Personeelslijst

Hans Beeckman

Biologie
Houtbiologie

Biospheretraits

Functional traits derived from collections and ecosystem inventories in Central African Biosphere Reserves to study the resilience of tropical forests

A rainforest consists of many species. The question arises how this biome will respond to substantial changes that will stimulate certain species and threaten others. Each species occupies a particular niche within an ecosystem. This niche determines the specialism of the species and makes it functionally different from other species. Differences in ecological functionality are due to morphological, anatomical, biochemical, physiological and phenological differences. Knowledge of functional traits of species is the basis for understanding ecological flexibility and eventually for predictions of ecosystem dynamics following climatological changes and anthropogenic disturbances. For this reason, global change research focuses on plant functional trait analysis. However relevant information on Central Africa is particularly lacking. The project will contribute to the international efforts on trait analysis and will maximally profit from the opportunities provided by the Central African Biosphere Reserves of Luki and Yangambi and connected biological collections. The project will maximally profit from an effective network of scientific collaboration covering both Congolese and international partners, and research expertise on Luki and Yangambi that we acquired the last ten years (including three finished PhD dissertations and several running projects).

Hoofdonderzoeker:

  • Hans Beeckman
  • Datum:

    2014 2016

    Externe partners:

    Piet Stoffelen, Botanice Garden Meise