Christian Amani

Université Officielle de Bukavu

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Corneille E. N. Ewango

Wildlife Conservation Society Congo

Wannes Hubau

Ghent University

Oliver L. Phillips

University of Leeds

Jason Vleminckx

Université Libre de Bruxelles

Olivier J. Hardy

Université Libre de Bruxelles

Murielle Simo‐Droissart

Université de Yaoundé I

Simon L. Lewis

University College London

Hermann Taedoumg

Université de Yaoundé I

Martin J. P. Sullivan

Manchester Metropolitan University

Ted R. Feldpausch

University of Exeter

Cooperative Institutions

National Institute of Amazonian Research

108

Université du Québec à Montréal

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council

University of Leeds

University of Edinburgh

Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

University of Oxford

John Wiley & Sons (United States)

Wageningen University & Research

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ECAT: Endemic and sub-endemic Central African Trees

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) (2021)

Wesley Tack Henry Engledow Nuno Veríssimo Pereira Christian Amani Steven P. Bachman

This specimen-based occurrence dataset was compiled in the framework of the Conservation of Endemic Central African Trees (ECAT) project with the aim of producing global conservation assessments for the IUCN Red List. Funding for the ECAT project was provided by the Franklinia Foundation. The project targets all tree species endemic or sub-endemic to the Central African region comprising the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Burundi. The dataset contains 6363 records with occurrences of 8904 specimens from 337 taxa belonging to 153 genera in 52 families. Many of these taxa have restricted geographic ranges and are only known from a small number of herbarium specimens. As assessments for such taxa can be compromised by inadequate data, we transcribed and georeferenced label information to obtain a more accurate and complete locality dataset. All specimen data were manually cleaned and verified by botanical experts, resulting in improved data quality and consistency. Character encoding: UTF-8 Format name: Darwin Core Archive format Format version: 1.2 Metadata language: English Provided fields: basisOfRecord, occurrenceID, materialSampleID, catalogNumber, recordNumber, recordedBy, occurrenceStatus, associatedReferences, otherCatalogNumbers, occurrenceRemarks, eventDate, year, month, day, habitat, continent, country, countryCode, stateProvince, locality, verbatimElevation, verbatimCoordinates, decimalLatitude, decimalLongitude, geodeticDatum, georeferenceRemarks, identificationRemarks, scientificName, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, specificEpithet, infraspecificEpithet, taxonRank, taxonRemarks

10.5281/zenodo.5608171

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Taking the pulse of Earth's tropical forests using networks of highly distributed plots

Biological Conservation (2021)

ForestPlots.net Cecilia Blundo Julieta Carilla Ricardo Grau Agustina Malizia

Grassroots

Tropical climate

Tropical forest

Earth system science

Citizen Science

10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108849

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Large range sizes link fast life histories with high species richness across wet tropical tree floras

Scientific Reports (2025)

Timothy R. Baker Stephen Adu‐Bredu Kofi Affum‐Baffoe Shin‐ichiro Aiba Perpetra Akite

Understanding how the traits of lineages are related to diversification is key for elucidating the origin of variation in species richness. Here, we test whether traits are related to species richness among lineages of trees from all major biogeographical settings of the lowland wet tropics. We explore whether variation in mortality rate, breeding system and maximum diameter are related to species richness, either directly or via associations with range size, among 463 genera that contain wet tropical forest trees. For Amazonian genera, we also explore whether traits are related to species richness via variation among genera in mean species-level range size. Lineages with higher mortality rates—faster life-history strategies—have larger ranges in all biogeographic settings and have higher mean species-level range sizes in Amazonia. These lineages also have smaller maximum diameters and, in the Americas, contain dioecious species. In turn, lineages with greater overall range size have higher species richness. Our results show that fast life-history strategies influence species richness in all biogeographic settings because lineages with these ecological strategies have greater range sizes. These links suggest that dispersal has been a key process in the evolution of the tropical forest flora.

10.1038/s41598-024-84367-3

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An assessment of distance decay within woody forest layers in Central African’s semi-deciduous forests

Christian Amani

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Co-limitation towards lower latitudes shapes global forest diversity gradients

Nature Ecology & Evolution (2022)

Jingjing Liang Javier G. P. Gamarra Nicolas Picard Mo Zhou Bryan C. Pijanowski

Global Change

Temperate forest

10.1038/s41559-022-01831-x

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Impact of fine‐scale edaphic heterogeneity on tree species assembly in a central African rainforest

Journal of Vegetation Science (2014)

Jason Vleminckx Thomas Drouet Christian Amani Janvier Lisingo Jean Lejoly

Abstract Questions Soil properties have been shown to partially explain tree species distribution in tropical forests. Locally, species turnover across space can result not only from edaphic heterogeneities but also from limited seed dispersal. To characterize the contribution of each process, contact areas between contrasted soil types offer ideal settings. In the present study, we aimed to test species and species assemblage responses to a sharp edaphic discontinuity in a tropical forest tree community. Location Yoko forest reserve (6975 ha), Democratic Republic of the Congo. Methods We set up four 500–600‐m long parallel transects crossing two contrasted edaphic habitats, one lying on clayey soil and the other on sandy soil. The canopy and subcanopy trees were identified and geo‐referenced along the transects over a width of 50 m and 5 m, respectively, and soil samples were collected every 50 m to characterize each habitat. Results Correspondence analyses indicated a clear differentiation of tree communities between sandy and clayey soils. Using a torus‐translation method combined with Chi‐squared non‐parametric tests, we observed that ca. 40% and 18% of the species represented by at least 12 individuals displayed significant density differences according to habitat in the canopy and subcanopy, respectively, although very few species displayed significant differences in their relative abundance. Nevertheless, whole community tests of differentiation (in species relative abundances) between soil types were significant in both strata, even after removing individual species or families displaying a significant habitat preference. Conclusion While only a minority of species displayed a clear habitat preference, we still observed a community‐wide impact of the edaphic discontinuity on species assemblages at a local scale. Our results provide further evidence for the major contribution of environmental heterogeneity in maintaining biodiversity in tropical forests.

Edaphic

10.1111/jvs.12209

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Species Assemblages within Forest Layers in Semi-Deciduous Forests from the Congo Basin: An Analysis of Species Phylogenetic Relationships

International Journal of Research (2014)

Christian Amani Jason Vleminckx Olivier J. Hardy Pierre Meerts Thomas Drouet

Understanding the phylogenetic structures of plant communities is being developed in community ecology. Based on the species coexistence, we analyzed phylogenetic signals within forest layers, using species abundance data as well as their occurrences (presence/absence) within plots. We found that plant communities in the different forest layers express various phylogenetic structures. While the pattern of abundance phylogenetic structure vary among forest layers, all forest layers showed a pattern of spatial phylogenetic clustering (meaning that species cohabiting within a same plot are much related), with some significant values driven by substrate differentiation

Community

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The Forest Observation System, building a global reference dataset for remote sensing of forest biomass

Scientific Data (2019)

Dmitry Schepaschenko Jérôme Chave Oliver L. Phillips Simon L. Lewis Stuart J. Davies

Forest biomass is an essential indicator for monitoring the Earth's ecosystems and climate. It is a critical input to greenhouse gas accounting, estimation of carbon losses and forest degradation, assessment of renewable energy potential, and for developing climate change mitigation policies such as REDD+, among others. Wall-to-wall mapping of aboveground biomass (AGB) is now possible with satellite remote sensing (RS). However, RS methods require extant, up-to-date, reliable, representative and comparable in situ data for calibration and validation. Here, we present the Forest Observation System (FOS) initiative, an international cooperation to establish and maintain a global in situ forest biomass database. AGB and canopy height estimates with their associated uncertainties are derived at a 0.25 ha scale from field measurements made in permanent research plots across the world's forests. All plot estimates are geolocated and have a size that allows for direct comparison with many RS measurements. The FOS offers the potential to improve the accuracy of RS-based biomass products while developing new synergies between the RS and ground-based ecosystem research communities.

Global Change

10.1038/s41597-019-0196-1

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Impact of substrate heterogeneity on plant diversity within forest layers in a rain forest from the congo Basin

Christian Amani Jason Vleminckx Pierre Meerts J. Lejoly Thomas Drouet

Plant Diversity

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Spatial patterns of light‐demanding tree species in the Yangambi rainforest (Democratic Republic of Congo)

Ecology and Evolution (2021)

Nestor K. Luambua Wannes Hubau Kolawolé Valère Salako Christian Amani Bernard Bonyoma

Abstract Most Central African rainforests are characterized by a remarkable abundance of light‐demanding canopy species: long‐lived pioneers (LLP) and non‐pioneer light demanders (NPLD). A popular explanation is that these forests are still recovering from intense slash‐and‐burn farming activities, which abruptly ended in the 19th century. This “human disturbance” hypothesis has never been tested against spatial distribution patterns of these light demanders. Here, we focus on the 28 most abundant LLP and NPLD from 250 one‐ha plots distributed along eight parallel transects (~50 km) in the Yangambi forest. Four species of short‐lived pioneers (SLP) and a single abundant shade‐tolerant species ( Gilbertiodendron dewevrei ) were used as reference because they are known to be strongly aggregated in recently disturbed patches (SLP) or along watercourses ( G. dewevrei ). Results show that SLP species are strongly aggregated with clear spatial autocorrelation of their diameter. This confirms that they colonized the patch following a one‐time disturbance event. In contrast, LLP and NPLD species have random or weakly aggregated distribution, mostly without spatial autocorrelation of their diameter. This does not unambiguously confirm the “human disturbance” hypothesis. Alternatively, their abundance might be explained by their deciduousness, which gave them a competitive advantage during long‐term drying of the late Holocene. Additionally, a canonical correspondence analysis showed that the observed LLP and NPLD distributions are not explained by environmental variables, strongly contrasting with the results for the reference species G. dewevrei , which is clearly aggregated along watercourses. We conclude that the abundance of LLP and NPLD species in Yangambi cannot be unambiguously attributed to past human disturbances or environmental variables. An alternative explanation is that present‐day forest composition is a result of adaptation to late‐Holocene drying. However, results are inconclusive and additional data are needed to confirm this alternative hypothesis.

10.1002/ece3.8443

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Citations (8)