Staff directory

Hans Beeckman

Biology
Wood biology

Herbaxylaredd

Interdisciplinary exploitation of the federal Herbarium and Xylarium for tropical forest management

Tropical forests are in the focus of international efforts on climate change mitigation and biodiversity preservation. Up-to-date forest management, conservation and enforcement mechanisms need to be founded on solid science. Worldwide, the federal Xylarium (RMCA) and Herbarium (Botanic Garden Meise) are by far the most important reference collections for Central African forests. Still, they can both be considered ‘sleeping beauties’ because substantial scientific research is necessary to exploit fully the invaluable information sources and to make the collection databases compatible with international databases online available (TRY, DRYAD, GBIF, GlobAllomeTree). In order to renew, complement and strengthen the reference value of both the Herbarium and the Xylarium, HERBAXYLAREDD aims at generating knowledge, through analysis of specimens’ traits and meta-data, on Central African forest ecosystems and forest products. Newly generated data will allow exploring functional strategies, growth and the genetic structure of tree species, an optimized distribution map of tree species, technological aspects of lesser used timber species, carbon stocks of forests and energy content of Central African woody species. Given the high diversity, we will focus on the following target groups: undergrowth versus dominant forest species, lesser used timbers and species for bio-energy. The study of each of these target groups, especially the species classified as commercial (e.g., Class I, II and III in the Democratic Republic of Congo), involves specific scientific questions and will provide quantitative data needed for policy-making. Our research will focus on the forest ecosystem dynamics as well as on the material features of the forest products, especially wood: 1. The presence of both herbarium vouchers and wood samples not only enables botanical validation but also offers a unique opportunity to measure leaf, seed and wood traits of the same individual. Wood traits of xylarium samples will be compared with other plant traits. Moreover, for some particular cases, stem disks are available, which allow to study the link between the general plant traits and growth characteristics. This way, the diversity of functional strategies within the African tree flora can be unraveled as well as the relations between functional traits, growth performance and species distribution. 2. As current logging in the tropics is limited to a very small number of tree species, populations of these species are under very high pressure. Knowledge on the role of lesser used tree species is therefore critical because without information on the wood characteristics of these tree species, forest companies will not take the risk of logging them. A screening of xylarium samples based on color, density and dimensional stability will result in a substantially enlarged body of knowledge on African wood species. When focusing on the exceptional values related to dimensional stability and/or mechanical properties in comparison with density, species or species groups can be identified for high value applications such as exterior joinery or music instruments. At the same time, a selection of relevant species for fuelwood can be made to support the development of local livelihoods. HERBAXYLAREDD is a unique opportunity to combine data from the Herbarium of the Botanic Garden Meise and the Xylarium of the RMCA in Tervuren. Parts of these collections are directly linked because herbarium vouchers and wood samples of the same tree were collected and separately stored in the two collections. For a combined uplift of both collections to an international reference level, the expertise of the Botanic Garden Meise and the RMCA will profit from the aid of other specialists. The two research institutes cover the fields of wood anatomy, dendrochronology, genetics and botany, but knowledge on plant ecology (Adeline Fayolle, ULg), wood technology (Joris Van Acker, UGent), metabolites of wood (Edgard Espinoza, FWS) and cartography (Jean-Pierre Mweru Mate, ERAIFT) would substantially improve the data than can be obtained based on the collections. Thus, the network of HERBAXYLAREDD includes 4 Belgian institutions and 2 international partners with complementary skills and enforces all collaborators to closely interact through collective projects at a national (XYLAREDD, COBIMFO, XYLADATE) and international level (UNESCO, DGD), next to a large number of shared PhD projects in Belgium and Africa. The ongoing XYLAREDD project (ending in May 2015) is to be considered as a pilot study on a limited number of specimens from two Biosphere Reserves. Thanks to the first results of that project and the contact with the current partners, the concept of HERBAXYLAREDD was born. HERBAXYLAREDD will allow a further validation and broadening of XYLAREDD. All Belgian partners have a prolonged record of research in Central Africa and mutual bilateral collaborations running. The first international partner is a regional African research institute (ERAIFT) that has joint PhDs with the Belgian federal institutions and extended expertise in cartography, management and conservation issues of the Central African region. The American partner (FWS) runs a highly specialized laboratory with lots of experience on metabolites of wood in the context of enforcing laws and regulations of timber trade, including CITES. The project is structured in work packages (WP), encouraging interaction between scientific partners working on the same plant (leaf/seed/wood) material but with different and complementary approaches. First, the number of herbarium and xylarium samples in common within the Congo Basin will be determined by screening both collections. Herbarium vouchers can be used for the botanical validation of the wood specimens and the combined ‘voucher-wood’ dataset will be structured in a standardized way (WP1). Once this framework is set, the implementation of the renewed database can start (WP2). Within this work package, all partners will be involved in the measurements and analyses of traits on samples from the Herbarium and/or the Xylarium. The results of WP1 and 2 will be used for the analysis of the functional ecology of African tree species (WP3), the mapping of species’ distributions with special attention for (potentially) commercial species (Class I, II and III in the DRC) (WP4), the study of wood technological aspects of lesser used timber species (WP5) and the development of identification keys/atlases (WP6). Next to these research activities, two transversal WP’s are present throughout HERBAXYLAREDD for the project coordination (WP7) and the dissemination of results to all stakeholders like policy-makers, enforcement officers, collection curators and the international research community (WP8). In the end, a complete description of a considerable number of tree species will be available and offers direct perspectives for further projects or PhDs in several disciplines, as illustrated by the two mentioned research axes. The resulting data of HERBAXYLAREDD, set in a region where the lack of data is still persistent and fieldwork is difficult, will also be used to produce policy underpinning tools that help the enforcement of conservation mechanisms (e.g., wood density data for the estimation of carbon stocks in a REDD+ context) and certification systems (e.g., the distribution of species and their growth performance for the estimation of sustainable production). Moreover, identification keys will be produced based on wood anatomical features and molecular components. Those keys are not only meant for experts but will particularly be developed for use by, e.g., customs in developed as well as in developing countries in such a way that customs will be able to separate material that needs to be send for analysis in specialized chemical and/or microscopical laboratories. International conservation mechanisms and conventions like CITES are in need of quantitative data on protected or endangered tree species that can be delivered in a comprehensive way by this project. Finally, both the Xylarium and Herbarium have an open access online database that will be adapted to insert all newly generated data whereas existing specialized databases (e.g., African plant traits (Fayolle et al., unpubl. data), DRYAD database for wood density) will also be provided with the newly generated information on specific traits. Thus, a unique reference collection on African tree species traits will be available, encouraging (African) scientists to study new case-studies, to expand the number of tree species, to gain more insight in the Central African forest ecosystem and to transform the knowledge from integrative databases into (national) strategies for sustainable forest management, forest conservation and financial compensation for carbon stocks.

Principal investigator:

  • Hans Beeckman
  • Dates:

    2015 2019

    External collaborators:

    Steven Jansen
    Piet Stoffelen
    Adéline Fayolle
    Joris Van Acker
    Olivier Hardy