Poster (Scientific congresses and symposiums)
Impacts of past Human disturbances on present-day tree species assembly in a tropical forest of South-East Cameroon
Vleminckx, Jason; Doucet, Jean-Louis; Daïnou, Kasso et al.
2013Symposium Paul Duvigneaud
 

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Keywords :
Ecology; Central Africa; Forest dynamics; Anthropogenic disturbance; Charcoal; Tropical forests
Abstract :
[en] Many evidence have been found for intensive past Human presence in the forests of Central Africa, notably widespread charcoal occurrence in the soil. Forest clearing for slash-and-burn agriculture may have favored the competitiveness of light-demanding species (LD) to the detriment of shade-bearer species (SB). Hypothesis: Positive correlation between abundance of charcoal in the soil (proxy for past Human clearing) and abundance of LD.Mostly “young” charcoals were thought to reflect past Human disturbances that would have shaped present-day species assembly. However, CAI 0-20cm and CAI 20-100cm were highly correlated with each other (r-Pearson = 0.55; P<0.001) and both displayed positive correlations with Non-Pioneer LD abundance (significant with a classic test) and negative correlations with SB abundance. Although this observation is coherent with our hypothesis, significance disappeared when correcting for spatial autocorrelation [4], even after removing small-diameter trees potentially too young to be linked with last Human disturbances (not shown). Correlation of CAI between the two soil layers => Humans found appropriate conditions for settlement in the same area at different periods? Absence of significant correlation in ❸ (i) Last Human disturbances are too old to detect any signal on present-day tree species assembly. (ii) Human impact is weak compared to other factors (soil properties, dispersal limitation,…) (iii) Local scale heterogeneity of LD abundance is weak compared to landscape scale. Parallel large scale gradients in the abundance of Non-Pioneer LD and charcoal abundance (proxy for past slash-and-burn activities) were observed, but a causal link cannot be established so far.
Disciplines :
Environmental sciences & ecology
Life sciences: Multidisciplinary, general & others
Author, co-author :
Vleminckx, Jason;  Université Libre de Bruxelles - ULB > EBE
Doucet, Jean-Louis ;  Université de Liège - ULiège > Forêts, Nature et Paysage > Laboratoire de Foresterie des régions trop. et subtropicales
Daïnou, Kasso  ;  Université de Liège - ULiège > Forêts, Nature et Paysage > Gestion des ressources forestières et des milieux naturels
Gillet, Jean-François ;  Université de Liège - ULiège > Forêts, Nature et Paysage > Gestion des ressources forestières et des milieux naturels
Morin-Rivat, Julie ;  Université de Liège - ULiège > Forêts, Nature et Paysage > Laboratoire de Foresterie des régions trop. et subtropicales
Drouet, Thomas;  Université Libre de Bruxelles - ULB
Hardy, Olivier;  Université Libre de Bruxelles - ULB > EBE
Language :
English
Title :
Impacts of past Human disturbances on present-day tree species assembly in a tropical forest of South-East Cameroon
Publication date :
06 November 2013
Number of pages :
A0
Event name :
Symposium Paul Duvigneaud
Event organizer :
Université Libre de Bruxelles
Event place :
Bruxelles, Belgium
Event date :
du 5 au 6 novembre 2013
Name of the research project :
FRFC "Dynamique des populations d'arbres et d'herbacées héliophiles..."
Funders :
FRIA - Fonds pour la Formation à la Recherche dans l'Industrie et dans l'Agriculture [BE]
Available on ORBi :
since 10 November 2013

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