Leaf traits of understory species are changing in response to climate change in the DRC forests

peer reviewedBackground and aims – While tropical forests play an important role in carbon sequestration, they are assumed to be sensitive to rising temperatures and prolonged drought. Plant functional traits are useful for understanding and predicting the effects of such changes in plant communities. Here, we analyse the variation of leaf traits of understory woody species of the Congo Basin rainforests over a 60-year period using herbaria as tools and we verify if this variation is potentially related to recent climate change. Key results – The variability of the functional traits of the understory woody species are independent of the position of the leaves in the crown. This allows for the use of historic herbarium collections for trait analyses on tropical understory shrubs. The traits of the recently collected leaves were notably different from the traits of herbarium leaves collected in pre-1960: recent leaves were significantly larger, had a higher Specific Leaf Area, a smaller stomata pore length, and, apart from Coffea canephora, showed a lower stomatal density. Conclusion – The difference in traits over time is probably related to the increase in temperature and to atmospheric CO2 concentration, as the average temperature at Yangambi over the past 60 years has shown an upward trend consistent with global increasing CO2 levels, while the average annual rainfall has remained unchanged. Our results provide a first insight into the response of forest species to climate change in the Congo Basin forests, and on how the understory species and the ecosystem will react in the long term, when the temperature further increases.13. Climate actio

Crop-to-wild gene flow in wild coffee species - the case of Coffea canephora in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

peer reviewed[en] BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Plant breeders are increasingly turning to crop wild relatives (CWRs) to ensure food security in a rapidly changing environment. However, CWR populations are confronted with various human-induced threats, including hybridisation with their nearby cultivated crops. This might be especially a problem for wild coffee species, which often occur near coffee cultivation areas. Here, we briefly review the evidence for wild Coffea arabica (cultivated as Arabica coffee) and Coffea canephora (cultivated as Robusta coffee) and then focussed on C. canephora in the Yangambi region in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. There, we examined the geographical distribution of cultivated C. canephora and the incidence of hybridisation between cultivated and wild individuals within the rainforest. METHODS: We collected 71 C. canephora individuals from home gardens and 12 C. canephora individuals from the tropical rainforest in the Yangambi region and genotyped those with Genotyping-by-Sequencing (GBS). We compared those fingerprints with existing GBS data from 388 C. canephora individuals from natural tropical rainforests and the INERA Coffee Collection, a Robusta coffee field gene bank and the most likely source of cultivated genotypes in the area. We then established robust diagnostic fingerprints that genetically differentiate cultivated from wild coffee, identified cultivated-wild hybrids, and mapped their geographical position in the rainforest. KEY RESULTS: We identified cultivated genotypes and cultivated-wild hybrids in zones with clear anthropogenic activity, and where cultivated C. canephora in the home gardens may serve as a source for crop-to-wild gene flow. We found relatively few hybrids and backcrosses in the rainforests. CONCLUSIONS: The cultivation of C. canephora in close proximity to its wild gene pool has led to cultivated genotypes and cultivated-wild hybrids appearing within the natural habitats of C. canephora. Yet, given the high genetic similarity between the cultivated and wild gene pool, together with the relatively low incidence of hybridisation, our results indicate that the overall impact in terms of risk of introgression remains limited so far

Diversité et structure génétiques dans les populations sauvages des caféiers Robusta (Coffea canephora A. Froehner) à Yangambi (RD Congo) et leur relation avec les perturbations forestières.

peer reviewedDegradation and regeneration of tropical forests can strongly affect gene flow in understorey species, resulting in genetic erosion and changes in genetic structure. Yet, these processes remain poorly studied in tropical Africa. Coffea canephora is an economically important species, found in the understorey of tropical rainforests of Central and West Africa, and the genetic diversity harboured in its wild populations is vital for sustainable coffee production worldwide. Here, we aimed to quantify genetic diversity, genetic structure, and pedigree relations in wild C. canephora populations, and we investigated associations between these descriptors and forest disturbance and regeneration. Therefore, we sampled 256 C. canephora individuals within 24 plots across three forest categories in Yangambi (DR Congo), and used genotyping-by-sequencing to identify 18,894 SNPs. Overall, we found high genetic diversity, and no evidence of genetic erosion in C. canephora in disturbed old-growth forest, as compared to undisturbed old-growth forest. In addition, an overall heterozygosity excess was found in all populations, which was expected for a self-incompatible species. Genetic structure was mainly a result of isolation-by-distance, reflecting geographical location, with low to moderate relatedness at finer scales. Populations in regrowth forest had lower allelic richness than populations in old-growth forest and were characterised by a lower inter-individual relatedness and a lack of isolation-by-distance, suggesting that they originated from different neighbouring populations and were subject to founder effects. Wild Robusta coffee populations in the study area still harbour high levels of genetic diversity, yet careful monitoring of their response to ongoing forest degradation remains required

Leaf traits of understory woody species in the Congo Basin forests changed over a 60-year period

Background and aims – While tropical forests play an important role in carbon sequestration, they are assumed to be sensitive to rising temperatures and prolonged drought. Plant functional traits are useful for understanding and predicting the effects of such changes in plant communities. Here, we analyse the variation of leaf traits of understory woody species of the Congo Basin rainforests over a 60-year period using herbaria as tools and we verify if this variation is potentially related to recent climate change. Material and methods – Leaves of five shrub species were collected in 2019–2022 in Congolese old-growth forests (Yangambi Biosphere Reserve, DR Congo) from different positions on the shrub. These leaves were compared with herbarium specimens collected in the same area before 1960. For both periods, we assessed leaf size, specific leaf area, stomatal size, and stomatal density for all species. Key results – The variability of the functional traits of the understory woody species are independent of the position of the leaves in the crown. This allows for the use of historic herbarium collections for trait analyses on tropical understory shrubs. The traits of the recently collected leaves were notably different from the traits of herbarium leaves collected in pre-1960: recent leaves were significantly larger, had a higher Specific Leaf Area, a smaller stomata pore length, and, apart from Coffea canephora, showed a lower stomatal density. Conclusion – The difference in traits over time is probably related to the increase in temperature and to atmospheric CO2 concentration, as the average temperature at Yangambi over the past 60 years has shown an upward trend consistent with global increasing CO2 levels, while the average annual rainfall has remained unchanged. Our results provide a first insight into the response of forest species to climate change in the Congo Basin forests, and on how the understory species and the ecosystem will react in the long term, when the temperature further increases

The association between rainforest disturbance and recovery, tree community composition, and community traits in the Yangambi area in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Jonas

Data for publication The association between rainforest disturbance and recovery, tree community composition, and community traits in the Yangambi area in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Jona

The association between rainforest disturbance and recovery, tree community composition, and community traits in the Yangambi area in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

peer reviewedDespite their key role in biodiversity conservation, forests in the Congo Basin are increasingly threatened by human activities, but it remains challenging to assess the impact of forest degradation under a more or less intact canopy. Likewise, forest recovery following agricultural abandonment remains poorly understood in the Congo Basin. Here, we surveyed 125 vegetation quadrats across 25 forest inventory plots in the Yangambi area. We aimed to find associations between both selective logging and forest recovery, and a range of forest community and tree community trait characteristics, as compared to reference undisturbed old-growth forest. We found that plots in undisturbed old-growth forest harboured both more tree individuals and tree species with a higher wood density as compared to plots in disturbed old-growth forest. In addition, their tree community composition was significantly different, whereas species diversity recovered since relatively recent agricultural abandonment (< 60 years), community composition and forest structure remained significantly different from the plots in undisturbed old-growth forest. Our study provides some insights into the rate of forest recovery in the Congo basin after agricultural abandonment and highlights the need of proper conservation of the remaining relatively undisturbed old-growth forests. Finally, we stress the need for more extensive vegetation surveys in the Congo Basin to further unravel the effects of anthropogenic disturbance

Crop-to-wild gene flow in wild coffee species : the case of Coffea canephora in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Background and aims: Plant breeders are increasingly turning to crop wild relatives (CWRs) to ensure food security in a rapidly changing environment. However, CWR populations are confronted with various human-induced threats, including hybridization with their nearby cultivated crops. This might be a particular problem for wild coffee species, which often occur near coffee cultivation areas. Here, we briefly review the evidence for wild Coffea arabica (cultivated as Arabica coffee) and Coffea canephora (cultivated as Robusta coffee) and then focused on C. canephora in the Yangambi region in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. There, we examined the geographical distribution of cultivated C. canephora and the incidence of hybridization between cultivated and wild individuals within the rainforest. Methods: We collected 71 C. canephora individuals from home gardens and 12 C. canephora individuals from the tropical rainforest in the Yangambi region and genotyped them using genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS). We compared the fingerprints with existing GBS data from 388 C. canephora individuals from natural tropical rainforests and the INERA Coffee Collection, a Robusta coffee field gene bank and the most probable source of cultivated genotypes in the area. We then established robust diagnostic fingerprints that genetically differentiate cultivated from wild coffee, identified cultivated-wild hybrids and mapped their geographical position in the rainforest. Key results: We identified cultivated genotypes and cultivated-wild hybrids in zones with clear anthropogenic activity, and where cultivated C. canephora in home gardens may serve as a source for crop-to-wild gene flow. We found relatively few hybrids and backcrosses in the rainforests. Conclusions: The cultivation of C. canephora in close proximity to its wild gene pool has led to cultivated genotypes and cultivated-wild hybrids appearing within the natural habitats of C. canephora. Yet, given the high genetic similarity between the cultivated and wild gene pool, together with the relatively low incidence of hybridization, our results indicate that the overall impact in terms of risk of introgression remains limited so far