Projects
Cobecore
Congo basin eco-climatological data recovery and valorisation
The African rainforest, is the second largest on Earth, covering ~630 million ha. The rainforest stores up to 66 Pg of carbon and is presently a persistent carbon sink (0.34Pg C yr-1)1. In addition, African rainforests support the forestry sector which contributes 3-6% of the gross domestic product (GDP) across the Congo Basin with most foreign export directed to Europe. As such, the African rainforest currently represent both a local and foreign (EU) economic driver. Yet, predictions regarding the future climate and the state of the forest remain uncertain in part due to a lack of legacy data which provides the necessary climatological and ecological context for current research in the Congo Basin (e.g. the BELSPO Congo Basin integrated monitoring for forest carbon mitigation and biodiversity).
Long-term eco-climatological records – measuring the past to predict the future | Our understanding of forest ecosystem responses to climatic change relies heavily on consistent long-term observations2,3to provide much needed baseline measurements. However, observing and measuring tropical plant species and the climatic conditions in which they reside is extremely demanding, particularly in the central Congo Basin. Consequently, established long-term observation programs are rare. For example in terms of meteorological observations, the central Congo Basin is currently represented by only a few rain gauges, seriously limiting climate forecasts across the Congo Basin4,5. Similarly, few long term forest inventory plots exist for the central Congo Basin6 limiting the accuracy of biomass estimates and our understanding of forest structure and function7,8. This lack of long-term (historical) eco-climatological data leaves the central Congo Basin spatially and temporally under-represented. However, old climate records could provide valuable information about previous growing conditions of the forest.
Indeed, ecologically relevant data such as historical forest inventory plots which describe forest canopy structure, and leaf level traits derived from herbarium specimen, such as stomatal density and specific leaf area, can elucidate how the forest has changed over time in response to past climate change9. In particular, studies demonstrated a strong link between plant functional traits and prevailing climatic conditions9. As such, valuable insights can be obtained on how plants are affected by climate change from measuring a limited number of (leaf) functional traits. Strong clustering of leaf traits also implies that changes in environmental conditions can cause profound shifts in plant community structure and ecosystem functioning10. Therefore, functional traits could enable us to predict ecosystem functions, such as primary production, carbon sinks and nutrient pools and fluxes under a changing climate. Although traits are continuously being recorded, how functional traits are changing in time is a topic not often addressed.
Unexplored heritage, and retrospective analysis – an opportunity | There is an urgent need for more long-term eco-climatological (baseline) measurements. Currently, large amounts of ecological and climatological data, approximately five decades (~1910 – 1960), exists as unexplored heritage, stored in various federal archives and collections. Within this context the archives of the Institut National d’Etudes Agronomique du Congo Belge (INEAC) at the State Archives (SA, INEAC March 2013, nr 1546, National Archives), the Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA) and the herbarium collections of the Botanic Garden Meise (BGM), with its large collection of tropical African plant specimens and complementary legacy data, are key. The inventory of these archives includes historic forestry, climatological, ecological, biodiversity data and aerial photographs, with great potential and relevance for current and future basic and applied forestry research in the central Congo Basin, particularly within the context of climate change. As of yet, a comprehensive dataset of long-term eco-climatological legacy data for the central Congo Basin is lacking.
COBECORE – a comprehensive synthesis | COBECORE brings together an interdisciplinary network of partners, including the main institutes curating eco-climatological legacy data of the central Congo Basin. The global objective of this 4-year project is to establish baseline measurements necessary in long-term ecological and climatological research, valorizing as of yet unexplored heritage. To this end, COBECORE will develop a multi-faceted database, by making the static analog INEAC archives digitally accessible and extracting eco-physiological relevant plant traits from historic BGM herbarium specimens. In order to speed up data processing, and provide highly visible public outreach, we will crowd-source transcription of the climatological data and stomatal density counts.
In particular, this database will include: 1) long-term historical (baseline) climatological measurements throughout the Congo Basin, 2) detailed forest inventories at the Yangambi and Luki research stations (see Fig. 2), 3) geo-referencing of historic aerial photographs and derived structural canopy properties around the Yangambi research station, 4) leaf and wood traits with eco-physiological importance derived from historical herbarium specimen (e.g. stomatal density, gwmax, anatomical wood features) from the Yangambi and Luki regions. The final database will allow for direct applications using contemporary scientific methods such as climate re-analysis, climate forecasting, forest ecosystem modelling and could guide sustainable forestry policies.