Publications by authors named "John Tshibamba Mukendi"
Understanding how the traits of lineages are related to diversification is key for elucidating the origin of variation in species richness. Here, we test whether traits are related to species richness among lineages of trees from all major biogeographical settings of the lowland wet tropics. We explore whether variation in mortality rate, breeding system and maximum diameter are related to species richness, either directly or via associations with range size, among 463 genera that contain wet tropical forest trees.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTrees structure the Earth's most biodiverse ecosystem, tropical forests. The vast number of tree species presents a formidable challenge to understanding these forests, including their response to environmental change, as very little is known about most tropical tree species. A focus on the common species may circumvent this challenge.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCo-limitation towards lower latitudes shapes global forest diversity gradients.
Nat Ecol Evol
October 2022
Article Synopsis
- The latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG) reflects a global trend showing that species richness typically increases towards the tropics, but understanding its causes has been challenging due to insufficient data.
- A new high-resolution map of local tree species richness was created using extensive global forest inventory data and local biophysical factors, analyzing around 1.3 million sample plots.
- Findings indicate that annual mean temperature is a significant predictor of tree species richness, aligning with the metabolic theory of biodiversity, but additional local factors also play a crucial role, especially in tropical regions.
Resistance of African tropical forests to an extreme climate anomaly.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
May 2021
The responses of tropical forests to environmental change are critical uncertainties in predicting the future impacts of climate change. The positive phase of the 2015-2016 El Niño Southern Oscillation resulted in unprecedented heat and low precipitation in the tropics with substantial impacts on the global carbon cycle. The role of African tropical forests is uncertain as their responses to short-term drought and temperature anomalies have yet to be determined using on-the-ground measurements.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Structurally intact tropical forests contributed significantly to global carbon sequestration in the 1990s and early 2000s, absorbing about 15% of human-caused CO2 emissions.
- A study comparing African and Amazonian forests found that while African forests have maintained a stable carbon sink over three decades, Amazonian forests are experiencing a long-term decline in carbon absorption due to increased tree mortality.
- Recent trends suggest a potential increase in carbon losses in African forests post-2010, indicating that both regions are facing different challenges regarding their carbon sinks and may experience declines in the future.
The persistence of carbon in the African forest understory.
Nat Plants
February 2019
Article Synopsis
- Understanding how forests store carbon is important for climate change!
- Scientists studied the age of carbon in different parts of African tropical forests and found that smaller understory trees hold carbon longer than taller trees!
- This means we need to pay more attention to all parts of the forest for better conservation and carbon tracking!
Tropical forests are global centres of biodiversity and carbon storage. Many tropical countries aspire to protect forest to fulfil biodiversity and climate mitigation policy targets, but the conservation strategies needed to achieve these two functions depend critically on the tropical forest tree diversity-carbon storage relationship. Assessing this relationship is challenging due to the scarcity of inventories where carbon stocks in aboveground biomass and species identifications have been simultaneously and robustly quantified.
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