, H, Adekunle, V, Vieira, SA, Webb, CO, Whitfeld, T, Wich, SA, Williams, J, Wittmann, F, Wöll, H, Yang, X, Yao, CYA, Yap, SL, Yoneda, T, Zahawi, RA, Zakaria, R, Zang, R, de Assis, RL, Luize, BG and Venticinque, EM (2015) An estimate of the number of tropical tree species. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 112, 7472–7477.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sosef, MSM, Dauby, G, Blach-Overgaard, A, van der Burgt, X, Catarino, L, Damen, T, Deblauwe, V, Dessein, S, Dransfield, J, Droissart, V, Duarte, MC, Engledow, H, Fadeur, G, Figueira, R, Gereau, RE, Hardy, OJ, Harris, DJ, de Heij, J, Janssens, S, Klomberg, Y, Ley, AC, Mackinder, BA, Meerts, P, van de Poel, JL, Sonké, B, Stévart, T, Stoffelen, P, Svenning, J, Sepulchre, P, Zaiss, R, Wieringa, J and Couvreur, TLP  (2017) Exploring the floristic diversity of tropical Africa. BMC Biology 15, 15.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tegegne, YT, Lindner, M, Fobissie, K and Kanninen, M (2016) Evolution of drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in the Congo Basin forests: exploring possible policy options to address forest loss. Land Use Policy 51, 312–324.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tyukavina, A, Hansen, MC, Potapov, P, Parker, D, Okpa, C, Stehman, SV, Kommareddy, I and Turubanova, S (2018) Congo Basin forest loss dominated by increasing smallholder clearing. Science Advances 4, eaat2993.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van de Perre, F, Willig, MR, Presely, SJ, Andemwana, FB, Beeckman, H, Boeckx, P, Cooleman, S, de Haan, M, De Kesel, A, Dessein, S, Grootaert, P, Huygens, D, Jansens, SB, Kearsley, E, Kabeya, PM, Leponce, M, Van den Broeck, D, Verbeeck, H, Würsten, B, Leirs, H and Verheyen, E (2018) Science advances 4, eaar6603.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Vliet, N, Muhindo, J, Kambale Nyumu, J, Mushagalusa, O and Nasi, R (2018) Mammal depletion processes as evidenced from spatially explicit and temporal local ecological knowledge. Tropical Conservation Science 11, 1–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vancutsem, C, Pekel, JF, Evrard, C, Malaisse, F and Defourny, P (2009) Mapping and characterizing the vegetation types of the Democratic Republic of Congo using SPOT VEGETATION time series. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation 11, 62–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vanden Abeele, S, Janssens, SB, Asimonyio Anio, J, Bawin, Y, Depecker, J, Kambale, B, Mwanga Mwanga, I, Ebele, T, Ntore, S, Stoffelen, P and Vandelook, F (2021) Genetic diversity of wild and cultivated Coffea canephora in northeastern DR Congo and the implications for conservation. American Journal of Botany 108, 2425–2434.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
West, PC, Gibbs, HK, Monfreda, C, Wagner, J, Barford, CC, Carpenter, SR and Foley, JA (2010) Trading carbon for food: global comparison of carbon stocks vs. crop yields on agricultural land. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 107, 19645–19648.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wickham, H (2016) ggplot2: Elegant Graphics for Data Analysis. New York: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wittmann, F, Schongart, J, Montero, JC, Motzer, T, Junk, WJ, Piedade, MTF, Queiroz, HL and Worbes, M (2006) Tree species composition and diversity gradients in white-water forests across the Amazon Basin. Journal of Biogeography 33, 1334–1347.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Depecker et al. supplementary material

Appendix S1

Download Depecker et al. supplementary material(File)
File 34.5 KB
Supplementary material: File

Depecker et al. supplementary material

Appendix S2

Download Depecker et al. supplementary material(File)
File 16.2 KB
Supplementary material: File

Depecker et al. supplementary material

Appendix S2

Download Depecker et al. supplementary material(File)
File 14 KB