Seasonal spatial-temporal trends of vegetation recovery in burned areas across Africa.

Africa is entering a new fire paradigm, with climate change and increasing anthropogenic pressure shifting the patterns of frequency and severity. Thus, it is crucial to use available information and technologies to understand vegetation dynamics during the post-fire recovery processes. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the seasonal spatio-temporal trends of vegetation recovery in response to fires across Africa, from 2001 to 2020.

Feedback loops drive ecological succession: towards a unified conceptual framework.

The core principle shared by most theories and models of succession is that, following a major disturbance, plant-environment feedback dynamics drive a directional change in the plant community. The most commonly studied feedback loops are those in which the regrowth of the plant community causes changes to the abiotic (e.g.

Successional theories.

Succession is a fundamental concept in ecology because it indicates how species populations, communities, and ecosystems change over time on new substrate or after a disturbance. A mechanistic understanding of succession is needed to predict how ecosystems will respond to land-use change and to design effective ecosystem restoration strategies. Yet, despite a century of conceptual advances a comprehensive successional theory is lacking.

Multidimensional tropical forest recovery.

Tropical forests disappear rapidly because of deforestation, yet they have the potential to regrow naturally on abandoned lands. We analyze how 12 forest attributes recover during secondary succession and how their recovery is interrelated using 77 sites across the tropics. Tropical forests are highly resilient to low-intensity land use; after 20 years, forest attributes attain 78% (33 to 100%) of their old-growth values.

Fine root dynamics across pantropical rainforest ecosystems.

Fine roots constitute a significant component of the net primary productivity (NPP) of forest ecosystems but are much less studied than aboveground NPP. Comparisons across sites and regions are also hampered by inconsistent methodologies, especially in tropical areas. Here, we present a novel dataset of fine root biomass, productivity, residence time, and allocation in tropical old-growth rainforest sites worldwide, measured using consistent methods, and examine how these variables are related to consistently determined soil and climatic characteristics.

Rainfall seasonality and drought performance shape the distribution of tropical tree species in Ghana.

Tree species distribution in lowland tropical forests is strongly associated with rainfall amount and distribution. Not only plant water availability, but also irradiance, soil fertility, and pest pressure covary along rainfall gradients. To assess the role of water availability in shaping species distribution, we carried out a reciprocal transplanting experiment in gaps in a dry and a wet forest site in Ghana, using 2,670 seedlings of 23 tree species belonging to three contrasting rainfall distributions groups (dry species, ubiquitous species, and wet species).

The effects of drought and shade on the performance, morphology and physiology of Ghanaian tree species.

In tropical forests light and water availability are the most important factors for seedling growth and survival but an increasing frequency of drought may affect tree regeneration. One central question is whether drought and shade have interactive effects on seedling growth and survival. Here, we present results of a greenhouse experiment, in which seedlings of 10 Ghanaian tree species were exposed to combinations of strong seasonal drought (continuous watering versus withholding water for nine weeks) and shade (5% irradiance versus 20% irradiance).