The persistence of carbon in the African forest understory (original) (raw)

Data availability

The input data and R-scripts to generate the figures and tables are available for download using the following private link: https://figshare.com/s/06c793575d3b52ef5574. Images of wood cores are available using the following link: https://figshare.com/s/e6101fe7d330f8ea140a. This folder also contains all annotation documents needed to visualize growth ring boundaries on the wood samples (please consult the README document for guidelines). Wood samples used to conduct this analysis are stored in the Tervuren xylarium (http://www.africamuseum.be/collections/browsecollections/naturalsciences/earth/xylarium). These samples may be studied, within the Tervuren xylarium, on request addressed to the curator H.B. (hans.beeckman@africamuseum.be) or the corresponding author W.H. (whubau@gmail.com).

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Acknowledgements

Nkulapark: W.H. and T.D.M. were both funded by the Brain programme of the Belgian Federal Government (BR/132/A1/AFRIFORD and BR/143/A3/HERBAXYLAREDD). The PhD project of T.D.M and the tenure track of J.V.d.B. were supported by Ghent University Special Research Fund (BOF). Fieldwork was sponsored by the King Leopold III fund for nature exploration and conservation. B.A.I. is supported by the Institut National pour l’Étude et la Recherche Agronomiques en R.D.Congo (INERA- RDC- Luki) and the École Régionale Postuniversitaire d’Aménagement et de Gestion intégrés des Forêts et Territoires tropicaux (ERAIFT Kinshasa). We thank WWF-RDC (G. Lejeune), INERA and ERAIFT for facilitating fieldwork in the Luki Reserve. We thank the INERA employees (J.-B. Ndunga, J.-M., F. Mbungu Phaka, L. Ngoma, P. Noble), the WWF ecoguards and the students of the Universities of Kinshasa (UNIKIN) and Boma for assistance in the field. For assistance with datasets we thank M. De Groot, K. Lievens, P. Dekeyser, S. Willen and J. Kempenaers. The 23 permanent inventory plots: This paper is also a product of the AfriTRON network, for which we are indebted to hundreds of institutions, field assistants and local communities for establishing and maintaining the plots. This network has been supported by the European Research Council (291585, ‘T-FORCES’ – Tropical Forests in the Changing Earth System, Advanced Grant to O.L.P. and S.L.L.), the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (no. 283080, ‘GEOCARBON’) and Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Consortium Grant ‘TROBIT’ (no. NE/D005590/1), ‘BIO-RED’ (no. NE/N012542/1) and a NERC New Investigators Grant, the Royal Society, the Centre for International Forestry (CIFOR) and Gabon’s National Parks Agency (ANPN). We are indebted to the University of Yaounde I, the National Herbarium of Yaounde, Rougier-Gabon, the Marien Ngouabi University of Brazzaville, WCS-Congo, Salonga National Park, WCS-D.R.Congo and the University of Kisangani for logistical support in Africa.

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: W. Hubau, T. De Mil.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Service of Wood Biology, Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium
    Wannes Hubau, Tom De Mil, Bhély Angoboy Ilondea, Laurent Nsenga, Benjamin Toirambe, Camille Couralet, Nils Bourland, Sofie Dierickx, Emmanuel Kasongo Yakusu, Mélissa Rousseau, John Tshibamba Mukendi & Hans Beeckman
  2. UGent-Woodlab, Laboratory of Wood Technology, Department of Environment, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
    Wannes Hubau, Tom De Mil, Jan Van den Bulcke, Joris Van Acker, Victor Deklerck & Emmanuel Kasongo Yakusu
  3. School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
    Wannes Hubau, Oliver L. Phillips, Martin J. P. Sullivan, Serge K. Begne, Timothy R. Baker, Martin Gilpin, Gabriela Lopez-Gonzalez, Georgia Pickavance, Joey Talbot & Simon L. Lewis
  4. Centre for X-ray Tomography , Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
    Jan Van den Bulcke, Joris Van Acker & Victor Deklerck
  5. Institut National pour l’Étude et la Recherche Agronomique, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
    Bhély Angoboy Ilondea
  6. École Régionale Postuniversitaire d’Aménagement et de Gestion intégrés des Forêts et Territoires tropicaux , Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
    Bhély Angoboy Ilondea
  7. Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Penicuik, UK
    Lindsay F. Banin
  8. Plant Systematic and Ecology Laboratory, Higher Teachers’ Training College, University of Yaounde, Yaounde, Cameroon
    Serge K. Begne, Marie-Noel D. Kamdem, Bonaventure Sonké, Hermann Taedoumg & Lise Zemagho
  9. CIFOR, Bogor, Indonesia
    Nils Bourland & Terry Sunderland
  10. Forest Resources Management, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
    Nils Bourland & Jean-Louis Doucet
  11. Resources and Synergies Development, Singapore, Singapore
    Nils Bourland & Mélissa Rousseau
  12. Rougier-Gabon, Libreville, Gabon
    Eric Chezeaux
  13. Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
    Connie J. Clark & John R. Poulsen
  14. Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, London, UK
    Murray Collins
  15. Inventory and Monitoring Program, National Park Service, Fredericksburg, VA, USA
    James A. Comiskey
  16. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
    James A. Comiskey
  17. Department of Geography, University College London, London, UK
    Aida Cuni-Sanchez & Simon L. Lewis
  18. Department of Geography and Environment, University of York, York, UK
    Aida Cuni-Sanchez
  19. Wildlife Conservation Society-DR Congo, Kinshasa I, Democratic Republic of the Congo
    Corneille E. N. Ewango, Jean-Remy Makana & Jacques Mukinzi
  20. Centre de Formation et de Recherche en Conservation Forestière , Epulu, Democratic Republic of the Congo
    Corneille E. N. Ewango
  21. Faculté de Gestion de Ressources Naturelles Renouvelables, Université de Kisangani, Kisangani, Democratic Republic of the Congo
    Corneille E. N. Ewango, Emmanuel Kasongo Yakusu, Faustin M. Mbayu & John Tshibamba Mukendi
  22. Geography, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
    Ted R. Feldpausch
  23. National Herbarium, Yaounde, Cameroon
    Christelle Gonmadje
  24. ForestGEO, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panamá, Republic of Panama
    Jefferson S. Hall
  25. Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
    David J. Harris
  26. Service d’Évolution Biologique et écologie, Faculté des Sciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
    Olivier J. Hardy & Jason Vleminckx
  27. Faculty of Science, Department of Botany and Plant Physiology, University of Buea, Buea, Cameroon
    Marie-Noel D. Kamdem
  28. Environmental Change Institute, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
    Yadvinder Malhi & Sam Moore
  29. Salonga National Park, Kinshasa I, Democratic Republic of the Congo
    Jacques Mukinzi
  30. Bureau Waardenburg, Culemborg, the Netherlands
    Jan Reitsma
  31. Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
    Terry Sunderland
  32. Faculté des Sciences Appliquées, Université de Mbujimayi, Mbujimayi, Democratic Republic of the Congo
    John Tshibamba Mukendi
  33. Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, New Haven, CT, USA
    Peter M. Umunay
  34. Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA
    Jason Vleminckx
  35. Agence Nationale des Parcs Nationaux, Libreville, Gabon
    Lee J. T. White
  36. Institut de Recherche en Écologie Tropicale, Libreville, Gabon
    Lee J. T. White
  37. School of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK
    Lee J. T. White

Authors

  1. Wannes Hubau
  2. Tom De Mil
  3. Jan Van den Bulcke
  4. Oliver L. Phillips
  5. Bhély Angoboy Ilondea
  6. Joris Van Acker
  7. Martin J. P. Sullivan
  8. Laurent Nsenga
  9. Benjamin Toirambe
  10. Camille Couralet
  11. Lindsay F. Banin
  12. Serge K. Begne
  13. Timothy R. Baker
  14. Nils Bourland
  15. Eric Chezeaux
  16. Connie J. Clark
  17. Murray Collins
  18. James A. Comiskey
  19. Aida Cuni-Sanchez
  20. Victor Deklerck
  21. Sofie Dierickx
  22. Jean-Louis Doucet
  23. Corneille E. N. Ewango
  24. Ted R. Feldpausch
  25. Martin Gilpin
  26. Christelle Gonmadje
  27. Jefferson S. Hall
  28. David J. Harris
  29. Olivier J. Hardy
  30. Marie-Noel D. Kamdem
  31. Emmanuel Kasongo Yakusu
  32. Gabriela Lopez-Gonzalez
  33. Jean-Remy Makana
  34. Yadvinder Malhi
  35. Faustin M. Mbayu
  36. Sam Moore
  37. Jacques Mukinzi
  38. Georgia Pickavance
  39. John R. Poulsen
  40. Jan Reitsma
  41. Mélissa Rousseau
  42. Bonaventure Sonké
  43. Terry Sunderland
  44. Hermann Taedoumg
  45. Joey Talbot
  46. John Tshibamba Mukendi
  47. Peter M. Umunay
  48. Jason Vleminckx
  49. Lee J. T. White
  50. Lise Zemagho
  51. Simon L. Lewis
  52. Hans Beeckman

Contributions

W.H., T.D.M., J.V.d.B., J.V.A. and H.B. conceived and designed the Nkulapark study and S.L.L. conceived the AfriTRON plot network. T.D.M. and B.A.I. coordinated collection of Nkulapark data and wood cores. T.D.M. and J.V.d.B. measured growth ring series. W.H. carried out the data analysis and wrote the paper. S.L.L., O.L.P., T.R.B. and Y.M. conceived the ForestPlots.net database, and most co-authors helped collecting AfriTRON forest census data. S.L.L., B.S., S.K.B., A.C.S., W.H., T.S., T.R.F., T.S., C.E.N.E. and L.W.W. coordinated forest plots data collection. M.J.P.S., G.L.G., S.L.L., O.L.P., T.R.B. and G.P. contributed tools to analyse and curate data. All co-authors commented on or approved the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence toWannes Hubau.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Hubau, W., De Mil, T., Van den Bulcke, J. et al. The persistence of carbon in the African forest understory.Nature Plants 5, 133–140 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-018-0316-5

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