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CHALLENGES IN TROPICAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION -

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES

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Challenges in tropical ecology and conservation - global perspectives

IMPRINT

EditorsPierre-Michel Forget – Muséum National d’Histoire NaturelleCatherine Reeb – Sorbonne UniversitéJérémy Migliore – Université Libre de BruxellesHeike Kuhlmann – KCS Kuhlmann Convention Service

Concept, Layout and [email protected]

This book is available at www.gtoe.deISBN: 978-3-00-059300-0

The respective authors are solely responsible for the contents of their contributions in this book.Printed on 100% recycled paper

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Society for Tropical Ecology | Gesellschaft für Tropenökologie e.V.

LOCAL ORGANIZERS & SPONSORING INSTITUTIONS

The organizing committee and the Society for Tropical Ecology would like to thank the following institutions, partners and sponsors for their support:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Welcome and Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Society for Tropical Ecology (Gesellschaft für Tropenökologie e.V., gtö) . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Merian Awards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Local organizers and institutions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Detailed conference program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Plenary sessions – Abstracts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Public lecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Scientific talk sessions – Abstracts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44Session 01 – Tropical marine ecosystems in the Anthropocene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Session 02 – Mangroves functioning and management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54Session 03 – Continental wetlands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66Session 04 – Savanna functioning and dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72Session 05 – Diversification of African forests. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86Session 06 – Acoustic survey in tropical ecosystems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96Session 07 – Advances in canopy science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106Session 08 – Tropical trees ecology and evolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114Session 09 – Free session: Tropical diversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .124Session 10 – Tropical soil ecology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .140Session 11 – Molecular taxonomy and cryptic species in soils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .146Session 12 – Tropical molecular ecology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152Session 13 – Tropical tree allometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .160Session 14 – Tropical forest nutrient ecology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168Session 15 – Altitudinal gradient . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176Session 16 – Ecology and taxonomy of tropical bryophytes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186Session 17 – Manipulations of tropical food webs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198Session 18 – Tropical networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206Session 19 – Free session: Frugivores, seed dispersal and forest regeneration . . . . . . . 212Session 20 – Tropical forests in space and time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218Session 21 – Climate change. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .236Session 22 – Remote sensing forest response to ENSO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246Session 23 – Rehabilitation of tropical forest landscapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .252Session 24 – Resilient rural landscape for Rio de Janeiro. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262Session 25 – Human-modified tropical forests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270Session 26 – Impact evaluation of forest certification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280Session 27 – Future scenarios for the Congo Basin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284Session 28 – Free session: Tropical ecology and conservation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290Scientific poster session – Abstracts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296Information for participants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342Tropimundo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348Side event – Miniforum COPED – Institut de France – Académie des Sciences . . . . . .352Social events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364All about Paris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .368Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .376Index of participants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .378

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Society for Tropical Ecology | Gesellschaft für Tropenökologie e.V. Challenges in tropical ecology and conservation - global perspectives

WELCOME AND FOREWORD

WELCOME LOCAL ORGANIZERS

Dear Friends, Colleagues, Participants,

We are very pleased to welcome the European Conference of Tropical Ecology to France, at the International Center of Conference of Sorbonne Université (CICSU), in Paris’s historic center. Until earlier this year, Sorbonne Université (SU) was better known as the Université Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC, Paris 6). It was used to host the Laboratory of Tropical Botany successively led by Professor Raymond Schnell (1913-1999) and Professor Henri Puig (1938- ). Under their dual leadership, efforts were made to develop studies on vegetation in tropical Africa and America. These studies aimed to create new dynamic approaches in tropical botany by integrating many disciplinary fields from soil biology to ethnology, especially when it comes to study the impact of human impact on natural resources, wood, non-timber forest products, wildlife and habitats overall. Such a switch from traditional plant biology was made possible because both Pr. R. Schnell and Pr. H. Puig were field scientists, close to native people depending on tropical shelter for their livelihood. Research was enabled by the proximity of the laboratories of the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (MNHN) at the Jardin des Plantes across the streets Cuvier and Buffon. They are better known today as Research Mixed Units (UMR) of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and of the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD, ex ORSTOM), at MNHN. These laboratories enabled dozens of PhD students in tropical botany at UPMC to attend educational courses by those eminent naturalists, botanist and zoologists, plant and animal taxonomists, anthropologists, ethnologists. Additionally, these students have been trained in the field, guided, facilitated and nurtured with experiences and lessons to prepare them for the future tropical ecologists they will become. These initial students were the humus upon which has indeed grown and matured the new generation of tropical ecologists at MNHN, CNRS, IRD, and universities (SU, UPEC, UA), today associated to organize this 4th European conference of Tropical Ecology and the Annual meeting of the Society for Tropical Ecology. Meanwhile, we are also indebted to the Academicians of the Institut of France-Académie des Sciences and the Comité pour le Développement (COPED) - which have joined this conference and organized a side event (miniforum) on African tropical forests, continuing the initiative of our colleagues in Brussels last year who opened the way by having more sessions focused – but not limited – to tropical Africa.

In this 21st Century, both SU and MNHN continue to contribute to the education and evolution of tropical botany, zoology and ecology through several Masters and PhD programs. Both institutes are members of the International Master Tropimundo, with which the Society of Tropical Ecology established a partnership following our last conference in Brussels in 2017. Though Paris is not exactly tropical as a destination, the MNHN hosts one of the largest collections of tropical organisms globally, for instance at the newly renovated National Herbarium, the Zoothèque, and the Grande Galerie de l’Evolution. The MNHN is also exhibiting live plants and animals at the tropical greenhouse and the Ménagerie of the Jardin des Plantes, and throughout the biozones of the Zoological Park of Paris. They all allow the participants to experience tropical sensations, the hot, dry and wet climatic conditions of the tropics, though warmer and hotter year after year, as well

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as being able to meet with tropical flora and fauna of New Caledonia, Amazonia-French Guiana (Guyane), Central Africa, Madagascar, and Sahelian-Soudanian savannas. But, the tropical picture won’t be complete if we ignore other habitats, which are too often neglected by terrestrial-focused tropical ecologists: such as mangroves and coral reefs, two other crucial components of tropical ecosystems around the green and blue belt. These tropical ecosystems must also to be studied, protected and conserved in territories and overseas departments of France, from the Caribbean islands, to the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. Given that, as for the rainforests, they also contribute to cool the climate and to provide services to billions of human beings, most of them leaving in as well as far from the tropics. The Society is thus honored to have been labeled as an event of the 3rd International Year of Coral Reef (IYOR2018). In addition, we are also pleased that our conference has been chosen by the Institut Ecologie et Environnement (INEE) of the CNRS to officially launch the beautifully illustrated book “Mangroves, une forêt dans la mer” published by CNRS/leChercheMidi. Likewise, the Society of Tropical ecology will welcome the participants for the conference dinner at the Tropical Aquarium of the Porte Dorée, surrounded by the colored diversity of both freshwater and marine ecosystems, and all the diversity of the coral reefs intra-muros in Paris.

“… One does not do all the good he could when, having the faculty, he renounces to be useful to others. Is there a difference between vulgar stones and gems if we do not expose them to the light? The same is true of science: when it is shared with others, it grows up; and if a miserly master is satisfied with it for himself, it ends by escaping him. Be careful not to close your fountains with white water to your disciples. ...“ Said Hildebert de Lavardin, bishop of Mans to Guillaume de Champaux master of the new Faculty in 1109, now Sorbonne University.

Enjoy this opportunity to meet colleagues, to discover new fields, new results, through the high diversity of sessions in a historical place of teaching and knowledge.

Pierre-Michel Forget, Catherine Reeb, Eric Guilbert, and Elodie Boucheron-Dubuisson

On behalf of the Local Organizing Committee: Jacques Gignoux, Sébastien Barot, Virginie Roy, Sandrine Grouard, Aude Lalis, Violaine Nicolas-Colin, Jérôme Sueur, Tarik Meziane, Malika Trouillefou, Colin Fontaine.

WELCOME SOCIETY FOR TROPICAL ECOLOGY (GTÖ)

Dear participants,

Welcome to this European Conference of Tropical Ecology under the title “Challenges in tropical ecology and conservation - global perspectives”. To bring together students and scientists, researchers of all ages interested in tropical ecology, was the idea when the Gesellschaft für Tropenökologie (Society for Tropical Ecology) – gtö was founded in 1987. Since then, our strong focus on ecological research has increasingly been combined with many aspects of conservation. And today, more than ever before, we face huge challenges both in ecology and in conservation. This is what the overarching topic of our 2018 conference reflects.

Challenges are there to be met, obstacles need to be overcome. So here at the Centre International de Colloques Sorbonne Université (CICSU) in Paris historic center, we will hear about and discuss new data, new findings, new results, new problems and finally good solutions. As you have seen in the program, we have a wide range of scientists presenting their research, and we have a wide range of students who (maybe) are presenting their work for the first time in front of a big, international auditory. We, as the organizers, are proud to have this mix and we do hope you like it too.

It is my duty and privilege to thank our wonderful hosts, the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle/Sorbonne Université/Académie des Sciences-COPED and the local organizing team under the leadership of Pierre-Michel Forget and Catherine Reeb.

I would also like to thank Heike Kuhlmann of KCS Kuhlmann Convention Service for her enthusiasm and efficiency in preparing this conference.

Dear participants, take part, become actively involved in our discussions and in the work of our Society, the gtö.

I wish us all a stimulating, successful conference.

Again, welcome!

Prof. Dr. Manfred NiekischPresident of gtö

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SOCIETY FOR TROPICAL ECOLOGY (GTÖ)

SOCIETY FOR TROPICAL ECOLOGY (GESELLSCHAFT FÜR TROPENÖKOLOGIE E.V., GTÖ)

The Society for Tropical Ecology promotes and communicates new and emerging knowledge among tropical ecologists to advance the understanding of tropical ecosystems and their protection. It is currently Europe’s largest scientific association in this field of research with about 500 members. The aim of the Society for Tropical Ecology, which was founded in 1987, is to further improve our understanding of all the aspects of tropical ecology. A primary means toward this scope is through the organization of annual international congresses, usually one week in February in Europe. Invited international plenary speakers contribute papers and discussions on selected themes of either outstanding universal topicality or of special relevance to up-to-date issues in tropical ecology in order to promote scientific exchange with the participants, many of which usually are students. The conferences provide an international platform for the exchange of scientific ideas and the establishment of collaborations between members and their guests. The gtö is especially dedicated to fostering junior research and equitable cooperation projects.

Our vision:Understanding biodiversity and functions of tropical ecosystems drives decision making and management on all levels.

Our mission:Promoting the conservation and rehabilitation of tropical biodiversity and ecosystems through research and its application.

More information:http://www.soctropecol.eu/

SOCIETY FOR TROPICAL ECOLOGY (GTÖ)

MERIAN AWARDS

In 2001 the gtö established the Merian Awards for the best contributions given by young scientists during the annual meeting. There are six Merian Awards annually, three for the best oral contributions and three for the best posters. ECOTROPICA – the society’s journal – highlights these contributions by publishing the abstracts.

The gtö has selected Maria Sibylla Merian as the patron of the award to commemorate her unique work as an outstanding artist and as the first female tropical naturalist who actually travelled to the tropics in order to study their fascinating diversity, in particular insects. She was the first scientist who recognized, and documented in her artistic work, that insects go through various developmental stages. This is particularly remarkable as the general public in her time still believed that, for instance, mosquitoes and caterpillars were generated in mud by the evil.

Who is eligible and how to apply?Eligible candidates are students and PhDs who are members of the gtö and finished their dissertation less than three years ago.

The winners will be awarded during the closing ceremony on Thursday 29th March 2018, between 16:00 and 17:30 in the Auditorium.

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LOCAL ORGANIZERSAND INSTITUTIONS

Pierre-Michel FORGETConference ChairProfessorMNHN, MECADEV, Brunoy

Catherine REEBConference ChairPRAG Sorbonne Université,ISYEB, Paris

Elodie BOUCHERON- DUBUISSONConference Co-Chair Associate Professor Sorbonne Université, ISYEB, Paris

Eric GUILBERTConference Co-ChairAssociate Professor MNHN, MECADEV, Paris

Jacques GIGNOUXResearch DirectorCNRS, IEES, Paris

Sébastien BAROTResearch DirectorIRD, IEES, Paris

Virginie ROYAssociate ProfessorUPEC, IEES, Créteil

Sandrine GROUARDAssociate ProfessorMNHN, ARCHEO, Paris

Aude LALISAssociate ProfessorMNHN, ISYEB, Paris

Violaine NICOLAS-COLINAssociate ProfessorMNHN, ISYEB, Paris

Jérôme SUEURAssociate ProfessorMNHN, ISYEB, Paris

Tarik MEZIANEProfessorMNHN, BOREA, Paris

Malika TROUILLEFOUAssociate ProfessorUA, BOREA, Pinte-à-Pitre

Colin FONTAINEResearcherCNRS, CESCO, Paris

Heike KUHLMANNProfessional Conference Organizer KCSKuhlmann Convention Service

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INSTITUTIONS

MUSÉUM NATIONAL D’HISTOIRE NATURELLE

At the crossroads between Earth, Life and Human sciences, the Muséum focuses on nature and its relationship with the human race on a daily basis, and has done so for almost 400 years. The Muséum is steeped in history, yet at the heart of current affairs, and is also working for the future…Environmental awareness and protecting the planet

lie at the heart of contemporary debates. The Muséum is fully committed to these issues and occupies a position of reference thanks to its varied missions, which include basic and applied research, conservation and the expansion of its collections, education, expertise and the dissemination of knowledge.The Muséum is a research centre and draws on laboratory work and worldwide expeditions, a wide range of disciplines, outstanding collections and recognised expertise. Its mission is also to share knowledge, which it does through education and dissemination activities. With a clear objective - to make knowledge about the natural world accessible to everyone and to make as many people as possible aware of the importance of protecting our planet. Website: http://www.mnhn.fr/en

SORBONNE UNIVERSITÉ

A new university with a centuries-old tradition, through the merger of UPMC and Paris-Sorbonne on 1st January, 2018, bringing together Arts & Humanities, Medicine and Science & Engineering. Sorbonne University is thus a multidisciplinary and research-

intensive university with world-famous origins.Continuing the humanist tradition of the Sorbonne, it is devoted to meeting the scientific challenges of the 21st century and spreading the knowledge created in its laboratories by its research teams and transmitted to its students and to society as a whole. Sorbonne University’s three faculties in humanities, medicine and science each with the wide-ranging autonomy necessary to conduct its ambitious programs in both research and educationThe University’s 53,500 students, 3,400 professor-researchers and 3,600 administrative and technical staff members who help it run every day contribute to a University that is diverse, creative, innovative, and with a global outlook. Website: https://www.sorbonne-universite.fr/en

INSTITUTIONS

CNRS-INEE

At the interface of social, earth and life sciences, the CNRS Institute of Ecology and Environment (INEE) has developed an integrative approach to environmental sciences that aims to promote global ecology at every scale of time and space. INEE is a fundamental research institute that combines research with action, and contributes to the advancement of knowledge for sustainable development.INEE is highly active at the international level and takes part in the European Research Area. The Institute collaborates with teams on every continent, especially in biodiversity hotspots in Africa, Asia and Oceania. Its commitment to research in French Guiana has enabled it to build strong relationships in South America, with Brazil in particular.Five priority research themes: Biodiversity, evolution, adaptation; human impact on the environment: from modification to transformation; feedback of ecosystems on global change; coastal and marine environments: interactions and processes; functional ecology, analysis and management of ecosystem services. Website: http://www.cnrs.fr/en/institutes/inee-ecology-environment.html

IRD

Scientific progress is necessary to further sustainable and human development: the IRD (French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development) carries this conviction with it wherever it is present, and wherever it works with its partners. The IRD is a key French player on the international development agenda. It works based on an original model: equitable scientific partnership with developing countries, primarily those in the intertropical regions and the Mediterranean area. The IRD believes that only this model allows us to design solutions which are adapted to the challenges that humans and the planet are facing: pandemics, climate change, humanitarian and political crises, etc. Because development challenges are challenges for the whole planet.The IRD is an internationally recognised multidisciplinary organisation working primarily in partnership with Mediterranean and inter-tropical countries. Via its network and presence in fifty or so countries, it takes an original approach to research, expertise, training and knowledge-sharing, to the benefit of countries and regions that make science and innovation key drivers in their development. Website: https://en.ird.fr/ird.fr

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INSTITUTIONS

COPED - INSTITUT DE FRANCE - ACADÉMIE DES SCIENCES

Infused with a spirit of close partnership with Africa on its creation in 1997, the Standing Committee for Developing Countries (COPED) has gradually enlarged its scope of action to other regions of the

world. Under the Presidency of Pierre Auger, Member of the Académie des Sciences, COPED embodies the determination of the Académie des Sciences to contribute through scientific development to solving major worldwide issues. Website: http://www.academie-sciences.fr/en/Actions-targeted-towards-development/

standing-committee-for-developing-countries-coped.html

UNIVERSITÉ PARIS-EST CRÉTEIL

The largest multidisciplinary university in Ile-de-France, the Université Paris-Est Créteil may be described as a bold yet successful enterprise: in little more than 40 years since its foundation in 1970, UPEC has managed to establish itself both as a regionally grounded institution and an

internationally oriented university. Only 20 minutes from the heart of Paris, UPEC stands out with its 120,000 square meter campus, its comprehensive programs and state-of-the-art research. The university houses 31 research centers, and 15 components, for a student population of 30,000. Website: http://www.en.u-pec.fr/

UNIVERSITÉ DES ANTILLES

The Université des Antilles (UA), one of the 102 French universities, is not located on the European continent but 7000 kilometres away from France. However, UA is particularly privileged as far as the original geographical context in which it evolves is concerned: it has 5 campuses

on two different territories, namely Guadeloupe and Martinique which are known as DFA‘s (Départements Français d‘Amérique) Website: http://www.univ-ag.fr/international/bienvenue-luniversite-des-antilles

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DETAILED CONFERENCE PROGRAM

Talks and Posters shaded in this background color are eligible for the Merian Award

DETAILED PROGRAM SCHEDULE

MONDAY, 26 MARCH 2018 16:00 START OF REGISTRATION

International Conference Center Sorbonne Université (CICSU) at Sorbonne University

18:00 OPENING CEREMONY - Auditorium

18:30 PLENARY TALK 01 - Alice HUGHES - AuditoriumImportance of bats in the old world tropics and the threats to their future survival

19:30 LOBBY ICE BREAKER MIXING - CICSU

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TUES

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TUESDAY, 27 MARCH 201808:30 PLENARY TALK 02 - Cécile FAUVELOT - Auditorium

The world network of biosphere reserves: learning places for Sustainable development

09:30 PARALLEL SESSIONS

Sess

ions

S01: TROPICAL MARINE ECO-SYSTEM IN THE ANTHROPOCENE (1/2)

S03: CONTINENTAL WETLANDS (1/1)

S05: DIVER-SIFICATION OF AFRICAN FORESTS (1/2)

S07: ADVANCES IN CANOPY SCIENCE (1/2)

S09: FREE SESSION: TROPICAL DIVERSITY (1/4)

Chairs Malika RENE-TROUILLE-FOU, Sandrine GROUARD, Pierre-Michel FORGET

Hery Lisy Tiana RANARIJAONA, Pete B. PHILLIPSON

Violaine NICOLAS-COLIN, Thomas COUVREUR

Julian DONALD, Louise ASHTON

Catherine REEB, Eric GUILBERT

Room Auditorium 106 108 107 109

9:30 S01-O01: César RUIZ

S03-O01: Fritz KLEINSCHROTH

S05-O01: Marie Claire VERANSO-LIBALAH

S07-O01: Catherine WAITE

S09-O01: Marianne ELIAS

Combining me-tabarcoding and metabolomics to better understand the ecological success of Homoscleromor-pha sponges in underwater caves

Tropical ecosystems in the water-energy-food nexus

Multiple shifts to open habitats in Melastomateae (Melastomata-ceae) congruent with the increase of African Neogene climatic aridity

UAS identification of scale and patterns of liana infestation in tropical forests, Malaysia

The drivers of diversification in neotropical mimetic “clear-wing” butterflies

9:45 S01-O02: Malika RENE-TROUILLEFOU

S03-O02: Pia PAROLIN

S05-O02: Adama FAYE

S07-O02: J. Antonio GUZMÁN Q.

S09-O02: Henry K. NJOVU

Isolation and characterization of bacteria with potential antibacterial activ-ity associated to Porites astreoides, a dominant Caribbean coral species

Hydroelectric res-ervoirs influence tree physiology and endemism

Phylogenetics and diversification history of African Rattans (Calamoideae, Ancistrophyllinae)

Differences in leaf temperature between lianas and trees at the canopy of a lowland tropical forest

Leaf traits mediate changes in insect herbivory along broad environmental gradients on Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

10:00 S01-O03: Lou FROTTE

S03-O03: Mesfin DAMTEW

S05-O03: Josef BRYJA

S07-O03: Tobias JACKSON

S09-O03: Clarissa MENDES KNOECHELMANN

Trophic changes during diadromous species migration: the contributions of fatty acids

Emergent mac-rophytes support zooplankton in a shallow tropical lake: a basis for wetland conservation

Forests of Southern Ethiopia - overlooked and endangered centre of African endemism

Tree architecture and wind-induced sway

Impact of the leaf-cutting ant Atta opaciceps on plant community composition along a gradient of forest cover in the Caatinga dry tropical forest

10:15 S01-O04: Nicolas N. DUPREY

S03-O04: Norbert JUERGENS

S05-O04: Jérémy MIGLIORE

S07-O04: Marie TRONE

S09-O04: Eckhard W. HEYMANN

Coral skeletal δ15N records reveal long-standing eutrophication of coastal coral reefs

Fairy circles and wetland vegeta-tion patches: why are there similar or even identical regular vegetation patterns in deserts and wetlands?

Response of Afromontane forests to past environmental changes: new insights from Podocarpus trees using genomic tools

Preliminary results from recording bats in the Peruvian rainforest canopy 35 meters above the forest floor

Myrmecovorie in neotropical primates

10:30 COFFEE BREAK AND POSTERS


Sess

ions

S01: TROPICAL MARINE ECO-SYSTEM IN THE ANTHROPOCENE (2/2)

S04: SAVANNA FUNCTIONING AND DYNAMICS (1/3)

S05: DIVER-SIFICATION OF AFRICAN FORESTS (2/2)

S07: ADVANCES IN CANOPY SCIENCE (2/2)


Chairs Malika RENE-TROUILLE-FOU, Sandrine GROUARD, Pierre-Michel FORGET

Jacques GIGNOUX, Sébastien BAROT

Violaine NICOLAS-COLIN, Thomas COUVREUR

Julian DONALD, Louise ASHTON



11:00 S01-O05: Sandrine GROUARD

S04-O01: Jacques GIGNOUX

S05-O05: Arthur BOOM

S07-O05: Sarab SETHI

S09-O05: Christoph F. J. MEYER

Chronology of west indian palaeofishery

11 current issues in savanna ecology

Diversification of the African genus tree Brachystegia

Automated ecosystem monitoring in the canopy

Functional recov-ery of Amazonian Bat assemblages following secondary forest succession

11:15 S01-O06: Vincent VALLEE

S04-O02: Sarah KONARÉ

S05-O06: Violaine NICOLAS-COLIN

S07-O06: Stephanie LAW

S09-O06: Thierry HOUEHANOU

Assembly rules and long terms changes in ground fish communities functional diversity of the continental shelf off French Guiana

Effects of mineral nitrogen partition-ing on tree-grass coexistence in savannas

Small mammal diversification in the African Guineo-Congolian rainforest: a comparative phylogeographic survey

Vertical stratifi-cation of tropical ant assemblages: do ground ants restrict the forag-ing distribution of arboreal ants?

Morphological traits variations of Afzelia africana SM. in relation to climatic condition and implication for species conservation in Benin

11:30 S01-O07: Chevallier DAMIEN

S04-O03: Damian TOM-DERY

S05-O07: Félicien TOSSO

S07-O07: Julian DONALD

S09-O07: Kenneth IRVINE

The gulf stream frontal system: a key oceano-graphic feature in the habitat selection of the leatherback turtle?

Gas exchange and biomass allocation of Shea (Vitellaria paradoxa c.f. Gaertn.) seedlings under increased CO2, competition and water availability

Phylogenetic patterns of diversification across ecological niches in the African tree genus Guibourtia

The role of Invertebrates and micro-organisms in facilitating nutrient cycling in the canopy

Conservation planning for tropical freshwa-ters through a global alliance for freshwater life

20 21


TUES

DAY

TUES

DAY

11:45 S04-O04: Cyntia SANTOS

S05-O08: Vaclav GVOZDIK

S09-O08: John GARCIA-ULLOA

Mammalian herbivores along a native vegetation loss gradient in neotropical savanna

Phylogeography of a leaf-litter frog reveals the history of the Lower Guinea and Congo rainforests

Identifying global opportunities and risks for biodiver-sity from oil palm expansion

12:00 FREE LUNCH BREAK

13:30 PLENARY TALK 03 - Alexandra MUELLNER-RIEHL - AuditoriumPlant radiations and floristic exchange across biodiversity hotspots in Asia


Sess

ions

S02: MAN-GROVES FUNCTIONING AND MANAGE-MENT (1/2)


S06: ACOUSTIC SURVEY IN TROPICAL ECOSYSTEMS (1/2)

S08: TROPICAL TREES ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION (1/2)


Chairs Tarik MEZIANE, Emma MICHAUD


Jérôme SUEUR, Alice C. HUGHES, Patrick A. JANSEN

Joeri Sergej STRIJK, Damien Daniel HINSINGER



14:30 S02-O01: Anne BOUSQUET-MELOU

S04-O05: Manfred FINCKH

S06-O01: Monika KOSECKA

S08-O01: Juan P JARAMILLO-CORREA

S09-O09: Dilce DE FATIMA ROSSETTI

Metabolomic fingerprinting of eight mangroves species from Vietnam

Frost in Afrotrop-ical mid-altitude savannas - a neglected environ-mental filter

Long-term multi-site acoustic monitoring of biodiversity in the Amazon under project providence

Temperate going (sub)tropical: re-ticulated adaptive evolution in firs (Abies, Pinaceae) from Central Mexico

Unfolding long term distur-bances of forest communities in Southwestern Amazonian lowlands

14:45 S02-O02: Jean-Hude E. MOUDINGO

S04-O06: Paulina ZIGELSKI

S06-O02: Hervé GLOTIN

S08-O02: Ricardo SEGOVIA

S09-O10: Kingsly CHUO BENG

Nypa fruticans wurmb (Arecace-ae) peatland characterization in Cameroon’s mangrove ecosystem

“Purgatories” reveal the effects of fire and frost on geoxylic suffrutic-es and grasses in savannas

Remote sensing for large scale bird monitoring in tropical forests

Non-tropical legacies on South American biogeography

Archives of natu-ral history; tree of life constructed from a gram of soil using eDNA

15:00 S02-O03: Jaime POLONIA

S04-O07: Kouamé Fulgence KOFFI

S06-O03: Pablo BOLANOS

S08-O03: Lars CHATROU

S09-O11: Zolalaina ANDRI-AMANANTENA

Carbon stock in the Pacific and Caribbean Colombian mangroves

Effect of fire regime on the grass community of the humid savanna of Lamto (Ivory Coast)

Acoustic monitoring of re-splendent quetzal Pharomachrus mocinno, a flag-ship bird species of Guatemala

Parallel radiations in neotropical Annonaceae track Neogene upheaval of the South American continent

Analysis of the potentialities of Ambahiviky Raffia Palm in the Boeny region

15:15 S02-O04: Marie ARNAUD

S04-O08: Aya Brigitte N'DRI

S06-O04: Marie TRONE

S08-O04: Myriam HEUERTZ

S09-O13: Marie DURY

Enroot: an inexpensive, par-tially 3D printed minirhizotron to study fine root production in mangrove forest

Seasonal changes in fire behaviour in a humid savanna of west africa

Assessing Ama-zon river Dolphin (Inia geoffrensis / Sotalia fluviatilis) populations acoustically and visually

Evolutionary history of tropical tree species com-plexes: species delimitation and adaptive genetic variation in the Bertholletia clade (Lecythidaceae)

Distribution of Podocarpus latifolius/milanji-anus from the last glacial maximum to 2100 in Africa with the dynamic vegetation model CARAIB



Sess

ions

S02: MAN-GROVES FUNCTIONING AND MANAGE-MENT (2/2)


S06: ACOUSTIC SURVEY IN TROPICAL ECOSYSTEMS (2/2)

S08: TROPICAL TREES ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION (2/2)


Chairs Tarik MEZIANE, Emma MICHAUD


Jérôme SUEUR, Alice C. HUGHES, Patrick A. JANSEN

Joeri Sergej STRIJK, Damien Daniel HINSINGER



16:00 S02-O05: Farid DAHDOUH-GUEBAS

S04-O09: Jean-Christophe LATA

S06-O05: Frédéric BERTUCCI

S08-O05: Louis SANTIAGO

S09-O14: Chunfeng CHEN

Three decades of planes, satellites and drones in monitoring and managing man-grove forests in Kenya, Sri Lanka and Malaysia

Role of the biological control of N cycle on grass-trees competition and coexistence in savannas

Passive acoustics reveals vocal dynamics of coral reef communities in Moorea island and Fakarava atoll, French Polynesia

New hydraulic traits for charac-terizing drought resistance in Neotropical canopy trees and lianas

Spatio-temporal variations of carbon and nitro-gen in biogenic structures of fungus-growing termites in the Xishuangbanna region

16:15 S02-O06: Anne CAILLAUD

S04-O10: Tharaniya SRIKANTHASAMY

S06-O06: Branko HILJE

S08-O06: Franck MONTHE

S09-O14: Gbadamassi G.O DOSSA

Linking science to policy and management: the French tropical wetlands network (pôle-relais zones humides tropicales)

Contrasted effects of grasses and trees on microbial N-cycling in an African humid savanna during the wet season

Predicting bird species richness in tropical dry forests using acoustics

Phylogenetic relationships in two African Cedre-loideae genera (Meliaceae) reveal multiple rain/dry forest transitions

Factors deter-mining fungal diversity and dynamics during wood decom-position across disturbance gradient in tropi-cal mountainous forest

16:30 S02-O07: Mirco WÖLFELSCHNEI-DER

S04-O11: Nils-Christian SCHUMACHER

S06-O07: Juan Sebastian ULLOA

S08-O07: Katharina B. BUDDE

Changes in white mangrove leaf chemistry and subsequent ecosystem functions upon logging

Ant assemblages in a forest savannah mosaic in the Comoé national park (Ivory Coast)

Causes and consequences of explosive breeding Amphibian com-munities revealed by remote sensors

Species delimita-tion, hybridization and species habitat asso-ciations in the genus Symphonia (Clusiaceae) on Madagascar

22 23


TUES

DAY

TUES

DAY

16:45 S02-O08: Simon CRAGG

S04-O12: Amah AKODEWOU

S06-O08: Karen ROWE

S08-O08: Robert MUSCARELLA

Lignocellulosic detritus in man-grove ecosystems is processed by a specialist guild of invertebrates and associated microbiota

Effects of land use pattern on invasive plant diversity in Guinean savanna ecosystems of Togodo protected area, Togo

Documenting spe-cies richness and acoustic activity patterns from soundscapes in a tropical biodiversity hotspot, Sulawesi, Indonesia

Global patterns in palm abundance

17:00 S02-O09: Catherine FERNANDEZ

S04-O13: Hemant TRIPATHI

S06-O09: Amandine GASC

Involvement of water soluble or volatile compounds from leaves of two mangroves Avicennia marina and Kandelia obovata in crabs attraction

Biodiversity response to land use in the African savanna woodlands: implications of heterogeneity between land use activities and taxonomic groups

8-years of research on the New Caledonian acoustic commu-nities: summary and perspectives for biological conservation

17:15 S02-O10: Ann THORNTON

Direct and indirect responses to ENSO moderate community-based fisheries in Colom-bian Caribbean mangroves

17:30 PUBLIC LECTURE - Sebastian LOTZKAT - AuditoriumSpecies revisited – catching (up on) the cornerstones of biology

24 25


WED

NES

DAY

WED

NES

DAY


WEDNESDAY, 28 MARCH 201808:30 PLENARY TALK 04 - Krista MCGUIRE - Auditorium

Plant-microbial assembly across human land use gradients: implications for coexistence, scaling, and forest regeneration


Sess

ions

S10: TROPICAL SOIL ECOLOGY (1/1)

S13: TROPICAL TREE ALLOMETRY (1/2)

SIDE EVENT: MINIFORUM COPED (1/2)

S16: ECOLOGY AND TAXONOMY OF TROPICAL BRYOPHYTES (1/3)

S18: TROPICAL NETWORKS (1/1)

Chairs Jean-Christophe LATA, Luc ABBADIE

Adeline FAYOLLE, Moses LIBALAH, Vincent MEDJIBE

Pierre-Michel FORGET, Philippe TAQUET

Catherine REEB, Sanna HUTTUNEN

Colin FONTAINE


9:30 S10-O01: Margot NEYRET

S13-O01: Adeline FAYOLLE

SE-O00: Pierre AUGER, Pierre-Michel FORGET, Philippe TAQUET

S16-O01: Robbert GRADSTEIN

S18-O01: Eike Lena NEUSCHULZ

Soil, landscape and land-use itinerary effects on non-cul-tivated plant communities and associated servic-es in croplands of Northern Thailand

State of the art on tropical tree allometry: practi-cal implications for biomass/carbon monitoring and ecological significance

Welcome and introduction to the miniforum COPED

The tropical lowland cloud forest - an epiphyte hotspot

Mobility of avian frugivores deter-mines their ability to switch to other plant resources in fragmented forests

9:45 S10-O02: Johanna ROMERO ARIAS

S13-O02: Moses LIBALAH

SE-O01: Pulcherie BISSIENGOU

S16-O02: Maaike Y. BADER

S18-O02: Ulmar GRAFE

Diet composition analysis of trop-ical soil-feeding termites: African Apicotermitinae

Integrating eco-logical predictors in a regional tree height-diameter model for Central Africa

Biogeography of Campylospermum Tiegh. and its center of diversity in tropical Africa

Responses of tropical lowland bryophytes to experimental warming and co2 fertilization

Specialization in antagonistic interaction net-works: selective pressures on anuran calling in the presence of frog-biting midges

10:00 S10-O03: Louise ASHTON

S13-O03: Roman Mathias LINK

SE-O02: Alain Didier MISSOUP

S16-O03: Sylvia MOTA DE OLIVEIRA

S18-O03: Yannick KLOMBERG

Termites increase ecosystem resilience to drought in tropical rainforest

Structural, func-tional and wood anatomical traits predict drought responses of Costa Rican tropical forest tree species

Systematics and biogeography of Rodents from Afrotropical forests

Habitat specialization of Lejeuneaceae in the Amazon forest: the role of morphological and reproductive traits

The importance of seasonality in organising an upper montane forest pollination network on Mt. Cameroon

10:15 S10-O04: Pedro Luiz SILVA DE MIRANDA

S13-O04: Le Bienfaiteur SAGANG TAKOUGOUM

SE-O03: Christelle GONMADJE

S16-O04: Anna MEŽAKA

S18-O04: Daniel HUSANA

Environmental controls of biome distribution in Bolivia and Brazil - dissecting the importance of soils, climate and fire

Volume-weighted average wood specific gravity improves aboveground biomass predictions in a semi-deciduous forest of Eastern Cameroon

Biodiversity and conservation value of an Atlantic central African forest: the Ngovayang mas-sif (Cameroon)

Changes in the composition of epiphyllous communities with leaf age, host species and microclimate in a tropical lowland forest

Trophic structure in a tropical cave ecosystem: surface-subsur-face ecosystem interaction and implications for conservation



Sess

ions

S11: MOLECULAR TAXONOMY AND CRYPTIC SPECIES IN SOILS (1/1)

S13: TROPICAL TREE ALLOMETRY (2/2)

SIDE EVENT: MINIFORUM COPED (2/2)

S16: ECOLOGY AND TAXONOMY OF TROPICAL BRYOPHYTES (2/3)

S19: FRUGIVORES, SEED DISPERSAL AND FOREST REGENERATION (1/1)

Chairs Virginie ROY, Lise DUPONT

Adeline FAYOLLE, Moses LIBALAH, Vincent MEDJIBE


Catherine REEB, Sanna HUTTUNEN

Pierre-Michel FORGET


11:00 S11-O01: Micah DUNTHORN

S13-O05: Gauthier LIGOT

SE-O04: Stephan NTIE

S16-O05: Nicholas WILDING

S19-O01: Omer NEVO

A large view of the small Protists in Neotropical rainforests

The limited con-tribution of large trees to biomass dynamics in an old-growth tropical forest

Patterns of evolutionary diver-sification among central African duikers (subfamily Cephalophinae)

Taxonomy, systematics and biogeography of African Entosthodon (Funariaceae)

Is fruit odor an adaptation for Lemur seed dispersal?

11:15 S11-O02: Clément SCHNEIDER

S13-O06: Jean Francois BASTIN

SE-O05: Brigitte NYIRAMBAN-GUTSE

S16-O06: Tinja PITKÄMÄKI

S19-O02: Natalia OCAMPO-PEÑUELA

Megalothorax diversity: account of a neglected springtail widely distributed in the intertropical zone

Variations of carbon stocks in tropical forest; combining views from the field and from remote sensing

Canopy nutrient cycling in Afrom-ontane tropical forests at different successional stages

Cloud water interception of ep-iphytic bryophytes in a Peruvian upper montane cloud forest: an experimental approach

Four decades of forest loss in Borneo and its lasting effects on forest frugivores and seed dispersal

11:30 S11-O03: Shabnam TAHERI

S13-O07: Sruthi MOORTHY

SE-O06: David KENFACK

S16-O07: Eyvar Elias RODRIGUEZ QUIE

S19-O03: Olivier BOISSIER

Complex taxon-omy and global phylogeography of the well-known tropical earth-worm Pontoscolex corethrurus

Comparison of LIDAR-derived liana biomass estimates with allometric estimates

CTFS-forestgeo Africa program: an initiative towards the long-term monitoring of African forests

Biomass and water-holding capacity of bryophytes along an elevational gradient on Baru volcano, Panama

Large tropical avian frugivores: a pantropical comparison of their diversity, seed dispersal and conservation status

26 27


WED

NES

DAY

WED

NES

DAY

11:45 S11-O04: Chantal POTEAUX

SE-O07: Katharine ABERNETHY

S16-O08: Eka A.P. ISKANDAR

S19-O04: Boris B. DEMENOU

A multidisciplinary approach to disentangle the cryptic diversity in ants of the Neoponera apicalis species complex

Scientific capacity building and the evidence base for change in Central African forests

Climbing Mt. Gede up and down - insights into species richness and composition of epiphytic bryophytes

Gene dispersal and history of the colonization of the Dahomey Gap from the Cameroon Volcanic line by Guineo-Congolian flora



Sess

ions

S12: TROPICAL MOLECULAR ECOLOGY (1/1)

S14: TROPICAL FOREST NUTRIENT ECOLOGY (1/1)

S15: ALTITUDI-NAL GRADIENT (1/1)

S16: ECOLOGY AND TAXONOMY OF TROPICAL BRYOPHYTES (3/3) + S17: MANIPULATIONS OF TROPICAL FOOD WEBS (1/1)

SIDE EVENT: MINIFORUM COPED - DISCUSSION MEETING (1/3)

Chairs Pablo OROZ-CO-TERWENGEL, Ute RADESPIEL

Jürgen HOMEIER, Selene BAEZ

Eric GUILBERT, Marianne ELIAS

Catherine REEB, Sanna HUTTUNEN + Katerina SAM, Elina MÄNTYLÄ, Piotr SZEFER



13:30 S12-O01: Filippo BISCARINI

S14-O01: Andre VELESCU

S15-O01: Yvonne TIEDE

S16-O09: Catherine REEB

Biostatistics applications for tropical (and non) plant and animal biology: a (meta)genomics perspective

Biological vs. abiotic control of base metal budg-ets in a tropical montane forest in South Ecuador

Beyond body size: consistent decrease of traits within Orthopter-an assemblages with elevation

The MADBRYO project, a collaborative effort to enhance Malagasy Bryophytes knowledge

MINIFORUM COPED - DISCUSSION MEETING

13:45 S12-O02: Pablo OROZCO-TERWENGEL

S14-O02: Juan F. DUEÑAS

S15-O02: Agnes DELLINGER

S16-O10: Sanna HUTTUNEN

Population genomics of wild Chinese rhesus macaques reveals dynamic demographic histories and local adaptation

Nutrient inputs alter arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal assemblag-es in montane tropical forests of Southern Ecuador

Impact of polli-nator shifts on mating systems and population genetic diversity in a Neotropical plant group

Evolution of hab-itat preferences among Mosses (Bryophyta)


14:00 S12-O03: Heike PRÖHL

S14-O03: Daisy CÁRATE TANDALLA

S15-O03: Antonia MAYR

S17-O01: Vojtech NOVOTNY

Red versus blue versus green: molecular aspects of color polytypy in a poison frog

Ontogenic and trait-based responses of common tree species to altered nutrient availability in a tropical montane forest

Macro-ecological determinants of Halictine Bee-microbiomes

Experimental disruption of food webs in tropical rain forests


14:15 S12-O04: Mohamed NEJI

S14-O04: Selene BÁEZ

S15-O04: William Douglas DE CARVALHO

S17-O02: Elina MÄNTYLÄ

De novo transcrip-tome sequencing and comparative analysis of differentially expressed genes in Erythrophleum species under drought stress

Tree functional traits and nutrient limitation in an Andean elevation gradient

Traits that help bats conquering Neotropical moun-tains: lessons for the conservation of tropical forest animal diversity

What to measure from plants in predator exclosure studies?


14:30 S12-O05: Simone SOMMER

S14-O05: Tobias FABIAN

S15-O05: Laura SALAZAR

S17-O03: Chris DAHL

Immunological MHC supertypes and allelic expres-sion: how low is the functional MHC variability in wild endangered Namibian cheetahs?

Sodium retention in the canopy of a tropical montane forest in South Ecuador

Fern ecology along a tropical al-titudinal gradient in Ecuador

A cross-continen-tal comparison of fruit-seed syndromes in the tropical rainforests of Panama, Thailand and Papua New Guinea


14:45 S12-O06: Ute RADESPIEL

S14-O06: Kerstin PIERICK

S15-O06: Paul CHATELAIN

S17-O04: Kirstie HAZELWOOD

Phylogeog-raphy and heterogeneous selection shape vomeronasal receptor diversity in mouse lemurs (Microcebus spp.)

Long-term litterfall dynamics in tropical montane forests in Ecua-dor: the impact of climate, altitude, and fertilization

Altitudinal filtering and the evolution of Planthoppers (Hemiptera, Auchenorrhyncha) on Mount Wilhelm (Papua New Guinea)

Comparing the mechanisms that generate seedling community composition in a diverse tropical ecosystem


15:00 S12-O07: Brandet-Junior LISSAMBOU

S14-O07: Jürgen HOMEIER

S15-O07: Valeria GUZMAN-JACOB

S17-O05: Katerina SAM

Species delimitation in the genus Greenway-odendron based on morphological and genetic markers reveal new species

Variation of tree leaf properties and folivory after continued nutrient addition in tropical montane forest of S. Ecuador

Diversity of vascular epiphytes along an altitudinal gradient in Veracruz, Mexico

Elevational patterns in pre-dation, herbivore performance and herbivory in hostile and enemy free space


28 29


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WED

NES

DAY

15:15 S15-O08: Friederike GEBERT

S17-O06: Piotr SZEFER

Predictors of species richness and community biomass of large mammals along elevational and land use gradients on Mt. Kilimanjaro

Fungi, herbivores and predators can change the community structure of early successional stage of tropical forest

MINIFORUM COPED - DISCUS-SION MEETING


16:00 ASSEMBLY OF MEMBERS GTÖ - AUDITORIUM / POSTER SESSIONS - CICSU

S02 MANGROVES FUNCTIONING AND MANAGEMENT

P01 Maki THOMAS Landscape genetic method to explain intra- and inter-island propagule transport of mangrove species

S03 CONTINENTAL WETLANDS

P01 Georges Simon ANDRIANASETRA Evolution of references about the knowledge of the ecology of tropical wetlands in the Indian Ocean

P02 Zolalaina ANDRIAMANANTENA Contribution to the study of the Raffia areas in the Boeny region for sustainable management and enhancement

S04 SAVANNA FUNCTIONING AND DYNAMICS

P01 Anu VALTONEN Where do the Nsenene swarms come from?

P02 Rogerio GRIBEL Factors controlling long-term savanna dynamics in the Campos de Humaitá, middle Madeira river region, Southwestern Brazilian Amazonia

P03 Paula NIETO-QUINTANO Biomass stocks, spatial structure and floristic composition of savannas in the Bateke plateau

P04 Olivier PAYS An experimental design to investigate the role of mammal community on forest dynamics in the Cerrado biome (Brazil)

S05 DIVERSIFICATION OF AFRICAN FORESTS

P01 Hippolyte NSHIMBA SEYA WA MALALE Structure and composition of forest of Brachystegia laurentii (De Wild.) Louis ex J. Léon. in the MAB Yangambi, in DRC

S06 AUDIO AND VIDEO MONITORING

P01 David C. SIDDONS Ecoacoustic surveys predict alpha and beta diversity in Southern Ecuadorian montane forest

P02 Lefteris FANIOUDAKIS Deep networks tag the location of bird vocalisations on audio spectrograms

S07 ADVANCES IN CANOPY SCIENCE

P01 Chris CHANDLER Spatial patterns of liana success in Malaysia

S08 TROPICAL TREES ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION

P01 Robert MUSCARELLA Habitat-specific edaphic controls on palm community phylogenetic structure in the Western Amazon

P02 Volker RAFFELSBAUER Tree reaction to drought in a montane rainforest in Southern Ecuador

P03 Sylvain SCHMITT Ecological genomics of niche exploitation and individual performance in tropical forest trees

S10 TROPICAL SOIL ECOLOGY

P01 Sandrine SALMON Communities of Collembola on Réunion island: recolonization of habitats destroyed by lava flows and impact of exotic plant species

P02 Ivete MAQUIA Bacterial diversity in three different fire incidence area in Mopane woodland of Limpopo national park

S11 MOLECULAR TAXONOMY AND CRYPTIC SPECIES IN SOILS

P01 Kenzy PEÑA-CARRILLO Use of acoustics for species delimitation in a Neotropical ant species complex

S12 TROPICAL MOLECULAR ECOLOGY

P01 Matin MIRYEGANEH Transcriptomic responses of mangrove trees to different stressful environments

P02 Thierry HOUEHANOU Genetic diversity and population structure of the threatened tree species Afzelia africana SM. and implication for the species conservation in Benin

P03 Natalia SEVANE Evidence for rapid adaptation to the tropics in Creole cattle genomes

S13 TROPICAL TREE ALLOMETRY

P01 Adeline FAYOLLE The importance of tree allometry for local-scale variation in aboveground biomass

P02 Tian LI Evolution of aboveground biomass of dry tropical forest in the North-west coast of Madagascar in relation with human activities

S14 TROPICAL FOREST NUTRIENT ECOLOGY

P01 Susanne SPANNL Effects of moderate nutrient addition on tree physiological processes. The example of Alchornea lojaensis in Southern Ecuador

P02 Tobias FABIAN Sodium in a tropical montane forest in South Ecuador: demand of phyllosphere microorganisms and effects on decomposition

S15 ALTITUDINAL GRADIENT

P01 Katerina SAM Ecology of bird communities along an elevational tropical gradient in Papua New Guinea

P02 Sébastien ALBERT Woody plants are fleshy-fruited in the lowlands: strong environmental gradients control fruit types on a high-elevation oceanic island

S16 ECOLOGY AND TAXONOMY OF TROPICAL BRYOPHYTES

P01 Tinja PITKÄMÄKI Epiphytic bryophytes respond to changes in forest structure

S17 MANIPULATIONS OF TROPICAL FOOD WEBS

P01 Elaine CORREA Effects of macroconsumers on invertebrate feeding groups across a gradient of vegetation loss in tropical karst streams

S18 TROPICAL NETWORKS

P01 Yannick KLOMBERG The role of UV reflectance in the pollination system of Hypoxis camerooniana on Mt. Cameroon

S20 TROPICAL FORESTS IN SPACE AND TIME

P01 E-Ping RAU Dynamics and diversity of a subtropical forest in Fushan, Taiwan: simulation approach via the individual-based troll model

P02 Marie DURY Simulating seed dispersal to reproduce past dynamics and distribution of African tropical trees

S22 REMOTE SENSING FOREST RESPONSE TO ENSO

P01 Doreen BOYD Towards landscape scale metrics of ENSO-induced tree mortality in primary and disturbed tropical forests via remote sensing

P02 Edwin ZARATE Species distribution model for a micro-endemic Hummingbird with vegetation indices as a predictor of habitat structure

S23 REHABILITATION OF TROPICAL FOREST LANDSCAPES

P01 Casimir NEBESSE Challenges and risks of bushmeat exploitation at Kisangani region (DRC)

P02 Martha LEDGER Where has the peat gone? Determining regional-scale carbon losses using INSAR from tropical peatlands

S25 HUMAN-MODIFIED TROPICAL FORESTS

P01 Samuel ROBINSON Impacts of logging gaps on soil microbial diversity and function in Borneo

30 31


WED

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WED

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DAY

S28 FREE SESSION: TROPICAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION

P01 Nina FARWIG Supplementary food enhances the number of breeding pairs in a Cape Vulture colony

P02 Clarissa ARAÚJO MARTINS Multiple-taxa responses to land use changes in a Brazilian savanna landscape

P03 Nicholas WILDING Developing long-term monitoring of natural areas for a UNESCO world heritage site: study case of La Réunion

P04 Nicolas TEXIER A new tool for the conservation of the Gabonese flora: the threatened plant species of Gabon website

P05 Prescott MUSABA Bat hunting bodes human and forest health threat in Congo basin rainforest

P06 Dana VI HUSANA Ecological modelling of aggregation of parasite Acanthogyrus sp. in wild Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus L.)

P07 Samendra SHERCHAN Quantitative assessment of Naegleria fowleri under climate change in lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana

18:30 CONFERENCE DINNER - Aquarium Porte Dorée

32 33


THU

RSDA

Y

THU

RSDA

Y


THURSDAY, 29 MARCH 201808:30 PLENARY TALK 05 - Tuyeni Heita MWAMPAMBA - Auditorium

The story of charcoal: its effects on forests and its contribution to livelihoods in Mexico and Tanzania


Sess

ions

S20: TROPICAL FORESTS IN SPACE AND TIME (1/3)

S21: CLIMATE CHANGE (1/2)

S23: REHABILI-TATION OF TROP-ICAL FOREST LANDSCAPES (1/3)

S25: HUMAN-MODIFIED TROPICAL FORESTS (1/2)


Chairs Andreas HUTH, Franziska TAUBERT, Rico FISCHER

Eric GUILBERT Sven GÜNTER, Rizza Karen VERIDIANO, Nikolay AGUIRRE

Yit Arn TEH Pierre-Michel FORGET, Philippe TAQUET


9:30 S20-O01: Hans VERBEECK

S21-O01: Jean-François EXBRAYAT

S23-O01: Fatima C.M. PIÑA-RODRIGUES

S25-O01: Terhi RIUTTA

Simulating the impact of lianas on the carbon cycle of tropical forests

Climate change impact on carbon-seques-tration potential of tropical rainforests

Does diversity really matter for the accumulation of above-ground biomass in dry forest rehabilitation?

Complete carbon budget in selectively logged and old-growth tropical forests in Borneo


9:45 S20-O02: Félicien MEUNIER

S21-O02: Matthias SCHLEUNING

S23-O02: Paul EGUIGUREN

S25-O02: Yit Arn TEH

Impact of hydraulic traits of lianas on their abundance: predictions from the vegetation model ED2

Should I stay or should I go? Projected changes in avian functional diver-sity on tropical mountains under climate change

Carbon sequestra-tion potential of secondary forest for landscape restoration at the Ecuadorian Amazon region

Human modi-fication alters the greenhouse gas balance of managed tropical peatlands in Northern Borneo


10:00 S20-O03: Stephan A. PIETSCH

S21-O03: Gwendolyn PEYRE

S23-O03: Marion RENNER

S25-O03: Isabel JONES

Rain forest dynamics under different exploita-tion regimes

Plant diversity hotspots and refuges in the tropical Andes

Natural forest regeneration at Mt. Kilimanjaro

Where can we store most carbon? Using an 80-year chronosequence to identify drivers of carbon uptake in secondary forests


10:15 S20-O04: Andreas HUTH

S21-O04: James MOLONEY

S23-O04: Alexandra MOREL

S25-O04: Ulrike HILTNER

Productivity of the Amazon rainforest and the role of forest structure

Cyclones, fragmentation and bird assemblages: natural and hu-man disturbances in a changing climate

Quantifying net primary productivity, potential poverty alleviation and forest conserva-tion in an African forest-cocoa landscape

Effects of selective logging on a production forest’s succession of the Amazon: a simulation experiment




Sess

ions

S20: TROPICAL FORESTS IN SPACE AND TIME (2/3)

S21: CLIMATE CHANGE (2/2)

S23: REHABILI-TATION OF TROP-ICAL FOREST LANDSCAPES (2/3)

S25: HUMAN-MODIFIED TROPICAL FORESTS (2/2)



Eric GUILBERT Sven GÜNTER, Rizza Karen VERIDIANO, Nikolay AGUIRRE

Yit Arn TEH Pierre-Michel FORGET, Philippe TAQUET


11:00 S20-O05: Rico FISCHER

S21-O05: Elizabeth KEARSLEY

S23-O05 Junen WU

S25-O05: Julia SFAIR

High resolution analysis of tropical forest fragmentation and its impact on the global carbon cycle

Assessing the impact of lianas on tree growth in tropical forests

Can intercropping with the world’s three major beverage plants help improve the water use of rubber trees?

Land-use change affects plant trait distribution in a seasonally dry tropical forest


11:15 S20-O06: Franziska TAUBERT

S21-O06: Alexandra-Jane HENROT

S23-O06: Darshanaa CHELLAIAH

S25-O06: Dafydd ELIAS

Global patterns of tropical forest fragmentation

Simulating present-day distribution of Podocarpus lati-folius/milanjianus in Afromontane forests of Cameroon with the dynamic vegetation model CARAIB

Impacts of oil palm plantation and riparian buffer quality on stream litter decomposi-tion and bacterial colonization in Borneo

The impacts of logging on soil microbial diversity in tropical forests of Borneo


11:30 S20-O07: Mateus DANTAS DE PAULA

S21-O07: Stefan JOZEFOWICZ

S23-O07: Catarina JAKOVAC

S25-O07: Michael BOYLE

Effects of fragmented forest degradation on the water cycle - insights from a forest simulation model

Analysing the position of the Eastern Andean tree line with a mass transect sampling of satellite imagery

Ecosystem services from large-scale restoration

Disturbance-in-duced micro-climate change drives community shifts in rainforest ants after logging and conversion to oil palm


11:45 S20-O08: Marco VISSER

S21-O08: Kiswanto KISWANTO

S23-O08: Maholy RAVALOHA-RIMANITRA

S25-O09: Philip CHAPMAN

Density-depend-ent regulation and density-in-dependent limitation together determine the abundance of a common tree species

Deforestation and forest degradation trends in tropical rainforest

Restoring rainforest in Madagascar: are we planting enough trees for people and lemurs?

Inter-annual dynamics and persistence of small mammal communities in a selectively logged tropical forest in Borneo


34 35


THU

RSDA

Y

THU

RSDA

Y


13:30 PARALLEL SESSIONSSe

ssio

nsS20: TROPICAL FORESTS IN SPACE AND TIME (3/3)

S22: REMOTE SENSING FOREST RESPONSE TO ENSO (1/1)

S24: RESILIENT RURAL LANDSCAPE FOR RIO DE JANEIRO (1/1)

S26: IMPACT EVALUATION OF FOREST CERTIFICATION (1/1) + S27: FUTURE SCENARIOS FOR THE CONGO BASIN (1/1)

S28: FREE SESSION: TROPICAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION (1/1)


Mark CUTLER Claudia RAEDIG, Udo NEHREN

Marion KARMANN, Franck TROLLIET + Claude GARCIA, Jean-François BASTIN, Fabien QUETIER

Pierre-Michel FORGET, Catherine REEB


13:30 S20-O09: Jean-François EXBRAYAT

S22-O01: Mark CUTLER

S24-O01: Claudia RAEDIG

S26-O01: Marion KARMANN

S28-O01: Ángela ARISTIZÁBAL-BOTERO

Model-data fusion to retrieve terres-trial ecosystem functional proper-ties from satellite observations

Monitoring tropical forest resilience: the potential of EO to monitor long-term change across forest landscapes

An introduction to INTECRAL (integrated eco technologies and services for a sustainable rural Rio de Janeiro) project

Need, challenges and opportunities to evaluate the impact of forest management certification: the case of the forest stewardship council

Using UAVs and photogrammetry for ecological analysis in tempo-rary rock pools of Colombian Guiana shield

13:45 S20-O10: Fabian Jörg Fischer

S22-O02: Geertje VAN DER HEIJDEN

S24-O02: Augusto PIRATELLI

S26-O02: Alain KARSENTY

S28-O02: Melanie DAMMHAHN

Above, around and among trees: integrating individual-based modelling and remote sensing data for ecological inference about tropical rainforests

Do extreme weather events cause liana proliferation? Using UAVs to track changes in tropical forest canopy composition over time

Agroecosystem management in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil): reconcil-ing agricultural production and bird conservation

Certification of tropical forests: from impact assessment to po-litical economy?

What makes rats successful invaders on Madagascar?

14:00 S20-O11: Matteo PARDINI

S22-O03: Marion PFEIFER

S24-O03: Carl-Friedrich GAESE

S26-O03: Davy FONTEYN

S28-O03: Jo KINGSBURY

Describing 3-D structure of tropical forests from radar acqui-sitions: potentials, challenges, and links to ground and LIDAR measurements

From remotely sensing tropical human-modified landscapes to monitoring progress towards AICHI and SDG targets

Saving small scale sugarcane farmers in the state of Rio de Janeiro: a devel-opment study of a harvesting technology

A biodiversity assessment between protected and managed forests in Southeastern Cameroon

Threatened birds, dynamic habitats and disturbance processes - conservation ecology in one of the worlds most under-studied savanna ecosystems

14:15 S20-O12: Olga TURKOVSKA

S22-O04: Chris CHANDLER

S24-O04: Lorena Valeria GUZMÁN WOLFHARD

S27-O01: Jean François BASTIN

S28-O04: James MOLONEY

Forest age struc-ture assumptions within global forest model. Brazil case study

Spatial patterns of liana success in Malaysia

Promoting connectivity in Rio de Janeiro state: corridors for linking private protected areas

Functional shifts within Central African rainforests

Land-use change and conservation in North-east Thailand

14:30 S20-O13: James MARGROVE

S22-O05: Patrick JANSEN

S24-O05: Dietmar SATTLER

S27-O02: Claude GARCIA

S28-O05: Nicole PONTA

Elevation gradients shape tree distributions in tropical forests

Responses of Neotropical forest mammals to an extreme El Niño event

Bioengineered rehabilitation of degraded land using native plant species - a case study from Southeast Brazil

Playing the game: defining indicators for intact forest landscapes in the Congo basin

Hunting in times of change: indig-enous strategies in the Colombian Amazon

14:45 S20-O14: Yunxia WANG

S24-O06: Silke LICHTENBERG

S27-O03: Stephan A. PIETSCH

Mapping tropical disturbed forests in Mato Grosso through Landsat surface reflec-tance time-series analysis

Potentials for the conservation and the economic use of the threatened Brazilian national tree Paubrasilia echinata Lam. within Rio de Janeiro state

Critical cycles of resilience for land use in the Congo basin

15:00 S20-O15: Christopher PHILIPSON

S27-O04: Claude GARCIA

Carbon recovery of logged forests

What will happen to the forests of the Congo basin, how and why

15:15 S20-O16: Maurice LEPONCE

Variation in space and time of ant distribution among ground layers in an Ecuadorian premontane forest


16:00 CLOSING CEREMONY, MERIAN AWARDS AND FAREWELL - AUDITORIUM

36 37


PLENARY SESSIONSABSTRACTS

MO

NDA

Y

PLENARY TALK 01

Monday 26th MarchPlenary talk 01 - 18:30 - Auditorium

IMPORTANCE OF BATS IN THE OLD WORLD TROPICS AND THE THREATS TO THEIR FUTURE SURVIVAL

Alice Hughes1

1Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, CN, [email protected]

With over 1320 described species bats make up around ¼ of known mammal species, and often exceed 50% of mammal species in tropical ecosystems. However, the challenges associated with bat research have hindered our understanding of even basic information of the distribution and ecology of many species.

Furthermore the role of bats in terms of ecosystem service provision both in maintaining ecosystems and in providing economically valuable services has never been approached systematically and we have little appreciation of the true value of these services and the roles these species play in some systems.

Here we assay and map the distribution and diversity patterns of bats across the old world, and review the roles and contributions of bats ecologically and economically. We present the state of knowledge, discuss the novel methodologies being used to quantitatively and qualitatively understand these systems and interactions, and highlight the work of researchers across the Old-world tropics. We also review the threats and challenges to bats across the tropics, and the implications of species loss as well as discussing ongoing priorities for bat research and conservation.

38 39


TUES

DAY

PLENARY TALK 02

Tuesday 27th MarchPlenary talk 02 - 8:30 - Auditorium

SPATIAL SCALES OF DISPERSAL IN THE TROPICS: WHY AND WHEN DO THEY MATTER?

Cécile Fauvelot1,2

1UMR ENTROPIE, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Nouméa, NC, [email protected] d’Océanographie de Villefranche, Sorbonne Université, Villefranche-sur-mer, FR

The effect of habitat disturbance on genetic and demographic viability of species has become an important issue over recent decades. The fragmentation of continuous suitable habitat, often related to disturbance, leads to patchily distributed populations that can be both demographically and genetically modified. Small and geographically isolated habitat patches, for example, contain small populations and communities so that both alleles and species are expected to be lost due to the effect of drift. Immigration may

counter this effect and introduce new genes and/or species. Dispersal among habitat patches is therefore one of the key factor for population recoveries following disturbance.

More generally, dispersal is a crucial process that counterbalances independent evolutions of local populations and/or population size reductions observed in metapopulations. Population connectivity refers to the extent of connection among local populations of a species. Population connectivity comes in two forms: evolutionary (genetical) connectivity and demographic (ecological) connectivity. The first is concerned with genetic variations among different populations. This can be informative when considering long-term (evolutionary) and large-scale biogeographic dispersal patterns of organisms and can be useful to assess the genetic uniqueness of populations in the context of biodiversity conservation. In contrast, demographic connectivity involves the extent of linkage that occurs among nearby local populations due to the exchange of individuals. In the marine environment, this connectivity occurs primarily through the dispersal of larvae. The theoretical framework of population genetics offers the possibility to infer population connectivity and estimate the spatial extent of larval dispersal, above all for sessile organisms. Identifying sources of propagules to be protected are critical needs for managers who are increasingly operating under the implicit assumption that climate change and other human-related disturbances are unlikely to improve in the short term.

TUES

DAY

PLENARY TALK 03

Tuesday 27th MarchPlenary talk 03 - 13:30 - Auditorium

PLANT RADIATIONS AND FLORISTIC EXCHANGE ACROSS BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOTS IN ASIA

Alexandra Muellner-Riehl1,2

1Leipzig University, Leipzig, DE, [email protected] Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, DE

In my talk, I will focus on two fundamental aspects of plant biodiversity patterns in Asia: plant radiations and floristic exchange - and their underlying causes. I will concentrate on two geographic regions of high global conservation priority. First, the Tibeto‐Himalayan region (THR), including the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau, the Himalaya, and the biodiversity hotspot known as the “Mountains of Southwest China”; and second, Southeast Asia (SE Asia), including the biodiversity hotspots of Indo-Burma, Sundaland, the Philippines, and Wallacea.

Hotspots of biodiversity are often associated with areas that have undergone recent tectonic/orogenic activity. Yet, the origin and evolution of these hotspots remain poorly understood. Until recently, for regions like the THR, most studies invoked orogenesis as the main driving force for the radiation of plants in mountains. The role of climate oscillations and key opportunities as well as key innovations as contributors to the establishment of high levels of mountain biodiversity was often neglected. By providing a review of recent studies conducted by my working group as well as other authors, I will conclude that the underlying causes for plant radiations in mountains are likely to be multi-faceted. Rather than geomorphological processes themselves, the interaction of lineage-specific traits, complex geological settings and/or climatic modifications providing key opportunities are drivers of mountain biodiversity. More generally, the new “mountain-geobiodiversity hypothesis” proposes that three boundary conditions are required to maximize the impact of mountain formation and surface uplift on regional biodiversity patterns in mountainous regions and are key for the origination of mountain biodiversity hotspots. For Southeast Asia, I will likewise summarize insights gained from recent work, and show how the geological and biological evolution of this large and biodiverse region were closely interlinked, resulting in the Malesian floristic interchange with strong dispersal asymmetries among differently adapted lineages.

40 41


WED

NES

DAY

PLENARY TALK 04

Wednesday 28th MarchPlenary talk 04 - 8:30 - Auditorium

PLANT-MICROBIAL ASSEMBLY ACROSS HUMAN LAND USE GRADIENTS: IMPLICATIONS FOR COEXISTENCE, SCALING, AND FOREST REGENERATION

Krista McGuire1

1University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, US, [email protected]

Plant-microbial interactions are frequently implicated in the maintenance of plant diversity patterns. However, we still lack a predictive understanding of the mechanisms by which plant-microbial communities are assembled across multiple spatial scales, the extent to which they function in the coexistence of diverse tropical tree communities, and how they respond and recover from human disturbance.

In this talk I will highlight several ongoing studies from my lab in the Neotropics and Southeast Asia evaluating plant-microbial assembly across human land use gradients. In particular, I will focus on work testing the following hypotheses: (1) Individual tree species have distinctive physical, chemical, phenological, and biological properties that create unique zones of influence, which result in distinct microbial signatures, (2) putative differences in microbial communities across tree species’ zones of influence result in different functional potentials for microbially-mediated biogeochemical cycling processes, and (3) historical land use is a strong modifier of microbial signatures which has the potential to modify microbially-mediated coexistence mechanisms. Together, results from our various projects demonstrate that soil disturbance from human land use can have rapid and persistent impacts on soil microbial communities with important implications for tree coexistence and forest regeneration trajectories.

THU

RSDA

Y

PLENARY TALK 05

Thursday 29th MarchPlenary talk 05 - 8:30 - Auditorium

THE STORY OF CHARCOAL: ITS EFFECTS ON FORESTS AND ITS CONTRIBUTION TO LIVELIHOODS IN MEXICO AND TANZANIA

Tuyeni Heita Mwampamba1

1Institute of Ecosystems and Sustainability Research, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Morelia, MX, [email protected]

Charcoal production is a grossly misunderstood driver of ecosystem change in the tropics whose story is both intriguing and complex. As the primary cooking energy for millions of urban and peri-urban households and food vendors in sub-Sahara Africa, but also in Southeast Asia, Central and South America, charcoal consumption is predicted to grow in response to growing population and increasing rates of rural-to-urban migration in these regions. Produced primarily from natural forests by small-scale producers usually operating illegally, charcoal is often reported as the direct driver of deforestation and forest degradation. Policy measures to curb production and interventions to reduce its consumption (e.g. efficient cookstove programs) have, for the most part, failed. A dive into the socio-political, cultural and socio-ecological contexts in which charcoal is produced and consumed reveals a messy knot of high economic stakes, multiple and conflicting stakeholder objectives, complex ecological interactions, and, highly variable outcomes for forests and forest-dependent livelihoods.

Using social and ecological data and experiences obtained primarily from Mexico and Tanzania, I will unravel this knot to show how the outcomes for forests and forest-related ecosystems services, and charcoal’s contribution to livelihoods, shift and change depending on the context. Cultural preferences, concepts of modernity, and forest management logic are extremely influential processes that have previously been overlooked. Depending on how they play out, charcoal production is sometimes the best option there is for maintaining and protecting forests and securing rural livelihoods. Understanding the context can help with designing the most suitable interventions not only for charcoal, but for similar challenges facing tropical ecosystems today, such as bushmeat consumption and trade in endangered species.

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PUBLIC LECTURE

TUES

DAY

PUBLIC LECTURE

Tuesday 27th MarchElisabeth Kalko Memorial Public lecture - 17:30 - Auditorium

SPECIES REVISITED – CATCHING (UP ON) THE CORNERSTONES OF BIOLOGY

Sebastian Lotzkat1

1Senckenberg Research Institute Frankfurt, DE, [email protected]

The age of discoveries is not over – quite the contrary, when talking about biological species one may say that it has only just begun! New species are discovered day by day, and never before have so many species been described each year.

Using the example of Central American amphibians and reptiles, this colourful talk will take us through the adventure of species exploration: from the founding fathers of past centuries to today’s students, from muddy camps in moisture-dripping rainforests to dusty collections in honourable institutions, from really-never-seen to just-never-recognized species.

And while we’re at it, we will take this opportunity to simply celebrate the astonishing diversity and breathtaking beauty of Neotropical salamanders, lizards, frogs, and snakes!

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SCIENTIFIC TALK SESSIONSABSTRACTS

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TUES

DAY

SESSION 01TROPICAL MARINE ECOSYSTEM ADAPTATION AND EVOLUTION TO ANTHROPISATION: FROM FISHERIES TO HOLOBIONT PERSPECTIVES

Chairs: Malika RENE-TROUILLEFOU, Sandrine GROUARD, Pierre-Michel FORGETContact: [email protected]

Tropical ecosystems are not only terrestrial, but also marine: estuaries, mangroves, coral reefs, seagrasses, underwater caves, deep benthic bottoms, etc. At the scale of the intertropical belt, these ecosystems are characterized by their great fragmentation, especially in oceanic archipelagic environments. Moreover, the interactions between these marine environments and human populations are extremely diverse, depending on the societal contexts and the various uses that the populations make of them.

In this context, this fragmentation of coral reefs and other marine ecosystems are facing dramatic regressions. The dynamics of marine ecosystems are now constrained by anthropogenic pressures that lead to rapid changes in both their physical and chemical components. Moreover, the seasonal, decadal and secular variability of oceanographic conditions are associated with the global climate change. These major modifications of the environmental conditions require the organisms to adapt and/or migrate in order to respond to changes in abiotic parameters.

Several approaches can be developed in this session: marine diversity, marine ecosystems, associated anthroposystems, and anthropic uses and actions. Knowledge of old situations (of the order of a few millennia or of a few tens of millennia) may be relevant to calibrate the processes in progress. How has the dynamics of biological processions under climatic and anthropic constraints at the scale of a few millennia and centuries?

TUES

DAY

09:3

0

S01-O01 – TROPICAL MARINE ECOSYSTEM IN THE ANTHROPOCENE

COMBINING METABARCODING AND METABOLOMICS TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE ECOLOGICAL SUCCESS OF HOMOSCLEROMORPHA SPONGES IN UNDERWATER CAVES

César Ruiz1, Thierry Perez1, Olivier Thomas2

1Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d’Ecologie marine et continentale, Marseille, FR, [email protected] University of Ireland Galway, Marine Biodiscovery, School of Chemistry, University Road, Galway, IE

Underwater caves are original habitats of ecological interest. Indeed, they can be considered extreme due to marked physical gradients such as light, hydrodynamics and food availability which make them good mesocosms of deep sea ecosystems. Underwater cave ecosystems were mostly studied in the few places of the Mediterranean Sea, often focusing on specific taxonomic groups. Overall, those studies revealed similar faunistic traits and ecological functioning.

Homoscleromorpha sponges are well represented in underwater caves, and some species can be cave-exclusive. However, very little is known about the factors explaining their ecological success in such a constraining environment. We hypothesized that the microbiome and/or metabolome of these sponges may confer adaptation capability.

On a large collection of samples from Mediterranean and Caribbean submarine caves, we undertook metabarcoding and metabolomic fingerprinting analyses to identify putative patterns in microbial and chemical diversity that may be related to sponges’ ecological habit. Some of these patterns seem to be explained by the taxonomy of the sponge and/or the geographical area, so these two approaches can be used in integrative taxonomy. More interesting, we have found that ecological traits like habitat occupation inside caves (semi-obscure, obscure) or species distribution can be explained by the presence of particular microbial groups or the production of exclusive metabolites. Our results seem to confirm our former hypothesis, however the functional role of those microorganisms and metabolites must be analyzed to understand their contribution to the adaptation of Homoscleromorpha sponges to marine caves.

Merian Award Applicant

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TUES

DAY

09:4

5


ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF BACTERIA WITH POTENTIAL ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY ASSOCIATED TO PORITES ASTREOIDES, A DOMINANT CARIBBEAN CORAL SPECIES

Salim Arkam1, Florent Baud1, Yolande Bouchon-Navaro1,2, Pascal Jean Lopez2,3, Céline Zatylny-Gaudin4, Claude Bouchon1,2, Malika René-Trouillefou (speaker)1,2

1UMR BOREA, CNRS-7208 – MNHN – Sorbonne Université – UCN – IRD-207 – Université des Antilles, GP, [email protected] CORAIL, Perpignan, FR3UMR BOREA, CNRS-7208 - MNHN – Sorbonne Université – UCN – IRD-207 – UA, Paris, FR4UMR BOREA, CNRS-7208 – MNHN – Sorbonne Université – Université de Caen Normandie – IRD-207 – UA, Caen, FR

When considering the general decline of reef corals in the Lesser Antilles during the last decades, Porites astreoides, among all coral species, became one of the most largely distributed and abundant species on those reefs. Such resilient and adaptive potential of that species might be explained by a microbiome composition, which helps to protect them under changing environmental conditions or compromised health.In the present study, culturable associated bacteria communities,

from the coral mucus and tissues were investigated. A total of 224 bacterial strains were isolated from Porites astreoides collected around Guadeloupe reefs, among which 123 independent isolates were identified using both morphological characteristics and 16S rDNA sequence analyses.Phylogenetic analyses based on coral bacteria 16S rDNA sequences indicated that 15 genera of 4 Phyla have been distinguished and Vibrionaceae represented the dominant culturable genus. Metabolic tests (antibiogram and antimicrobial tests) applied to 14 of the culturable bacteria revealed a moderate sensitivity to four antibiotics tested (oxytetracyclin, penicillin, streptomycin and ampicillin). Moreover, 4 pure clones isolated from Photobacterium rosenbergii, Pseudomonas plecoglossicida, and Vibrio vulnificus strains exhibited a strong activity against the growth of the marine pathogen Vibrio splendidus. By producing antimicrobial metabolites, these bacteria strains might protect Porites astreoides against infestation by invasive microbes and pathogens.Our results reveal within the microbial flora of the Caribbean dominant coral species Porites astreoides, the existence of culturable beneficial bacteria species that might play a role in their outstanding fitness and their resilience when compared to other coral species. These findings could contribute to the coral “microbial-therapy” new area and to the discovery of promising sources of bioactive molecules from marine microorganisms.

TUES

DAY

10:0

0


TROPHIC CHANGES DURING DIADROMOUS SPECIES MIGRATION: THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF FATTY ACIDS

Lou Frotté1, Alexandre Bec2, Fanny Perrière2, Sébastien Cordonnier1, Etienne Bezault1, Dominique Monti1

1Université des Antilles - UMR BOREA, Pointe-à-Pitre, GP, [email protected]é Clermont Auvergne - LMGE UMR CNRS 6023 / GRET GDR CNRS 3716, Aubière, FR

In the Caribbean islands, the freshwater macrofauna is predominantly constituted of diadromous fish and crustacean species. In the rivers of this region, the most common life cycle is amphidromous, defined by a reproduction in river, a downstream passive larval transport followed by a marine dispersal, and finally an upstream migration at juvenile stages. The growth of these organisms takes place in freshwater habitats, both during their migration and when sedentarized all along the river.

We studied freshwater food consumption through lipids analyses of the five most abundant fish and crustacean species (Gobiidae, Palaemonidae and Atyidae) in one river representative of Caribbean islands volcanic functional type, in Guadeloupe. The study of the fatty acids assesses the food sources in various habitats and also the nutritional quality of the species diets. For comparison, adult and juvenile stages for each species were analysed. Preliminary results underline higher availability in essential fatty acids in upstream habitats than in downstream ones. These results give rise to the question of the food nutritional quality being a driving force for the upstream migrations of diadromous species.

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TUES

DAY

10:1

5


CORAL SKELETAL Δ15N RECORDS REVEAL LONG-STANDING EUTROPHICATION OF COASTAL CORAL REEFS

Nicolas N. Duprey1, David M. Baker2,3, Tony X. Wang4, Taihun Kim2,3, Philip D. Thompson2,3, Alfredo Martinez-Garcia1, Daniel M. Sigman4, Gerald H. Haug1

1Department of Climate Geochemistry, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (Otto Hahn Institute), Hahn-Meitner-Weg 1, Mainz, DE, [email protected] of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, CN3Swire Institute of Marine Science, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, CN4Department of Geosciences, Guyot Hall, Princeton University, Princeton, US

Anthropogenic pressure on tropical shorelines is increasing globally, with dramatic consequences for coral reef ecosystems; eutrophication, in particular, is becoming a major threat to coral reefs worldwide. Yet, understanding the causes and the consequences of nutrient enrichment on coral reefs remains challenging due to a lack of long-term water quality datasets, which hampers the establishment of environmental baselines and thus the application of adequate mitigation policies. Definition of these baselines is critically needed to identify the sources of nutrients present in coral reefs and understand how these nutrients might have changed the ecosystem over time.

The natural abundance of nitrogen isotopes in coral skeleton-bound organic matter (CSδ15N) is a promising tool to identify nitrogen (N) sources and to track their changes over time. Until now, such studies were prevented by the lack of adequate methodology, mainly due to the low N content in coral skeleton. A recent study provided a sensitive and precise method for analyzing CSδ15N (Wang et al., 2015), paving the way for a new field of investigation.

Here we measure CSδ15N records from notoriously eutrophied locations, i.e., Guam USA (56 years) and Hong Kong SAR (150 years), to characterize the eutrophication history at these locations. In both cases CSδ15N records significant changes in the N sources on decadal to centennial scales, in response to increasing human activities. The two records show that sewage-derived N has been present at these locations for more than 50 years. Although these records come from locations that are clearly impacted by nutrient enrichment today, their eutrophication history suggests that a range of coastal reefs across the globe may have been under eutrophication stress for half a century.

TUES

DAY

11:0

0


CHRONOLOGY OF WEST INDIAN PALAEOFISHERY

Sandrine Grouard1, Sophia Perdikaris2, Dominique Bonnissent3, Nidia Espindola Rodrigues Lourdou1

1Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Dept Homme Environnement, UMR 7209 Archéozoologie, Archéobotanique, Paris, FR, [email protected] of Nebraska-Lincoln, Dept Anthropology, Lincoln Nebraska, US3Direction des affaires culturelles de Guadeloupe, Ministère de la Culture, Basse-Terre, GP4UMR 8096 Archéologie des Amériques (ArchAm), Paris, FR

The Antilles archipelago is an exceptional example of continental Amerindian populations adapting to an insular environment, with many interisland exchanges due to highly effective naval technology. Pre-Columbian archaeological sites in the Caribbean contain a significant amount of well-preserved vertebrate remains (fish, turtles, snakes, lizards, birds, mammals), where ichthyological remains predominate at a majority of sites. However, the importance of different marine ecosystems had varied in each Pre-Columbian culture. The selection of captured marine species (sea turtles, manatees, monk seals, cetaceans, fish) indicates that fishing grounds and techniques also changed according to the various periods.

Based upon 890,000 fish remains recovered and identified from 90 Pre-Columbian archaeological sites in the Lesser Antilles (including St Martin, Barbuda, Antigua, the archipelago of Guadeloupe and Martinique) since 1994, a palaeofishery chronology can be determined using the composition of the faunal spectrum and the animals size. The earliest Archaic Age populations exploited seagrass meadows and lagoons near coral reefs. Later, the first settlers of the Ceramic Age exploited all the ecosystems (deep water channels, rocky bottoms, coral reefs, sandy bottoms, seagrass, mangroves, foreshore). The Late Ceramic Age populations implanted their villages closer to the coasts and satellites islands were colonized. Some villages were highly specialized on certain species, e.g. surgeon fish, parrot fish, sea turtles. Indeed, coral reef fish became increasingly important in subsistence through time. Finally, fish sizes decreased over time but fishing technology did not change.

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TUES

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11:1

5


ASSEMBLY RULES AND LONG TERMS CHANGES IN GROUND FISH COMMUNITIES’ FUNCTIONAL DIVERSITY OF THE CONTINENTAL SHELF OFF FRENCH GUIANA

Vincent Vallée1, Fabian Blanchard1

1Ifremer Guyane, Fisheries Biodiversity Unit, Cayenne, GF, [email protected]

For more than two decades, describing and understanding the spatio-temporal dynamics of fish communities has been subject to increasing attention from scientists. Such dynamics are crucial for ecosystem functioning and productivity which provide goods and ecosystem services. Fishing and climate change have undisputable effects on species’ ecology and functions but are often difficult to disentangle insofar as two forcing variables could have the same effects on an indicator. Moreover, works on dynamics of

fish communities focused mainly on temperate and boreal ecosystems. In recent years, progress has been made in the application of species traits to assess the functional diversity of fish communities. The traits based approach has been shown to be effective and sensitive to describe variation in functional diversity and to determine assembly rules governing communities.

We used the trait-based approach, with ecological and morphometrical traits, and functional diversity indices to describe dynamics in the functional structure of the fish communities of the French Guiana continental shelf, a tropical zone characterized by a significant increasing of SST and a declining fishing pressure. Our study is based on datasets from surveys conducted from 1993 to 2017 using a bottom shrimp trawl between 10 and 60 m depth.

Firstly, comparing the functional richness of the fish communities to values obtained from a null model enabled us to identify the relative importance of the assembly rules in recent years (niche filtering hypothesis vs limiting similarity hypothesis). We secondly analyzed the ground fish communities’ spatio-temporal structure and functional diversity over this period. Subtropical species occurring at the upper limit of their thermal range are disfavored with warming waters provoking potential changes in the fish communities’ structure. The consequences of such alterations are discussed.

TUES

DAY

11:3

0


THE GULF STREAM FRONTAL SYSTEM: A KEY OCEANOGRAPHIC FEATURE IN THE HABITAT SELECTION OF THE LEATHERBACK TURTLE?

Chevallier Damien1, Yvon Le Maho (speaker)1, Philippine Chambault1, Benoît de Thoisy2, Simon Benhamou3, Alberto Baunadona4

1CNRS-Université de Strasbourg, IPHC UMR 7178, Strasbourg, FR, [email protected] Kwata, 16 avenue Pasteur, BP 672, Cayenne, GF3Centre d’Étude Fonctionnelle et Évolutive, CNRS, Montpellier, FR4Sorbonne Université, Université Paris 06, CNRS-IRD-MNHN-IPSL Laboratory, Paris, FR

Although some associations between the leatherback turtle Dermochelys coriacea and the Gulf Stream current have been previously suggested, no study has to date demonstrated strong affinities between leatherback movements and this particular frontal system using thorough oceanographic data in both the horizontal and vertical dimensions. The importance of the Gulf Stream frontal system in the selection of high residence time (HRT) areas by the North Atlantic leatherback turtle is assessed here for the first time using state-of-the-art ocean reanalysis products. Ten adult females from the Eastern French Guianese rookery were satellite tracked during post-nesting migration to relate (1) their horizontal movements to physical gradients (Sea Surface Temperature (SST), Sea Surface Height (SSH) and filaments) and biological variables (micronekton and chlorophyll a), and (2) their diving behaviour to vertical structures within the water column (mixed layer, thermocline, halocline and nutricline). All the turtles migrated northward towards the Gulf Stream north wall.

Although their HRT areas were geographically remote (spread between 80–30°W and 28–45°N), all the turtles targeted similar habitats in terms of physical structures, i.e. strong gradients of SST, SSH and a deep mixed layer. This close association with the Gulf Stream frontal system highlights the first substantial synchronization ever observed in this species, as the HRTs were observed in close match with the autumn phytoplankton bloom. Turtles remained within the enriched mixed layer at depths of 38.5 ± 7.9 m when diving in HRT areas, likely to have an easier access to their prey and maximize therefore the energy gain. These depths were shallow in comparison to those attained within the thermocline (82.4 ± 5.6 m) while crossing the nutrient-poor subtropical gyre, probably to reach cooler temperatures and save energy during the transit. In a context of climate change, anticipating the evolution of such frontal structure under the influence of global warming is crucial to ensure the conservation of this vulnerable species.

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SESSION 02MANGROVES FUNCTIONING AND MANAGEMENT IN A CHANGING WORLD

Chairs: Tarik MEZIANE, Emma MICHAUDContact: [email protected]

Mangrove forests are some of the world’s most valuable coastal ecosystems. Their ecological importance has been increasingly highlighted such as providing food sources, shelter, breeding grounds and nursery habitats for local faunal communities and organisms from adjacent coastal ecosystems. The trees are highly productive and the whole habitat provides important ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestration, nutrient cycling at a global scale, maintaining food sources, coastal stabilization, and enhancing recreation activities that ultimately benefit local populations. However, these intertidal forests despite being highly resilient and able to provide some coastal defence from climate and human impacts such as sea rise level, changing in weather pattern, urban pollution and aquaculture development, are increasingly destroyed due to an excessive need of these services.

To better protect this unique ecosystem and help implementing none destructive practices, this session will gather studies that deal with (1) a functional role of every aspects that lead to sustainable ecosystem services, (2) the development of innovative methods for characterizing and quantifying key processes behind the mangrove services, and (3) the application of this know-how into management and restoration practices.

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14:3

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S02-O01 – MANGROVES FUNCTIONING AND MANAGEMENT

METABOLOMIC FINGERPRINTING OF EIGHT MANGROVES SPECIES FROM VIETNAM

Anne Bousquet-Mélou1, Virginie Baldy1, Tan Dao Van2, Stéphane Greff1, Jean-Rémi Malachin1, Gérald Culioli3, Catherine Fernandez1

1Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d’Ecologie, Marseille, FR, [email protected] National University of Education, Hanoi, VN3Laboratoire Matériaux Polymères Interfaces Environnement Marin, Toulon, FR

Mangroves are tropical forest ecosystems where species are adapted to live in an extremely changing environment as they occur exclusively in intertidal zones. Although their functioning is still misunderstood, they are of special interest for the numerous ecosystem services they provide among which the production of molecules of interest, particularly used in traditional medicine. These molecules, known as secondary metabolites, regulate the interactions between organisms of these ecosystems. They are considered like the ultimate expression of metabolome, and they have key role in allelopathic processes. The surrounding plant species, but also the soil organisms (e.g. bacteria, fungi and invertebrates), are under constant pressure of this production which influence the quality of the environment.

The aim of this study is to characterize the metabolomic fingerprinting of eight mangrove species from the Northern Vietnam: Avicennia marina, Kandelia obovata, Bruguiera gymnorrhiza, Sonneratia apetala, Sonneratia caseolaris, Aegiceras corniculatum, Lumnitzera racemosa, and Rhizophora stylosa, and identify specific markers of these species. Analysis with UHPLC-QToF, in both negative and positive modes, revealed a chemical proximity in agreement with phylogeny, between the three species of the Rhizophoraceae family producing some quercetin derivatives like rutin and between the two species of the genus Sonneratia, with gallic acid derivatives.

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14:4

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NYPA FRUTICANS WURMB (ARECACEAE) PEATLAND CHARACTERIZATION IN CAMEROON’S MANGROVE ECOSYSTEM

Jean-Hude E. Moudingo1,2, Gordon Ajonina2,3, Didier Dibong1,4, Minette Tomedi3

1Département de Biologie des Organismes Végétaux, Faculté des Sciences, University of Douala, Douala, CM, [email protected] Wildlife Conservation Society Mouanko, Littoral Region-Cameroon, Douala, CM3Département d’Aquaculture, Institut des Sciences Halieutiques, University of Douala, Douala, CM4Department of Geosciences and Environment, Faculty of Sciences, University of Douala, Douala, CM

Nypa fruticans, a plant originally from East Asia, was introduced to Nigeria in 1906 and is spreading across Cameroon mangrove block. Focusing especially on Nypa fruticans ecological niche is necessary to better understand this invasive character, especially because data on its invadability are not available.

The main objective of this study, carried out from April to August 2017, is to characterize (water and soil environment) the ecological

niche of Nypa across Cameroon mangrove. Eight treatments amongst which stands with Nypa or mixed with (Nypa pure Nypa and Rhizophora, Nypa and Avicennia and Nypa, Rhizophora and Avicennia) and the three others with no Nypa (Rhizophora pure, Avicennia pure and Rhizophora and Avicennia). Water parameters were measured in situ at two levels of depth with the Hanna Hi 9829 multi-parameters while soil sample were analysed in the laboratory. The results showed that the Nypa palm is present in all mangrove blocks with heights ranging from 2.5 to 16 m while Rhizophora and Avicennia are up to 25 m. We identified current invaded areas and found that water salinity, turbidity, temperature, pH and DO, soil pH varied significantly with stands and with depth across the three mangrove blocks. Some of the parameters don’t varied significantly with treatments nor with depth. We recommend Nypa palm destructive sample so as to establish possible correlations between soil-water parameters and plant nutrient concentrations.


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15:0

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CARBON STOCK IN THE PACIFIC AND CARIBBEAN COLOMBIAN MANGROVES

Alejandra Monsalve1, Jaime Polonia (speaker)1, Paula Sierra2, Jhoanata Bolivar3

1Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Medellín, CO, [email protected], Santa Marta, CO3South Pole Group, Medellín, CO

Mangroves are well known for their high rate of carbon accumulation. However, they are threatened by deforestation and degradation, which in turn generate high greenhouse gas emissions. An effective alternative for mitigation of climate change can be protection and restoration of mangroves, as well as to include them in mitigation strategies, such as REDD projects. Since mangroves are ecologically diverse within the same climatic zone, coastal geomorphology and hydrological processes influence the chemical and physical conditions of their soils, as well as the structural development of their vegetation and, consequently, on the carbon storage capacity of their different compartments. Therefore, it is essential to quantify the ecosystems carbon stock.

This study estimated the carbon stock of Cispatá and Málaga bays (Colombian Caribbean and Pacific, respectively). Carbon stock in above ground biomass, roots, necromass (standing dead trees and debris) and soil (first 45 cm of deep) were calculated, as well as their relationship with the soil physicochemical characteristics. The total carbon stock varied between 226.4 ± 126.9 for the Pacific coast, and 521.2 ± 80.1 Mg.C.ha-1 for the Caribbean. The soil was the main compartment, representing more than 60 % of the carbon stock in both littorals. It was also the one with the greatest variability, with means of 142.2 and 417.4 Mg.C.ha-1 for the Pacific and Caribbean, respectively. At a more local level, the highest carbon stock was associated to the lower N concentration. Nevertheless, higher root carbon stocks were associated with the high N, Ca and Mg concentrations. We found greater allocation to the root biomass at the expense of the aboveground compartment when soil nutrients where less availability. These results reaffirm that the protection of mangroves is one of the key in climate change mitigation strategies, however, carbon stock estimates should take into account the great variability of these forests.

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15:1

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ENROOT: AN INEXPENSIVE, PARTIALLY 3D PRINTED MINIRHIZOTRON TO STUDY FINE ROOT PRODUCTION IN MANGROVE FOREST

Marie Arnaud1, Andrew Baird1, Paul J. Morris1, Angela Harris2, Jonathan J. Huck2

1Leeds University, Leeds, UK, [email protected] of Manchester, Manchester, UK

Mangroves are amongst the most carbon-dense ecosystems in the world. The major input of organic carbon into mangrove soil seems likely to come from fine roots. However, our knowledge of fine root production in mangroves is severely limited, due in large part to the inherent difficulty of measuring such subterranean processes. Measurement techniques for fine root production are time consuming, expensive, and often destructive.

Minirhizotrons offer a non-destructive alternative to quantify fine root production and enable high-frequency in situ monitoring with little disturbance after an initial settling period. However, commercial minirhizotron systems are often prohibitively expensive.

We present Enroot, an inexpensive, easy to build and partially 3D printable minirhizotron. The cost of the new minirhizotron is less than 150 euros per unit, approximately one hundredth of some commercial systems. Enroot has been designed specifically for use in mangrove ecosystems, including in remote locations. Enroot is light, waterproof and uses a narrow minirhizotron tube that can fit between stilt-roots. The 3D-printing files required to manufacture the instrument are freely available. Once printed, assembly of the pieces requires less than 30 minutes.

We tested Enroot in laboratory mesocosms, and compared the instrument to theoretical characteristics of commercial systems. Enroot provides accurate imagery, is effective in flooded soil conditions, and is highly customizable. Enroot provides an effective, low-cost tool for repetitive, non-destructive sampling of root production in mangrove.

Although we focused primarily on root production, like other minirhizotron systems Enroot also has applications to measuring root morphology, rooting depth or root mortality. Enroot also represents an opportunity for the inhabitants of mangrove ecosystems to monitor the sequestration of carbon in local soils with relatively little training or expense, and may therefore provide a powerful tool for citizen science in the developing world.


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16:0

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THREE DECADES OF PLANES, SATELLITES AND DRONES IN MONITORING AND MANAGING MANGROVE FORESTS IN KENYA, SRI LANKA AND MALAYSIA

Farid Dahdouh-Guebas1,2, Behara Satyanarayana1,3, Viviana Otero1, Monika Ruwaimana1,2, Ruben Van De Kerchove4, Nico Koedam2, Richard Lucas5

1Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, BE, [email protected] Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, BE3Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Kuala Terengganu, MY4Flemish Institute for Technological Research, Mol, BE5University of New South Wales, Sydney, AU

Since the rise of remote sensing, the monitoring and management of mangrove forests world-wide has been aided. In this presentation, we provide a zoom from historic aerial photography, over space-borne imagery, up to state-of-the art Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) drone technology.

Using case-studies from Kenya, Sri Lanka and Malaysia, we provide an overview of the challenges of (1) identification of mangroves trees, (2) pinpointing functional degradation of forest patches, and (3) estimating/calculating reliable silvimetric indices. Overcoming these three challenges are paramount in successful (remote sensing-based) mangrove management.

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LINKING SCIENCE TO POLICY AND MANAGEMENT: THE FRENCH TROPICAL WETLANDS NETWORK (PÔLE-RELAIS ZONES HUMIDES TROPICALES)

Anne Caillaud1, Alain Pibot2, Alain Brondeau3

1IUCN France, Paris, FR, [email protected] du Littoral, Basse-Terre, GP3Conservatoire du Littoral, Paris, FR

Although there is a large consensus today on the value of mangroves and the ecosystem services they provide, significant losses continue to occur in French overseas territories. Mangrove ecosystems continue to be the object of scientific studies, but there is still a major disconnect between latest scientific findings on this ecosystem (in fields such as geomorphology, ecology, botany, chemistry and oceanography), operational management and policy decisions. In addition, the administrative and scientific silos that

tend to appear between terrestrial and marine ecosystems negatively affect decision-making and management for this intertidal habitat.

In this context, the French Tropical Wetlands Network (Pôle-relais zones humides tropicales), a national initiative coordinated by IUCN France and the Conservatoire du Littoral, aims to advocate enhanced protection of mangroves and other wetlands in French overseas territories through information sharing, capacity building, technical support and awareness raising at all levels in a complex governance context.

This presentation will present current obstacles in the regulatory context, and the Network’s strategy to revert the decline of mangroves in French overseas territories, including:• efforts to reduce inefficiencies of administrative and regulatory measures leading to

further destruction of mangroves: development of public policy decision support tools, development of reliable and operational descriptors and indicators, support to adopt better urban planning practices;

• capacity building strategies for managers, urban planners, decision-makers, rangers and public prosecutors; and

• success stories in Martinique, Guadeloupe, Guyane, Mayotte and New Caledonia.

Current mangrove loss trends highlight the urgent need to go beyond knowledge acquisition on this ecosystem and to guide efforts to adopt ambitious management measures through innovative and practical approaches that deliver tangible outcomes for mangroves.

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16:3

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CHANGES IN WHITE MANGROVE LEAF CHEMISTRY AND SUBSEQUENT ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONS UPON LOGGING

Mirco Wölfelschneider1,2, Moirah Paula Machado de Menzes3, Ulf Mehlig3, Véronique Helfer1, Martin Zimmer1

1Leibniz-Zentrum für Marine Tropenforschung (ZMT), Bremen, DE, [email protected]ät Bremen, Bremen, DE3Universidade Federal do Pará, Campus Bragança, Bragança, BR

With human populations rapidly increasing in coastal mangrove-rich regions, the number of people dependent on mangrove resources is rising. ‘No-take’ policies are no longer a feasible solution to protect and preserve mangroves for future generations.

Hence, there is an urgent need for well-conceived management plans. Communities along the coastline of North Brazil practice a traditional form of selective mangrove-logging involving the White Mangrove (Laguncularia racemosa). The felled trees of this species have the ability to regrow, thus this activity is often considered as sustainable resource-use and is therefore under less stricter regulation. However, its subsequent ecological impacts have yet to be investigated.

This study, conducted in the Reserva Extrativista (RESEX) on the Ajuruteua peninsula (PA, Brazil), investigated how the regrowth process of the White Mangrove influences leaf chemistry and subsequent herbivory. In the first phase, leaf samples from trees at different stages of regrowth were analysed for carbon, nitrogen and phenolics content, precipitation-capacity and leaf toughness. This provided an understanding of the chemical dynamics in regard to herbivore defences.

Results show significant changes in the leaf nitrogen content and toughness throughout tree regrowth. Increased levels of nitrogenous compounds and toughness in regrowing trees shortly after cutting align with decreased feeding activity of herbivores. These patterns recede quickly whilst the regrowth proceeds. A second phase is currently underway using pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) to gain a more detailed insight into the chemical composition of potential defence compounds. Overall, preliminary results support the assumption that selective logging is a sustainable resource-use with a comparably low impact on surrounding ecosystem functioning.


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LIGNOCELLULOSIC DETRITUS IN MANGROVE ECOSYSTEMS IS PROCESSED BY A SPECIALIST GUILD OF INVERTEBRATES AND ASSOCIATED MICROBIOTA

Simon Cragg1

1University of Portsmouth, Institute of Marine Sciences, Portsmouth, UK, [email protected]

Mangrove forests are one of the main sources of vascular plant detritus for coastal waters. Such detritus differs from the particulate organic carbon that originates in the water column, being characterised by lignocellulose, a polymer complex of lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose. The complex is recalcitrant (resistant to enzyme activity), but is converted by specialist fauna and microbiota to labile oligomers that then join fluxes and sinks of organic carbon within, and adjacent to, mangrove ecosystems.

Processing of leaf and small detritus is well characterised in a range of ecosystems, but processing of large woody detritus is not.

Woody detritus ranges in size from whole trees to twigs and wood flakes, with the larger components being initially colonised by wood boring molluscs of the family Teredinidae and by isopod crustaceans (families Limnoriidae and Sphaeromatidae). Borers remove up to 70 % of the original biomass and as their tunnelling progresses, bacteria and fungi colonise tunnel walls, eventually becoming the dominant processors once as the wood disintegrates. Borers play a crucial role in the breakdown of large woody detritus that accounts for approximately half of the detrital input in undisturbed mangrove forests. Exemplar ecosystems demonstrate the ecological implications of the processing of lignocellulosic mangrove detritus. A proper understanding of mangrove detrital processing is essential for a mangrove-related response to the REDD+ initiative.

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17:0

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INVOLVEMENT OF WATER SOLUBLE OR VOLATILE COMPOUNDS FROM LEAVES OF TWO MANGROVES AVICENNIA MARINA AND KANDELIA OBOVATA IN CRABS ATTRACTION

Catherine Fernandez1, Virginie Baldy1, Tan Dao Van2, Roxane de Rodez-Bénavent1, Magali Proffit3, Anne Bousquet-Mélou1

1Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d’Ecologie, Marseille, FR, [email protected] National University of Education, Hanoi, VN3Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, Montpellier, FR

Most of mangrove primary production consists of mangrove leaves and available to consumers after senescence and breakdown. Herbivorous crabs are possibly among the most important actors in the nutrient cycle and the forest structure, and thus by cutting tree leaves into pieces, digesting them or burrowing them. Given the high content of specialized metabolites of mangroves, and the ability of these molecules to be transmitted by air or water, crabs can probably detect remotely the chemical signals released by the leaves. Current knowledge does not allow us to know whether specialized metabolites have a clear role in the choice of mangrove species consumed or in the preference of green leaves over senescent leaves. We don’t also know what type specialized metabolite crabs are attracted by: volatile molecules or water-soluble molecules?

We tested the feeding preferences of Perisesarma bidens between leaves from two common Vietnamese mangrove tree species (Avicennia marina and Kandelia obovata) and of two phenological stages (green and senescent). In addition, it was tested if crab electivity differed when chemical cues were mediated by air or water. This was done on the one side with the use of two-choices feeding essays and on the other side with attraction tests, both aquatic and aerial.

We observed that S. bidens crabs preferred to consume K. obovata rather than A. marina, and had no preference for green or senescent leaves. Moreover, it seems that crabs are not attracted by the smell of Kandelia leaves or those of A. marina and are not attracted by the taste of K. obovata leaves but rather rejected by that of A. marina. In the water attraction tests, crabs are more likely to move to seawater rather than A. marina macerates. We concluded that crabs could be repulsed by water-soluble compounds rather than volatile ones.

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17:1

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DIRECT AND INDIRECT RESPONSES TO ENSO MODERATE COMMUNITY-BASED FISHERIES IN COLOMBIAN CARIBBEAN MANGROVES

Ann Thornton1, Martin Solan1, Jasmin Godbold1, Mario Rueda2, Luisa Espinosa2, Carmen Lacambra3, Carlos Villamil3, Piran White4

1University of Southampton, Southampton, UK, [email protected], Santa Marta, CO3Grupo Laera, Bogotá, CO4University of York, York, UK

The El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) creates fluctuations in temperature and precipitation throughout the Pacific region. The direct effect on mangroves from El Niño and La Niña events has been widely studied. However, the cumulative impacts of multiple environmental factors are often assumed rather than explicitly demonstrated yet these can have important repercussions for system dynamics and services. Only by identifying and managing these controllable effects can we potentially increase mangrove

resilience to unpredictable sudden-onset environmental events?

We show how direct and indirect effects of ENSO on other environmental drivers within the mangrove system moderates the vital artisanal fisheries relied upon by local communities for food and income. Changes in air temperature (a key ENSO indicator) had a direct negative effect on overall fish catch (kg) and fishing effort. However, air temperature had a direct positive effect on catch weight of freshwater fish yet a negative effect on catches of freshwater/brackish species. Indirect effects from ENSO on catch weight and species diversity were evident through direct effects of air temperature and precipitation on salinity, water temperature, dissolved oxygen and nutrients.

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SESSION 03ECOLOGY OF CONTINENTAL WETLANDS IN THE WORLD

Chairs: Hery Lisy Tiana RANARIJAONA, Pete B. PHILLIPSONContact: [email protected]

This international conference is intended to exchange on both the ecology of the flora and fauna of the continental wetlands of the world: ethnoecology, systematics, ecology, biology, threats, direct and indirect wetland values, biological invasions, conservation and climate change.

The aim is to mobilize and federate stakeholders concerned with the ecology of Indian Ocean wetlands, specifically lentic environments (lakes, marshes, ponds, ponds, swamp forests) and lotic environments (rivers, streams...).

The ecology and systematics of the continental aquatic flora (macrophytes, macroscopic and/or microscopic algae), and that of the continental aquatic fauna (fish, birds, turtles, crocodiles...) will be treated. Also, the ecological dynamics of wetlands, followed by remote sensing, and restoration will be addressed.

These wetlands are reservoirs where human derives his resources and has been operating for thousands of years. Also, threats to wetlands due to the potential impacts of anthropogenic activities and climate change will be highlighted. All this for the purpose of conserving and sustainably managing the tropical wetlands of the Indian Ocean. And finally, ecology and communication on wetlands will be important to be treated in order to improve them. The aim is to make exchanges between specialists and highlight the experiences on the tropical ecology of the Indian Ocean. These exchanges may lead to the development of projects in partnership.

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09:3

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S03-O01 – CONTINENTAL WETLANDS

TROPICAL ECOSYSTEMS IN THE WATER-ENERGY-FOOD NEXUS

Fritz Kleinschroth1

1ETH, Zürich, CH, [email protected]

The water-energy-food nexus is a conceptual tool for achieving sustainable development. Water, energy and food are equally essential for human wellbeing, but especially in the face of climate change, the distribution of limited water resources between differing demands and across borders is becoming increasingly challenging. With a low degree of electrification and a growing need for food, countries in Sub-Saharan Africa particularly depend on the availability of sufficient water resources for their development. There are striking trade-offs between irrigation agriculture and hydropower production, as both require dams to store water resources during the dry season. However, such river regulations also have important implications for environmental flows and ecosystems services demanded by downstream communities that depend on fisheries and the availability of clean water.

We analyzed the importance of ecosystem functioning within the water-energy-food nexus for the catchment of the Zambezi River. We developed an environmental values map of rivers and riparian habitats based on aquatic species richness, habitat types and potential connectivity-needs for migrating fishes and other water-dependent species. We combined this environmental values map with (1) a layer of potential threats from infrastructure development such as dams and roads, (2) water quality, indicated by invasive floating vegetation and (3) streamflow information from a hydrological model, calculating water availability and flows. The spatially explicit combination of environmental values and predicted hotspots of change serves to suggest measures to avoid, reduce and mitigate impacts from development on the landscape scale. This will contribute to a decision analytic framework evaluating large-scale investments in projects such as hydropower stations and industrial agriculture under different socio-economic and climatic scenarios.


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09:4

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HYDROELECTRIC RESERVOIRS INFLUENCE TREE PHYSIOLOGY AND ENDEMISM

Pia Parolin1, Leandro Ferreira2

1University of Hamburg, Hamburg, DE, [email protected] Paraense Emilio Goeldi, Belém, BR

In Amazonia, river damming to provide energy from hydroelectric reservoirs turns rivers into huge lakes which flood the original vegetation. The vegetation suffers from strong impacts of fragmentation, i.e. microclimatic changes, desiccation from wind, and altered rainfall patterns. This leads to high tree mortality and shifts in floristic composition.

We analyze short-term responses in artificial islands of the Tapajós, Xingu and Tocantins Rivers in Amazonia in plot pairs of 5 × 40 m on 17 islands of varying sizes (8-100 hectares). The plot pairs comprised one plot 30 m from the margin and one more than 100 m from the margin. No significant differences of tree density, basal area, density of regeneration and canopy cover were found between island border and interior in the sampled islands in the Tucuruí dam reservoir. This gives evidence that the whole islands – and not merely the borders – are heavily affected by abiotic changes. Alterations of species composition, richness and diversity occur, and the original species are substituted even in the central area of 100 ha islands. On the long run the woody vegetation is heavily affected and forests lose diversity and are shifted towards more open vegetation forms. With only six out of 74 species occurring in three inventories of adjacent river systems, the majority of woody species was restricted to each one of the rivers, indicating a high degree of local endemism. Different species occupy similar environmental niches, alternative designs of equal fitness occur in similar environments, making these fragile ecosystems of pioneering formations highly valuable. Conservation plans must consider the complementarity of species when decision on where to place conservation units are taken. If this is not considered for conservation strategies, the original biodiversity will be lost irreversibly, and it is impossible to compensate for it in other places.

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10:0

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EMERGENT MACROPHYTES SUPPORT ZOOPLANKTON IN A SHALLOW TROPICAL LAKE: A BASIS FOR WETLAND CONSERVATION

Mesfin Damtew1,2, Demeke Kifle3, Ludwig Triest1

1Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Ecology and Biodiversity, Brussels, BE, [email protected] University, Environmental Health Science, Harar, ET3Addis Ababa University, Zoological Sciences, Addis Ababa, ET

The littoral zone of freshwater lakes, comprising macrophyte vegetation, is of high ecological and socioeconomic importance, and influences the structure and function of biological community. Understanding the biodiversity value of littoral zones of lakes is a priority for aquatic biodiversity conservation and land/water management. However, less emphasis has been given to biotic interactions and refugia within wetlands bordering tropical African lakes, compared to the many researches focusing on monitoring open water.

The present study investigates the role of the littoral zone of a shallow freshwater tropical rift lake (Ziway, Ethiopia), dominated by two emergent macrophytes, on zooplankton community structure. We hypothesized that the wetland vegetation serves as a preferred microhabitat for zooplankton communities. To test this hypothesis, a lake with substantial coverage of emergent macrophytes was monitored monthly from January to August 2016. The monitoring included measurements of onsite physical-chemical parameters, collection of zooplankton and water samples for biological and chemical analysis. Sites for replicate sampling were selected within habitats of macrophyte vegetation (Typha latifolia and Phragmites australis) and the open water part of the lake.

Typha latifolia and Phragmites australis were found to be home of more dense and diverse zooplankton community than the open water. However, during the period of higher flood levels and vegetation loss, the density of crustacean zooplankton became significantly reduced within the patches of macrophytes. From biodiversity conservation perspective, the preservation of an albeit small fringe of macrophytes patches in the littoral zones of lakes is an integral part of protection of the whole lake. However, a rapid degradation of wetland vegetation by human activities is a real threat to these riparian lake ecosystems and the biota it supports.

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10:1

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FAIRY CIRCLES AND WETLAND VEGETATION PATCHES: WHY ARE THERE SIMILAR OR EVEN IDENTICAL REGULAR VEGETATION PATTERNS IN DESERTS AND WETLANDS?

Norbert Juergens1

1University of Hamburg, Hamburg, DE, [email protected]

Regularly spaced circular patches without vegetation in the grasslands at the Namib Desert margin (the famous “fairy circles”) caused an interesting scientific debate regarding their causation. One campus assumes that feedbacks based on competition for scarce resources among neighbouring plants alone can create spatial patterns at a much larger spatial scale. A second campus assumes that the regular spatial patterns are caused by competition for food among neighbouring colonies of social insects that actively

manipulate cycling of biomass, nutrients, and minerals close to the colony center.

Based on a decade of data collection, the presentation reviews new evidence regarding the flow of water (infiltration, percolation, lateral flow), minerals and biomass and the inhibition of social insect activity.

In tropical wetlands the opposite contrast is observed: There are patches of vegetation within a surrounding matrix of less or no vegetation. These vegetation patches show the same spatial patterns as the desert fairy circles.

The presentation will propose a holistic harmonized hypothesis encompassing the pattern formation in extremely dry and extremely wet conditions.

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SESSION 04UNDERSTANDING SAVANNA FUNCTIONING AND DYNAMICS TO PREDICT THEIR FUTURE

Chairs: Jacques GIGNOUX, Sébastien BAROTContact: [email protected]

Savannas are tropical biomes covering about 25 % of continental surfaces. They host a very diverse flora and fauna. They host large human populations, especially in Africa, that highly depend on natural resources, soil fertility and biodiversity. Savannas are also fragile ecosystems that depend on the coexistence between C4 grasses and trees and that can quickly be turned into woodlands by bush encroachment that is due to diverse mechanisms (from the increase in the atmospheric CO2 concentration to changes in fire regimes and various human activities). In turn, tree-grass coexistence depends on complex interactions between fires, herbivores, climate and human activities.

The goal of this session is to present various results from all relevant ecological and environmental sciences (from population dynamics to ecosystem ecology, evolution and environmental humanities, from soil microorganisms to large mammals) that allow predicting the future of savannas. Will savannas persist? What proportion of their biodiversity may disappear? Will the functioning, e.g. carbon storage or soil fertility, of savannas change? What is the future of human populations inhabiting savannas? Local and global studies and all approaches, from field observation to lab experiments and modelling are welcomed.

TUES

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11:0

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S04-O01 – SAVANNA FUNCTIONING AND DYNAMICS

11 CURRENT ISSUES IN SAVANNA ECOLOGY

Jacques Gignoux1

1Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences (IEES), Paris, FR, [email protected]

Savannas are increasingly acknowledged as important and valuable ecosystems. They occupy ~20 % of global land surfaces, 85 % of the global land area burnt, host an important and spectacular biodiversity, and constitute a significant income for many countries through tourism and ranching. Despite this importance, they are under threat, mainly because of a poor knowledge of their extent and functioning.

For long they were considered as degraded forests or croplands – ignoring that most of them are ancient ecosystems that appeared at least 5 million years ago. They are subject to high economic pressure, being easy to transform either to cropland or to tree plantations, and being found in parts of the world where human population growth is fastest.

Savanna science faces the double challenge of the ecological complexity of these systems and of the deep transformations they are currently undergoing. The complexity is due to the many interacting functional groups found in savannas: grasses, trees, grazers, browsers, predators, soil engineers. The balance between these groups is under the control of climate, fire regime and human activities, making the understanding and prediction of changes in ecosystem dynamics very difficult. The transformations currently observed are bush encroachment and/or afforestation, clearing and conversion to cropland, heavy poaching of emblematic species, changes in fire regimes and changes in rainfall regimes.

I attempt here to prioritize the hottest issues in savanna ecology with regards to their current global situation. I identify 6 urgent issues motivated by threats on savanna ecosystems and 5 unresolved scientific problems specific to savannas.

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11:1

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EFFECTS OF MINERAL NITROGEN PARTITIONING ON TREE-GRASS COEXISTENCE IN SAVANNAS

Sarah Konaré1

1Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Paris, FR, [email protected]

Coexistence between trees and grasses in savannas is generally assumed to be due to a combination of partial niche separation for water acquisition and disturbances impacting the demography of trees and grasses. We propose a new mechanism of coexistence solely based on the partitioning of the two dominant forms of soil mineral nitrogen (N), ammonium (NH4+) and nitrate (NO3-). We built a mean-field model taking into account the capacity of grasses and trees to influence nitrification fluxes as well as their relative preferences for NH4+ versus NO3-. Two models were studied: a first where nitrification only depends on the quantity of NH4+ and a second where nitrification also depends on tree and grass biomasses.

Consistently with coexistence theories, our results show that taking these two forms of mineral N into account may allow coexistence when trees and grasses have contrasted preferences for NH4+ or NO3-. Moreover, coexistence is more likely for intermediate nitrification rates. Assuming that grasses inhibit nitrification while trees stimulate it, as observed in the Lamto savanna, Côte d’Ivoire, the most realistic case of coexistence would be when grasses prefer NH4+ and trees NO3-. Partitioning of mineral N is a stabilizing coexistence mechanism that would act in interaction with already described mechanisms based on disturbances by fire and herbivores. This mechanism virtually applies to any savanna but should be thoroughly tested through empirical studies and new models taking into account spatial heterogeneity in nitrification rates.

TUES

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11:3

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GAS EXCHANGE AND BIOMASS ALLOCATION OF SHEA (VITELLARIA PARADOXA C.F. GAERTN.) SEEDLINGS UNDER INCREASED CO2, COMPETITION AND WATER AVAILABILITY

Damian Tom-Dery1, Christoph Reisdorff1, Kai Jensen1

1Biocenter Klein Flottbek, Applied Plant Ecology, University Hamburg, Hamburg, DE, [email protected]

The Shea tree (Vitellaria paradoxa C.F. Gaertn.) is a major parkland species occurring across the Africa Savanna belt from East to West. Its fruits, butter, and products from Shea butter play a key role in the Sustainable Development Goals of poverty eradication, hunger elimination, and gender equity. Abiotic and biotic interactions play a pivotal role in shaping parklands because they influence vital processes like photosynthesis, transpiration and biomass production.

We measured gas exchange of Shea seedlings grown under ambient and increased atmospheric CO2 (eCO2), with and without grass competition and under different water availabilities in greenhouse chambers. We hypothesized that eCO2 will increase seedling growth in Shea via increases in photosynthetic parameters and that grass competition decreases the assimilation rate of Shea resulting in reduced growth. Increased CO2 caused a 10 % (p < 0.001) increase in maximum light-saturated photosynthesis (Asat), 22 % (p < 0.001) increase in intrinsic water use efficiency, 13 % (p < 0.001) increase in stem mass fraction (SMF) and 11 % (p = 0.006) reduction in transpiration rate. Grass competition significantly reduced Asat by 9 % (p < 0.001), maximum electron transport rate by 13 % (p < 0.001) and SMF (p < 0.001) by 19 %, with corresponding reduction in all biomass parameters, but a significant 16 % (p < 0.001) increase in C/N ratio. Interactive effects were recorded for maximum electron transport rate, dark respiration, stomatal conductance, CO2 compensation point and leaf area ratio. Photosynthesis under eCO2 was positively influenced while transpiration was reduced leading to increased growth of Shea. Conversely, grass competition negatively affected photosynthesis, Shea growth and biomass. The control of grasses in the early stages of Shea development is therefore recommended.


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11:4

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MAMMALIAN HERBIVORES ALONG A NATIVE VEGETATION LOSS GRADIENT IN NEOTROPICAL SAVANNA

Cyntia Santos1,2, Fábio Roque1, Olivier Pays2, Pierre-Cyril Renaud2

1Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Campo Grande, BR, [email protected]è de Angers, Angers, FR

The Cerrado is a new economic development frontier for agribusiness worldwide. In the last 30 years deforestation has reached 46 % creating a landscape made by a mosaic of preserved natural vegetation and agricultural matrix. This deforestation dynamic has an impact especially for mammalian herbivores. We expected that herbivores that are more dependent on forest resources (such as fruits) would be more sensitive to native vegetation loss.

We selected 13 sampling sites of 5,000 hectares each, ranging from 9 to 90 % native vegetation cover in the Bodoquena Plateau, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. We carried out mammal surveys using camera trappings between April 2016 and November 2017. In each sampling site, we installed 15 cameras, spaced about 900 meters, during at least 22 consecutive days during rainy and dry seasons. Our preliminary results indicate that composition of the herbivore community is impacted by the loss of native vegetation. At species level, small body mass herbivore occurrence rate is significantly negatively impacted by natural vegetation loss as well as specialized diet species. We believe that larger species with good dispersal capacity can use the most favorable environments in the agricultural matrix to maintain some connectivity, while small and specialized species, require areas with better native vegetation structure.

According to the composition of the species in the NMDS based on Jaccard distances, two main group of species are detected: (1) common species that occurred in almost all landscapes, such as Tapirus terrestris, Peccary tajacu, Mazama gouazoubira, Mazama americana and Dasyprocta azara, and (2) sensible species, such as Cuniculus paca and Tayassu pecary, that occurred mainly in landscapes dominated by native vegetation. Managing connectivity in this landscape can play a crucial role and underscores the importance of understanding how land use planning is occurring in the Cerrado for a better biodiversity conservation strategy.

TUES

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14:3

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FROST IN AFROTROPICAL MID-ALTITUDE SAVANNAS - A NEGLECTED ENVIRONMENTAL FILTER

Manfred Finckh1, Paulina Zigelski1, Marion Stellmes2, Rasmus Revermann1

1Biodiversity, Evolution and Ecology of Plants, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, DE, [email protected] of Geographical Sciences, Remote Sensing and Geoinformatics, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, DE

Current reviews of the factors shaping the forest - savanna transition focus mainly on C4 grass - fire feedback and tree shade-fire suppression, with a secondary line of reasoning discussing the role of large herbivores for the evolution and maintenance of dry tropical grasslands. Frost, however, has so far been widely neglected by researchers looking at the forest grassland dynamics in tropical landscapes. This is especially surprising since frost events reliably occur in the mid-altitudes of southern and south-central Africa.

We will present evidence that frost acts as a strong environmental filter in Afrotropical suffrutex-grasslands of the Zambezian phytoregion. Data from western and central Angola show frequent frost events (up to > 30 frost nights p.a.) occurring in the dry season between mid-May and early September. Typically, night frosts start at about midnight and peak immediately before sunrise and result from thermal radiation during the cloud-free dry season. These repeated frost events cause topkill of woody plant species with their origins in the tropics, but are too short to penetrate the topsoil or dense grass tufts so that buds of suffrutices and meristematic tissues of grasses remain protected from critically low temperatures.

While fires are frequent in the Angolan highlands, there is an astonishing lack of evidence for natural fires in the area and fire seasonality is inversely placed to potential natural ignition events. Similarly, landscape patterns in terms of natural forest-grassland distribution are inversely located to spatial logics of fire dominated landscapes, but correspond perfectly to drain lines (and thus frost distribution) of cold air in the hilly landscapes of the Angolan plateau.

Since frost occurrence in the Angolan highlands is closely linked to the influx of cool dry air during the dry season, it can be assumed that frost events have been stronger, more frequent and further distributed during the cold periods of the quaternary (with lower global mean temperatures and generally drier atmospheric conditions). Functional traits of Afrotropical suffrutex-grassland biota which serve to avoid temperature stress are generally considered as fire traits but can similarly be regarded as evolutionary responses to frequent frost events rather than to sporadic natural fire events.

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14:4

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“PURGATORIES” REVEAL THE EFFECTS OF FIRE AND FROST ON GEOXYLIC SUFFRUTICES AND GRASSES IN SAVANNAS

Paulina Zigelski1, Manfred Finckh1, Fernanda Lages2

1Biozentrum Klein Flottbek, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, DE, [email protected] Huíla Lubango, Lubango, AO

Recurrent fires are a characteristic feature of savannas and shape the pattern of grasslands and woodlands. The impact of fires on savanna trees is well studied; however, there has been less attention on aspects like the seasonal timing of fire or the dynamics of the open, grass covered parts of these ecosystems beyond their role for fuel loads. In many cases the seemingly grassy areas are intermingled with a diversity of shrubs or geoxylic suffrutices, resprouting readily after fire. The mixture of life forms with their different flammability

influences fire intensities, patchiness and associated microclimatic conditions before and after burning. Thus, changing fire regimes (e.g. cessation of burning or different seasonal timing) will probably cause shifts in phenological development stages, species and life form composition, and vegetation structures.

Although fires occur ubiquitously in savannas, it is challenging to quantify the impact of fire (and effects of fire exclosures) on tropical grasslands. Nevertheless, such analyses are urgently needed to understand current and future effects of fire and subsequent changes in microclimate on tropical grassy biomes, particularly since growing human populations will increase the pressure on these ecosystems. Thus, in the dry season 2017 we started a systematic burning experiment (“purgatory”) at two sites in Angolan suffrutex - grasslands allowing us to compare the effects of early and late season fires and fire exclusion on vegetation structure, subsequent differences in microclimatic conditions due to changes in vegetation height and cover, and species composition and performance.

Here, we present first results comparing the responses of different grass and suffrutex species to the burning treatments. We show that burning triggers resprouting in both life forms, whereby resprouting of suffrutices is enhanced with increasing fire damage. Furthermore, solely woody species are affected by frost damages in these open habitats, irrespective of the burning treatment. While meristematic tissues of perennial grasses are well protected by dense tufts against night frost, fresh shoots of suffrutices are vulnerable to frost damage. Particularly when older shoots and grass cover have been burned away, early regrowth of woody species gets killed by late dry season frost.


TUES

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15:0

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EFFECT OF FIRE REGIME ON THE GRASS COMMUNITY OF THE HUMID SAVANNA OF LAMTO (IVORY COAST)

Kouamé Fulgence Koffi1,2, Aya Brigitte N’Dri2, Jean-Christophe Lata1, Souleymane Konaté2, Tharaniya Srikanthasamy1, Marcel Konan2, Sébastien Barot1

1Sorbonne Université, Paris, FR, [email protected]é Nangui Abrogoua, Abidjan, CI

The persistence of humid savannas requires frequent fires. However, the impact of fire on perennial grass communities that constitute the main source of fuel is largely unknown. This study assesses the impact of four fire treatments after three years: early fire, mid-season fire, late fire and no-fire treatment, on the grass communities of Lamto savanna, Ivory Coast. We described grass communities on 3 replicated 5 m × 5 m or 10 m × 5 m plots of each fire treatment.

There was a non-significant trend for lower densities and smaller tussocks in the late fire. Mid-season fire had the highest proportion of large tussocks (circumference above 50 cm) and holed tussocks (tussocks with an inner space deprived of tiller). All grass characteristics (density, circumference, proportion and probability of having holed tussocks) varied with the species. Andropogon canaliculatus and Hyparrhenia diplandra were the most abundant of the 9-grass species and had the largest tussocks and the highest proportion of holed tussocks. Brachiaria brachylopha, Hyparrhenia smithiana, Sorghastrum bipennatum and Schizachrinum platiphylum were the less abundant species, with the lowest proportion of holed tussocks and the smallest tussocks. Loudetia simplex was the third most abundant species but was very rare in no-fire plots. The distribution of tussock circumferences is right skewed and dominated by small tussocks. The proportion of holed tussocks strongly increases with tussock circumference which could lead to tussock fragmentation. Taken together, this study allows deriving preliminary hypotheses on the impact of fire on the demography of savanna grasses and their coexistence.

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15:1

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SEASONAL CHANGES IN FIRE BEHAVIOUR IN A HUMID SAVANNA OF WEST AFRICA

Aya Brigitte N’Dri1

1University Nangui Abrogoua, Abidjan, CI, [email protected]

Fire is important for the maintenance of African savanna ecosystems, particularly humid savanna. Despite the importance of fire behaviour to understand its ecological effects, few studies have documented fire behaviour and its determinants in humid West African savannas.

We analyzed fire behaviour in the Guinean savanna of Lamto (Ivory Coast) during a 4-year-field experiment. Nine 0.5 ha plots were burnt

annually to determine the rate of spread and fire intensity. Fuel characteristics and weather conditions were measured to assess their impact on fire behaviour. The fire regimes tested only depended on the burning season: early (EF), mid-season (MF), and late (LF) fires.

Over the 4 years, understory grass height, total fresh fuel load and its moisture contents had higher values in EF than in MF and LF. The rate of spread and intensity of MF (0.14 ± 0.03 m.s-1 and 3920 ± 740 Kw.m-1) and LF (0.12 ± 0.02 m.s-1 and 3134 ± 482 Kw.m-1) were significantly higher than those of EF (0.04 ± 0.01 m.s-1 and 1416 ± 252 Kw.m-1). Fuel moisture content and air humidity were generally the best predictors of fire behaviour. Thus, the generally reported higher impact of late fires on trees is not due to a higher fire intensity in the studied West African humid savanna. We suggest that the impact of late fires is due to trees being in a more sensitive phenological stage, and to a longer time of exposure to lethal temperatures (> 60°C) at this season. These data provide important insights into fire behaviour in the Guinean savanna-forest mosaic ecoregion, informing fire management.

TUES

DAY

16:0

0


ROLE OF THE BIOLOGICAL CONTROL OF N CYCLE ON GRASS-TREES COMPETITION AND COEXISTENCE IN SAVANNAS

Jean-Christophe Lata1

1Department Community Diversity & Ecosystem Functioning, iEES-Paris Laboratory – Sorbonne Université, Paris, FR, [email protected]

The productivity of African savannas can be as high as that of tropical forests while they are extremely constrained by fire, strong seasonality and low-nutrient soils. Twenty-five years of studies in African savannas showed that one plant strategy could partially explain this high productivity paradox. Perennial grasses (Poaceae) can inhibit nitrification through root-exuded molecules. By limiting nitrate production, these ecosystems are more conservative for nitrogen (N), being less prone to leaching/denitrification losses. This ability also likely explains the invasiveness of African Poaceae following their introduction for pasture in South America and Australia.

Besides Poaceae, savannas also include trees and shrubs. Their coexistence often appears difficult to explain, as trees seem well able to exclude Poaceae through light or nutrient/water competition. We suggest that one of the reasons for coexistence could be a functional niche divergence for N cycle control, leading to a 2-speed savanna functioning: Poaceae biologically inhibit nitrification and therefore contribute to close the N cycle, while trees stimulate it from mineralization to (de)nitrification, contributing to open the N cycle by producing more N2O (GHG gas).

Savannas provide worldwide important ecosystem services in regions of very high human population growth. Among the major global problems they are facing, increased CO2, fire suppression and afforestation for C market will induce a functional shift of savannas towards a more open, less conservative N cycle under increasing woody cover. The promotion of increased N2O emissions can potentially offset carbon gains stored by afforestation. In the future, it would be very important to compare different savanna types, and the respective impact of grasses and trees on the N cycle to predict the evolution of savannas submitted to global changes and the evolution of the services they provide, e.g. climate regulation and soil fertility for agriculture.

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16:1

5


CONTRASTED EFFECTS OF GRASSES AND TREES ON MICROBIAL N-CYCLING IN AN AFRICAN HUMID SAVANNA DURING THE WET SEASON

Tharaniya Srikanthasamy1, Sébastien Barot1, Brigitte Aya N’Dri1, Kevin Tambosco1, Jean-Christophe Lata1

1Sorbonne Université-iEES-Paris, Paris, FR, [email protected]

African humid savannas are highly productive ecosystems where grasses and trees coexist despite very low soil fertility. Earlier results suggest that their high productivity is at least partially due to the ability of perennial tussock grasses to influence nitrogen (N) cycling and that trees likely have a contrasted influence on N cycling. Hence this study assessed the impact of savanna grass and tree species on soil nitrification processes and the underlying nitrifying archaeal and bacterial communities.

During the long-wet season, we sampled soil in the Lamto savanna (Ivory Coast - West Africa) under the dominant perennial grass species (Hyparrhenia diplandra) the dominant tree species (Crossopteryx febrifuga) and in patches of soil without vegetation (hereafter bare soil patches). We combined measurements of the abundances of the functional genes (DNA) of nitrification (amoA) and the transcripts of these genes (RNA) nitrification enzyme activities (NEA) and soil physico-chemical characteristics.

The NEA was higher under trees than under grasses and in bare soil patches, and was higher in these patches than under grasses. The abundance of ammonia oxidizing archaea (AOA) followed the same pattern whereas, for the transcript, no difference was found. The abundance of ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) was higher under grasses and trees than in bare soil patches, but their transcript was under the limit of detection. Our results suggest that grasses inhibit nitrification while trees stimulate nitrification. The differences between the abundances of the transcripts of AOA and AOB nitrifying genes suggest that AOA are strongly involved in nitrification in this savanna. Overall, these results suggest that grasses and trees create a strong heterogeneity in N cycling in the studied savanna. The underlying plant-soil feedbacks likely influence tree-grass dynamics. These feedbacks should be taken into account to predict savannas N budget and their emissions of N2O at a time when savannas and the tree-grass equilibrium is threatened by many factors.

TUES

DAY

16:3

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ANT ASSEMBLAGES IN A FOREST SAVANNAH MOSAIC IN THE COMOÉ NATIONAL PARK (IVORY COAST)

Nils-Christian Schumacher1, Erik T. Frank1, Karl Eduard Linsenmair1

1University of Wuerzburg, Wuerzburg, DE, [email protected]

Savannahs and forests cover most of tropical terrestrial landscapes. This ecosystem provides a high species richness and biodiversity. Biodiversity is strongly influenced by natural and anthropogenic habitat fragmentation. For this study, the West African Comoé National park was investigated for ant diversity, with savannah as surrounding matrix, a continuous gallery forest and forest islands as an example for natural fragmented habitat. Samples of ants in the leaf-litter, soil and tree trunk were taken by using Winkler traps, soil excavation and honey baits respectively with five sites in savannah and gallery forest and 6 sites in forest islands.

In total 96 species from 35 genera were collected. While habitats did not differ in species richness, turnover in composition of ant assemblages between the different habitats was highly significant. Communities of the gallery forest and forest islands were more related to each other when compared to the savannah. Subterranean and tree trunk samples had a lower species richness over all habitats compared to the leaf litter. Likely impacts on different composition in ant assemblages are regular bush fires, solar radiation, temperature and humidity. Concerning habitat heterogeneity, our study suggests not a higher α-diversity for more complex habitats but β-diversity shows that habitats clearly differ in their ant community. For every habitat, indicator species could be detected. For land-use and park management in the Comoé National park all three habitats need to be conserved to preserve a high γ-diversity.


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16:4

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EFFECTS OF LAND USE PATTERN ON INVASIVE PLANT DIVERSITY IN GUINEAN SAVANNA ECOSYSTEMS OF TOGODO PROTECTED AREA, TOGO

Amah Akodewou1,2,3, Johan Oszwald4, Sêmihinva Ben Akpavi3, Laurent Gazull2, Koffi Akpagana3, Valéry Gond2

1AGROPARISTECH, Paris, FR, [email protected], Montpellier, FR3Laboratoire de Botanique et Ecologie Végétale, Université de Lomé, Lomé, TG4Université Renne 2 - UFR Sciences sociales, Rennes, FR

Tropical natural ecosystems host a very diverse flora and fauna and are key ecosystems for global climate and biogeochemical regulation. Unfortunately, in West African landscapes, large areas of savanna and forest have been progressively replaced or fragmented by crops. These dynamics promote the spread of many invasive plants representing on the one hand, a real and growing threat for many conservation areas and on the other hand, a serious problem for agricultural production. Similarly, Togodo Protected

Area, a crucial habitat for many vulnerable and endangered species in Togo, is submitted to important threats by human disturbance which promote the establishment and development of invasive plants.The eradication of invasive plants already established over a large area is rarely possible. Thus, understanding and predicting the invasive success of plants is one of the major concerns of the ecology of invasive plants. In order to evaluate the relations between current land use patterns and invasive plant diversity and abundance, first, a typology of landscape elements was defined based on the heterogeneity of the environment (forests, savannas, fallows, oil palm and teak plantations, crops). Then, in each identified landscape element, the dominant plant species have been identified. A total of 133 botanical surveys including: 27 in crops, 41 in fallows, 17 in palm plantations, 13 in teak plantations, 18 in savannas and 17 in forests.As results, 178 dominant plant species including 31 (17.42 %) invasive or potentially invasive were recorded. In terms of diversity, fallows (25 species) and crops (15 species) contain more dominant invasive species, unlike teak plantations and forests dominated by only 4 and 5 species respectively. Among the most common dominant invasive species, Panicum maximum Jacq. and Chromolaena odorata (L.) R.M.King & H.Rob. dominate all types of landscape elements while other species such as Acmella oleracea (L.) R.K.Jansen and Triumfetta rhomboidea Jacq. dominate only one type of landscape element.Our results show that fallows are most susceptible to invasion and Panicum maximum Jacq. and Chromolaena odorata (L.) R.M.King & H.Rob are the most invasive species in our site. This is fundamental for predicting the future and for the restoration of these very useful ecosystems for biodiversity as well as for the population of the area.


TUES

DAY

17:0

0


BIODIVERSITY RESPONSE TO LAND USE IN THE AFRICAN SAVANNA WOODLANDS: IMPLICATIONS OF HETEROGENEITY BETWEEN LAND USE ACTIVITIES AND TAXONOMIC GROUPS

Hemant Tripathi1, Casey Ryan1, Catherine Parr2

1Department of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK, [email protected] of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

Land use change and intensification is a leading cause of degradation and deforestation and, consequently, habitat modification and biodiversity loss across the globe. However, the understanding of global biodiversity-land use discourse is geographically and taxonomically biased and restricted to land use end-points (e.g. forest to cropland). In this study, therefore, we examined the effects of selective logging and agriculture expansion on trees and mammal communities in the savanna woodlands of southern Africa, an underrepresented ecosystem in the global biodiversity datasets.We used a single-season spatial comparison of two chronosequences, indicating a selective logging-led charcoal production and agriculture expansion-led fragmentation intensity gradient in the mopane and the miombo woodlands of Mozambique, respectively. We examined the individual species-level (occurrence) and community-level (alpha diversity - species richness, beta diversity - turnover and nestedness) responses of tree and mammal communities as function of land use intensity.With charcoal production intensity, the species richness reduced by 12 % and 8.5 %, while in response to agriculture expansion, it declined by 14 % and 15 % for trees and mammals respectively. In addition, the species richness of trees underwent linear decline, while that of mammals showed non-linear response. With increasing charcoal production intensity, the species turnover of trees decreased (-19 %), whereas that of mammals increased (98 %). In case of agriculture expansion, the turnover of trees increased (5 %) and that of mammals declined (-17 %).This study shows that species richness primarily reduces in response to land use pressures. However, there are caveats - taxonomic heterogeneity in patterns of species richness, beta-diversity and individual species responses should be taken in to consideration. Despite losing species, not all communities underwent a total biodiversity decline. Mammal communities in high intensity charcoal production and tree communities in response to agricultural expansion increased in beta diversity. This underlines that loss of species richness does not always lead to biotic homogenization and biodiversity response differs between taxonomic groups and land use activities.


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SESSION 05DIVERSIFICATION OF AFRICAN RAIN FOREST BIODIVERSITY: CHALLENGES FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

Chairs: Violaine NICOLAS-COLIN, Thomas COUVREURContact: [email protected]

Tropical African rain forests are one of the most species rich biomes on the planet. Yet this diversity is threatened by ongoing climate change and human actions. Understanding the origin and diversification of this biome will play a key role in its conservation over time. It will be important to bring together data from both animals and plants, which all too often are not integrated. The growing body of biogeographic and macro-evolutionary studies focusing on tropical African forests, the generation of large DNA sequence datasets via NGS, the increasing availability of synthetic datasets of species distributions and molecular data, an increasingly sophisticated set of available predictor data (e.g. spatially explicit models of past climate) are now enabling us to adopt a comparative perspective on biodiversity evolution in the region.

The aim of this symposium will be to synthetize macro-evolutionary studies of both animal and plant African rain forest centered clades. The symposium will bring together early-career and established researchers working on African rain forest biodiversity in general.

TUES

DAY

09:3

0

S05-O01 – DIVERSIFICATION OF AFRICAN FORESTS

MULTIPLE SHIFTS TO OPEN HABITATS IN MELASTOMATEAE (MELASTOMATACEAE) CONGRUENT WITH THE INCREASE OF AFRICAN NEOGENE CLIMATIC ARIDITY

Marie Claire Veranso-Libalah1,2, Gudrun Kadereit1,2, Robert D. Stone Stone3, Thomas L.P. Couvreur4

1Institut für Molekulare und Organismische Evolutionsbiologie, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, Mainz, DE, [email protected] für Molekulare Physiologie, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, Mainz, DE3School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, ZA4IRD, DIADE, University Montpellier, Montpellier, FR

African Melastomateae (Melastomataceae) comprise c. 185 species occurring in both closed and open habitats including primary, secondary and gallery forests, humid and dry savannas, and woodlands. As such, Melastomateae present an opportunity to test hypotheses about the evolution of African vegetation in response to increased aridification. Based on an extensive sampling of New and Old World Melastomateae using two nuclear and three plastid markers we reconstructed the biogeographic and habitat history of the clade. In addition, we tested for shifts in diversification rates especially in relation to adaptation to new habitats.Divergence times were estimated in BEAST based on three calibration priors. Biogeographic history was reconstructed under a dispersal-extinction-cladogenesis model implemented in ‘BioGeoBEARS’. The ancestral habitat of African Melastomateae was estimated using maximum likelihood and stochastic character mapping approaches. Finally, shifts in diversification rates were identified using BAMM.Melastomateae dispersed from South America to Africa during the Late Oligocene (~28 Ma) with subsequent dispersals to Madagascar and SE Asia during the Middle and Late Miocene (~16 Ma and ~12, Ma respectively). The ancestral African Melastomateae were adapted to closed habitats. At least 12 shifts to open habitats were inferred mainly occurring during the Middle Miocene or Pliocene. BAMM analyses estimated a net diversification rate (r) of 0.23 species/Ma (95 % quartile = 0.15-0.30) for African Melastomateae. Speciation (λ) and net diversification rates (r) gradually increased during the Neogene with a sharper increase after 4 Ma. None of the habitat shifts led to a significant increase in diversification rates.Long-distance dispersal from South America during the Early Miocene explains the origin of African Melastomateae. The inferred adaptation to open habitats from an ancestrally closed habitat is congruent with the Neogene increase of aridity across Africa. Adaptation to open habitats during the Neogene is an important driver of African plant diversity, but is not always followed by increased diversification rates.

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09:4

5


PHYLOGENETICS AND DIVERSIFICATION HISTORY OF AFRICAN RATTANS (CALAMOIDEAE, ANCISTROPHYLLINAE)

Adama Faye1, Jean-Christophe Pintaud1, William J. Baker2, Yves Vigouroux1, Bonaventure Sonké3, Thomas L.P. Couvreur1,2,4

1Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Montpellier, FR, [email protected] Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, UK3Département des Sciences Biologiques, Laboratoire de Botanique systématique et d’Ecologie, Université de Yaoundé I, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Yaoundé, CM4Botany Section, Naturalis Biodiversity Centre, Darwinweg, Leiden, NL

Even though African Rain Forests (ARF) display high levels of local species diversity and endemism, they are known to contain fewer plant species than both the Neotropics and Asia. This disparity has been suggested as a result of important extinction events that occurred during the climatic history of Africa (Oligocene-Eocene and Pliocene periods).

African palms display a marked lower species diversity when compared to the two other rain forest areas. Here, we used African rattans (subtribe: Ancistrophyllinae), one of the most diverse palms clades in Africa to test the impact of past mass extinction events on the evolution history of this clade. We reconstructed a near-complete, dated species-level phylogenetic tree for Ancistrophyllinae using plastid and nuclear markers.

Ancistrophyllinae diversified during the Eocene with most species originating during the late Miocene after 10 Mya. This result is in agreement with several other studies suggesting a pre-Pleistocene origin of the extant African flora. African rattans have undergone a constant diversification rate punctuated by one or several important extinction events during the first part of the Cenozoic with most species diversity accumulating during the late Miocene and Pliocene. These results highlight that the diversity of ARF has been affected mainly by ancient extinction events.

TUES

DAY

10:0

0


FORESTS OF SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA - OVERLOOKED AND ENDANGERED CENTRE OF AFRICAN ENDEMISM

Josef Bryja1, Leonid A. Lavrenchenko2, Radim Sumbera3, Yonas Meheretu4

1Institute of Vertebrate Biology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno, CZ, [email protected]. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Science, Moscow, RU3Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Ceske Budejovice, CZ4Department of Biology, Mekelle University, Mekelle, ET

Biodiversity of African rainforests has been intensively studied. This is especially true for geographically large-scaled Guineo-Congolian forests as well as for the geographically much more restricted montane forests of Eastern Africa (Albertine Rift, Kenyan Highlands, Eastern Arc Mountains, etc.), known for their very high level of endemism. On the other hand, there are relatively small isolated rainforests laying outside the main distribution of African forests (e.g. in Angola or Ethiopia), whose biodiversity and biogeographical relationships are understudied.

In the frame of our biodiversity research of small terrestrial mammals in Eastern Africa, we collected new material from two most important forest areas in Ethiopia (Harena forest in Bale Mountains and forests in south-western part of the country) and analysed biogeographical relationships of local mammalian fauna using phylogenetic approaches.

We found numerous endemic taxa living in this unique ecosystem - majority of them are specialized lineages within endemic Ethiopian clades, but there are also taxa, whose sister lineages are distributed either in montane forests of Eastern Africa or even in lowland forests in the Congo basin. Ethiopian forests can be thus considered as an additional center of African endemism requiring urgent conservation action, because of very rapid increase of human population and extremely high level of deforestation in the country.

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RESPONSE OF AFROMONTANE FORESTS TO PAST ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES: NEW INSIGHTS FROM PODOCARPUS TREES USING GENOMIC TOOLS

Jérémy Migliore1,2, Anne-Marie Lézine1, Olivier J. Hardy2

1Sorbonne Université, Laboratoire d’Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN), Paris, FR, [email protected]é Libre de Bruxelles, Evolutionary Biology and Ecology (EBE), Brussels, BE

Afromontane forest is one of the most threatened habitat in Africa, referred to as the Afromontane archipelago, as their fragmented distribution above 1500-2000 m elevation in the Tropics is analogous to a series of sky islands. Although some Afromontane enclaves are widely discontinuous, they share similar plant communities which are often distinct from the surrounding lowland regions and characterized by the Podocarpaceae conifers. According to palaeoecology, the story of these forests seems closely linked to

Plio-Pleistocene climate oscillations with a maximum expansion of montane elements during phases of cool and dry conditions. However, the role of climate as motor of evolution of trees is difficult to assess, and there is still much uncertainty regarding the evolutionary imprints left by successive past forest fragmentation events on the diversification of Podocarpus populations. Phylogeography can thus be a key proxy to study the response of trees to past climate changes, since genetic lineages bear the signal of past range dynamics and population size fluctuations (e.g. population bottlenecks, expansion, and/or migration).

Genomic data were developed using high throughput sequencing tools from both capture of chloroplast genomes and genotyping of nuclear DNA microsatellites on an extensive sampling, covering the patchily distribution of Podocarpus latifolius/milanjianus, in central and eastern Africa. The high level of polymorphism detected (400 SNPs along ca. 130000 bp of plastomes) provides a detailed phylogeographical signal to infer the evolutionary history of populations. There is a clear genetic differentiation between central and eastern African mountain ranges, with key elements about potential migration corridors. However, we detect past extensive gene flows from Cameroon to Angola and from Kenya to Mozambique that could be used to track the response of vegetation belts to past climate changes, and to compare to palaeoecological reconstructions.

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DIVERSIFICATION OF THE AFRICAN GENUS TREE BRACHYSTEGIA

Arthur Boom1, Jérémy Migliore1, Dario Ojeda Alayon2, Esra Kaymak1, Pierre Meerts1, Olivier J. Hardy1

1Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, BE, [email protected] of Ecology and Genetics, Oulu University, Oulu, FI

Past climatic fluctuations in Africa impacted dramatically the different biomes compositions and distribution in Africa and have probably played a role in the diversification of species trough different mechanisms. To understand how these climate variations contributed to the diversification of species and biomes shift, it is proposed here to take interest the African tree genus Brachystegia. This genus is represented in the tropical rainforest with seven species, but is also well represented in the so called miombo woodlands, with at least 20 species. Understanding the diversification of this genus can give us insight in the landscape evolution.

The study here takes advantage of Illumina sequencing to obtain phylogenies (1) based on the full chloroplast sequence, and (2) based on several nuclear genes. The nuclear sequences are obtained with the use of already developed baits for Detarioideae, and target 283 nuclear genes for a total of 359,222 bp. Here, the consistency of the two preliminary phylogenies will be discussed.

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SMALL MAMMAL DIVERSIFICATION IN THE AFRICAN GUINEO-CONGOLIAN RAINFOREST: A COMPARATIVE PHYLOGEOGRAPHIC SURVEY

Violaine Nicolas1

1Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle, UMR ISYEB 7205, Paris, FR, [email protected]

The African Guineo-Congolian rainforest constitutes the second largest block of rainforest on earth, and it hosts a remarkable biodiversity. Understanding the evolutionary processes responsible for this high species richness has fascinated biologists for decades and remains a highly debated topic today. Two main hypotheses for Pleistocene divergence have been proposed and adapted for Africa: Pleistocene forest refugia and riverine barriers. When interpreted through available palaeo-environmental frameworks,

phylogeographical studies of habitat-specialist species are especially useful to test alternative hypotheses of diversification. Even more instructive are the comparisons of phylogeographical patterns in several species sharing the same biogeographical regions.

In this talk we review recent phylogeographical studies focusing on terrestrial small mammal (rodents and shrews) species inhabiting the lowland African rainforest. This review shows that both Pleistocene forest refugia and riverine barriers explain diversification across a variety of taxa, and that small differences between sibling species in habitat requirements can lead to completely different phylogeographic patterns. This review also highlights the limitations of previous studies, and which kind of studies should now be conduct to further test alternative diversification hypotheses.

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PHYLOGENETIC PATTERNS OF DIVERSIFICATION ACROSS ECOLOGICAL NICHES IN THE AFRICAN TREE GENUS GUIBOURTIA

Félicien Tosso1, Jean-Louis Doucet1, Kasso Daïnou1, Adeline Fayolle1, Alain Hambuckers2, Charles Doumenge3, Honoré Agbazahou3, Piet Stoffelen4, Olivier J. Hardy5

1Central African Forests, TERRA Teaching and Research Centre, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liège, Gembloux, BE, [email protected] SPHERES, Behavioral Biology, University of Liege, Liège, BE3Centre International de Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement, Montpellier, FR4Herbarium, Botanic Garden Meise, Meise, BE5Evolutionary Biology and Ecology Unit, Faculté des Sciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Bruxelles, BE

Adaptive evolution is thought to be a major driver of organism diversification but the link between phenotypic traits and environmental niche remains little documented in tropical trees. Moreover, the respective roles of phylogenetic inertia and convergent evolution in shaping environmental niche and phenotypic trait similarity among related plant taxa is not well understood. Indeed, a correlation between species traits and species environmental niche among a sample of species may result from (1) convergent evolution if different environmental conditions have selected different sets of traits, or (2) phylogenetic inertia if niche and morphological differences between species are simply function of their phylogenetic divergence, in which case the trait-niche correlation does not imply any direct causal link.The aim of this study is to understand the relationships between environmental niche divergence and morphological divergence among congeneric species while accounting for phylogenetic inertia. This issue was addressed with the timber tree genus Guibourtia Benn. (Leguminosae, Detarioideae) which contains 13 African species occupying various forest habitat types, from rain forest to dry woodlands, with different climate and soil conditions. To this end, we combined morphological data with recent ecological niche modelling and used a highly resolved plastid phylogeny of the 13 African Guibourtia species. First, we demonstrated phylogenetic signals in both morphological traits (Mantel test between phylogenetic and morphological distances between species: r = 0.24, p = 0.031) and environmental niches (Mantel test between phylogenetic and niche distances between species: r = 0.23, p = 0.025). Second, we found a significant correlation between morphology and niche, at least between some of their respective dimensions (Mantel’s r = 0.32, p = 0.013), even after accounting for phylogenetic inertia (Phylogenetic Independent Contrast: r = 0.69, p = 0.018). This correlation occurred between some leaflet and flower traits and solar radiation, relative humidity, precipitations and temperature range. Our results demonstrate the convergent evolution of some morphological traits in response to climatic factors in congeneric tree species and highlight the action of selective forces, along with neutral ones, in shaping the divergence between tropical plants.

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PHYLOGEOGRAPHY OF A LEAF-LITTER FROG REVEALS THE HISTORY OF THE LOWER GUINEA AND CONGO RAINFORESTS

Vaclav Gvozdik1,2, Matej Dolinay2,3, Daniel M. Portik4,5, Zoltan T. Nagy6,7, Eli Greenbaum8, Jos Kielgast9, Gabriel Badjedjea Babangenge10, David C. Blackburn11, Breda M. Zimkus12, Mark-Oliver Rödel7, Michael F. Barej7, Ange-G. Zassi-Boulou13, Rayna C. Bell14, Matthew K. Fujita4, Adam D. Leaché15

1Department of Zoology, National Museum, Prague, CZ, [email protected] of Vertebrate Biology, CAS, Brno, CZ3Department of Botany and Zoology, Masaryk University, Brno, CZ4Department of Biology, The University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, US5Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Arizona, Tucson, US6Joint Experimental Molecular Unit, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels, BE7Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, Berlin, DE8Department of Biological Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, US9Department of Biology, Copenhagen University, Copenhagen, DK10Department of Ecology and Aquatic Biodiversity Resources, Biodiversity Monitoring Centre, University of Kisangani, Kisangani, CD11Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, US12Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, US13National Research Institute of Exact and Natural Sciences, Brazzaville, CG14Department of Vertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, US15Department of Biology and Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, University of Washington, Seattle, US

Selecting an appropriate model species can also provide insights into the history of the ecosystem inhabited by the species. We have studied a lowland rainforest leaf-litter frog from Central Africa, Phrynobatrachus auritus, to infer its evolutionary history and the history of the Congolian and Lower Guinean forests using mitochondrial and genome-wide DNA sequence data.

Unexpectedly high number of geographically restricted mitochondrial lineages have been detected, suggesting existence of numerous forest refugia during climatically drier periods when the rainforests were fragmented. The highest genetic variation was detected in (1) the central Congo Basin south of the Congo River with the identification of several divergent lineages, suggesting the importance of this area as a diversification center. Further major phylogeographic units were detected in (2) the northern and eastern Congo Basin, (3) north-western Congo Basin and northern Gabon, (4) Cross-Sanaga-Bioko coastal forests, (5) coastal Gabon, and (6) southern Gabon/

south-western Congo forests. We detected fine-scale phylogeographic structuring in most of the main lineages, which comprise up to 17 lineages. A genome-wide SNP dataset partly supports the mitochondrial structure, however, with some mitochondrial lineages evaluated as representing panmictic populations as based on detected gene flows, likely upon secondary contacts of populations expanding from forest refugia.

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SESSION 06ACOUSTIC SURVEY IN TROPICAL ECOSYSTEMS: NEW INSIGHTS AND NEW CHALLENGES

Chairs: Jérôme SUEUR, Alice C. HUGHES, Patrick A. JANSENContact: [email protected]

Monitoring animal diversity is a key challenge of tropical ecology, as getting reliable information on species ecology in a standardised manner across space and time is challenging. Furthermore, the rarity of some species and challenging landscapes and ecosystems can make direct observations and captures difficult. Yet understanding species distributions, their populations and their movements and the communities or landscape they belong to is essential information to not only understand their ecology bit also to ensure they are adequately protected into the future.

However, recent non-invasive techniques based on audio and video autonomous sensors open the possibility to sample tropical environments over large areas and long-time periods in a consistent and reliable manner. Such digital data acquired remotely and automatically returns valuable information on animal behaviour, animal distribution, animal community composition, and even landscape structure.

In this session, we will report the most recent finding in terms of audio and video monitoring and discuss about the possible challenges in terms of data collection, sampling design, supervised and unsupervised automatic identification of species, and ecological indices. We will also show that these data can be used as an attractive media to raise public awareness about tropical diversity and conservation. We will aim to conclude the session with a presentation of the integration of these different types of techniques to obtain a holistic understanding of the potential of these technologies.

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S06-O01 – ACOUSTIC SURVEY IN TROPICAL ECOSYSTEMS

LONG-TERM MULTI-SITE ACOUSTIC MONITORING OF BIODIVERSITY IN THE AMAZON UNDER PROJECT PROVIDENCE

Monika Kosecka1,2, Serge Zaugg1,2, Mike van der Schaar1,2, Emiliano Ramalho3, Michel Andre1,2

1Laboratory of Applied Bioacoustics (LAB), Technical University of Catalonia, Vilanova i la Geltru, Barcelona, ES, [email protected] Sense of Silence Foundation, Vilanova i la Geltru, Barcelona, ES3Instituto de Desenvolvimento Sustentável Mamirauá, Bairro Fonte Boa, Tefé, BR

Project Providence is an international collaboration between the Mamirauá Institute of Sustainable Development (Coordinator, Brazil), The Sense of Silence Foundation (Spain), the Federal University of Amazonas (Brazil) and CSIRO (Australia) that is developing automated animal detection sensors, called Providence nodes, to monitor biodiversity under the canopy of the Amazon forest in real-time and at an unprecedented scale. Traditional wildlife survey methods, e.g. transect sampling or camera traps, are inefficient in detecting most tropical species and are both expensive and complex to deploy over large areas and long-time spans. Providence nodes will permanently detect and classify species automatically through acoustic and visual sensors. The nodes will be radio linked, making use of WiFi, LoRa, or satellite communication.Providence is planned in three phases, which will see the deployment of an increasing number of data collecting stations. Providence phase 1 is currently underway and it aims at demonstrating the viability of the project by deploying ten nodes as a proof of concept in the Várzea Floodplain Forests of Central Amazonia. The second phase will extend the number of nodes to a hundred, covering over 1 million hectares inside the Mamirauá reserve. The final third phase will oversee the deployment of over a thousand Providence nodes throughout the whole Amazon forest.The Providence bioacoustics approach is taking advantage of LIDO (http://listentothedeep.com), a real-time data analysis system that was initially developed for ocean acoustic applications by the LAB. The LIDO system allows automatic detection of acoustically active species on Providence nodes and in phase 1 it is expected to be able to classify approximately 30 species, including birds, bats, dolphins, frogs, primates, cats, and other mammals. The automated real-time processing of audio streams is based on machine learning methods while the post-processing to obtain the final time-series (e.g. per-species presence indicators) is based on statistical methods that account for prediction errors. Taken jointly, these indicators inform on acoustically active species composition at a fine temporal scale and can be formally combined to provide biodiversity indices.

The project is funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

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REMOTE SENSING FOR LARGE SCALE BIRD MONITORING IN TROPICAL FORESTS

Hervé Glotin1,2, Hervé Goeau3, Willem-Pier Vellinga4, Robert Planque4, Marie Trone2,5, Alexis Joly6,7

1Aix Marseille Université, Université de Toulon, CNRS, ENSAM, LIS UMR CNRS, Toulon, FR, [email protected] STICAmSud, France, Perú, Chile, Iquitos, PE3IRD, UMR AMAP, Montpellier, FR4Xeno-Canto Foundation, NL5Valencia College, Kissimmee, US6Inria ZENITH team, Montpellier, FR7LIRMM, Montpellier, FR

Monitoring the faunal biodiversity of tropical rainforests is critical to evaluating their resiliency to global changes. Visual assessments of species are challenging due to the cryptic behavioral repertoires and camouflaging patterns exhibited by many species, as well as the visually impairing forest vegetation. Auditory estimations are complicated by a single species producing an assortment of calls under varying conditions. Moreover, soundscapes are composed of multiple species.

We report on the synergistic application of soundscape audio recording techniques, human birder expertise, and deep learning machine learning algorithms developed during the international BirdCLEF 2017 challenge. Previous BirdCLEF challenges used rainforest short soundscape recordings made in Colombia in conjunction with known bird calls collected via the crowd sourced website, Xeno-Canto, to aid in the development of species identification algorithms.New audio recordings were made by our team by placing 4 microphones (sample rate 96 kHz, 24-bit) 35 meters above the ground in an undeveloped region of the Peruvian Amazon near the Napo River in 2016 and 2017. Subsequently, these recordings were annotated by a professional bird guide who indicated the sex of the caller and its behavioral significance. These recordings were then used in the BirdCLEF 2017 machine learning challenge, with the goal of improving automated counts of rainforest species based upon real remote auditory sensing. New algorithms were developed to solve these soundscape recordings resulting in improved mean average precision rates as depicted in http://www.imageclef.org/ lifeclef/2017/bird. Details of the variety of the models and results are shown, demonstrating the rapid increase of the accuracy of the model even for 1500 species, but still in need of some improvements for complex soundscape tasks.

We thank Explorama Lodges, CONAPAC & STICAmSud for their support.

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ACOUSTIC MONITORING OF RESPLENDENT QUETZAL PHAROMACHRUS MOCINNO, A FLAGSHIP BIRD SPECIES OF GUATEMALA

Pablo Bolanos1,2, Thierry Aubin2, Jérôme Sueur1

1Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, FR, [email protected], Paris, FR

The Resplendent Quetzal Pharomachrus mocinno is a neotropical bird included in the IUCN red list of threatened species. This bird is an important seed disperser and is the center of the past and present Mayan culture. The observation of P. mocinno is challenging due to its rarity and its elusive behaviour. Moreover, its cultural importance precludes capture and manipulation. The number of individuals is unknown, in part due to a lack of a reliable monitoring method. In order to track the remaining populations for appropriate conservation, we developed an acoustic method using autonomous recorders and machine learning technics.We first recorded sounds with six autonomous recorders positioned in a protected area in Guatemala during February 2016 and 2017. We conducted propagation experiments of vocalizations of P. mocinno in its habitat, the cloud forest, to measure the detection range of the recorders. We also determined the composition of the bird community occurring in the same frequency range, and identified the vocalizations of other species that could generate false positive detections. We developed an automatic detection system using cross correlation that was assessed with manual identifications in a ground truth dataset.The results indicate that acoustics is an effective method to track the populations of P. mocinno in the fields. This non-invasive method can be easily applied to other Guatemala populations and other countries. Such monitoring data should clarify ecological questions to support management decisions.

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ASSESSING AMAZON RIVER DOLPHIN (INIA GEOFFRENSIS / SOTALIA FLUVIATILIS) POPULATIONS ACOUSTICALLY AND VISUALLY

Marie Trone1,2,3, David Bonnett2,3,4, Gerald Blakefield2,3,4, Valentin Gies3,5,6,7, Valentin Barchasz3,5,6,7, Julie Patris,3,6,8, Randall Balestriero3,6,9, Pascale Giraudet3,6,8, Franck Malige3,6,8, Hervé Glotin3,6,7,8

1Valencia College, Kissimmee, US, [email protected] de la Naturaleza Amazonica del Peru, A.C., Iquitos, PE3BRILAAM STICAmSud, France, Perú, Chile, Iquitos, PE4Engineer, retired, Seattle, US5Aix Marseille Univ, Université de Toulon, CNRS, IM2NP UMR, Marseille, FR6EADM MADICS CNRS, Marseille, FR7SMIOT, Université de Toulon, Toulon, FR8Aix Marseille Université, Université de Toulon, CNRS, ENSAM, LSIS UMR 7296, Marseille, FR9Rice University, Houston, US

Two species of dolphins (Inia geoffrensis / Sotalia fluviatilis) inhabit the Amazon River watershed. These populations are difficult to visually assess due to the opaque waters and flooded forests in which they live, as well as the morphology and behavior exhibited by these unique aquatic mammals. As a result, both species are listed as “data deficient” by the IUCN. Thus, these dolphins lack endangered species status and consequently international protection, despite increasing anthropogenic threats.

Our research team has been working to develop robust methods to assess river dolphin populations using visually-supplemented, acoustical methods. Underwater portable arrays housing between 4 and 7 hydrophones have been used in conjunction with a high capacity digital analog converter, JASON DAQ (http://smiot.univ-tln.fr/). JASON DAQ is capable of sampling at 1 MHz on 4 channels simultaneously to assess dolphin positions relative to the array using time delay of arrivals of the dolphin acoustical signals. These data are supplemented with simultaneous video recordings, and sightings are documented using customized code on a tablet. Furthermore, side scan sonar has been occasionally used to obtain collateral data regarding dolphin size and relative position. Data have been collected in the Peruvian Amazon using these techniques from 2014 to 2017. Based upon a subset of our data, 5 differing methods of acoustically counting dolphins have been ascertained. In addition, dolphin acoustic frequencies as high as 300 kHz have been documented. Finally, twin inverted pulses are commonly recorded, as well as frequency-modulated clicks. Possible explanations for these findings are suggested. Limitations of this work are discussed, as well as avenues for future research.

We thank Explorama Lodges, CONAPAC, STICAmSud, & Dolphin Communication Project for their financial support.

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PASSIVE ACOUSTICS REVEALS VOCAL DYNAMICS OF CORAL REEF COMMUNITIES IN MOOREA ISLAND AND FAKARAVA ATOLL, FRENCH POLYNESIA

Frédéric Bertucci1,2, Noémie Jublier2, Katy Maratrat2, Laurent Ballesta3, David Lecchini1,4, Eric Parmentier2

1Centre de Recherches Insulaires et Observatoire de l’Environnement, USR3278, Moorea, PF, [email protected] de Morphologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, Liège, BE3Andromède Océanologie, Carnon-Plage, FR4Laboratoire d’Excellence «CORAIL», Paris, FR

Although passive acoustics have allowed to identify and follow the calling activity of many species, only few studies address sound production within an entire community, and on a long term basis. We investigated sound production within two coral reef ichthyologic communities in French Polynesia by using automated audio recorders in Moorea Island and Fakarava atoll. We identified a total of 38 and 57 different types of sounds respectively. Some calls dominated during day-time while others did it during night-time. Acoustic features of co-occurring sound types significantly differed at the spectral level, optimizing communication within a biologically rich and dense environment. The combination of nycthemeral activity and specialization in the use of the frequency spectrum has already been reported in insects, frogs, birds or mammals but rarely in fishes. In addition, site specific differences in acoustic activity were observed and may be linked to seasonal changes.Overall, these results illustrate the diversity of sounds in coral reefs and further demonstrate the potential of passive acoustics to monitor biodiversity and its possible implication in management strategies. However, while the acquisition of such dataset is now easy, the development of tools such as automatic detection algorithms and appropriate indices to rapidly assess diversity are needed to speed-up the analysis of longer term surveys.

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PREDICTING BIRD SPECIES RICHNESS IN TROPICAL DRY FORESTS USING ACOUSTICS

Branko Hilje1, Arturo Sanchez-Azofeifa1

1Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Department, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, CA, [email protected]

Birds are highly sensitive to habitat transformation caused by human activities such as logging, cattle ranching, and agriculture, and species that inhabit forests are particularly affected by land use change. In tropical forests, vegetation structure and floristic species composition are two important predictors of bird species richness and diversity. As a result, older forests provide a greater structural complexity than young forests due to a higher availability of perches for singing and displays during the breeding season,

more nesting and roosting sites, a greater protection from predators, and more stable microclimatic conditions. On the other hand, the floristic composition is important for fruit and seed-eating bird species. Tropical dry forests (TDFs) in the neotropics hold a high diversity of flora and fauna, and several species of birds have distribution ranges restricted to this ecosystem. However, TDFs are highly threatened by human activities and most of its original extension has been converted to other land uses. Nevertheless, some countries have experienced dry forest recovery in the past decades due to changes in their economies and conservation policies, that is the case of Costa Rica, which has the largest protected TDF in Central America. The TDF there is a mix of old growth forest with forests from different successional stages that recovered mostly from cattle ranching activities in the past. Few studies have evaluated bird species richness in TDFs and they are focused on landscape characteristics at a broad scale.

In this study, we evaluated the influence of forest structure on bird species richness at a fine scale in dry forests in Costa Rica. We used acoustic recording techniques for bird species richness data collection, identification, and analysis. We used the Acoustic Complexity Index (ACI) as well as manual bird identification to obtain information on acoustic and species richness. We demonstrated that acoustics are reliable techniques for predicting bird species richness in TDFs. We generated hot zones maps for bird species richness and avian acoustic complexity based on dry forest structural characteristics. Hot zones maps are important tools for predicting bird species richness in dry forests in Costa Rica, but they can also be implemented at a larger scale for the neotropical dry forests extent. They can be useful instruments for bird species conservation efforts in dry forests throughout the neotropics.


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CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF EXPLOSIVE BREEDING AMPHIBIAN COMMUNITIES REVEALED BY REMOTE SENSORS

Juan Sebastian Ulloa1,2, Thierry Aubin2, Diego Llusia1,2, Philippe Gaucher3, Antoine Fouquet3, Élodie Courtois3, Jérôme Sueur1

1Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité, ISYEB UMR 7205 CNRS-MNHN- EPHE, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Sorbonne Université, Paris, FR, [email protected] Communications Acoustiques, UMR 9197 Neuro-PSI-CNRS, Université Paris Sud, Orsay, FR3Laboratoire Ecologie, Evolution, Interactions des Systèmes Amazoniens, USR 3456 CNRS, Université de Guyane, Cayenne, GY

Amphibian communities are endangered by several threats, including habitat loss, diseases and pollution. These threats are even more pronounced for communities which breed in limited-resource areas during an extremely brief period. This is the case of neotropical explosive breeding species which adult populations emerge massively in small ponds for only a few days. These populations constitute very peculiar communities that need to be accurately monitored and studied for appropriate conservation planning.

Using automated remote sensors, we collected for the first time acoustic and environmental data simultaneously and regularly in five ponds during four months in French Guiana. We assessed changes in the acoustics of the communities before and during explosive breeding events and confronted these changes with environmental variables.

During the survey period we detected in each pond two explosive breeding events lasting between 24 and 70 hours. Rain of the 48 preceding hours was identified as the most important abiotic factor predicting the emergence of these events. Even if a common pool of species co-occurred in the different sites, the sites presented high diversity within and between explosive breeding communities. The frequency dispersion and the acoustic diversity of the explosive breeding communities were lower than those of the communities preceding the explosive breeding events. The diversity and spatiotemporal dynamics of these communities seem therefore to be unique and call for their preservation. The use of acoustic sensors appears as a suitable method for tracking explosive breeding species and might offer new possibilities to support future conservation decisions.

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DOCUMENTING SPECIES RICHNESS AND ACOUSTIC ACTIVITY PATTERNS FROM SOUNDSCAPES IN A TROPICAL BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOT, SULAWESI, INDONESIA

Karen Rowe1,2, Mohammad Irham3,4, Tri Haryoko3,4

1Museums Victoria, Melbourne, AU, [email protected] of Melbourne, Parkville, AU3Research Center for Biology, Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Bogor, ID4Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense, Bogor, ID

The Indonesian Archipelago, which includes more than 17,000 islands, is one of the most biodiversity-rich and unique tropical regions in the world. In particular, Sulawesi is the largest island within the Wallacean Biodiversity Hotspot, representing a unique blend of Asian-origin, Australian-origin, and endemic species. Yet rapid, landscape-scale habitat loss, land conversion, and expanding human populations threaten the long-term persistence of wildlife within Sulawesi and Indonesia more generally. Understanding

the scale of these threats is challenging, in part due to gaps in our knowledge of the distributional dynamics of species along ecological gradients as well as the geologically and topographically complexity of the Indonesian landscape.

Autonomous audio recorders provide a low-cost opportunity to gather spatially and temporally comprehensive data on the presence of individual species. Furthermore, the recorded soundscapes can provide information on species diversity, through the calculation of acoustic biodiversity indices, which can ultimately aid in our understanding of shifting patterns of biodiversity in the face of change. We explored the use of audio recorders and acoustic indices to document patterns of biodiversity across a species richness gradient (elevation) on multiple mountain ranges within Sulawesi. Specifically, we discuss how well acoustic biodiversity indices matched observational records for birds as species richness declined with elevation. We also document the diurnal and spatial patterns of acoustic activity (frogs, birds, and insects) both within and among sites. Our results suggest that documenting species via soundscape analyses can provide novel insights into our understanding of shifting biodiversity patterns, as well as highlighting the benefits and challenges of acoustic monitoring within species-rich and acoustically complex communities.

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8-YEARS OF RESEARCH ON THE NEW CALEDONIAN ACOUSTIC COMMUNITIES: SUMMARY AND PERSPECTIVES FOR BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION

Amandine Gasc1,2, Jérôme Sueur3, Jeremy Anso4, Laure Desutter-Grandcolas3, Hervé Jourdan4

1Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Marseille, FR, [email protected] Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d’Ecologie marine et continentale, Aix-en-Provence, FR3Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, FR4Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Nouméa, NC

Understanding the composition and dynamics of animal communities is of high importance for tropical conservation. Tropical acoustic communities could be monitored and analysed thanks to autonomous field recorders and appropriate analytic methods. We conducted a long-term research on acoustic communities in New Caledonia based on the collection of environmental recordings, the inventory of the biological sounds recorded, and the calculation of acoustic diversity indices.

Results showed a clear diel pattern in acoustic activity with higher values at night, a detectable acoustic signature for animal communities differing in composition, and a gradual change in acoustic composition overnight. Focusing on crickets, the results also demonstrated a clear dominance of this group in the New Caledonian nocturnal soundscapes. Each habitat harbored a specific acoustic cricket community related to specific environmental attributes including vegetation height, daily variation of humidity and temperature. The presence of W. auropunctata, an invasive ant, was significantly associated with a lower cricket acoustic activity and species richness at night. Of the 19-species of crickets detected, four nocturnal species were identified as indicator of non-invaded forests and preforests. Similar conclusions have been found through fast calculation of acoustic diversity indices. This work supports the use of acoustic in monitoring large protected area as an alternative method to detect disturbances such as invasion by exotic species.

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SESSION 07BIODIVERSITY IN THE TREETOPS: NOVEL METHODS TO EXPLORE CANOPY ECOLOGY

Chairs: Julian DONALD, Louise ASHTONContact: [email protected]

Rainforest canopies are one of the most diverse habitats on the planet, providing a home to a large number of plant and animal species adapted to the unique conditions found at the top of the trees. The role of the canopy as an interface between the earth’s vegetation and the atmosphere means that this habitat is also critically important in influencing global climate, carbon and nitrogen cycles. Whilst scientific studies of these ecosystems are increasing as a result of advances in canopy access techniques, they nonetheless remain difficult environments within which to perform scientific research.

In this session, we aim to discuss how novel tools can help us to elucidate the patterns and processes which characterise these unique habitats, in order to better understand their functioning when faced with the twin threats of habitat destruction and climate change.

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09:3

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S07-O01 – ADVANCES IN CANOPY SCIENCE

UAS IDENTIFICATION OF SCALE AND PATTERNS OF LIANA INFESTATION IN TROPICAL FORESTS, MALAYSIA

Catherine Waite1, Richard Field1, Geertje van der Heijden1, Doreen S. Boyd1

1University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK, [email protected]

Across the world’s tropical forests, recent increases in woody vine (liana) abundance is dramatically altering carbon dynamics: reducing carbon accumulation and long-term storage by enhancing tree mortality and reducing growth by up to 84 %. Also, lianas rely on trees for support, and therefore allocate a higher proportion of biomass to foliage production over carbon-dense stems, reducing net above-ground carbon uptake by ~76 %/year. This has important impacts for climate change but, despite this, lianas are chronically understudied in tropical forest ground-based censuses due to the time-consuming nature of surveying them. Satellite and airborne mapping and monitoring studies have occurred, but are limited by relatively coarse spatial and temporal resolutions, cloud obscuration, and high costs. Resultantly, data is lacking on the scale and impacts of recent liana proliferation. UAS imaging may provide an affordable, accessible tool to map and monitor lianas at higher spatial and temporal resolutions than possible with ground-based censuses, while overcoming the limitations associated with airborne and satellite techniques.

Combining UAS and ground-based censuses in two areas of Malaysian tropical forest, this research investigates whether liana load (estimated as % crown cover) can be accurately distinguished using UAS imagery. It aims to assess the viability of UASs as tools for mapping and monitoring lianas in tropical forests, while providing information on the extent and spatial patterning of liana infestation. The ability to repeatedly and accurately map lianas is crucial for analysing and quantifying their effects on forest function, and helps uncover mechanisms behind their proliferation, as a continued increase may further reduce tropical forest carbon storage and sequestration, endangering the future of the tropical carbon sink. Preliminary results indicate strong, positive correlations (R2 ranging from 0.72 to 0.91, n = 3320).


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09:4

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DIFFERENCES IN LEAF TEMPERATURE BETWEEN LIANAS AND TREES AT THE CANOPY OF A LOWLAND TROPICAL FOREST

J. Antonio Guzmán Q.1, G. Arturo Sánchez-Azofeifa1, Benoit Rivard1

1Center for Earth Observation Sciences, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, CA, [email protected]

Leaf temperature (Tleaf) is one of the leading factors that can affect the physiological processes on leaves such as photosynthesis and respiration. Currently, there is a growing interest in including lianas in productivity models due to their increasing abundance and their detrimental effects on net primary productivity in tropical environments. Therefore, understanding the differences of Tleaf between lianas and trees is important for future of forest on whole ecosystem productivity.

Here we hypothesize that the presence of lianas affects the displayed leaf temperature (Td = Tleaf - ambient temperature) of their host trees, and leaves of lianas and their host trees exhibit differences in Td. These hypotheses were addressed measuring the Tleaf of several species of lianas and their host trees canopy of the Parque Natural Metropolitano, Panama. The estimations of Td were conducted during wet and dry seasons in ENSO and non-ENSO years using thermal cameras and local meteorological stations.

Our results suggest that close to midday, the presence of lianas does not affect the Td of their host trees; however, lianas tend to have higher values of Td than their hosts across seasons, in both ENSO and non-ENSO years. Although lianas and trees tend to have a similar physiological-temperature response, our models suggest that differences in Td could lead to significant differences in the estimation of photosynthesis and respiration. Therefore, future models should thus consider differences in leaf temperature between these life forms in order to achieve robust predictions of productivity.


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10:0

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TREE ARCHITECTURE AND WIND-INDUCED SWAY

Tobias Jackson1, Alexander Shenkin1, Andy Burt2, Mat Disney2, Kim Calders3, Yadvinder Malhi1

1Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK, [email protected] of Geography, University College London, London, UK3CAVElab – Computational & Applied Vegetation Ecology, Ghent University, BE

The motion of trees in the wind is intricately linked with the architecture of tree crowns. Recent advances in terrestrial laser scanning allows us to map the 3D structure of trees at the plot-scale for the first time. These 3D model trees allow us to extract architectural measures such as mean branching angle and angular asymmetry of the crown, which were previously impossible to measure in large or medium-sized trees. We exploit these advances to explore the shapes and patterns found in tree crowns and what they may tell us about mechanical constraints on tree growth and competition between neighbouring crowns.

In the second part of this work, we extract the resonant frequencies of trees using a finite element approach. This fundamental frequency determines how the tree will respond to wind forcing and therefore how likely it is to suffer wind damage. The arrangement of higher order resonant frequencies within a tree can contribute significantly to its overall damping efficiency. This arrangement of higher order resonant frequencies is determined by crown architecture, meaning that some trees can dissipate dangerous sway energy more efficiently due to their architecture. We quantify this relationship between resonant frequencies and crown architecture using multivariate analysis, and explore its implications for canopy science.

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10:1

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PRELIMINARY RESULTS FROM RECORDING BATS IN THE PERUVIAN RAINFOREST CANOPY 35 METERS ABOVE THE FOREST FLOOR

Marie Trone1,2,3, Valentin Gies3,4,5,6,7, Valentin Barchasz3,4,5,6, Pascale Giraudet3,5,7, Hervé Glotin3,5,6,7

1Valencia College, Kissimmee, US, [email protected] de la Naturaleza Amazonica del Peru, A.C., Iquitos, PE3BRILAAM STICAmSud, France, Perú, Chile, Iquitos, PE4Aix Marseille Université, Université de Toulon, CNRS, IM2NP UMR, Marseille, FR5EADM MADICS CNRS, Marseille, FR6SMIOT, Université de Toulon, Toulon, FR7Aix Marseille Université, Université de Toulon, CNRS, ENSAM, LSIS UMR 7296, Marseille, FR

Rainforest canopies have been described as the last biological frontier on the planet due to the difficulty of accessing this diverse habitat. The vertical stratification of bat populations from the ground to above the canopy of any forest type has been little investigated.

In July of 2016 and 2017 bats were recorded in the Peruvian Amazon at various heights above the rainforest floor up to 35 meters, via platforms secured to trees in an undeveloped patch of rainforest

near the Napo River. Recordings were made an hour before sunset, at midnight, and an hour before sunrise on various nights. A pyramidal array consisting of 4 microphones sensitive to 250 kHz were directed upwards away from the forest floor during recordings. This array was connected to a high capacity digital analog converter, JASON DAQ (http://smiot.univ-tln.fr/). JASON DAQ is capable of sampling at 1 MHz on 4 channels simultaneously, although the bats were sampled at 500 kHz.

The data from these high-frequency recordings allow for the reconstruction of bat flight paths and flight speed analyses, as well as enhancing bat behavioral studies. Bats were detected using this system. Limitations and future applications of this system are discussed. For example, bioacoustical data can be assessed in conjunction with automated climatic sensors positioned in the same locations.

We thank Explorama Lodges, CONAPAC & STICAmSud for their financial support.

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11:0

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AUTOMATED ECOSYSTEM MONITORING IN THE CANOPY

Sarab Sethi1, Robert Ewers1, Nick Jones1, Lorenzo Picinali1

1Imperial College London, London, UK, [email protected]

Automated methods of monitoring ecosystems provide a cost-effective way to track changes in natural system’s dynamics across temporal and spatial scales. Whilst much work has been done on automated analyses, methods of recording and storing data captured from the field still require significant manual effort.

Here, we introduce an open source, inexpensive, fully autonomous ecosystem monitoring unit for capturing and remotely transmitting huge amounts of data from field sites over long time-periods. Due to the unique challenges of deploying technology in the extreme environmental conditions of the tropical rainforests of Borneo, we mount the devices in the canopy. Having surveyed the existing methods, we show how our system can outperform comparable technologies for fractions of the cost.

We have deployed a network of acoustic monitoring units across a fragmentation experiment (SAFE) located in Sabah, Borneo, which should provide continuous metrics of biome health over the course of a year. Using the same hardware design, we also have installed long duration time lapse cameras high in the canopy to capture a birds eye view of the process of converting logged forest to oil palm. We provide full details of the hardware’s potential capabilities, our network deployed at SAFE, and insights into the challenges faced whilst installing networks of monitors across a varying landscape. Paired with appropriate automated analysis techniques, this system could provide spatially dense, near real-time, continuous insights into ecosystem and biodiversity dynamics for a low cost.

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11:1

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VERTICAL STRATIFICATION OF TROPICAL ANT ASSEMBLAGES: DO GROUND ANTS RESTRICT THE FORAGING DISTRIBUTION OF ARBOREAL ANTS?

Stephanie Law1, Kate Parr1, Dr Matthew Spencer1, Dr Paul Eggleton2

1University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK, [email protected] History Museum, London, UK

In tropical rainforests ants dominate arthropod fauna in their ecological impact, diversity and abundance. Primary tropical rainforest is vertically stratified into the forest floor, understory and canopy. A growing body of research has shown that the distribution of ant species in tropical rainforest corresponds with this vertical stratification. Ants are abundant in all strata yet species distributions between ground and canopy ants show little overlap, with many species occupying only one strata. Community structure

of ants within a stratum has been explained by habitat complexity, associated microhabitat specialisations and by competitive interactions. However, reasons behind the existence of vertical stratification and differences between strata are less comprehensive.

This research aims to look at how removing competitive interactions influences vertical stratification. We quantified the contribution that ground foraging ants have on the vertical stratification of ant species above the ground. We investigated this using a novel, large-scale manipulative field experiment in an old growth tropical rainforest in Malaysian Borneo where ground ants had been suppressed in treatment plots. By eliminating a whole assemblage of ants and the associated competitive interactions the degree to which it influences the composition of other ant assemblages can be determined. In order to survey vertically, baited traps were placed at 5 m vertical intervals from the ground to the canopy on 3 emergent trees in each experimental plot (4 ant suppression and 4 control plots). Species richness, ant abundance and assemblage composition were compared between suppression and control plots. Suppression of ground ants significantly impacted ant abundance and species richness in the canopy.

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11:3

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THE ROLE OF INVERTEBRATES AND MICRO-ORGANISMS IN FACILITATING NUTRIENT CYCLING IN THE CANOPY

Julian Donald1

1University of the West of England Bristol / Evolution et Diversité Biologique, Toulouse, FR, [email protected]

Suspended soils provide a key source of nutrients in rainforest canopies, and as such are home to a diverse community of plants, invertebrates and microorganisms. Understanding how these communities of organisms can coexist is challenging, in particular at the top of trees.

This talk will present a manipulative experiment performed in the canopies of Danum Valley in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. By using the bird’s nest fern (Asplenium nidus) as a natural microcosm, and tracing enriched isotopes through this system, the work presented here sheds new light on the role of invertebrates in facilitating decomposition, and influencing microbial activity far from the forest floor. This presentation will demonstrate how laboratory sorting of invertebrates, extraction of microorganisms, and tracing of isotopically enriched carbon revealed trends in the interactions between different constituents of rainforest canopy decomposer communities.

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SESSION 08LINKING ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION OF TROPICAL TREE BIODIVERSITY

Chairs: Joeri Sergej STRIJK, Damien Daniel HINSINGERContact: [email protected]

“Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution” - Theodosius Dobzhansky (1973). The interactions between Ecology and Evolution are widely recognized in explaining patterns of biodiversity (e.g. biogeography), but evolutionary forces are also more and more demonstrated as a driving process influencing ecology of species (e.g. through niche shifts or conservatism, hybridization, etc.) (Eiserhardt et al. 2017). Conversely, Ecology informs Evolutionary studies and allows to delineate complex patterns (e.g. Silva et al. 2016).Currently, most ecological studies consider evolutionary relationships as a “noise” parameter, and therefore many models simply remove it to estimate ecological traits or parameters. In others, only relatively short-term evolution, e.g. since the last maximal glaciation, are considered. However, especially in long-living plants, larger temporal scales can usually better reflect the ecosystems assemblages than only recolonization patterns (Yu et al. 2017), or identify past events of hybridizations (e.g. Hinsinger et al. 2014), making phylogenetic and phylogenomic tools especially valuable in combination with ecological data.

Tropical biodiversity is among the highest on emerged lands, characterized by a great heterogeneity supporting diverse and complex ecosystems as well as providing ecological services for one third of the world’s population. However, both Ecology and Evolution of these ecosystems remain poorly known. Studies of speciose tropical taxonomic groups are hampered by extensive geographic ranges, lack of diagnostic morphological characters and limited success of traditional molecular markers. This is visible in the fragmented knowledge on the evolutionary history, genetic diversity and ecological functioning of widespread, key plant families of tropical ecosystems.

We aim at highlighting the major contribution evolutionary studies can provide for ecologist, and to help new ideas and methods to studies the interaction between Ecology and Evolution in tropical ecosystems.

References cited:Eiserhardt W. L., Couvreur T. L. P., Baker W. J. (2017). Plant phylogeny as a window on the evolution of hyperdiversity in the tropical rainforest biome. New Phytologist, doi: 10.1111/nph.14516Hinsinger D., Gaudeul M., Couloux A., Bousquet J., Frascaria-Lacoste N. (2014). The phylogeography of Eurasian Fraxinus species reveals ancient transcontinental reticulation. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 77: 223-237. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2014.04.021.Silva I. A., Sfair J. C., van Melis J., Weiser V. L., Martins F. R. (2016). Does phylogeny have a role in the liana-phorophyte interaction in tropical forests?. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics, 21, 14-22.Yu X.-Q., Gao L.-M., Soltis D. E., Soltis P. S., Yang J.-B., Fang L., Yang S.-X., Li D.-Z. (2017). Insights into the historical assembly of East Asian subtropical evergreen broadleaved forests revealed by the temporal history of the tea family. New Phytologist, 215: 1235–1248. doi:10.1111/nph.14683

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14:3

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S08-O01 – TROPICAL TREES ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION

TEMPERATE GOING (SUB)TROPICAL: RETICULATED ADAPTIVE EVOLUTION IN FIRS (ABIES, PINACEAE) FROM CENTRAL MEXICO

Juan P Jaramillo-Correa1, Alicia Mastretta-Yanes2, Luis E. Eguiarte1, Jorge Cruz-Nicolás1, Eréndira González1, Gustavo I. Giles-Pérez1, Norberto Martínez-Méndez1, Erika Aguirre-Planter1

1Department of Evolutionary Ecology, Institute of Ecology, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, MX, [email protected]ón Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad, Mexico City, MX

Tropical trees embody an evolutionary dichotomy: they are outcrossing long-lived taxa with a predominant position on the ecosystem, which favours the retention of ancestral polymorphisms and evolutionary stasis; but they also evolve in highly heterogeneous environments that prompt isolation by distance, and disruptive selection, which facilitates species divergence.

We studied this dichotomy on a temperate genus Abies (firs), which in North America spanned into tropical latitudes ~5 Ma and then underwent a relatively rapid diversification. While most modern populations are secluded into the highlands (~3000 m asl), firs can grow as low as 1,500 m asl in the western parts of the Transmexican Volcanic Belt (TVB; central Mexico), which implies a role for adaptive divergence.

By concentrating on the A. religiosa - A. flincki - A. jaliscana complex, distributed along the TVB, we first compared environmental and phenotypic variation. Models suggested that populations on the eastern (A. religiosa) and western (A. flincki - A. jaliscana) parts of the TVB had different niches. Eastern stands also had shorter and thicker needles than the western ones, and this variation was correlated with the mean annual temperature (r2 = 0.57; P = 0.59; A. religiosa and A. flincki) started some ~2 Ma, while several cycles of contractions and expansions (with secondary contact in the central TVB) shaped the more recent stands. Tests for selection provided further evidence of adaptive divergence, particularly for two genes within the clade leading to A. flincki. Since their arrival in the tropics, firs have been evolving through a continuum process in which adaptation, genetic drift and introgression act across various temporal and spatial scales, blurring traditional taxonomic boundaries.

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14:4

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NON-TROPICAL LEGACIES ON SOUTH AMERICAN BIOGEOGRAPHY

Ricardo Segovia1, Kyle Dexter1

1School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK, [email protected]

Recent studies have shown unexpected relationships between clade age and diversity along latitudinal and elevational gradients in tropical and temperate South America. In addition, more phylogenetic diversity than expected given species richness has been documented for temperate forests and high elevation forests in the tropical Andes. These evidences likely reflect the influence of an ancient, rich and extratropical palaeoflora of Gondwanan ancestry on South American biogeography.

In this study, we explore the phylogenetic consequences of historical processes shaping the modern composition of communities in relatively cold environments of South America. We hypothesize that modern assemblages in these environments are formed by a mix between tropical lineages that have recently evolved cold tolerance and an early differentiated extratropical biota, with lineages preadapted to non-tropical environments.

Our approach is based on quantifying lineage diversity (LD), measured as the standardised effect size of phylogenetic diversity, of >5000 tree communities distributed across the continent. If communities from modern temperate and high elevation environments include both old extratropical lineages and recently arrived descendants from tropical lineages, LD should be higher than in the tropical lowlands, which would only have tropical lineages. This would be opposite to the pattern expected from species richness, which is highest in tropical lowlands. Our results highlight the importance of understanding the historical biogeography of South America, including the influence of extratropical lineages, to explaining present-day patterns in the distribution of evolutionary diversity across the continent.

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15:0

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PARALLEL RADIATIONS IN NEOTROPICAL ANNONACEAE TRACK NEOGENE UPHEAVAL OF THE SOUTH AMERICAN CONTINENT

Lars Chatrou1, Paul Maas2, Rutger Wilschut3, Heleen Melchers-Sharrott4, Michael Pirie5

1Wageningen University, Biosystematics group, Wageningen, NL, [email protected] Biodiversity Center, Leiden, NL3Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Wageningen, NL4Omgevingsdienst Haaglanden, The Hague, NL5Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, Institut für Spezielle Botanik und Botanischer Garten, Mainz, DE

Much of the immense present day biological diversity of Neotropical rainforests originated from the Miocene onwards, a period of geological and ecological upheaval in South America. We assess the impact of the Andean orogeny, drainage of lake Pebas, and closure of the Panama Isthmus on two clades of tropical trees (Cremastosperma, c. 31 spp.; and Mosannona, c. 14 spp.; both Annonaceae).

Phylogenetic inference revealed similar patterns of geographically restricted clades and molecular dating showed diversifications in the different areas occurred in parallel, with timing consistent with Andean vicariance and Central American geodispersal. Ecological niche modelling approaches show phylogenetically conserved niche differentiation, particularly within Cremastosperma. Niche similarity and recent common ancestry of Amazon and Guianan Mosannona species contrasts with dissimilar niches and more distant ancestry of Amazon, Venezuelan and Guianan species of Cremastosperma suggesting that this element of the similar patterns of disjunct distributions in the two genera is instead a biogeographic parallelism, with differing origins. The results provide further independent evidence for the importance of the Andean orogeny, the drainage of Lake Pebas, and the formation of links between South and Central America in the evolutionary history of Neotropical lowland rainforest trees.

TUES

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15:1

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EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY OF TROPICAL TREE SPECIES COMPLEXES: SPECIES DELIMITATION AND ADAPTIVE GENETIC VARIATION IN THE BERTHOLLETIA CLADE (LECYTHIDACEAE)

Myriam Heuertz1, Quentin Jehanne1, Katharina B. Budde1, Henri Caron1,2, Niklas Tysklind2, Caroline Scotti-Saintagne3, Erwan Guichoux4, Jean-François Molino5, Daniel Sabatier5, Veronica El Mutjar6, Alain Franc1, Pauline Garnier-Géré1, Stéphanie Mariette1

1INRA, Université Bordeaux, Bordeaux, FR, [email protected], Kourou, FR3INRA, Avignon, FR4Plateforme Genome Transcriptome Bordeaux, Bordeaux, FR5UMR AMAP, Montpellier, FR6INTA, San Carlos de Bariloche, AR

Tropical tree species complexes harbour closely related species that display shared alleles and that are difficult to delimit using phylogenetic approaches. Such species complexes arise when lineage sorting is slow due to large effective population sizes typical in trees, when diversification is accompanied by interspecific gene flow, or due to a combination of both processes. The concerned species are often difficult to distinguish morphologically due to high phenotypic trait variation. The large intraspecific variation typical of tree species complexes promotes adaptive processes, suggesting that species complexes are important in the diversification of tropical tree biodiversity. The evolutionary histories of these systems remain however poorly understood.We here investigated the evolutionary history of tropical tree species complexes by examining the phylogeny and population genetic processes in sympatric taxa of the Bertholletia clade (Brazil nut clade, Lecythidaceae) in French Guiana. We sampled 192 individuals belonging to 26 tree species of the Bertholletia clade and sequenced them at nine plastid, eight mitochondrial and 134 putative nuclear loci derived from double-digest restriction site associated DNA sequencing (ddRAD-Seq). Phylogenetic methods recovered the expected large sub-clades within the Bertholletia clade, but genetic clustering methods were needed to delimit species within these clades. Some common species such as Eschweilera coriacea, harboured several sympatric gene pools, indicative of hitherto undescribed cryptic species. Outlier detection methods revealed that few single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were strongly diverged among gene pools, whereas a significant portion of SNPs was more shared than expected a priori in sympatric populations. The local pattern of allele sharing pointed to hybridization, rather than incomplete lineage sorting. Taken together, our results suggest that hybridization is important for adaptive evolution in tropical tree species complexes.

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16:0

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NEW HYDRAULIC TRAITS FOR CHARACTERIZING DROUGHT RESISTANCE IN NEOTROPICAL CANOPY TREES AND LIANAS

Louis Santiago1,2, Mark De Guzman1, Aleyda Acosta-Rangel1

1University of California, Riverside, US, [email protected] Tropical Research Institute, Panama, PA

Recent drought events throughout the tropics have caused elevated mortality and new tools are needed to predict responses of tropical trees to future drought. However, predicting drought responses of tropical trees is complicated by high species diversity and relatively little available data. We measured hydraulic conductivity, xylem vulnerability curves, sapwood pressure-volume curves, and wood density on emergent branches of 35 common liana and tree species from French Guiana and Panama. Our measurements were

stratified across a broad range of wood density. Our main objective was to understand how coordinated hydraulic traits lead to drought resistance strategies.

Hydraulic conductivity was related to capacitance, sapwood water content and turgor loss point, and other drought avoidance traits, but not to xylem cavitation resistance. Wood density was correlated with sapwood pressure-volume traits, forming an axis of hydraulic strategy variation. We show for the first time that Amazonian and Central American liana and tree species vary along an axis of hydraulic strategy variation determined by wood density, hydraulic conductivity, capacitance and turgor loss point. This stands in contrast to findings in many other vegetation types that show hydraulic strategy variation along the cavitation resistance versus hydraulic conductivity trade-off. The lack of this trade-off among the Neotropical trees and lianas in this study supports the idea of diminishing selection on xylem cavitation resistance as moisture availability increases.

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16:1

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PHYLOGENETIC RELATIONSHIPS IN TWO AFRICAN CEDRELOIDEAE GENERA (MELIACEAE) REVEAL MULTIPLE RAIN/DRY FOREST TRANSITIONS

Franck Monthe1, Jérôme Duminil2, Gael Bouka3,4, Jérémy Migliore1, Boris Demenou1, Marius Ekué5, Charles Doumenge3, Doyle Mckey6, Bernd Degen7, Olivier J. Hardy1

1Université Libre de Bruxelles, Evolutionary Biology and Ecology, Bruxelles, BE, [email protected] de Recherche pour le Développement, Montpellier, FR3CIRAD, Unité Forêts et Sociétés, Campus international de Baillarguet, Montpellier, FR4Laboratoire de Botanique et écologie, Faculté des Sciences, Université Marien Ngouabi, Brazzaville, CG5Bioversity International, s/c IITA, BP 2008, Yaoundé, CM6Université Montpellier, Centre d’Écologie Fonctionnelle et Évolutive, UMR CNRS 5175, Montpellier, FR7Thünen Institute of Forest Genetics, Grosshansdorf, DE

Establishing phylogenetic relationships allows investigating how species diversity has evolved in various ecosystems. The genera Entandrophragma and Khaya contain tree species distributed in different African biomes (lowland rain forest, lowland dry forest, mountain forest), allowing to examine how (single or multiple events) and when the processes of diversification led to biome transitions. Based on the sequencing of plastid genome (pDNA: c. 160,000 bp) and ribosomal DNA (rDNA: c. 7,000 bp) and habitat characteristic data for each species, we have: (1) reconstructed phylogenetic relationships between species and estimated the dates of divergence between the main lineages, and (2) reconstructed ancestral states regarding biome preferences.

The globally consistent phylogenetic tree topologies obtained with both markers in Entandrophragma show five main clades that are quite consistent with previously-defined sections based on reproductive characters of flowers. By contrast, in Khaya, pDNA and rDNA show divergent topologies, possibly due to a more recent diversification involving incomplete lineage sorting and/or recurrent hybridization events. Two major periods of diversification were highlighted: one for Entandrophragma species during the Oligo-Miocene, and a second, during the Pleistocene, concerned both genera at the intraspecific level for Entandrophragma and at the interspecific level for Khaya. These different diversification periods coincide with three major biomes shifts in Entandrophragma. The first habitat transition from rain to dry forests occurred during the Oligo-Miocene and two other transitions were inferred during the Pleistocene, one from rain forest to dry forest and another from rain forest to high altitude mountain forest.

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16:3

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SPECIES DELIMITATION, HYBRIDIZATION AND SPECIES HABITAT ASSOCIATIONS IN THE GENUS SYMPHONIA (CLUSIACEAE) ON MADAGASCAR

Katharina B. Budde1, Sanna Olsson2, Paloma Torroba-Balmori2, Santiago C. González-Martínez1, João Loureiro3, Stéphan Rakotonandrasana4, Andriamalala Rakotondrafara4, Isabel Sanmartín5, Myriam Heuertz1

1INRA/ Université de Bordeaux, Cestas, FR, [email protected] Forest Research Centre, Madrid, ES3University of Coimbra, University of Coimbra, Center of Functional Ecology (CFE), Coimbra, PT4CNARP, Department of Ethnobotany and Botany, Antananarivo, MG5Real Jardín Botánico-CSIC, Plant Evolutionary Biology, Madrid, ES

Tropical rainforest tree genera often comprise multiple closely-related species occurring in sympatry but the genetic mechanisms that explain such sympatric coexistence are poorly understood. Inter-specific hybridization has been proposed as a key mechanism in the maintenance of highly diverse communities, potentially retarding the (local) extinction of rare species and also allowing the sharing of beneficial genetic variants across species borders. The genus Symphonia (Clusiaceae) diversified on Madagascar, where

ca. 20 endemic species have largely overlapping ranges. Symphonia species are difficult to distinguish morphologically because of trait variation within species, poorly defined species boundaries and scarcity of discriminant characters for species delimitation.We set out to test the role of hybridization in shaping patterns of genetic variation and species delimitation of the genus Symphonia in Madagascar. We sampled over 400 trees from three regions in eastern Madagascar, where hybridization among multiple species of the genus is expected to take place, genotyped them at 20 nuclear SSRs (nuSSRs), as well as sequenced the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region in a representative subsample. A phylogeny was built from ITS sequences and we used genetic clustering approaches on “blind samples” (i.e., without using morphology) for taxon delimitation using nuSSRs. We then examined the spatial distribution of genetic clusters and assessed the hybridization history of the genus in Madagascar. We discovered three major gene pools in Symphonia, which were sub-structured into 13 minor gene pools that could be assigned to 13 potential species. Gene pools occurred frequently in sympatry, suggesting a role of hybridization in maintaining high genetic diversity in the genus. Flow cytometry and nuSSR scoring identified three tetraploid and ten diploid species. Clustering analysis was congruent with morphological characters in S. clusioides, S. eugenioides, S. microphylla, and S. nectarifera, but did not support other described taxa such as S. fasciculata, S. sessiliflora and S. louvelii. Overall, we found evidence for hybridization and introgression between multiple species and a habitat-specific distribution of sympatric clusters in several locations.

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16:4

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GLOBAL PATTERNS IN PALM ABUNDANCE

Robert Muscarella1, Thaise Emilio2, Henrik Balslev1

1Aarhus University, Aarhus, DK, [email protected] Botanic Gardens Kew, London, UK

Palms (Arecaceae) are an iconic and diverse group that provide myriad ecosystem services in tropical forests. For example, palms account for 7 of the top 20 ‘hyperdominant’ tree species of the Amazon. While previous work has examined global patterns of palm diversity, we currently lack a quantitative global analysis of palm abundance patterns. Given the many morphological and physiological differences between palms and dicotyledonous trees, the responses of these groups to environmental change drivers are likely to differ. As a result, a better understanding of palm dominance will help identify knowledge gaps and ultimately improve the predictive ability of global vegetation models.

Using a dataset of > 1,000 globally-tropical forest plots distributed, we quantified (1) relative abundance of arborescent palms versus dicot trees across regional, continental, and global scales, and (2) how relative abundance of arborescent palms is related to abiotic variables. We show that arborescent palm abundance is extremely lower in the African and Asian tropics compared to Neotropical sites. We then examined spatial variation in palm abundance considering evolutionary, biogeographical, and ecological hypotheses, and use statistical models to examine relationships between palm abundance and plot-level environmental covariates. We introduce some novel hypotheses regarding the dominance of the arborescent palm life form in the New World.


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SESSION 09FREE SESSION: TROPICAL DIVERSITY

Chairs: Catherine REEB, Eric GUILBERTContact: [email protected]

TUES

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09:3

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S09-O01 – FREE SESSION: TROPICAL DIVERSITY

THE DRIVERS OF DIVERSIFICATION IN NEOTROPICAL MIMETIC “CLEARWING” BUTTERFLIES

Marianne Elias1, Nicolas Chazot1,2, Melanie McClure1, Florence Prunier1, André Freitas3, Keith Willmott4

1Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (CNRS, MNHN), Paris, FR, [email protected] of Lund, Lund, SE3University of Campinas, Campinas, BR4University of Gainesville, Gainesville, FR

Ithomiine butterflies (Nymphalidae: Ithomiini), also known as clearwing butterflies because of the partially transparent wings of most species, form a highly diverse tribe of ca. 390 species that occupy neotropical forests. All species have chemical defenses and are engaged in Müllerian mimicry: co-occurring species converge in wing colour pattern, thereby advertising predators of their unpalatability.

We generated a dated species-level phylogeny of the entire tribe to investigate temporal and spatial patterns of speciation and extinction, and to assess the role of geological and ecological factors in the diversification of the group.

We found that the geological dynamics of the Andean and upper Amazon regions had a considerable impact on the diversification of ithomiine butterflies during the Miocene, when the upper Amazon became flooded with water (Pebas system). The Pebas system likely triggered extinctions in lowland lineages, while the concomitant rise of the Andes promoted speciation in montane lineages, which form a highly diverse clade, the core-group (80 % of ithomiine extant species). The retreat of the Pebas during the late Miocene then further promoted speciation in the core group, via the colonization of newly available lowland habitats. A closer examination of ecological factors shows that shifts in altitudinal niche and mimicry pattern have driven speciation in the core group, but such shifts remain relatively rare. Patterns of diversity-dependent speciation also suggest that several genera in the core-group have undergone adaptive radiation, perhaps driven by larval hostplant shifts. The role of other traits, such as wing transparency, is currently being investigated. The combination of a highly dynamic geological history with intrinsic ecological traits have therefore largely contributed to the diversity of ithomiine butterflies.

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09:4

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LEAF TRAITS MEDIATE CHANGES IN INSECT HERBIVORY ALONG BROAD ENVIRONMENTAL GRADIENTS ON MT. KILIMANJARO, TANZANIA

Henry K. Njovu1,2, Marcell K. Peters1, David Schellenberger Costa3, Roland Brandl4, Michael Kleyer3, Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter1

1Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biocenter, University of Wuerzburg, Am Hubland, Wuerzburg, DE, [email protected] of African Wildlife Management, Mweka, Moshi, TZ3Institute of Biology and Environmental Sciences, University Oldenburg, Oldenburg, DE4Department of Ecology, Animal Ecology, University of Marburg, Marburg, DE

Climate, primary productivity, and plant functional traits are key predictors of leaf herbivory but their direct and indirect contributions to community-level herbivory are not well understood along broad climatic gradients. Here we analyzed patterns and drivers of insect leaf herbivory in plant communities along extensive elevational and land use gradients on Mt. Kilimanjaro. We estimated standing leaf herbivory, climate, net primary productivity (NPP) and plant leaf traits (specific leaf area, CN and NP ratios) on 55 study sites in

natural and anthropogenic habitats along a 3060 m elevation gradient on Mt. Kilimanjaro.Leaf herbivory ranged from 5 % to 11.5 % and showed a unimodal pattern in natural habitats but a strongly contrasting bimodal pattern in anthropogenic habitats. Path analyses suggest that the variation in leaf herbivory was driven by changes in leaf CN and NP ratios which were closely linked to changes in NPP. Our study elucidates the strong role of leaf nutrient stoichiometry and its linkages to climate and energy for explaining the variation in leaf herbivory along broad climatic gradients. Furthermore, the study suggests that climatic changes and nutrient inputs in the course of global change may alter leaf herbivory and consequently energy and nutrient fluxes in terrestrial habitats.

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10:0

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IMPACT OF THE LEAF-CUTTING ANT ATTA OPACICEPS ON PLANT COMMUNITY COMPOSITION ALONG A GRADIENT OF FOREST COVER IN THE CAATINGA DRY TROPICAL FOREST

Clarissa Mendes Knoechelmann1, Felipe Fernando Siqueira2, Rainer Wirth1, Inara Leal2

1University of Kaiserslautern, Plant Ecology and Systematics, Kaiserslautern, DE, [email protected] Federal de Pernambuco, Departamento de Botânica, Recife, BR

The Brazilian Caatinga is a dry tropical forest with pronounced seasonality, vast areas of which are subjected to high levels of habitat loss in combination with livestock production, timber harvesting, and extensive firewood collection. In the ecological context of human-modified landscapes dominated by communities of early-successional plants, generalist herbivores commonly proliferate, such as leaf-cutting ants. Recently, we have demonstrated that leaf-cutting ants also benefit drastically from anthropogenic disturbances in the Caatinga. However, while it is well known that these ants negatively affect seedling recruitment in rainforests and savannas, their impacts on dry forest regeneration has been completely neglected.This study aims to investigate how plant recruitment and community composition is affected by leaf-cutting ants along a gradient of forest cover in the Catimbau National Park in Buíque, PE, Brazil. For this, we chose fifteen nests of Atta opaciceps located in landscapes with forest cover ranging from 8.7 % to 87 %. For each nest, three sampling areas were established: (1) nest mound, (2) foraging area, i.e., the area where ants were foraging in the night before data collection, and (3) control area, established 20 m away from the foraging area. The communities of vascular plants < 1 m height were recorded at 2-month intervals using four randomly placed 1-m2 plots in each sampling area.We found that foraging areas were most species rich (42 species across 853 individuals), followed by nest mounds (35 species, 547 individuals) and control area (32 species, 1416 individuals). Overall, the most represented families were Malvaceae (30.6 %), Euphorbiaceae (8.8 %), and Convolvulaceae (8.5 %), thus resembling the Caatinga dry forest in general. The results indicate that leaf-cutting ants may act as biotic filters that influence forest regeneration via herbivory and ecosystem engineering as demonstrated for rain forests. Ongoing research activities will address the temporal dynamics of ant impacts on community assembly and explore both the importance of forest cover and the potential role of these ants for the successional trajectory experienced by human-modified Caatinga.

(Edital Universal-CNPq, PELD-CNPq, APQ-FACEPE, PRONEX-FACEPE, PROBRAL CAPES-DAAD)

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10:1

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MYRMECOVORIE IN NEOTROPICAL PRIMATES

Nadja Isabel Risch Ferreira1, Eckhard W. Heymann (speaker)1

1Deutsches Primatenzentrum, Göttingen, DE, [email protected]

Ants represent a large proportion of the invertebrate biomass in Amazonian forests and are preyed upon by a broad spectrum of vertebrates, mainly specialized birds (various families) and the anteaters (Myrmecophagidae), but also by opportunistic predators like primates.

Here we review the relevance of ants in the diet of Neotropical primates (Platyrrhini). Predation on ants has been reported from

51 out of 204 species, representing 17 of the 19 genera from all five families of extant platyrrhines. The proportion of ants in the prey of Neotropical primates ranges from <1 % to almost 70 %, with a non-linear relation between primate body mass and the proportion of ants in the prey. It is highest in medium-sized (~1-4 kg), but low in small and large platyrrhines. Members from 13 genera of ants (representing 7 subfamilies of Formicidae) are preyed upon by primates, including tree-living and terrestrial ants that are mainly social foragers, and genera with and without chemical defence. While myrmecovorie by Neotropical primates is unlikely to exert any selective pressures on ants, it may be a significant source of protein for several primate species.

TUES

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11:0

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FUNCTIONAL RECOVERY OF AMAZONIAN BAT ASSEMBLAGES FOLLOWING SECONDARY FOREST SUCCESSION

Fábio Z. Farneda1,2,3, Ricardo Rocha2,3,4, Adrià López-Baucells2,3,5, Erica M. Sampaio6, Jorge M. Palmeirim2,3, Paulo E. D. Bobrowiec2, Carlos E. V. Grelle1, Christoph F. J. Meyer (speaker)2,3,7

1Department of Ecology, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, BR2Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project, National Institute for Amazonian Research and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Manaus, BR3Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, PT4Metapopulation Research Centre, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, FI5Granollers Museum of Natural Sciences, Granollers, ES6Department of Animal Physiology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, DE7School of Environment and Life Sciences, University of Salford, Salford, UK, [email protected]

Regenerating forests occupy large areas in the tropics, mostly as a result of deforestation for livestock and agriculture, followed by land abandonment. Despite the importance of regenerating secondary forests for tropical biodiversity conservation, studies of temporal effects of matrix regeneration on species responses in fragmented landscapes are scarce. Here, we used an Amazonian whole-ecosystem fragmentation experiment to investigate how changes in matrix quality over time through secondary forest regeneration affect bat assemblages from a functional perspective.

We found that forest regeneration in the matrix positively affected functional α diversity, as well as species- and community-level functional uniqueness, reflecting an increase of species that perform different ecological functions in secondary forest over time. According to functional trait composition, animalivorous species showed the clearest signs of recovery associated with matrix regeneration. Consequently, between-period differences in functional β-diversity were highest in secondary forest compared to fragments and continuous forest, determined mainly by trait gains. However, ~30 years of secondary forest regeneration were not sufficient for the functional recovery of bat assemblages to levels observed in continuous forest. Restoring degraded habitats while protecting primary forest will be an important strategy for safeguarding high functional diversity of bats and their vital contributions to ecosystem functioning in fragmented tropical landscapes.

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11:1

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MORPHOLOGICAL TRAITS VARIATIONS OF AFZELIA AFRICANA SM. IN RELATION TO CLIMATIC CONDITION AND IMPLICATION FOR SPECIES CONSERVATION IN BENIN

Thierry Houehanou1,2,3, Kathleen Prinz4, Frank Hellwig4, Achille Assogbadjo2,3, Jens Gebauer5, Romain Glele Kakaï3

1Laboratory of Ecology, Botany and Plant Biology; Faculty of Agronomy, University of Parakou, Parakou, BJ, [email protected] of Applied Ecology, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Abomey Calavi, Abomey Calavi, BJ3Laboratoire de Biomathématiques et d’Estimations Forestières, Faculté des Sciences Agronomiques, Université d’Abomey Calavi, Abomey Calavi, BJ4Institute for Ecology and Evolution, Department for Systematic Botany with Hausknecht Herbarium and Botanical Garden, Friedrich-Schiller-University, Jena, DE5Sustainable Agricultural Production Systems with Special Focus on Horticulture, Faculty of Life Sciences, Rhine- Waal University of Applied Sciences, Kleve, DE

Morphogenetic variation assessment across population species ranges is known to benefit selecting of superior populations and individual tree and motivate also conservation concerns. Thus, this study aims to (1) assess how far extent morphological traits of the threatened tree species A. africana are mediated by climate condition and (2) highlight which climatic variables interact with morphological traits. Twelve morphological traits based on fruits, seeds, and leaves were assessed across three different climatic

conditions in Benin: wetter, transitional and drier areas. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to assess the effect of climatic gradient and the climatic variables that drive the morphological traits.

Results showed that wetter area had greater values of fruit length, width, thickness and weight; higher values of seed length, thickness and weight; and higher values of leaflet length and width. In contrast, it held a lower value of seed rate of fruit. Bioclimatic variables such as isothermality, the minimum temperature of coldest month, the mean temperature of wettest quarter, the precipitation of driest month and the mean monthly temperature range were the potential drivers of length, width, thickness, weight, total seeds weight and the seed rate of fruit as well as length and weight of seeds. These variations of morphological traits suppose an adaptation to the environmental condition or a phenotypic plasticity for A. africana and are important insights to guide management and conservation of A. africana populations in the different climatic condition in Benin. Future investigations on molecular analyses should reveal variation in gene pools over the different climatic conditions and will precise later the more plausible hypothesis.

TUES

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11:3

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CONSERVATION PLANNING FOR TROPICAL FRESHWATERS THROUGH A GLOBAL ALLIANCE FOR FRESHWATER LIFE

Kenneth Irvine1, William Darwall2, Anthony I. Dell3, Sonja Jähnig4, Jonathan M. Jeschke4, Michael T. Monaghan4, Olaf Weyl5

1IHE Delft, Delft, NL, [email protected], Cambridge, UK3National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRREC), Washington, US4Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Berlin, DE5South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity, Grahamstown, ZA

Preservation of tropical aquatic biodiversity requires better understanding of ecosystems and governance structures. Tropical aquatic ecosystems are species rich, with high numbers of endemics, and under increasing pressure from human activities. A more concerted effort towards aquatic conservation requires addressing a number of key topics, including: better documenting and understanding tropical aquatic biodiversity and ecosystem functioning; identifying and communicating critical regulating, provisioning and cultural ecosystem services; better coordination across institutional structures to build capacity of decision makers that can work together for the preservation of aquatic ecosystems and congruence with terrestrial ones; and (re)establishing well-functioning monitoring and reporting networks, and connecting these with local citizen monitoring for both data collection and citizen awareness.

A recent and developing global initiative, the Alliance for Freshwater Life (AFL) supports the knowledge base of freshwater biodiversity and its importance for human well-being. Building a coalition of global leaders in research, conservation, education, communication and environmental policy, the AFL initiative is of particular relevance for tropical freshwaters which are often lacking effective national or regional protection, and where institutional capacity can be weak.

The AFL will: (1) build greater global awareness of the values of freshwater ecosystems and their biodiversity; (2) augment and mobilise the huge body of existing research information, such as on the functioning, distribution and status of freshwater systems, for application to the sustainable management and conservation of them; (3) fill critical information gaps on freshwater ecosystems to inform sustainable development; (4) bring forward the science of freshwater ecosystems to develop and inform conservation and development policy; and (5) implement on-the-ground conservation action.

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11:4

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IDENTIFYING GLOBAL OPPORTUNITIES AND RISKS FOR BIODIVERSITY FROM OIL PALM EXPANSION

John Garcia-Ulloa1, Natalia Ocampo-Penuela1, Giovanni Strona2, Serge Wich3

1ETH Zurich, Zurich, CH, [email protected] Commission, Joint Research Centre, Directorate D - Sustainable Resources, Ispra, IT3Faculty of Science, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK

Oil palm expansion has significantly transformed landscapes in Southeast Asia and the industry has become a globally important social and environmental player. Oil palm development is a reality in many regions in the world, as human population grows and demand for vegetable oils increases. Although our knowledge of the impacts of oil palm cultivation has significantly increased in the last decade, we lack a global strategy for the expansion of this crop that minimizes impacts on biodiversity and meet local and global demands for palm oil.

In this talk, we present an up-to-date study of the potential risks to biodiversity from oil palm expansion, based on regional spatial analyses for selected case studies in Africa, Americas and Southeast Asia. These analyses combine information on oil palm suitability and current land-use, with species distribution, diversity and vulnerability for various vertebrate groups.

Overall, we found no available areas where large scale oil palm agriculture could be accommodated in Africa, while available land for planting new oil palm plantations in Southeast Asia is increasingly limited. Yet, our analysis show opportunities for low-impact expansion in the neotropics. Our analysis highlights as well, the potential impacts on non-forest biomes from a low carbon development trajectory in the oil palm industry. Finally, we discuss factors that may enable or hinder the application of such global strategy by examining local and regional environmental and social contexts.

TUES

DAY

14:3

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UNFOLDING LONG TERM DISTURBANCES OF FOREST COMMUNITIES IN SOUTHWESTERN AMAZONIAN LOWLANDS

Dilce de Fatima Rossetti1, Rogerio Gribel2, Peter Mann Toledo1, Sônia H. Tatumi3

1Brazilian Institute for Space Research, São Jose dos Campos, BR, [email protected] Institute for Amazonian Research, Manaus, BR3Federal University of Sâo Paulo, Santos, BR

Linking plant species distribution to geology has been biased by the simplification of biogeographic models and the poor comprehension of geological processes. Amazonian lowlands show forests under different successional stages. A growing perception has been that such heterogeneity results from long-term environmental changes. We investigate this hypothesis designing a model based on past and present-day vegetation, and on the understanding of geological history. An area in southwestern Amazonia was selected to acquire floristic inventories, and we interpreted the paleovegetation based on C/N and d1

3C of sedimentary organic matter. These data were analysed in the context of geological evolution.

Topographically higher, Late Pleistocene terrains had non-flooded, late successional terra firme forests and local less-diversified white-sand forests on younger paleochannel deposits. Late Pleistocene-Holocene terrains at intermediate elevations also had terra firme forests, but of smaller trees with lower basal areas. These terrains exhibited forests with ecotonal features near forest-savanna boundaries. Terrains of Holocene age located closer to the main river valley recorded seasonally-flooded varzea forest. Several Late Pleistocene and Late Pleistocene-Holocene deposits recorded the expansion of C4 land plants before the forestation from ~20,000 cal yr BP to 7,578 cal yr BP, which could not be related solely to past aridity. The studied forests had a long history, with onsets from 6,130 to 3,533 cal yr BP, 3,402 to 2,800 cal yr BP and 1,624 to 964 cal yr BP in the instance of terra firme, varzea and ecotonal forests, respectively.

Despite these long-lasting communities, not all forests reached maturity due to their location in terrains of diverse hydrological contexts. Hydrology in the study area was a consequence of environmental disturbances caused by the interplay of topographic gradients owing to the history of terrace downcutting and deposition over the geological time, added to the distance to a main river valley having various flooding events through time. Capturing long-term disturbances in this area of still pristine forests has the potential of contributing to better understand potential mechanisms that determine trends in tree growth and forest diversity across many tropical regions.

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14:4

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ARCHIVES OF NATURAL HISTORY; TREE OF LIFE CONSTRUCTED FROM A GRAM OF SOIL USING EDNA

Kingsly Chuo Beng1, Richard Thomas Corlett1

1Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, Mengla, Yunnan, CN, [email protected]

Advances in next-generation sequencing have made it possible to detect an organism’s presence or absence in any environment and this is especially important for soil taxa. Environmental DNA (eDNA) is genetic material originating from the hair, skin, urine, faeces, gametes or carcasses of an organism and preserved in water, soil or sediment. DNA can persist in the environment from a few days in temperate water, to hundreds of thousands of years in cold, dry permafrost, allowing direct isolation without any obvious signs of

an organism’s presence or absence.

eDNA barcoding and metabarcoding has the potential to revolutionize ecology and conservation in several ways. First, eDNA techniques are fast, efficient and relatively cheap, thus providing the opportunity to monitor the dynamics of species, populations and communities, and to map their geographic distribution over long-time periods and across large spatial scales. Second, eDNA sampling is simple, non-destructive and non-invasive, causing no significant damage to the target species or its habitats. Third, using eDNA improves the detection of rare, cryptic and elusive species, even at relatively low densities. Fourth, eDNA enables the early detection of biological invasions and their timely eradication before full establishment. Despite these developments, little attention has been given to the application of eDNA in soil, especially in biodiversity-rich tropical regions.

In a pilot eDNA study in tropical China, we collected soil cores from seven sites and used three molecular markers to evaluate the application of eDNA in biodiversity monitoring. We detected taxa representing the entire Tree Of Life, from microbes through invertebrates to vertebrates. Our study demonstrates that tropical soils are archives of natural history.


TUES

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15:0

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ANALYSIS OF THE POTENTIALITIES OF AMBAHIVIKY RAFFIA PALM IN THE BOENY REGION

Zolalaina Andriamanantena1, Fenozo Heritiana Andriamanantena1, Hery Lisy Tiana Ranarijaona1

1Doctoral School Natural Ecosystems (EDEN), University of Mahajanga, Mahajanga, MG, [email protected]

Madagascar is a country with a very famous biodiversity. There are many wood and non-wood forest products in the island. Raffia is a non-wood product. Rafia farinifera is a very important and unique natural resource both in the daily life of the chain operators and in the natural forest ecosystem. The raffia areas of Ambahiviky in the rural commune of Betsako in the Mahajanga II district of the Boeny Region are managed by the local grassroots community.

Studies are being done to find out about the potential and the measures of these natural resources and the different pressures they are undergoing by carrying out transects and plots carried out in 2011 and 2017. Surveys are also conducted with local population to assess pressures on the raffia palm.

During measurements, stand density and abundance decreased. Seed individuals are especially less abundant. Yet, the raffia areas are a source of water supplying the rice fields and the local population. However, climate change among the pressures on the raffia areas leads to the degradation of these resources. In fact, the rice fields are silted and the raffia palms are cut down by very intense cyclones. In addition, to ensure the effect of climate change and to have a balance between economic recovery and biological conservation, measures such as protection and restoration will be provided to ensure the sustainability of raffia especially regeneration.

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DISTRIBUTION OF PODOCARPUS LATIFOLIUS/MILANJIANUS FROM THE LAST GLACIAL MAXIMUM TO 2100 IN AFRICA WITH THE DYNAMIC VEGETATION MODEL CARAIB

Marie Dury1, Alexandra-Jane Henrot1, Anne-Marie Lézine2, Rachid Cheddadi3, Jérémy Migliore2,4, Olivier J. Hardy4, Alain Hambuckers5, Joy Singarayer6, Franck Trolliet1, Louis François1

1Unit for Modelling of Climate and Biogeochemical Cycles, UR-SPHERES, University of Liège, Liège, BE, [email protected] d’Océanographie et du Climat LOCEAN, Sorbonne Université, Paris, FR3Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution, Université de Montpellier II, CNRS-UM-IRD, Montpellier, FR4Evolutionary Biology and Ecology, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Bruxelles, BE5Behavioural Biology Unit, UR-SPHERES, University of Liège, Liège, BE6Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, Reading, UK

Podocarpus latifolius/milanjianus (same species according to genetics) is an endemic African species with populations in the western, eastern and southern parts of the continent. The current global warming threatens the conservation of the relict patches of this mountain evergreen species. During the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), the species was certainly more largely distributed and present at lower elevations than today according to pollen data. At the beginning of the Holocene, Podocarpus moved upwards due to warmer conditions. The size of the populations might have collapsed abruptly at the end of the “African Humid Period” at ca. 3,000 BP (Lézine et al., Journal of Biogeography, 40: 183-196, 2013). Besides this general evolution, the palaeo-distribution of Podocarpus remains relatively unknown. The origin and connections between the eastern, southern and western Podocarpus forests are still not understood.In the framework of two related projects, AFRIFORD (Genetic and palaeoecological signatures of African rainforest dynamics: pre-adapted to change?) and VULPES (VULnerability of Populations under Extreme Scenario), we use the CARAIB dynamic vegetation model (Dury et al., iForest, 4:82-99, 2011), in parallel to genetic and palynologic analyses, to simulate the past and future dynamics of Podocarpus and to understand its current distribution.Projections of the HadCM3 climate model are used to reproduce climatic conditions in Africa from LGM (21,000 BP) to present time with a temporal resolution of 1 kyr. For the future (period 2006-2100), several IPCC climate scenarios from the Coupled Modelling Intercomparison Project–Phase 5 (CMIP5) have been selected according to the quality of their reconstructed climate (temperature and precipitation) over sub-Saharan Africa for historical period. After interpolation to a 0.5° regular grid, we kept only past/future anomalies that we added to the GSWP3 (20 CR) climate data chosen as the reference for the historical period. Sub-continental simulations are performed with CARAIB forced by these climatic projections to simulate the net primary productivity (NPP) of Podocarpus over time and space. In addition, CARAIB simulations are performed at higher resolution over a restricted region in southwestern Cameroon to identify potential microrefugia.


TUES

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16:0

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SPATIO-TEMPORAL VARIATIONS OF CARBON AND NITROGEN IN BIOGENIC STRUCTURES OF FUNGUS-GROWING TERMITES IN THE XISHUANGBANNA REGION

Chunfeng Chen1, Wenjie Liu1, Junen Wu1, Xiaojin Jiang1

1Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Science, Jinghong, CN, [email protected]

Fungus-growing termites are abundant and play an important role in soil nutrient dynamics in the tropics due to their activities and unique effects on soil physical, chemical and biochemical properties. However, the mechanisms of termite mound turnover and the effects of such turnover on temporal and spatial patterns of nutrients in surrounding soils have rarely been studied.

Here, we investigated the relationship between the stabilization and redistribution of soil nutrient properties and the chronological development of termite mounds (primary, secondary-occupied and abandoned mounds). The study was conducted to assess the concentrations of nutrients and water content in the biogenic structures produced by two fungus-growing termites (M. annandalei and O. yunnanensis) in different mound stages. Samples were collected along a transect at regular intervals proportional to the size of the biogenic structure.

We found the concentration of NO3- in the following sequence: active mound, abandoned mound, and the surrounding soils. The concentrations of organic carbon (Corg) and total N in the active mounds were significantly lower than those in the surrounding top soils, although a weak difference was observed with subsoils. The concentrations of Corg and total N in the abandoned mounds were significantly higher than those in active mounds, whereas no difference was observed with surrounding soils. The mean concentrations of nutrients were significantly different between fresh parts (sampling locations 1–3) and old parts (locations 4–6) of the secondary-occupied mounds. The nutrients in the fresh parts of the mound approached the values in the primary mound; whereas the nutrients in the old part of the mound approached the values in the abandoned mound. Our results indicate that nutrient concentrations change through the chronological development of termite mounds, which are hot spots of nutrients that subsequently affect ecosystem processes at specific spatial and temporal scales through the stabilization and redistribution of nutrients.

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FACTORS DETERMINING FUNGAL DIVERSITY AND DYNAMICS DURING WOOD DECOMPOSITION ACROSS DISTURBANCE GRADIENT IN TROPICAL MOUNTAINOUS FOREST

Gbadamassi G.O Dossa1,2,3, Yun-Qiang Yang1, Weiming Hu4, Ekananda Paudel5, Douglas Schaefer2, Kun-Fang Cao6, Jian-Chu Xu1,3,7, Kathyn E. Bushley8, Rhett D. Harrison9

1Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, CN, [email protected] Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, CN3Centre for Mountain Ecosystem Studies, Kunming Institute of Botany, Kunming, CN4Nematode Molecular Systematics and Biological Control, Entomology and Nematology Department University of Florida, Florida, US5Nepali Academy of Science and Technology, Khumaltar, Lalitpur, Kathmandu, NP6Ecophysiology and Evolution Group, State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agro-Bioresources, and College of Forestry, Guangxi University, Guangxi, CN7World Agroforestry Centre, East & Central Asia Regional Office, Kunming, CN8Department of Plant and Microbial Biology University of Minnesota, Minnesota, US9World Agroforestry Centre, East & Southern Africa Region, Lusaka, ZM

Nutrient cycling is controlled by both abiotic and biotic factors. However much less is known about biotic factors such as fungi contribution to nutrient cycling in tropical biomes. Combining with the high degree of degradation occurring in tropical forests, there is a need of filling this gap in our knowledge.

Our study aims to link biotic, especially fungal diversity to decomposition rates in tropical biomes. Thus we set up to examine

how forest degradation affects wood decomposition in general but more importantly (1) does time have an effect and what are those effects in terms of diversity and community structure? (2) does woody debris species affect fungi diversity and community structure? (3) does the relative position of woody debris to the soil affect fungi diversity and community structure? We conducted a standard wood decomposition experiment across a disturbance gradient in a tropical mountain forest from mature forest to open land in Xishuangbanna, SW China using two contrasting native woody species. We periodically monitored wood specific gravity loss of logs (n = 280, each being 0.5 m in length) by collected wood core (from lower half of log, part in direct contact with soil and upper half part in opposite direction) and wood dust samples and employed next-generation sequencing to identify fungi alpha diversity and the fungal community structure (beta diversity).

We did not find forest disturbance to affect the decomposition process for any of the two contrasting woody species. Nevertheless, species identity, core relative position to the soil and time significantly affect the decomposition rates. To explain these results, we explored the temporal dynamic of fungal diversity and community. We found that the diversity of fungi peaked in the mid of the experiment then decrease toward the end of the monitoring time. The preliminary analyses suggest that time and species (of woody debris) were significant drivers of alpha-diversity of fungal decomposers. While for the community change over time, we found that time and forest type were significantly shaping the turnover.


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NES

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SESSION 10IMPACT OF SOIL PLANT-FAUNA-MICROORGANISMS INTERACTIONS ON THE FUNCTIONING OF TROPICAL ECOSYSTEMS

Chairs: Jean-Christophe LATA, Luc ABBADIEContact: [email protected]

Tropical natural ecosystems are renowned for being major reservoirs of plant and animal biodiversity, and key ecosystems for global climate and biogeochemical regulation. They are also submitted to important threats, mainly through conversion to agriculture and climate changes. These terrestrial ecosystems depend on their soils and the biodiversity they host, so that the ecology of tropical soils must be studied to better understand the functioning of these ecosystems and predict their dynamics. Moreover, tropical soils are viewed as very fragile due to low cation exchange capacity, high mineralization rates and heavy rains so that the degradation of tropical ecosystems often begins with soil degradation.

The goal of this session is to present results on the ecological functioning of tropical soils that determine the general functioning of tropical ecosystems. Soil ecology is based on belowground-aboveground interactions and all aspects of these interactions will potentially be addressed: plant-soil interactions, plant-soil-microorganism interactions, plant-soil fauna interactions, plant-microorganism-fauna interactions, modification of soil properties by soil organisms...

The session will emphasize interactions that are essential to the maintenance of the concerned ecosystems and their resilience to disturbances. Anthropized ecosystems will also be addressed, for example when soil ecology is influential for the maintenance of soil fertility in agricultural landscapes. Studies on the general ecology of soil organisms will also be considered.

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09:3

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S10-O01 – TROPICAL SOIL ECOLOGY

SOIL, LANDSCAPE AND LAND-USE ITINERARY EFFECTS ON NON-CULTIVATED PLANT COMMUNITIES AND ASSOCIATED SERVICES IN CROPLANDS OF NORTHERN THAILAND

Margot Neyret1, Henri Robain1, Anneke de Rouw1, Bounsamay Soulileuth2, Karn Trisophon3, Kaesorn Jumpa4, Christian Valentin1

1Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences (IEES) Paris, Institute of Research for Development (IRD), Sorbonne University, National Institute of Agricultural Research (INRA), University Paris-East Créteil (UPEC), Bondy, FR, [email protected] of Ecology and Environmental Sciences (IEES) Paris, IRD, Sorbonne University, INRA, University Paris-East Créteil (UPEC), Vientiane, LA3Land Development Department, Regional office 6, Chiang Mai, TH4Land Development Department, Central office, Bangkok, TH

In the past decades, the transition from annual crops to rubber tree plantations in South-East Asia has caused concern regarding the increase of soil erosion processes. Weeds communities fulfil numerous ecosystem services and are strongly dependent and farming practices. Thus, the ongoing transition is likely to affect their structure and associated services such as soil protection from erosion.To address the effects of land use, season, soil characteristics and landscape on plant communities in croplands of mountainous Northern Thailand, we carried out botanical inventories and soil characterization in 20 fields from 4 main land uses representative of the transition from annual crops to rubber plantations (upland rice, maize, young rubber, mature rubber) twice a year since March 2016. We estimated the proportion of each land cover around the fields using satellite images. We installed twelve erosion microplots in rubber tree plantations to monitor weekly plant cover, run-off, and soil detachment. Land use was the main factor of weed community variations, explaining 33 % of the variance. Season, soil characteristics and landscape also affected communities (resp. 8 %, 9 % and 7 % of observed variance). Soil cover was lower in rubber tree plantations compared to annual crops. High plant living biomass was associated to higher N and C soil content. Higher plant cover decreased runoff (the proportion of rainfall that does not infiltrate) and prevented soil surface from degradation.While further investigation is needed to uncover more precise relations between soil physical properties and weeds, we showed that plant cover was strongly affected by land uses and was a key factor in protecting soil from degradation and limiting runoff. Ongoing investigations are now focusing on the effects of farming practices on the seasonal dynamics of weeds and soil erosion.


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09:4

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DIET COMPOSITION ANALYSIS OF TROPICAL SOIL-FEEDING TERMITES: AFRICAN APICOTERMITINAE

Johanna Romero Arias1, Steeve Bonneville2,3, Yves Roisin1

1Evolutionary Biology & Ecology, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, BE, [email protected]. BGéOsys, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, BE3MAT, Materials Engineering, Characterization, Processing and Recycling, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, BE

Termites are one of the key actors of the soil fauna of tropical rainforests and woodlands. The termite assemblage of an ecosystem depends on its soil parameters such as granulometry, chemical composition or water retention. These parameters are largely influenced by the termites themselves, which act as “ecosystem engineers” of tropical environments. On the other hand, variations in soil texture and composition create opportunities for niche partitioning, to support a broad diversity of termites and other soil

arthropods.The Apicotermitinae is a subfamily of soil-feeding termite species, which ingest cellular organic materials mixed with clay minerals. Yet, specific food sources can be revealed by direct methods, such as analysis of gut contents and termite tissues, or indirect ones, through nest material analysis. In this study, we analysed the content of the foregut (i.e. the crop and the gizzard) of the workers of a broad array of Apicotermitinae species.We estimated the relative amounts of clay, organic matter and coarse mineral elements (crystals) in species with or without soldiers. Clay dominates the gut contents in this group, followed by organic matter. We also found substantial amounts of aggregates consisting of organic matters and thin clay particles. We discussed the variations observed between the different species of Apicotermitinae studied.

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10:0

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TERMITES INCREASE ECOSYSTEM RESILIENCE TO DROUGHT IN TROPICAL RAINFOREST

Louise Ashton1,2, Hannah Griffiths3, Kate Parr3, Theo Evans4, Fevziye Hasan2, Yit Arn Teh5, Marcus Tin6, Charles Vairappan6, Paul Eggleton2

1The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, HK, [email protected] History Museum London, London, UK3University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK4University of Western Australia, Australia, Perth, AU5University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK6Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, MY

Climate change is threatening tropical rainforests and the ecosystem services they provide. Drought events are predicted to become more frequent and more severe, yet, there is little information about how droughts affect faunal biota and associated ecosystem processes. Consequently, biotic responses to climate change are barely considered in Earth system models and we know little about how animal responses to climatic events can affect ecosystem resilience.Termites are hyper-abundant in tropical rainforests, with up to 10,000 individuals in a square meter. Unlike many other rainforest organisms, there is evidence that termites respond positively to drought; however, the consequences of such climate-mediated biotic changes on ecosystem processes and resilience has not been investigated. Here, we address this gap for the first time, using a large-scale termite suppression experiment in Malaysian Borneo, spanning the El Niño drought of 2015-16 and subsequent non-drought conditions. We quantified the influence of termites on three ecosystem components that determine vegetation dynamics: decomposition, soil nutrient cycling and soil moisture. These factors were assessed both during and after the drought event and we quantified seedling mortality within each period.During the drought, termites were more abundant. When termites were experimentally suppressed, decomposition, soil nutrient heterogeneity and soil moisture decreased, and seedling mortality was 34 % higher. The effects of termite suppression were not apparent in non-drought conditions. These results demonstrate the multitrophic impact of termite-mediated processes on ecosystem resilience to drought, with far-reaching implications for terrestrial nutrient cycling and atmospheric carbon budgets. We demonstrate, with a novel, real-world experiment, the vital importance of an invertebrate biota for the resilience of rainforest systems. As drought pressure increases under climate change, biodiversity will become more important for the maintenance of functioning ecosystems.

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10:1

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ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROLS OF BIOME DISTRIBUTION IN BOLIVIA AND BRAZIL - DISSECTING THE IMPORTANCE OF SOILS, CLIMATE AND FIRE

Pedro Luiz Silva de Miranda1, Caroline Lehmann1, Ary Oliveira-Filho2, Danilo M. Neves3, Timothy R. Baker3, Carlos Alberto Nobre Quesada5, Toby Pennington6,7, Kyle G. Dexter1,7

1School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK, [email protected] de Botânica, Universidade Federal de Miras Gerais, Belo Horizonte, BR3Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, US4School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK5Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Coordenação de Dinâmica Ambiental, Manaus, BR6Department of Geography, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK7Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

In the tropics, areas under the same climatic regime can be occupied by different biomes, showing that the environmental controls behind biome distribution are still poorly understood. Other factors such as edaphic conditions and disturbance history (e.g. fire) must also be involved. We aimed to determine which are the main environmental drivers behind the distribution of rain forests, savannas and seasonally dry tropical forests (SDTFs) in Brazil and Bolivia.

We collected and analysed soil samples (for many variables, including pH, aluminium, phosphorous, partial sum of bases and sand percentage) from 182 sites for which biome state had been determined independently based on tree species composition. We also considered temperature seasonality (from Bioclim), inter-annual precipitation seasonality and fire return index (both from Lehmann et al., 2014) as explainers of biome state. We employed structural equation modelling (SEM) to assess drivers of biome state, in order to account for dependencies of explanatory variables.

For Bolivia, the transition between SDTF and Savanna is mainly driven by fire and it is not related to soils, whereas in Brazil it is driven only by soils (partial sum of bases and Aluminium). The transition between savannas and rain forests in Brazil is related to soils and fire; in Bolivia, it is mediated by fire frequency and inter-annual precipitation seasonality. The transition between SDTFs and rain forests in Bolivia is mediated by fire and climate, whereas we were unable to detect any significant drivers for this transition in Brazil. These results show that soils and fire are important to biome distribution and that environmental controls differs between Brazil and Bolivia. Savannas in Bolivia (Chiquitania) are likely the result of anthropogenic degradation of SDTFs. Meanwhile, in Brazil, soil controls are responsible for the distribution of savannas and SDTFs as previously hypothesized.

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SESSION 11MOLECULAR TAXONOMY AND CRYPTIC SPECIES IN SOILS

Chairs: Virginie ROY, Lise DUPONTContact: [email protected]

Soil is a complex system which provides ecosystem services such as biomass production, organic matter decomposition and nutrient cycling. These functions are delivered by the huge diversity of organisms that live and interact in the soil, under the influence of abiotic environment. While significant advances have been made in physical and chemical characterization of soils, biological communities remain understudied, with a poor knowledge of their specific diversity. Indeed, soil fauna suffers a strong taxonomic deficit that is particularly pronounced in tropical regions. Identification of soil species is hampered by the lack of observable morphological characters and samples can be represented by incomplete specimens or non-identifiable structures (cocoons, eggs, traces). Constraining environmental conditions such as those encountered in soils can induce a stabilizing selection on morphology, decreasing morphological changes that accompany speciation.

With the increasing use of molecular data in taxonomy, the number of publications referring to cryptic species discovery is continually rising. DNA barcoding and metabarcoding are now routinely used to organize samples in genetically divergent groups, allowing rapid discovery of species and calculation of biodiversity estimators. Multi-locus approaches provide a fine resolution on species delimitation issues, and confirmation of cryptic speciation.

Session participants are encouraged to submit contributions on the following topics: tropical soil diversity and species assemblages, molecular species delineation, cryptic species discovery.

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11:0

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S11-O01 – MOLECULAR TAXONOMY AND CRYPTIC SPECIES IN SOILS

A LARGE VIEW OF THE SMALL PROTISTS IN NEOTROPICAL RAINFORESTS

Micah Dunthorn1

1University of Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, DE, [email protected]

Naturalists have long known that plants and animals in tropical rainforests are exceedingly species rich. It has been unknown if similar hyperdiversity patterns are seen at the microbial scale with unicellular protists. To expand our view of these ecosystems to include a broader microbial perspective, I sampled soils in lowland rainforests in Costa Rica, Panama, and Ecuador using a metabarcoding approach with general eukaryotic primers.

I found that protist communities in Neotropical rainforests are hyperdiverse and dominated by the parasitic Apicomplexa, which infect arthropods and other animals. These host-specific parasites potentially contribute to the high animal diversity in the forests by reducing population growth in a density-dependent manner. By contrast, too few Oomycota OTUs were found to broadly drive high tropical tree diversity in a host-specific manner under the Janzen-Connell model. Extremely high OTU diversity and high heterogeneity between samples within the same forests suggest that protists, not arthropods as commonly thought, are the most diverse eukaryotes in tropical rainforests. These data show that protists play a large role in tropical terrestrial ecosystems long viewed as being dominated by macro-organisms.

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11:1

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MEGALOTHORAX DIVERSITY: ACCOUNT OF A NEGLECTED SPRINGTAIL WIDELY DISTRIBUTED IN THE INTERTROPICAL ZONE

Clément Schneider1, Cyrille D’Haese (speaker)1

1MECADEV, UMR 7179 CNRS/MNHN, Paris, FR, [email protected]

Despite its apparent poor diversity, the genus Megalothorax have a worldwide distribution. Phylogenetic analyses based on several molecular loci indicates that Megalothorax is much more diverse than previously thought with probably many species yet to be described including cryptic species.

Interestingly, several species have a sexual reproduction and have a restricted distribution whereas others are parthenogenetic and widely distributed. The latter group includes Megalothorax minimus group and Megalothorax incertus group. M. laevis belongs to the incertus group but shares similitudes with the minimus group acquired through evolutionary convergences such as smooth lamellae of the mucro. Those similitudes might have created a confusion between M. minimus and M. laevis. While M. minimus used to be generally regarded cosmopolitan it is actually restricted to the temperate and cold regions of both hemispheres. M. laevis has been completely overlooked since its original discovery. However, the present sampling lead to believe that M. laevis replace M. minimus as the commonest edaphic Megalothorax species in the intertropical zone.

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11:3

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COMPLEX TAXONOMY AND GLOBAL PHYLOGEOGRAPHY OF THE WELL-KNOWN TROPICAL EARTHWORM PONTOSCOLEX CORETHRURUS

Shabnam Taheri1, Samuel James2, Virginie Roy1, Thibaud Decaëns3, Bronwyn Williams4, Franck Anderson4, Rodolphe Rougerie5, Chih-Han Chang6, George Brown7, Luis Cunha7,8, Dave Stanton8, Elodie Da Silva7, Jiun-Hong Chen9, Alan Lemmon10, Marie Bartz11, Dilmar Baretta12, Isabelle Barois13, Emmanuel Lapied14, Mathieu Coulis15, Lise Dupont1

1Université Paris Est Créteil, Créteil, FR, [email protected] of Iowa, Iowa, US3Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, Montpellier, FR4Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, US5Muséum national d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, FR6Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, US7Embrapa Florestas, Colombo, BR8Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK9National Taiwan University, Taipei, TW10Florida State University, Tallahassee, US11Universidade Positivo, Curitiba, BR12Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina, Chapecó, BR13Instituto de Ecología, Veracruz, MX14Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, NO15CIRAD, Le Lamentin, MQ

Few earthworm species are peregrine and among them, Pontoscolex corethrurus is the most well-known. Probably native from the Guyana shield, this earthworm is nowadays distributed worldwide, in the tropical and sub-tropical zones. It is found in a wide range of habitats, from apparently pristine to any kind of human-disturbed environments. P. corethrurus presents several characteristics of a successful invader: r-strategy, parthenogenesis reproduction and ecological and reproductive plasticity. Although its ecological interactions with the environment were well documented, the taxonomic status of this earthworm was unclear.

We investigated the phylogenetic relationships within the genus Pontoscolex at a global scale (25 countries), focusing on morphologically indistinguishable lineages using the mitochondrial COI and 16S markers, the nuclear ITS 2 and 28S markers and a large-scale multilocus sequence data matrix obtained using the Anchored Hybrid Enrichment (AHE) phylogenomic method.

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Four cryptic species were discovered within the P. corethrurus species complex and one of them, P. corethrurus L1 was particularly widespread. Although sympatry between L1, L3 and L4 was observed, no case of hybridization was detected between L1 and the two other cryptic species, confirming the status of species of P. corethrurus L1. A population genetics study of this species using COI sequences and AFLP data revealed a low mitochondrial genetic diversity and a high proportion of clones in some populations, in accordance with the principal mode of reproduction of the species (i.e., parthenogenesis). However, variable levels of genetic diversity among populations and results of gametic disequilibrium analysis suggesting recombination in several populations, confirmed a mixed-mating strategy (sexual reproduction and parthenogenesis).

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11:4

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A MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO DISENTANGLE THE CRYPTIC DIVERSITY IN ANTS OF THE NEOPONERA APICALIS SPECIES COMPLEX

Boris Yagound1,2, Ronara Souza Ferreira3, Fabrice Savarit1, Stéphane Chameron1, Nicolas Châline3, Chantal Poteaux (speaker)1

1Laboratoire d’Ethologie Expérimentale et comparée, Villetaneuse, FR, [email protected] and Genetics of Social Insects Laboratory, Sydney, AT3Department of Experimental Psychology, Institute of Psychology, São Paulo, BR

Inferring species boundaries is of crucial importance in the biological sciences. However, this task often proves to be challenging because many species exhibit a very high morphological similarity, while their actual diversity remains cryptic. In this context, multidisciplinary studies can be useful to circumvent this issue and delimit species. Here, we present results gathered during several years in an integrative study of Neoponera apicalis ants, a complex of closely related and partly sympatric cryptic species.

The relationships between the different putative species were first investigated over their Neotropical distribution range with molecular phylogeny based on mitochondrial DNA genes. All morphs represented distinct well-supported clades, with a high intra-morph variability mostly explained by geographic differences. Phylogenetic relationships between morphs were however mostly unresolved, leaving the phylogeography of this complex unanswered.

To further decipher the topologies observed between N. apicalis morphs, we then conducted a set of comparative analyses in ants from sympatric and allopatric populations, focusing on (1) the morphology and bioacoustics of stridulatory organs, (2) the anatomy of male phenotypes, (3) the diversity of reproductive systems, (4) the ecological preferences for nesting sites and foraging activity, and (5) the chemical ecology of fertility-associated signals.

Overall, we found a strong congruence of morph-specific traits across methods. We suggest that at least five of the morphs studied here should be considered as a valid new species, even if they present different levels of divergence. This study highlights the relevance of integrative approaches when dealing with cryptic diversity.

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SESSION 12MOLECULAR ECOLOGY AND FUNCTIONAL GENETICS IN THE TROPICS

Chairs: Pablo OROZCO-TERWENGEL, Ute RADESPIELContact: [email protected]

Tropical environments are under threat for a variety of reasons including human population expansion and encroachment, habitat fragmentation, and climate change. Species leaving in such environments are highly challenged, as they need to modify life strategies and/or change distribution ranges in order to accommodate for rather fast environmental changes. Understanding the outcome of such changes (e.g. demographic changes, hybridization, extinction, inbreeding) is of utmost importance if we are to effectively contribute to the conservation of tropical species.

Historically, the field of molecular ecology has focused on characterizing population genetic parameters typically associated to neutral molecular markers. The understanding of the effect of genetic variants on functional traits, however, was constrained, largely, due to our limited capacity to mine genome-wide diversity. Technological developments during the last decade have facilitated generating genetic resources for almost any species, as well as have speeded up the pace at which genetic information can be acquired, thereby revolutionizing the field of molecular ecology. Today it is possible to screen natural populations for genetic variation related to neutral demographic processes, but also variation that is associated to adaptive processes and therefore of functional importance. However, as new possibilities become available in molecular ecology, questions arise regarding how to incorporate such new results into management strategies of species inhabiting changing environments such as the tropics.

This session will provide the opportunity to present new data on this and related questions, to critically review the existing evidence and to point out important avenues for future research in tropical molecular ecology.

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13:3

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S12-O01 – TROPICAL MOLECULAR ECOLOGY

BIOSTATISTICS APPLICATIONS FOR TROPICAL (AND NON) PLANT AND ANIMAL BIOLOGY: A (META)GENOMICS PERSPECTIVE

Filippo Biscarini1,2

1Cardiff University - School of Medicine, Cardiff, UK, [email protected] (National Council for Research - Institute of Biology and Biotechnology in Agriculture), Milan, IT

Next-generation sequencing and high-throughput SNP-genotyping have wide applications in plant and animal genomics and metagenomics. Such applications provide insights into population genetics and are used to develop tools to assist agriculture.

In rice, through GWAS the SD-1 gene allele linked to semi-dwarf phenotype was found to be still segregating in temperate japonica accessions, while in indica and tropical japonica accessions was either absent (wild type) or fixed (semi-dwarf lines). With a similar approach, SNP associated with yield have been identified in rice accessions under limited-water conditions: the identified associations are suitable targets for genomics-assisted breeding to improve yield-related traits under limited water conditions. In sugar beet, alleles for genetic resistance to diseases are typically introduced through introgression from wild beets. By sequencing 21 resistance genes for rhizomania and nematode infections, wild and cultivated beets did indeed cluster together, except one gene: this last reveals a resistance mutation that originated directly in domestic beets.

With metagenomics, significant differences have been observed in the gut microbiota composition of BALBc mice (animal model for Graves’ thyroid disease) immunized with the same protocol in comparable specific-pathogen free units from different centers. These differences help explain the lack of reproducibility of the animal model across centers. Similarly, the gut microbiota may be implicated in genotype-by-environment interactions found in livestock when farming the same breed in different places (e.g. temperate vs tropical latitudes). In cattle, the rumen microbiome has a major role in methane production, a green-house gas implicated in global climate change. Feed supplementation modulate the rumen microbiota composition, and specifically reduce the counts of methanogenic taxa. These results can be applied to farming and breeding for reduced methane emissions in cattle.

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13:4

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POPULATION GENOMICS OF WILD CHINESE RHESUS MACAQUES REVEALS DYNAMIC DEMOGRAPHIC HISTORIES AND LOCAL ADAPTATION

Pablo Orozco-terWengel1

1Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK, [email protected]

The rhesus macaque (RM, Macaca mulatta) is one of the most important nonhuman primate models in evolutionary biology and biomedical research. However, information on the genetic variation of geo-referenced wild populations is limited. Here we present the first population genomics survey of wild RMs, comprising 81 individuals representing five subspecies from 17 locations in China, covering a large fraction of the species’ natural distribution.

With a > 55M detected autosomal single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), genetic diversity in wild RMs is higher compared to captive populations with 834K-8.5M subspecies specific SNPs. We detected a hierarchical population structure with genetic lineages found on the mainland and one on Hainan Island mapping onto the current subspecies designations. The divergence among the five groups was estimated between 70 and 127 thousand years ago but with more recent gene flow detected between some groups. Consistent with the expectation of a larger body size in colder climates (Bergman’s rule), the northernmost RM lineage (subspecies M. m. tcheliensis) exhibits the largest body size of all Chinese RMs and features signatures of positive selection in genes responsible for skeletal development. When comparing the tropical subspecies M. m. brevicaudus from Hainan Island to other subspecies we identified candidate genes related to cardiovascular function including blood circulation, and response to temperature stimuli, features potentially involved in adaptation to tropical climates. Furthermore, we found 87 non-synonymous RM SNPs homologous to human variants involved in disease.

Our study revealed an unexpected demographic history in Chinese RMs, coupled with a history of local adaption to the regions where they are currently found. This study offers novel insights into the evolution of RMs and provides valuable information for biomedical research.

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14:0

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RED VERSUS BLUE VERSUS GREEN: MOLECULAR ASPECTS OF COLOR POLYTYPY IN A POISON FROG

Heike Pröhl1, Ariel Rodríguez1, Nicolas Mundy2

1Institute of Zoology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Hannover, DE, [email protected] of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

Animal coloration is an adaptive attribute, subject to strong local selection pressures and therefore often diversified among species or populations. The visually conspicuous strawberry poison frog Oophaga pumilio shows a broad array of color morphs across its distribution in the rainforests in Central America. While the ecological factors contributing to this impressive phenotypic color divergence have been extensively investigated, the contribution of molecular processes has been neglected so far.

We applied RNA-Seq gene expression analysis in order to identify candidate genes involved in coloration differences among red, blue and green color phenotypes on the mainland and the islands of the Bocas del Toro archipelago in Panama. Using RNA extracted from field-collected skins, we assembled a de novo reference transcriptome containing 20494 transcripts with an open reading frame and used it to estimate the differences in gene expression between color morphs. Differential expression (DE) was quantified and statistically tested using three methods (limma, edgeR, and DESeq2).

A set of 735 coding transcripts were identified as DE by the three detection methods applied. Approximately 8 % of these transcripts represented genes previously linked to pigment production pathways, including carotenoid metabolism, pteridine production, melanin synthesis and purine metabolism. Gene set enrichment analyses indicated that genes in the pteridine pathway were upregulated in red relative to blue color frogs. Genes in the melanin synthesis pathway were up-regulated in green relative to blue frogs. Expression patterns of several of these genes were analyzed and their potential role in color variation inferred based on published studies on other vertebrates. Overall our results identify multiple candidate genes associated to color phenotypes which will open new avenues for future studies of color variation in frogs.

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14:1

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DE NOVO TRANSCRIPTOME SEQUENCING AND COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF DIFFERENTIALLY EXPRESSED GENES IN ERYTHROPHLEUM SPECIES UNDER DROUGHT STRESS

Mohamed Neji1, Anais Gorel2, Dario Ojeda Alayon1, Jérôme Duminil1,4, Kathy Steppe3, Adeline Fayolle2, Olivier Hardy1

1Université Libre de Bruxelles, Evolutionary Biology & Ecology, Brussels, BE, [email protected] of Liege, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Department Biosystem Engineering, Gembloux, BE3Ghent University, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Laboratory of Plant Ecology, Ghent, BE4UMR-DIADE, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Montpellier, FR

The genus Erythrophleum includes two sister tree species geographically widespread in the tropical African rainforest characterized by a high economic and socio-cultural value: E. suaveolens and E. ivorense (Fabaceae). With a large geographical distribution extending from Senegal to Kenya, and south to Zimbabwe, E. suaveolens seems to be more adapted to the dry climate of the Guineo-Congolian forests and the forest-savanna landscapes. In contrast, E. ivorense is restricted to evergreen

Guinean-Congolese forests. Such pattern of distribution suggests that the two species differ in their performance for coping with drought stress.With the aim of unravelling the molecular mechanisms underlying the response of these species to drought, we performed an RNA-seq on six seedlings from each species to analyze their transcriptional responses at different stages of drought. After cleaning and assembly, 97,645,249 reads in E. ivorense and 144,281,582 in E. suaveolens were assembled to 68,768 and 70,383 unigenes, respectively. Annotation of these genes showed that 45 % had a significant match to one of the following databases: Swiss-Prot, Pfam, Signalp, Tmhmm and RNAmmer for both species. Gene Ontology analysis showed that 10,865 and 20,364 genes were assigned to 55 to 56 GO terms, with the abundance of “Biological process” category.By comparing control samples to 2 weeks and 8 weeks stressed samples, a set of 2,020 (1,204 down-regulated/816 up-regulated) and 1,495 (469 down-regulated/1,026 up-regulated) differentially expressed genes were identified in E. ivorense and E. suaveolens, respectively. Notably, the number of DEG was found to be much higher at 8 weeks of stress in both species, suggesting that the severe treatment affects more drought-related genes than mild stress.Digital gene expression analysis indicated that pathways involved in “response to stimulus” plays important role during drought stress in both species with more change observed in E. suaveolens. Overall, our data showed that the two species exhibit similar expression patterns, suggesting that the main difference in gene expression was quantitative. A lower number of DEG identified in E. suaveolens and the change in pathways observed during the treatment is consistent with the expectation that this species displays more tolerance to drought.

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IMMUNOLOGICAL MHC SUPERTYPES AND ALLELIC EXPRESSION: HOW LOW IS THE FUNCTIONAL MHC VARIABILITY IN WILD ENDANGERED NAMIBIAN CHEETAHS?

Simone Sommer1, Bettina Wachter2, Nina Schwensow1

1University of Ulm, Ulm, DE, [email protected] for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin, DE

Cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) are a famous textbook example of how habitat loss and historic bottlenecks have depleted genetic variability both genome-wide and at the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC), which plays an integral role in the adaptive immune response. However, wild Namibian cheetahs show no signs of impaired immuno-competence or health. This contradicts theoretical expectations and poses the question as to whether other adaptive components of the immune system have been overlooked that might be important for consideration in conservation genetics.

Here, we show that wild Namibian cheetahs still harbor a certain degree of functional MHC diversity. The present alleles are divergent enough to cover several functionally distinct MHC supertypes and thus are probably capable of binding and presenting a relatively broad range of antigens to T-cells. We have detected a similar pattern in four other wild, strongly bottlenecked, cat species supporting the hypothesis that species with a low MHC allelic variability might be able to retain diversity not within but across loci. Moreover, the allelic composition influences the level of MHC class I and class II expression suggesting that the latter is triggered by structural MHC diversity. Our study indicates that the evolutionary role of MHC diversity goes beyond allelic variability and offers an explanation as to how wild cat species might have avoided impaired immuno-competence, despite showing low MHC diversity. On a cautionary note, although the low MHC diversity currently seems to be sufficient to ensure the health of wild cheetahs, whether it can provide sufficient protection from future threats through emerging new pathogens remains uncertain.

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PHYLOGEOGRAPHY AND HETEROGENEOUS SELECTION SHAPE VOMERONASAL RECEPTOR DIVERSITY IN MOUSE LEMURS (MICROCEBUS SPP.)

Ute Radespiel1, Philipp Hohenbrink1,2, Nick Mundy2

1Institute of Zoology, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Hannover, DE, [email protected] of Zoology, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK

Olfactory communication is essential for nocturnal mammals and many species possess a functional vomeronasal organ (VNO). The small nocturnal mouse lemurs of Madagascar presumably possess the largest number of vomeronasal receptors (VR, ~ 200) among all primates. The high diversity of VRs within this clade has been related to the fundamental relevance of olfactory communication and predator recognition in these primates. Previous genetic studies suggest an allopatric radiation of extant mouse lemur species

with a recent expansion of one species, M. murinus, from southwestern to northwestern Madagascar.The aim of this study is to infer different phylogeographic signals and selection regimes that acted on the VR repertoire of two mouse lemur species differing in their evolutionary trajectories. To infer ongoing intraspecific selection regimes and phylogeographic history, we investigated sequence variation in seven V1R loci amplified across multiple mouse lemur species and sequenced 17 VRs in sympatric populations of two species of mouse lemurs (M. murinus and M. ravelobensis) in northwestern Madagascar.The VR repertoire of M. ravelobensis showed a significantly higher genetic diversity on the level of nucleotides and haplotypes than M. murinus that can be explained by a longer evolutionary history of the former species in the region and a relatively recent founder effect in M. murinus. Whereas the larger interspecific comparisons revealed strong signals of positive selection across the VR repertoire, the population samples rather suggest the effect of purifying selection with one locus even showing evidence of functional loss in M. ravelobensis. Only a few loci in M. ravelobensis showed evidence of positive selection. The discordance of both analyses may indicate that early beneficial mutations at VRs may have been fixed over a short period of time during mouse lemur evolution and that VR evolution may have been rather heterogeneous and episodic over time.

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15:0

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SPECIES DELIMITATION IN THE GENUS GREENWAYODENDRON BASED ON MORPHOLOGICAL AND GENETIC MARKERS REVEAL NEW SPECIES

Brandet-Junior Lissambou1,2, Thomas L.P. Couvreur3,4, Christiane Atteke1, Tariq Stévart5, Rosalia Piñeiro6, Gilles Dauby2,5, Franck K. Monthe2, Bertrand M’batchi1, Olivier J. Hardy2, Bonaventure Sonké4

1Département de Biologie, Faculté des Sciences, Université des Sciences et Techniques de Masuku (USTM), Franceville, GA, [email protected] d’Evolution Biologique et Ecologie, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Bruxelles, BE3Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Montpellier, FR4Laboratoire d’Ecologie et Systémique des Plantes du Département de Biologie de l’Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS) de l’Université de Yaoundé I, Yaoundé, CM5Herbarium et Bibliothèque de Botanique africaine, Faculté des Sciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Bruxelles, BE6Jodrell Laboratory, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Londres, UK

Combining genetic and morphological markers is a powerful approach for species delimitation, much needed in tropical species complexes. Greenwayodendron (Annonaceae) currently contains two species of trees distributed across African rainforests. Previous genetic studies have suggested that this genus could contain cryptic species. We tested species delineation within Greenwayodendron by combining morphological and molecular data.First, we measured 26 morphological characters from 500 herbarium specimens. Multivariate analyses were used to identify groups of morphologically different specimens. We then tested whether these groups were genetically different. For this, a total of 800 silica-dried samples were genotyped using 8 nuclear microsatellites. Genetic groups were identified and characterized using a Bayesian clustering algorithm and factorial correspondence analysis.Morphometric analysis suggested the existence of seven different groups. Bayesian cluster analysis identified four different groups, while factor analysis identified three additional groups. These analyses highlight that Greenwayodendron as currently circumscribed underestimates the total number of species. Indeed, based on our integration of morphology and genetic diversity we identified two new species and confirm the new status of species for one variety. Our results support the subspecies status of G. suaveolens subsp usambaricum. The status of one group of specimens, all collected from Sao Tome, remains inconclusive. This is partially linked to the few fertile materials available. Our study shows the strength of combining morphological and molecular data, as it shows that potentially new taxa are to be discovered using these approaches.

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SESSION 13INTRA- AND INTER-SPECIES VARIATIONS IN THE ALLOMETRY OF TROPICAL TREES AND CONSEQUENCES FOR THE ESTIMATION OF BIOMASS AND CARBON STOCK

Chairs: Adeline FAYOLLE, Moses LIBALAH, Vincent MEDJIBEContact: [email protected]

Current and future decisions to attenuate the impacts of climate change is also dependent on the accuracy in quantifying biomass and carbon stocks in tropical forests which host the world’s largest terrestrial ecosystems and play a central role in the global carbon cycle. However, while the knowledge, technology and savoir-faire in the latter subject are witnessing significant process elsewhere, other areas such as the Congo Basin forests in Central Africa, are far less studied compared to the other tropical regions. Because of the lack of site- or species-specific tree allometries for the estimation of biomass, most studies have therefore adopted approaches developed elsewhere or have relied on pantropical allometries hence leading to huge uncertainty on the forests biomass stocks, and dynamics.

This session aims at grouping contributions: (1) on new approaches to build tree allometries, and specifically high-resolution remote sensing; (2) gather newly collected data on tropical tree allometry, e.g., PreREDD+ project in the Congo Basin, in order to have a better understanding of the variation of tropical tree allometry, within and between species, and within and between sites at community level. Studies conducted outside Central African forests are also welcome.

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S13-O01 – TROPICAL TREE ALLOMETRY

STATE OF THE ART ON TROPICAL TREE ALLOMETRY: PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS FOR BIOMASS/CARBON MONITORING AND ECOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE

Adeline Fayolle1, Vincent P. Medjibe2, Moses Libalah3

1Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liège, Gembloux, BE, [email protected], Yaoundé, CM3University of Yaoundé I, Yaoundé, CM

In the recent decades, a renewed interest has been observed for the estimation and monitoring of forest biomass and carbon worldwide, and specifically in the tropics with the ongoing negotiations under the UNFCCC for the implementation of the REDD+ mechanism. Because all methods to estimate biomass and carbon stocks contained in tropical forests rely on an allometric equation to convert inventory data into biomass estimates, tropical tree allometry recently received great attention from scientists and research sponsors.

Pantropical allometric models early developed in the 1980s, and 2000s, were recently revised and a global consensus is emerging toward a universal approach to estimate biomass and carbon stocks in tropical forest using generic allometric models. Many local allometric models were also recently established, specifically in places previously under-sampled, such as the forests of the Congo basin. We believe that the newly collected data that have and will have strong practical implications for the estimation of forest biomass and carbon stocks are also extremely important to explore the between-site and between-species variations in tropical tree allometry.

Despite major advances in our understanding of tropical tree allometry, an integrative view on tropical tree allometry, its variation and ecological (and evolutionary) significance, is yet to arise. As an introduction to the session, we will present the interest of analyzing between-site and between-species variations in tropical tree allometry, integrating methods and spatial scales, and bridging disciplines and approaches to reach a unifying view.

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INTEGRATING ECOLOGICAL PREDICTORS IN A REGIONAL TREE HEIGHT-DIAMETER MODEL FOR CENTRAL AFRICA

Moses Libalah1,2, Maxime Réjou-Méchain2, Vincent Droissart2, Bonaventure Sonké1, Gilles Dauby3, Gyslene Kamdem1, Narcisse Kamdem1, Gilles Le Moguedec1, Gislain II Mofack1, Raphael Pélissier2, Pierre Ploton1, Stéphane Takoudjou Momo1,2, Nicolas Texier3, Donatien Zebaze1, Nicolas Barbier1,2, Pierre Couteron1,2

1Plant Systematic and Ecology Laboratory (LaBosystE), Higher Teacher’s Training College, University of Yaoundé I, Yaoundé, CM, [email protected], IRD, CNRS, INRA, Université Montpellier, Montpellier, FR3Herbarium et Bibliothèque de Botanique africaine, Bruxelles, BE

Tree height scales allometrically with tree trunk diameter but this scaling varies considerably between trees and sites. Because tree height is often estimated from generic tree height-diameter allometric models, this variation generates large uncertainties and biases in the estimation of the above-ground biomass (AGB). Growth in tree height is known to be influenced by ecological factors such as temperature, light availability, soil fertility and competition. Therefore, these factors can also be expected to impact

the allometric relationship between height and diameter. The main goal of this study is to test the potential of some ecological factors to improve tree height prediction for central African forest trees.Diameter and height of 71,146 and 4,510 trees respectively were measured in nine sites hosting 127 1-ha plots in three countries of the Congo Basin. Soil samples were collected within each plot and analyzed for 10 variables and bioclimatic variables were extracted from satellite data. We built height-diameter log-linear regression models integrating one to twelve ecological predictors and estimated their relative root-mean-squared-error (RMSE) and bias using a leave-one cross-validation scheme. We compared the predicted tree height and AGB estimates with those obtained from two existing pantropical or regional models (Feldpausch et al. 2011; Chave et al. 2014), henceforth named generic models.Our analyses revealed that using plot-level tree basal area and a precipitation gradient as additional covariates significantly improve the performance of the tree height-diameter model. The error in height prediction associated with this model was 18.9 % compared to 20.2 % and 21.7 % for the generic models while the bias was 5.0 % with this model and 12.5 % and 21.5 % for the generic models. Using these height–diameter models for AGB estimation, our results indicate that the two generic models led to an AGB overestimation of 6.6 % (Chave et al. 2014) and 14.6 % (Feldpausch et al. 2011). This study thus presents an improved height-diameter model to predict the heights of Central African trees by integrating the effects of some easy-to-retrieve ecological predictors.

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STRUCTURAL, FUNCTIONAL AND WOOD ANATOMICAL TRAITS PREDICT DROUGHT RESPONSES OF COSTA RICAN TROPICAL FOREST TREE SPECIES

Roman Mathias Link1, Sylvain Delzon2, Christoph Leuschner1, Dagoberto Arias Aguilar3, Juan Carlos Valverde Otarola3, Marvin Castillo Ugalde3, Bernhard Schuldt1

1Georg-August-University, Göttingen, DE, [email protected] National de la Recherche Agronomique, Bordeaux, FR3Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica, Cartago, CR

Vulnerability curves (VCs) are an important tool for ecophysiological studies because they allow to quantitatively determine the drought response of plants. Parameters derived from VCs, such as the P50 (water potential at 50 % loss of conductivity), are mechanistically close correlates of plant drought resistance and have been shown to be closely related to a series of other plant traits. In our study, we test whether the parameters of VCs can be credibly predicted using a set of structural, functional and wood anatomical variables.Upper canopy branches of 30 trees from 10 species of tropical trees from humid low-land tropical forests situated on the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica were collected during two measurement seasons in 2016 and 2017. VCs for at least one branch of each sampled tree were obtained with the Cavitron centrifuge method with a novel 100 cm rotor system. Additionally, we determined tree size, wood density, vessel diameter and vessel density for all sampled trees.We use a hierarchical Bayesian framework to fit VCs on our dataset using multi-level nonlinear models that account for the hierarchical nature of the data and allow to estimate the within-tree, between-tree and between-species variability in the parameters of the VCs. On a second stage in the model, we test for effects of structural, functional and wood anatomical traits on the shape of the VCs.

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VOLUME-WEIGHTED AVERAGE WOOD SPECIFIC GRAVITY IMPROVES ABOVEGROUND BIOMASS PREDICTIONS IN A SEMI-DECIDUOUS FOREST OF EASTERN CAMEROON

Le Bienfaiteur Sagang Takougoum1,2, Stéphane Momo Takoudjou1,3, Moses Bakonck Libalah1,3, Vivien Rossi4, Noël Fonton5, Gislain II Mofack1, Narcisse Guy Kamdem1, Victor François Nguetsop2, Bonaventure Sonké1, Nicolas Barbier3

1University of Yaoundé 1, Yaoundé, CM, [email protected] of Dschang, Dschang, CM3AMAP, IRD, CNRS, INRA, Université Montpellier, Montpellier, FR4Commission des Forêts d’Afrique Centrale (COMIFAC), Yaoundé, CM5ONFi, Yaoundé, CM

Wood specific gravity (WSG) is an important trait directly linked to the biomass of a tree and accuracy in its measurement will enhance biomass and carbon stock estimations. We here propose a simple method to obtain precise WSG values that integrates both WSG and volume distribution along the tree compartments into an average-weighted WSG (WWSG). This is thanks to an original destructive dataset of 132 trees belonging to 15 species mostly represented by large trees (up to 45 Mg) collected in the semi-deciduous forests

of eastern Cameroon within the auspices of the PREREDD+ of the Commission of Central African Forest funded by the World Bank.The variables breast height diameter (DBH), stem morphology (Sm) and WSG sources (from basal samples, WSGBase; from Dryad global database, WSGDryad) were combined in allometric models to predict WWSG. We then studied the influence of each WSG source on bias propagation from individual to forest stand scale from census data of 9780 trees belonging to 21 1-ha plots inventoried in the same area. A combination of WSGBase, DBH and Sm was found significant to predict WWSG explaining 82 % of its variation. However, replacing WSGBase by WSGDryad in the model explained 74 % of WWSG variation. At tree level, estimating AGB using WSGDryad and WSGBase yielded overestimations of 10 % and 8 % respectively whereas the predicted WWSG only produced an underestimation of 2 %. At stand-level, predicted WWSG gave an average simulated bias of – 1 % ± 6.8 whereas WSGBase led to a bias of 7.3 % ± 7.5 and WSGDryad led to a bias of 3.3 % ± 8.8. We also observed that the stand-level bias obtained with WSGBase and WSGDryad decreased with total plot AGB; plots with a low number of large trees being the most biased in AGB predictions. The systematic bias induced by WSGBase and WSGDryad for biomass estimates are clearly not negligible but generally overlooked. The result in terms of application is, however, the same, as the use of WSGBase and WSGDryad, e.g. within National Forest Inventories or REDD+ scheme, will produce spatially structured errors, with different forest types having different overestimation levels, dramatically impacting broader scale extrapolations.

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THE LIMITED CONTRIBUTION OF LARGE TREES TO BIOMASS DYNAMICS IN AN OLD-GROWTH TROPICAL FOREST

Gauthier Ligot1, Sylvie Gourlet-Fleury2, Dakis-Yaoba Ouédraogo1, Xavier Morin3,4, Sébastien Bauwens1, Fidele Baya5, Yves Brostaux6, Jean-Louis Doucet1, Adeline Fayolle1

1Université de Liège, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, TERRA Research Center, Central African Forests, Gembloux, BE, [email protected] Forêts et Sociétés, CIRAD, Montpellier, FR3CEFE UMR 5175, CNRS, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, FR4Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier, Montpellier, FR5Ministère des Eaux, Forêts, Chasse et Pêche, Bangui, CF6Université de Liège - Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, AgroBioChem, Applied Statistics, Computer Science and Modeling, Gembloux, BE

Although the importance of large trees regarding biodiversity and carbon stock in old-growth forests is undeniable, their annual contribution to biomass dynamics and carbon uptake remains poorly studied at the stand level.To clarify the role of large trees in biomass dynamics, we used data of tree growth, mortality and recruitment monitored during 20 years in 10×4-ha plots in a species rich tropical forest (Central African Republic). Using a random block design, three different silvicultural treatments, control, logged, and logged + thinned, were applied in the 10 plots. Biomass gains and losses were analyzed in relation to the relative biomass abundance of large trees and by tree size classes using a spatial bootstrap procedure.Despite large trees showing a high individual growth rates and holding a substantial amount of biomass, we showed that stand-level biomass production decreased with the abundance of large trees in all treatments and plots. The contribution of large trees to annual stand-level biomass production appeared limited in comparison to that of small trees. This pattern did not only originate from differences in abundance of small versus large trees or differences in initial biomass stocks among tree size classes but also from a reduced relative growth rate of large trees and a relatively constant mortality rate among tree size classes.In a context in which large trees are increasingly gaining attention as being a valuable and a key structural characteristic of natural forests, the present study brought key insights to (1) better gauge the relatively limited role of large trees in the biomass dynamics at the stand level and (2) carefully up-scale results of biomass growth observed at the tree or species levels.

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VARIATIONS OF CARBON STOCKS IN TROPICAL FOREST; COMBINING VIEWS FROM THE FIELD AND FROM REMOTE SENSING

Jean Francois Bastin1, Ervan Rutishauser2, Sassan Saatchi3, Tom Crowther1, John Poulsen4, Lee White5

1ETH-Zurich, Institute of Integrative Biology, Crowther Lab, Zurich, CH, [email protected] Tropical Research Institute, Box 0843-03092, Balboa, Ancon, PA3NASA, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove 46 Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, US4Duke University, Durham, US5ANPN, Libreville, GA

Global estimation and monitoring of forest carbon are a major component of Global Change research. While remote-sensing data acquisition and improvement of techniques follow an increasing exponential curve, the assessment of forest carbon stocks and change at global -but also national- scale appears still very uncertain.

Here, to illustrate some of the most important remaining gaps on our understanding of tropical forest carbon stock variations, we summarize some of the latest investigations we led on the subject with perspectives from remote sensing, from forest inventories and from tree anatomy.


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COMPARISON OF LIDAR-DERIVED LIANA BIOMASS ESTIMATES WITH ALLOMETRIC ESTIMATES

Sruthi Moorthy1, Hans Verbeeck1

1Ghent University, CAVElab, Ghent, BE, [email protected]

Lianas are an important component of tropical forests, commonly constituting up to 40 % of the woody stems and about 35 % of the woody species. Tropical forests are currently experiencing large-scale structural changes, including an increase in liana abundance and biomass. Biomass of tropical trees have been an active area of research for the past few decades whilst liana biomass has received little or no attention. Schnitzer et. al. (Biotropica 2006) developed an allometric equation relating liana diameter to biomass based on 424 lianas from four different countries. This allometric equation is the best general equation that is available for estimating liana biomass. Addo-Fordjour et. al. (International Journal of Ecology 2013) developed specific allometric equations for estimating liana biomass in Penang National Park, Malaysia as the equation proposed in Schnitzer et. al., 2006 significantly overestimated the liana biomass in this forest.

The objective of our study is to quantify the uncertainty of the different allometric equations proposed for liana biomass estimation in literature. Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) is an active remote sensing technique that measures forest structure parameters with high spatial accuracy. We collected data with a Riegl VZ1000 instrument between September 2017 and October 2017 from lianas within the COPAS (Canopy Operational Permanent Access System) site of Nouragues field station (French Guiana). We scanned 12 lianas of varying size distribution (between 2 to 30 cm DBH) in high resolution from multiple positions. To estimate the wood density, we collected micro-core samples of each liana.

We manually extract the 3D point cloud of every liana from these scans by following them from the ground to the canopy. After extraction and isolation of the points belonging to a liana, we determine their volume by applying Quantitative Structure Modelling (QSM) algorithms (Raumonen et. al., Remote Sensing 2013). We estimate the liana biomass from the total volume and the wood density based on microcores. We compare the LiDAR-derived biomass with the biomass estimates from the allometric equations.

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SESSION 14DIFFERENTIAL RESPONSES OF TROPICAL FORESTS TO INCREASING NUTRIENT AVAILABILITY

Chairs: Jürgen HOMEIER, Selene BAEZContact: [email protected]

Tropical regions are facing increasing atmospheric inputs of nutrients, which will have unknown consequences for the structure and functioning of these systems, no matter if they are within protected areas or not. Even remote areas are expected to receive rising amounts of nutrients.

The effects of higher rates of atmospheric nutrient deposition on the biological diversity and ecosystem functioning of tropical ecosystems are poorly understood and our knowledge of nutrient fluxes and nutrient limitation in tropical forest ecosystems is still limited. Yet, it will be of paramount importance to know the effects of increased nutrient availability to conserve these ecosystems with their biological and functional diversity.

This session will combine recent results from experiments and observational studies with the aim to review and conclude on our current knowledge on the role of nutrients (and increasing nutrient availability) in tropical forest ecosystems.

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S14-O01 – TROPICAL FOREST NUTRIENT ECOLOGY

BIOLOGICAL VS. ABIOTIC CONTROL OF BASE METAL BUDGETS IN A TROPICAL MONTANE FOREST IN SOUTH ECUADOR

Andre Velescu1, Moritz Bigalke2, Jens Boy3, Carlos Valarezo4, Wolfgang Wilcke1

1Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute of Geography and Geoecology, Karlsruhe, DE, [email protected] of Bern, Institute of Geography, Bern, CH3Leibniz University Hannover, Institute of Soil Science, Hannover, DE4National University of Loja, Research Directorate, Loja, EC

In a tropical montane rainforest in South Ecuador, the alkali and earth alkali metals Ca, Mg, K, and Na are supplied by weathering of the parent substrate consisting of phyllites and metasandstones and by atmospheric inputs. Phases of acid deposition are interrupted by alkalinization through episodic basic dust deposition. Although the biological productivity of most terrestrial ecosystems is thought to be N- and/or P-limited, there is increasing evidence that the essential plant nutrients K, Na, Mg and Ca can also limit biological functioning.

To explore the effects of dust deposition on base metal budgets and to quantify the biological and geochemical contributions to base metal cycling, we set up complete element budgets of a 9-ha large catchment in a native tropical montane forest in South Ecuador between 1998 and 2013. The catchment is characterized by a high annual interception loss (28-50 %) and a low contribution of stemflow to the soil water input. Mean total annual soil input (throughfall + stemflow + litterfall) was 13800 ± 1500 mg m-2 (Ca, mean ± SD), 19000 ± 1510 (K), 4690 ± 619 (Mg) and 846 ± 592 (Na) of which 22 ± 6 % (Ca), 45 ± 16 (K), 39 ± 10 (Mg) and 84 ± 33 (Na) were leached to soil horizons below the organic layer. The three nutrient metals Ca, K and Mg were thus to a large part retained in the biotic part of the catchment.

The canopy budget of K was consistently and most pronouncedly negative. The canopy budgets of Ca and Mg were closely correlated and in most years negative, while the budget of Na was consistently positive, indicating net retention of this element in the canopy. The mineral soil retained 79-94 % of Ca, K and Mg, while Na was net released from the mineral soil.

The size of mainly biologically controlled aboveground fluxes of Ca, K and Mg was 1-2 orders of magnitude larger than that of mainly geochemically controlled fluxes which are driven by sorption to soil and weathering. If estimated dry deposition was included, the system accumulated 86 kg Ca.ha-1 and 199 kg K.ha-1, had a nearly balanced budget of Mg (+0.3 kg.ha-1) and lost 56 kg of Na.ha-1 in the 15 years of the long term ecosystem study. The strongest driver of all budgets was the input flux into the various compartments.

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NUTRIENT INPUTS ALTER ARBUSCULAR MYCORRHIZAL FUNGAL ASSEMBLAGES IN MONTANE TROPICAL FORESTS OF SOUTHERN ECUADOR

Juan F. Dueñas1,2, Tessa Camenzind1,2, Julien Roy1,2, Stefan Hempel1, Juan Pablo Suárez3, Jürgen Homeier4, Matthias C. Rillig1,2

1Institute of Biology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, DE, [email protected] Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB), Berlin, DE 3Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja, Loja, EC4Plant Ecology, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, DE

The eutrophication of tropical forest soils driven by atmospheric nutrient deposition is a poorly understood phenomenon and a cause of major concern. Even more so, as the concentration of reactive forms of nutrients in the atmosphere has increased steadily in the last decades, mainly due to human action. Given that eutrophication will have a direct impact on soil nutrient pools, it is important to generate empirical data on the response of soil borne micro-organisms to this change. This information can assist in

understanding the consequences that global change can impose on understudied tropical ecosystems, which are prominent biodiversity hotspots.

Our research group has provided evidence that nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) additions to the soils of a tropical montane forests in south-eastern Ecuador affect the diversity and composition of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) assemblages. We also reported that different taxonomic groups within Glomeromycotina react differently to N versus P additions. As part of an ongoing nutrient manipulation experiment (NUMEX), our group extends this evidence by looking at how AMF assemblages along an elevation gradient (1000 m – 3000 m) of old growth tropical montane forests respond to systematic additions of N and P. Using high-throughput sequencing techniques we present evidence that nutrient additions reduces, albeit not markedly, the diversity of AMF assemblages along the elevation gradient, while producing a shift in their composition. These results are interpreted in the context of the resource allocation hypothesis, while the possible consequences of this change for tropical forest ecosystem are further discussed.

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ONTOGENIC AND TRAIT-BASED RESPONSES OF COMMON TREE SPECIES TO ALTERED NUTRIENT AVAILABILITY IN A TROPICAL MONTANE FOREST

Daisy Cárate Tandalla1,2, Selene Báez3, Jürgen Homeier2

1Escuela de Ingeniería Forestal. Escuela Politécnica del Chimborazo, Riobamba, EC, [email protected] Ecology. University of Göttingen, Göttingen, DE3Instituto de Ciencias Biológicas. Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Quito, EC

Increased nutrient deposition has the potential to modify plant community structure and decrease tree diversity of tropical montane forests. Higher nutrient deposition is expected to alter tree community through trait-based responses of adult trees. Altered nutrient availability can also affect tree seedling performance (i.e., growth and mortality), which will influence the regeneration potential of the tree community. To our knowledge, no studies have yet investigated how long-term experimental nutrient addition influences the seedling community, and whether responses of seedlings and adult trees are determined by their functional traits.

Within the Nutrient Manipulation Experiment (NUMEX), we conducted a detailed monitoring of seedlings to investigate changes in forest regeneration potential as a consequence of increased nutrient availability. After nine years of fertilization, our results indicate that increased availability of N and P affect the regeneration and growth of various tree species. Demography and composition of tree seeding communities have been analyzed after six years of monitoring 192 regeneration plots (1 m2) equally distributed in experimental nutrient addition plots (+N, +P, +N and P) at 2100 m in southern Ecuador. Preliminary analyses at the community level were performed to compare the responses of common and rare species among seedlings.

The most common species were: Graffenrieda emarginata (Melastomataceae), Myrcia sp. nov. (Myrtaceae), Prunus sp. nov. (Rosaceae), Faramea uniflora, Palicourea angustifolia, Palicourea luteonivea (all Rubiaceae). Among these species, seedling growth showed individual responses to nutrient availability. Recent studies of mature common species in the same experiment demonstrated that functional traits of species are involved directly in the differential response to N, P or NP addition. Since functional strategies in early stages are of high importance for the competition among species, we compare how functional traits (LA, SLA, foliar N and foliar P) are involved in growth responses of seedlings and mature trees of common species. We expect that seedlings show generally more acquisitive functional traits than later stages.


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TREE FUNCTIONAL TRAITS AND NUTRIENT LIMITATION IN AN ANDEAN ELEVATION GRADIENT

Selene Báez1, Jürgen Homeier2

1Escuela Politécnica Nacional del Ecuador, Quito, EC, [email protected] of Göttingen, Göttingen, DE

Increased atmospheric nutrient deposition is one of the most pervasive aspects of Global Environmental Change. Our research indicates that trait-based tree responses to increased nutrient availability have the potential to affect plant community structure and decrease species diversity in a nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) limited Andean forests. However, the extent of nutrient limitation (for N and P) seems to vary along Andean elevation gradients. Furthermore, it is not well understood how tree functional traits are distributed along this elevation gradient.

Thus, the present study uses Linear Mixed Models to explore (1) the relative nutrient limitation (by N and P) on tree growth along an Andean elevation gradient, (2) how tree functional traits are distributed across our elevation gradient, and (3) how tree functional traits affect individual responses to higher nutrient availability. This study was conducted in the framework of the ongoing project NUMEX (Ecuadorian NUtrient Manipulation EXperiment) in southern Ecuador. The NUMEX experiment was established in 2008 and includes three sites at 1000, 2000 and 3000 m of elevation. At each site 16 permanent forest plots of 20 × 20 m receive ambient, or moderate additions of N, P and N+P. In the plots, all trees with ≥ 10 cm DBH have been identified, labelled and their diameter has been measured annually.

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SODIUM RETENTION IN THE CANOPY OF A TROPICAL MONTANE FOREST IN SOUTH ECUADOR

Tobias Fabian1, Andre Velescu1, Wolfgang Wilcke1

1Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute of Geography and Geoecology, Karlsruhe, DE, [email protected]

Sodium is an omnipresent element, which is primarily known as an essential nutrient for animals. Although the importance of Na is increasingly being discussed as a functional element, Na is only considered a supporting nutrient for plants. Yet, in contrast to animals and plants, little is known of Na demands of microorganisms in the phyllosphere.

We present results of an experiment on Na absorption of phyllosphere microorganisms in a tropical montane forest located on the eastern cordillera of the south Ecuadorian Andes. We conducted our study in a 9 ha-large catchment under undisturbed lower montane forest, where ecosystem Na fluxes have been monitored since 1998. Because the climate is dominated by the SE trade winds passing over the Amazon Basin, Na deposition is low, although the Pacific Ocean is at only 150 km distance to the West. Na concentrations in the ecosystem fluxes are low and catchment budgets indicate that Na is retained in the canopy. Since Na is not considered an essential element for plants, we hypothesise that Na is retained in the canopy because of Na limitation of microorganisms in the phyllosphere.

To test Na absorption, we sampled leaves heavily covered by phyllosphere microorganisms and leaves without visible phyllosphere cover from 12 tree species belonging to 7 frequently occurring plant families. The fresh leaves were sprayed with a NaCl solution containing 1 mg.L-1 Na, which simulates the Na concentration in rainfall during La Niña events. Comparison with a control treatment excluded effects by abiotic Na fixation on the surface of the leaves.

The results showed a positive relationship between phyllosphere cover and Na retention, which was significant on understory tree leaves, but not in the upper canopy. Different habitat conditions in the upper and lower canopy seem to favor the development of different organism communities, which seem to have a different demand for Na. Interestingly, leaching of K, Ca and Mg increased with increasing degree of phyllosphere cover, which can be attributed to an intensified element exchange between foliage and phyllosphere with leaf age. These results suggest that Na availability possibly plays a regulating role in the study ecosystem which might even grow in importance if Na deposition from the atmosphere continues to decrease or stabilizes at the current low level.


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LONG-TERM LITTERFALL DYNAMICS IN TROPICAL MONTANE FORESTS IN ECUADOR: THE IMPACT OF CLIMATE, ALTITUDE, AND FERTILIZATION

Kerstin Pierick1, Nohemy Poma2, Jann-Philip Ahlers1, Andre Velescu3, Jürgen Homeier1

1Albrecht von Haller Institute of Plant Sciences, Georg August University Göttingen, Göttingen, DE, [email protected] National de Loja, Ciudadela Universitaria Guillermo Falconı ́ sector La Argelia, Loja, EC3Institute of Geography and Geoecology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, DE

Litterfall is an important component of the carbon and nutrient cycles of tropical forests. In the near future, tropical ecosystems will be exposed to increased atmospheric deposition of nutrients, which is likely to impact their functioning. In order to study the effects of increased nutrient availability on tropical montane forests, a fertilization experiment was launched in the mega-diverse Podocarpus National Park area in southern Ecuador. Plots at three altitudes (1000 m, 2000 m and 3000 m a.s.l.) were fertilized in a full-factorial design with moderate amounts of phosphorus and nitrogen since 2008.

Since the beginning of the experiment, litterfall rates were measured in monthly intervals with litter traps. Additionally, phosphorus and nitrogen contents of the litter were measured once a year. We analyzed the temporal development of litterfall rates and litter quality at the different altitudes and under the different treatments using mixed models. Furthermore, we used the mixed models to examine how both seasonal patterns and long-term trends in litterfall rates can be explained by variation in precipitation.

Our results suggest that tropical montane forests of higher altitudes are highly susceptible to nutrient inputs, and that changes in precipitation can considerably impact litterfall dynamics.


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VARIATION OF TREE LEAF PROPERTIES AND FOLIVORY AFTER CONTINUED NUTRIENT ADDITION IN TROPICAL MONTANE FOREST OF S ECUADOR

Jürgen Homeier1, Anne Bergmann1, Katharina Giray1, Carlos Iván Espinosa2

1University of Göttingen, Göttingen, DE, [email protected] Técnica Particular de Loja, Loja, EC

Andean tropical forests belong to the hotspots of biodiversity. However, these ecosystems are threatened by deforestation and fragmentation, and also by increasing nutrient deposition rates. The Ecuadorian Nutrient Manipulation Experiment (NUMEX) was established in 2008 to improve our understanding of effects of increasing nutrient availability in tropical montane forests. Old-growth montane forests at 1000, 2000 and 3000 m asl are fertilized with moderate amounts of N (50 kg.ha-1.yr-1) and P (10 kg.ha-1.yr-1).

Within the present study, we analyzed changes in leaf properties and herbivory on tree species and stand level. At the three elevations, fresh leaves of abundant tree species were annually analyzed for changes in their leaf functional properties (SLA, foliar nutrients) during nine years of continued nutrient addition. In addition, we used mixed fallen leaves (collected with litter traps after eight years of nutrient addition) to determine leaf morphology (leaf area and SLA), foliar nutrient concentrations and leaf area loss on the stand level.

The tree species responded species-specifically to the added nutrients, most species increased foliar N or P when the respective nutrient was added. On the stand level, we found a significant influence of elevation on leaf morphology (leaf area and specific leaf area decreased with elevation), foliar nutrients (decreasing N and P concentrations) and folivory (decreasing leaf area loss with elevation), but nutrient addition did not produce strong effects.

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SESSION 15ECOSYSTEM AND COMMUNITY STRUCTURE ALONG ALTITUDINAL GRADIENTS

Chairs: Eric GUILBERT, Marianne ELIASContact: [email protected]

Mountains provide a natural gradient of environmental parameters changing with altitude. As such, it is a natural lab to explore many aspects of biodiversity and ecosystem structures related with changing parameters. Tropical mountains harbor among the highest concentrations of biodiversity on Earth. Mountain provided also refuge area to species when environmental changed during the past (like glaciations). As such community structure on altitudinal gradient may reflect past evolution as well as current environmental conditions. Climate change already causes montane species to shift their distribution ranges in response to warming temperatures.

The session aims to consider all aspects of altitudinal changes and variations of community structure and ecosystems. It aims also to evaluate the historical aspects vs. current ecological trends that shape community structure. A better understanding of altitudinal gradient is crucial for biodiversity conservation, particularly in a changing climate frame.

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S15-O01 – ALTITUDINAL GRADIENT

BEYOND BODY SIZE: CONSISTENT DECREASE OF TRAITS WITHIN ORTHOPTERAN ASSEMBLAGES WITH ELEVATION

Yvonne Tiede1, Claudia Hemp2, Antje Schmidt1, Thomas Nauss1, Nina Farwig1, Roland Brandl1

1Philipps-Universität, Marburg, DE, [email protected] and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F), Frankfurt am Main, DE

Morphological traits affect the overall fitness of organisms as well as interactions with the environment and within food webs. Body size, for example, affects the fitness of individuals in various ways and patterns of body size clines have been studied intensively across environmental gradients, particularly with respect to Bergmann’s rule. Yet, the applicability of a general rule for body size clines of ectotherms is still under debate and patterns of other morphological traits are nearly unexplored.

We therefore studied how elevation (as a proxy for temperature) and productivity along an extensive elevational gradient (~ 700 - 4,400 m a.s.l.) on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro (Tanzania) influence four ecologically relevant morphological traits of orthopteran assemblages: Body size (fecundity), wing length (dispersal), hind femur length (jumping ability), and eye size (predator detection) of 160 species. Bayesian analyses revealed that interspecific body size, relative wing length, hind femur length, and eye size of orthopteran assemblages decreased with increasing elevation. Our results suggest that orthopteran assemblages had higher fecundity, better dispersal and escape abilities and better predator detection at higher temperatures (low elevations) than at low temperatures (high elevations). Body size and relative eye size also decreased with increasing productivity. This contrasts assumptions from the resource-availability hypothesis, which would suppose positive relationships between productivity and the size of morphological traits. Instead, the absence of vegetation as a source of food and hiding possibilities benefited large body- and eye sizes that reduce the risk of starvation and predation.

Altogether, our study emphasizes a clear change of a significant number of ecologically important morphological traits along environmental gradients. Our understanding of species responses to changing environmental conditions can therefore strongly benefit from studies that go beyond patterns of body size and include changes of further morphological traits that influence the ecological fit of organisms in their environment.


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IMPACT OF POLLINATOR SHIFTS ON MATING SYSTEMS AND POPULATION GENETIC DIVERSITY IN A NEOTROPICAL PLANT GROUP

Agnes Dellinger1, Ovidiu Paun1, Diana Fernández-Fernández3, Darin Penneys2, Jürg Schönenberger1

1University of Vienna, Vienna, AT, [email protected] Wilmington, Wilmington, US3INABIO, Quito, EC

Pollinator shifts, shifts in the functional group of a plant species’ pollinator, are believed to be triggered by changes in pollinator quantity and pollinator quality. In tropical systems, shifts from bee pollination in lowland species to vertebrate pollination (humming-birds, bats) in montane species seem to be common as the activity of vertebrates is less affected by adverse weather conditions. Such shifts can have consequences for the plant species’ mating systems as well as for population genetic structure and diversity.

Experimental studies support the hypothesis that birds and bats are more efficient pollinators than bees, transferring larger amounts of pollen and capable of spanning larger distances between plant individuals. However, the impact of different functional pollinator groups on population genetic diversity is still largely unknown.

We chose the Neotropical tribe Merianieae (Melastomataceae), harbouring bee, hummingbird/bat and passerine pollination, as a model system to study consequences of pollinator shifts on mating systems and population genetic diversity. All selected species were self-compatible, regardless of pollinator type. No signs of pollen limitation were found in the vertebrate pollinated systems. Comparing two bee-pollinated populations at different altitudes, however, showed strong pollen limitation in the high-altitude population. Our population genetic results further support the idea that vertebrate pollinators are better at linking populations over large geographic distances, with higher levels of observed heterozygosity and higher population genetic diversity among populations than in bee pollinated species.

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MACRO-ECOLOGICAL DETERMINANTS OF HALICTINE BEE-MICROBIOMES

Antonia Mayr1, Marcell K. Peters1, Alexander Keller1, Thomas Schmitt1, Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter1

1University of Wuerzburg, Wuerzburg, DE, [email protected]

The diversity and composition of microbial communities on wild bees is poorly understood. Their microbiome differs strongly from the one of domesticated honeybees, due to differences in lifestyle and behavior. The microbiome is assumed to be largely shaped by nest-materials and collected pollen. The microbiome on the bee’s surface might also be affected by the composition of their cuticular chemistry. So far it is completely unknown how these associations shift with changes in temperature or resource availability.

In this study, we test the effect of changes in temperature and flower preferences along an altitudinal gradient at Mt. Kilimanjaro, as well as the impact of host phylogenetic relationships and cuticular hydrocarbon compositions on the microbiota of halictine bees, with special focus on the genus Lasioglossum. We sampled 160 female bees from flowers from 22 sites over an elevational gradient of 2900 m. DNA was extracted from heads and guts and bee species were barcoded by Sanger sequencing. Metabarcoding was applied for ITS2 to analyze the pollen composition as well as for 16S to infer microbiota from the same samples. Cuticular hydrocarbon profiles were identified by using gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry.

We found a strong turnover in the microbiome composition following the altitudinal gradient. One of the major impacts was the decrease of Lactobacillaceae with higher elevations and lower temperature. Lactobacillaceae are common bee gut symbionts with strong importance in pollen fermentation and nutrient acquisition. Other bacterial families became more prominent in higher elevations, raising new questions about the functional role of these bacteria for host bees.

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TRAITS THAT HELP BATS CONQUERING NEOTROPICAL MOUNTAINS: LESSONS FOR THE CONSERVATION OF TROPICAL FOREST ANIMAL DIVERSITY

William Douglas de Carvalho1,2, Maraya Martins2, Carlos Esberard2, Jorge Palmeirim (speaker)1

1cE3c - Faculdade de Ciencias, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, PT, [email protected] Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, Seropedica, BR

To identify determinants of biodiversity in Neotropical moist montane forest, we analyzed the structure of phyllostomid bat assemblages along an altitudinal gradient and tested the role of species traits shaping those assemblages. Using own data and published descriptions we compiled a dataset with the composition of assemblages at 25 forested sites, ranging from 60 m to 1960 m asl, in mountains in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest domain. We then quantified how abundance, richness and diversity changed along

this altitudinal gradient. Finally, we evaluated the capacity of each species to be present and thrive in altitude, and tested which traits may influence that capacity.Abundance, species richness and diversity declined markedly in altitude, due to a progressive trait related rarefaction or absence of species; low habitat specialization, tolerance to low temperatures and cave roosting facilitated success at higher altitudes. Because of this trait filtering and of altitudinal changes in resources, assemblages where progressively dominated by a smaller number of mostly generalist species. There were no mountain specialist species.High mountain Atlantic Forest harbors phyllostomid assemblages that are impoverished subsets of those at lower altitudes. Phyllostomids have a tropical origin, and may thus have a low potential to adapt to montane forest environments, which possibly explains the observed climatic trait filtering. Habitat filtering is also important, keeping forest specialists mostly at lowest altitudes. Protected areas in the Atlantic Forest are mostly limited to mountains. These areas are precious to protect biodiversity, including phyllostomid assemblages with unique structures and ecological roles. However, it is also critical to protect and restore the few remaining areas of lower altitude Atlantic Forest, which tends to host better populations of forest specialists, and have less climatic constraints for animal taxa with a tropical origin.

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FERN ECOLOGY ALONG A TROPICAL ALTITUDINAL GRADIENT IN ECUADOR

Laura Salazar1, Jürgen Kluge2, Jürgen Homeier3, Michael Kessler4

1Research Center for Biodiversity and Climate Change (BioCamb), Universidad Tecnológica Indoamérica, Quito, EC, [email protected] of Geography, Philipps University Marburg, Marburg, DE3Plant Ecology, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, DE4Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, University of Zurich, Zürich, CH

Ferns and lycophytes (henceforth called ferns for simplicity) are widely distributed across the world with about 12000 species. Ferns are more abundant and diverse in humid tropical forest, especially in montane habitats, where they represent between 6.5 and 25 % of the vascular plants flora at local scales. For instance, Ecuador harbors about 1400 ferns species, although it is the smallest Andean country with an area of approximately 283000 km². The overall fern richness found in Ecuador is considered exceptionally high in comparison to other Andean countries (e.g. Peru: 1200 species, Bolivia: 163 species). Although of the high diversity of this group of plants in Ecuador, few studies have been conducted to evaluate diversity patterns and its causes along elevational gradients.The center of attention of this work is the study of species richness, productivity, and interspecific competition of terrestrial ferns along an elevational gradient on the eastern Andean slope in Ecuador. In addition, we expect to evaluate in the long term, different aspects of fern ecology in permanent plots at the same gradient. During the first years of research, diversity and productivity were recorded at eight elevations (500 m to 4000 m) in three permanent plots of 400 m2 each per elevation. Whereas, experiments on interspecific competition were recently carried out at 4000 m, 2500 m and 500 m. For these last tests, it was established 12 plots of 20 × 5 m per elevation. Each plot was divided in 4 subplots of 25 m2 and only the second subplots were used for competition experiments.In agreement with other studies, the species richness in our elevational gradient showed a hump-shaped pattern, with highest values at mid elevations. Also, along the elevational gradient (regional scale), fern species richness was strongly positively related to fern productivity. Whereas, within elevational belts (local scale), fern species richness was marginally negatively related to fern productivity, probably driven by competition. Currently, we are carrying out an experimental removal of dominant terrestrial fern individuals to test the roll of competition on diversity. We expect that in the first few years after the removal, the fern individuals of the remaining species will show increased growth (productivity) per individual (because of reduced competition) but the overall productivity per plot should be lower than in the control subplots.

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ALTITUDINAL FILTERING AND THE EVOLUTION OF PLANTHOPPERS (HEMIPTERA, AUCHENORRHYNCHA) ON MOUNT WILHELM (PAPUA NEW GUINEA)

Paul Chatelain1, Marianne Elias2, Adeline Soulier-Perkins1, Eric Guilbert1

1Mécanismes adaptatifs et évolution, MECADEV-UMR 7179 MNHN-CNRS, Muséum National d’Histoire naturelle, Paris, FR, [email protected] de Systématique Evolution Biodiversité ISYEB-UMR 7205, CNRS-Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, FR

Tropical mountains are critical spots for biodiversity research and conservation. Since the environment gradually varies along tropical slopes, they are also key models for climate change issues. Within these forests, species altitudinal assemblages can be shaped by numerous factors: biotic, abiotic and historical factors. Phylogenetic relatedness patterns along altitudinal gradients constitute a considerable source of information, and can shed light on ecological processes that structure communities.

This study focuses on community phylogenetic structure of planthoppers, specifically the species rich and abundant Fulgoroidea families (Hemiptera, Auchenorrhyncha), Cixiidae and Derbidae+Achilidae, along an elevational gradient on Mount Wilhelm (Papua New Guinea). Those taxa are strongly linked to vegetation, since they are sap-feeders or fungivorous, and therefore respond to vegetation transitions throughout the gradient (ranging from 200 to 3700 m. a.s.l). In order to assess the factors driving planthoppers community composition, we recorded abundance data for planthoppers species along the elevational gradient and we generated a molecular phylogeny of the local species, using Bayesian Inference.

We recorded 65 taxa. We then investigated the phylogenetic structure of the communities by performing a Spatial Analysis of Community Diversity. We also conducted an ancestral reconstruction of vegetation type and linked it with feeding characteristics. With a fully resolved and well-supported phylogeny, we show that Cixiidae are phylogenetically clustered along the elevational gradient, while Derbidae+Achilidae harbour a random structure, suggesting that local adaptation to elevation shapes community structure of Cixiidae, but not that of Derbidae+Achilidae. Evolutionary perspectives in light of the ecology of the species are discussed. Our findings highlight how crucial phylogenies can be in the study of tropical altitudinal gradients.

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DIVERSITY OF VASCULAR EPIPHYTES ALONG AN ALTITUDINAL GRADIENT IN VERACRUZ, MEXICO

Valeria Guzman-Jacob1, Gerhard Zotz2, Thorsten Krömer3, Amanda Taylor1, Holger Kreft1

1Biodiversity, Macroecology and Biogeography group. Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, DE, [email protected] for Biology and Environmental Sciences. Carl von Ossietzky University, Oldenburg, DE3Centro de Investigaciones Tropicales. Universidad Veracruzana, Veracruz, MX

Vascular epiphytes are a conspicuous and highly diverse group in tropical forests; contributing substantially to local and regional plant diversity. This group of plants is particularly vulnerable to primary habitat loss and anthropogenic disturbances in forest structure, a typical example being the montane region of central Veracruz in Mexico, were fragmentation of the natural forest due to land use changes is one of the biggest threats.

This study aims at analyzing the diversity, distribution and floristic composition of vascular epiphytes along gradients of elevation and forest-use intensity at the eastern slope of Cofre de Perote. We quantified species richness at eight different sites within belts of ca. 500 m each between sea level and 3,500 m, including six vegetation types (semi-deciduous forest, tropical lowland oak forest, humid montane forest, pine-oak forest, pine forest and fir forest) and a land-use gradient (old-growth forest, degraded forest and secondary forest). We established 120 plots of 20 × 20 m along the gradient. Epiphytes were sampled on one mature tree per plot from stem base to the outer portion of the crown, using the single rope climbing technique. Additionally, we recorded the presence of all epiphytes in the understory, using collecting poles and binoculars.

A total of 297 morphospecies distributed in 25 genera and 15 families were found along the elevational gradient. Elevation and different land-uses were strong filters shaping the epiphyte species composition. Epiphytes were negatively impacted by human disturbance, species numbers in the disturbed and secondary forest were reduced by 10 % and 26 % respectively. We discuss the relationship of epiphyte diversity, elevation, and land-use gradients in the light of climate change and conservation.

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PREDICTORS OF SPECIES RICHNESS AND COMMUNITY BIOMASS OF LARGE MAMMALS ALONG ELEVATIONAL AND LAND USE GRADIENTS ON MT. KILIMANJARO

Friederike Gebert1, Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter1, Marcell Peters1

1University of Würzburg, Würzburg, DE, [email protected]

Mammals are of huge ecological importance and flagships for conservation. However, the factors promoting their diversity and community structure on tropical mountains remain remarkably little understood. Today, large mammals are threatened by human disturbances such as habitat destruction and hunting and may increasingly depend on the conservation of protected areas. Here, we studied large mammals (> 10 kg) with camera traps along extensive elevational and land use gradients on Mt. Kilimanjaro,

Tanzania. Using path analysis, we identified the direct and indirect effects of climate, area and resources on the species richness and community biomass of mammal communities. Furthermore, we tested how protected areas contribute to the conservation of large mammals.

Our results show that the species richness distribution of large mammals along the elevational gradient follows a hump-shaped pattern and is best explained by differences in ecosystems’ primary productivity along the elevational gradient. Moreover, we found that protected areas significantly contribute to the maintenance of mammal communities as they were exhibiting a higher species richness and community biomass than non-protected areas. This effect was largely caused by the loss of large mammal species from unprotected areas (even those with natural vegetation).

Our study suggests that resources rather than direct climatic effects shape species richness distributions and underscores the crucial importance of protected areas for the conservation of large mammals on tropical mountains.


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SESSION 16FIELD WORK WITH HAND LENS: RESEARCH ON ECOLOGY AND TAXONOMY OF TROPICAL BRYOPHYTES

Chairs: Catherine REEB, Sanna HUTTUNENContact: [email protected]

Research of tropical bryophytes benefits from tight collaboration with herbarium taxonomists and ecologists. Because of small size and insufficient taxonomic knowledge and literature, research on tropical bryophytes can rarely been conducted without identifying specimens with microscope and reference specimens in herbaria.

Our aim in this session is to give an overview of current taxonomical and ecological research on tropical bryophytes and enhance collaboration between taxonomists and ecologists working on them. As research groups working on tropical bryophytes are typically very small and scattered in in different institutions and countries around world, session also provides an opportunity for networking and sharing research results and ideas.

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S16-O01 – ECOLOGY AND TAXONOMY OF TROPICAL BRYOPHYTES

THE TROPICAL LOWLAND CLOUD FOREST - AN EPIPHYTE HOTSPOT

Robbert Gradstein1

1Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, FR, [email protected]

Cloud forests are widely distributed in montane regions in the Tropics, at elevations above 500 m; fog in the mountains develops on windward slopes by uplifting, cooling and condensation of moist air masses. Recent studies in French Guiana have shown the occurrence of cloud forest in lowland areas, well below 500 m. These forests occur in valleys with high rainfall; fog in these forests develops during night by cooling and condensation of moist air at the valley bottom, under conditions of low air turbulence. The fog (= radiation fog) gradually lifts during early morning hours by solar heating, and is cleared well before noon.

Tropical lowland cloud forests have not received attention in the literature yet should be widespread; observations are available from Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, French Guiana and Borneo. The forest is rich in epiphytes, including montane species which descend to sea level under foggy conditions. In this talk I will present evidence from corticolous liverworts, epiphylls, filmy ferns and epiphytic biomass.

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RESPONSES OF TROPICAL LOWLAND BRYOPHYTES TO EXPERIMENTAL WARMING AND CO2 FERTILIZATION

Maaike Y. Bader1, Elodie Moureau1, Nada Nikolic1, Gerhard Zotz2

1University of Marburg, Marburg, DE, [email protected] of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, DE

The tropics harbor a very high bryophyte diversity, but the warm lowlands seem to contribute relatively little to this richness. Bryophyte biomass is even more conspicuously reduced in most tropical lowland areas, compared to cooler montane forests, suggesting that high temperatures limit bryophyte growth. If so, then climate warming may be lethally dangerous for mosses in tropical lowland forests. To test this hypothesis and to study the underlying physiological mechanisms of climate-change responses,

we are exposing various bryophyte species (mosses and liverworts) in the rainforest of La Selva, Costa Rica, to increased temperatures and CO2, measuring responses in growth and gas-exchange rates. Concurrently, we are developing a model simulating carbon-exchange rates based on microclimatic conditions to predict responses under different climate-change scenarios.

Diel carbon balances in bryophytes can be affected by increased temperatures through increased respiration rates and through faster drying, which restricts the time available for photosynthesis. Respiration rates in tropical mosses appear well-adjusted to current ambient temperatures across elevations, but especially in the warm lowlands, warming may move temperatures beyond the acclimation capacity or even beyond thermal tolerance thresholds. Faster drying will likely reduce activity times especially during the day, due to the typical tropical afternoon rains and high night-time humidity rendering bryophytes actively respiring, i.e. loosing carbon, during most nights. On the other hand, the concurrent increases in atmospheric CO2 may partly counteract these effects by allowing higher rates of carbon gain. Few experimental studies have addressed these questions in bryophytes in general, and none in tropical bryophytes in particular. We will present the first results of our unique rainforest experiment and discuss the implications for the future of bryophytes in the tropical lowlands.

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HABITAT SPECIALIZATION OF LEJEUNEACEAE IN THE AMAZON FOREST: THE ROLE OF MORPHOLOGICAL AND REPRODUCTIVE TRAITS

Sylvia Mota de Oliveira1

1Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, NL, [email protected]

Amazonian bryophytes are mostly epiphytic, and species show strong habitat specialization related to the forest structure. The clear association between turn-over in species composition and the microenvironmental gradient along the host trees supports the idea that species occurrences – and community assemblage – are subjected to environmental filtering. The expectation is that features that facilitate species to inhabit a given environment will be significantly more present in the bryophyte community growing in that environment. However, the broad morphological variation within bryophytes limits the comparison among all species that occur along the vertical microenvironmental gradient.

Lejeuneaceae is the only bryophyte family that has species distributed along the complete vertical gradient in the Amazon forest, showing specialization on both extremes – the understory and the canopy. The relationship between Lejeuneaceae species occurrence along the height zones on the host trees and the possession of a number of morphological and reproductive traits was tested using data from a systematic bryophyte inventory from nine localities in the Amazon. While reproduction mode and the production of asexual propagules do not seem to influence species occurrence along the height zones, leaf pigmentation and the convolution of leaves during dry state facilitate canopy occupancy and hamper the occurrence of species in the understory.

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CHANGES IN THE COMPOSITION OF EPIPHYLLOUS COMMUNITIES WITH LEAF AGE, HOST SPECIES AND MICROCLIMATE IN A TROPICAL LOWLAND FOREST

Anna Mežaka1,2, Noris Salazar Allen2, Maaike Y. Bader1

1Marburg University, Marburg, DE2Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama, PA, [email protected]

Epiphyllous algae, fungi, lichens and liverworts (total epiphylls) represent a diverse but under-studied part of tropical forest ecosystems. The epiphyll substrate is inherently short-lived, although some leaves in tropical forest understories can live several years, thus allowing the establishment of well-developed epiphyllous communities. To study what factors control succession among epiphylls, we described epiphyllous community composition on leaves in three age classes belonging to different host species

and located in contrasting microsites (closed forest and forest gap).

Epiphyllous communities differed strongly with leaf age. Total epiphyll cover and diversity increased with leaf age. The highest increment was that of lichens followed by liverworts and algae. Fungi showed no changes in diversity and cover. While total epiphyll and lichen cover clearly increased, liverwort and algae cover increased much less and fungi cover did not change with leaf age. The strong increase in diversity was mainly due to the increase in lichen species. Several indicator species were found for old leaves but none for young leaves, suggesting that succession is mainly an accumulation rather than a turnover of species. Host species and sites did differ in epiphyll cover and diversity from young to old leaves. Contrary to our expectation, liverwort cover and diversity were higher on leaves in gaps than in closed forest, while lichen cover did not differ. However, for gaps and closed forest several lichen and liverwort indicator species were distinguished. The next step will be to follow epiphyll communities through time, studying on an individual basis, whether and how species interactions control community development.

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TAXONOMY, SYSTEMATICS AND BIOGEOGRAPHY OF AFRICAN ENTOSTHODON (FUNARIACEAE)

Nicholas Wilding1,2, Bernard Goffinet3, Rafael Medina3,4, Yang Liu3,5, Terry A. Hedderson2

1University of La Réunion, Saint-Pierre, RE, [email protected] of Cape Town, Cape Town, ZA3University of Connecticut, Storrs, US4Augustana College, Rock Island, US5Shenzhen Fairy Lake Botanical Garden, Shenzhen, CN

The Funariaceae are a large family of soil-inhabiting, annual to biennial mosses of worldwide distribution. A recent revision of the genus Entosthodon in sub-Saharan Africa counts 26 species, of which six are newly described.

Phylogenetic inference suggests that the genus is largely paraphyletic with respect to Physcomitrium and comprises no fewer than 3 major clades. Each of these major lineages are represented on the African continent and/or neighboring islands, often by multiple species. Species of Entosthodon otherwise occur throughout sub-Saharan Africa although centers of diversity are found in the Cape provinces of South Africa and in East Africa. Biogeographic reconstructions recover an African origin for the two most diverse clades within Entosthodon, however, the extant diversity is probably best explained by a combination of cladogenesis and repeated dispersal into the region.

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CLOUD WATER INTERCEPTION OF EPIPHYTIC BRYOPHYTES IN A PERUVIAN UPPER MONTANE CLOUD FOREST: AN EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH

Tinja Pitkämäki1, Sanna Huttunen1, Johanna Toivonen2

1Biodiversity Unit, University of Turku, Turku, FI, [email protected] of Biology, University of Turku, FI

Epiphytic plants account for high proportion of biomass in tropical montane rain forests. In high-elevation cloud forests, where frequent fog passes through the canopy, the majority of this epiphytic biomass consists of bryophytes. Together with physiological adaptations for water absorption and storage, bryophytes’ abundance implies a regulatory role in the forest water cycle. Epiphytic bryophytes capture rain and fog droplets, potentially increasing water availability, and stabilize forest microclimate by slowly releasing

the accumulated moisture. Their ecological impact on forest hydrology has been especially attributed to cloud water interception (CWI) during dry seasons, but few studies have provided quantitative data to support this hypothesis.

We constructed an experimental design to measure the cloud water input into bryophyte assemblages on artificial branches. To contrast CWI efficiency to functional traits of bryophytes, we used different dominant species typical of different parts of the host tree. Our results show that bryophytes’ water content changes following the daily fluctuations in temperature and humidity and that the magnitude of this variation is species-dependent. These findings highlight the importance of species composition as well as biomass on the ecohydrological functioning of bryophyte communities, both of which should be noted in conservation planning and management. W

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:30


BIOMASS AND WATER-HOLDING CAPACITY OF BRYOPHYTES ALONG AN ELEVATIONAL GRADIENT ON BARU VOLCANO, PANAMA

Eyvar Elias Rodriguez Quiel1,2, Jürgen Kluge1, Glenda Mendieta Leiva1, Maaike Bader1

1Faculty of Geography, University of Marburg, Germany, DE, [email protected], Autonomous University of Chiriqui, Chiriqui, PA

Tropical mountain forests support a high abundance and diversity of bryophytes on different substrates. However, quantitative information about how bryophyte biomass and diversity change with elevation in tropical mountains is still scarce. The current project analyzes ecological aspects, such as the effect of climatic characteristics on the diversity and abundance of bryophytes in the Baru Volcano National Park, Panama. On the western slope of the volcano 24 plots, four at each of eight elevations, were established on an elevational gradient from 1900 to 3300 m a.s.l. Bryophytes were sampled in 20×30-cm plots on rocks, soil, branches, decaying trunks and the bark of live trees. We recorded the thickness of the bryophyte layer, species cover and environmental parameters. After collection, the water-holding capacity and biomass of all samples was determined. Identification of bryophytes and lichens is still ongoing.

The bryophyte biomass and the water retention capacity per substrate area increased along the elevational gradient for each substrate. The highest forests (3100 and 3300 m a.s.l.) have isolated trees and many dwarf shrubs, and this is where the greatest development of the bryophyte layers (up to 16 cm thickness) was recorded.

These patterns can probably be explained by the variation in microclimate along the gradient. At the highest elevations, fog provides a daily wetting of the bryophytes, especially epiphytic ones. At lower elevations the water supply is increasingly in the form of rain, which is less frequent than the fog. At even lower elevations (below ca 2300 m) the amount of rain also declines. The apparent strong coupling of bryophyte biomass to precipitation regimes implies a high sensitivity to climatic warming and changes in the cloud base altitude. If diversity patterns follow abundance patterns, as we will study next, this means a serious threat of climate change to biodiversity.

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11:4

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CLIMBING MT. GEDE UP AND DOWN - INSIGHTS INTO SPECIES RICHNESS AND COMPOSITION OF EPIPHYTIC BRYOPHYTES

Eka A.P. Iskandar1,2, Michael Stech1, Sylvia Mota de Oliveira1

1Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, NL, [email protected] Botanic Garden, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Cibodas, Cianjur, ID

Along elevational gradients, three main patterns of species richness have been observed in studies of different groups of organisms: increase with altitude, decrease with altitude, and increase-then-decrease with altitude. The latter, known as the hump-shaped pattern, seems to be the most common, but the factors causing these three patterns remain unclear. Bryophytes have been included in rather few studies of elevational transects, and in Indonesia, no such study on epiphytic bryophytes involving multiple transects

from different slopes on the same mountain was ever conducted.

We established two elevational gradient transects on the North-North-East (Cibodas) and South-South-West (Selabintana) slopes of Mt. Gede, West Java, Indonesia. The gradients range from 1500 to 2700 m asl. each, and were sampled at 200 m intervals. This research aims to compare species richness patterns and composition along transects based on statistical analyses.

Species richness distribution on both slopes showed a hump-shaped pattern that peaked at 1900 m asl. The Cibodas transect is richer than the Selabintana transect, with 160 species (71 mosses and 89 liverworts) compared to 149 species (57 mosses and 92 liverworts), respectively. Based on pairwise elevation comparison, species composition is not significantly different between slopes, except for the highest plot (2700 m asl). More detailed analyses of the species compositional changes along the transects are in progress.

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13:3

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THE MADBRYO PROJECT, A COLLABORATIVE EFFORT TO ENHANCE MALAGASY BRYOPHYTES KNOWLEDGE

Catherine Reeb1, John Brinda2, Elodie Dubuisson1, Michelle Price3, Bernard Goffinet4, Lova Marline5, Pete Philippson2, Alain Vanderpoorten6

1Institut de Systématique Ecologie Evolution, Sorbonne Université, MNHN, Paris, FR, [email protected] Botanical Garden, Saint Louis, US3Conservatoire Botanique de Genève, Genève, CH4University of Connecticut, Storr, US5University of Cape Town, ZA6Université de Liège, Liège, BE

Bryophytes (mosses, liverworts and hornworts) are small terrestrial plants that primarily disperse via spores. They are the second most speciose group of land plants and play essential roles in water and nutrient cycling in many ecosystems. The latest checklist of bryophytes from Madagascar, a globally recognized biodiversity hotspot, contains 1144 taxa, but comparisons with other regions suggest that this number considerably underestimates the actual size of the island’s bryoflora. The MadBryo project aims to close the gaps in our knowledge by gathering together the specimen and taxonomic data that are currently scattered across multiple institutions, supplementing them as necessary with targeted collecting efforts, and using them to develop a comprehensive flora for the bryophytes of Madagascar. Together, these efforts will provide a strong foundation for pursuing further scientific research on Malagasy bryophytes and for promoting their conservation.

Many historical specimens of Malagasy bryophytes have accumulated in herbaria over the years. Together they represent a large and mostly untapped source of vital taxonomic and biogeographic data, but many of them have not been fully curated and are consequently difficult to use. In turn, the inaccessibility of the information they contain hampers scientific research into all aspects of the biology of Malagasy bryophytes.

We present the actual state of knowledge on Malagasy bryophytes and then the MadBryo collaborative project, beginning by a coordinated effort to mobilize herbarium specimens and their associated data. We aim to provide here very preliminary results and to promote dynamic exchanges on Malagasy bryology.

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13:4

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EVOLUTION OF HABITAT PREFERENCES AMONG MOSSES (BRYOPHYTA)

Sanna Huttunen1, Lars Hedenäs2, Neil Bell3

1University of Turku, Turku, FI, [email protected] Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, SE3Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

Mosses (Bryophyta) together with liverworts (Marchantiophyta) and hornworts (Anthocerophyta) belong to the oldest land plant lineages. Division Bryophyta includes approximately 12500 species that occupy wide diversity of habitats from tropical forest canopies to arctic wetlands.

We used recently published molecular phylogeny including the largest sampling of mosses this far and data on habitats to investigate evolution of habitats and environmental preferences of mosses. Ancestral character state reconstruction highlights highly convergent evolution of epiphytic and aquatic habitat preferences among derived moss lineages. We will revise (1) research dealing with evolution of some morphological traits, such as sporophyte structure, structures related to water transport and growth habit, and (2) current knowledge on functional role of these traits in different habitats.

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SESSION 17MANIPULATIONS OF BIOTIC COMPONENTS AND THEIR INTERACTIONS IN TROPICAL FORESTS (FOOD WEBS)

Chairs: Katerina SAM, Elina MÄNTYLÄ, Piotr SZEFERContact: [email protected]

There is an imbalance between experimental and observational data in tropical forest community ecology. Many hypotheses – built on empirical statistical patterns – still remain untested by rigorous field experiments. For example, predictions of the widely known Janzen-Connell hypothesis were only recently confirmed by pioneering manipulation of natural enemies of seedlings (pathogens and insect herbivores) in Belize and also producing some unexpected results. This shows that experimentation – coupled with developments in ecological theory – can enhance our abilities to look into and predict future dynamics of rich tropical ecosystems.

In recent years, growing number of whole ecosystems/food webs manipulations proved – through their abilities to falsify hypotheses explaining empirical patterns – to be invaluable tools in understanding the dynamics and processes governing complex tropical food webs. As researchers usually need to follow rigorous protocols, carrying out whole ecosystem experiments in the rich ecosystems like the tropical forest is still burdened with many conceptual and technical difficulties. Therefore, we believe that initiating and intensifying discussion in this topic would accelerate finding new solutions, which would then help to increase the scope of the ecosystem manipulations and open the “black box” of experimental approaches conducted in the context of diverse interacting ecosystems.

We propose a session that would cover broad spectrum of tropical ecosystem/food webs manipulative experiments. We would bring together researchers working currently on in tropics. Ideally, we want to engage scientists working on manipulations of some aspects of animal-plant interactions in different areas of the world. Our session scope is to include manipulations of primary and secondary forests, prey-predator, herbivore-host plant and host-parasite systems from various tropical ecosystems. We believe that this meeting would have a great potential to spark future collaborations and stimulate development of tropical forest community ecology.

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14:0

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S17-O01 – MANIPULATIONS OF TROPICAL FOOD WEBS

EXPERIMENTAL DISRUPTION OF FOOD WEBS IN TROPICAL RAIN FORESTS

Vojtech Novotny1

1Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, Ceske Budejovice, CZ, [email protected]

Experimental manipulation of exceptionally complex food webs in tropical rain forests is often the only feasible approach to understand their dynamics, particularly the balance of bottom-up resource control and top-down control by natural enemies on individual trophic levels.

Here we attempt a classification of various methodological approaches to food web experiments and give examples, mostly from rain forests of Papua New Guinea.

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14:1

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WHAT TO MEASURE FROM PLANTS IN PREDATOR EXCLOSURE STUDIES?

Elina Mäntylä1

1Biology Centre of Czech Academy of Science, Institute of Entomology, Ceske Budejovice, CZ, [email protected]

Several meta-analyses and reviews have shown that insectivorous birds and bats help plants by removing herbivorous arthropods also in the tropics with a rich biodiversity. Predator exclosures around the plants are needed to study this. Conducting a predator exclosure experiment requires usually a lot work; starting from building the exclosures and maintaining those. Therefore, researchers usually want to measure everything possible happening to the predator, arthropod and plant communities. Counting the arthropods, and

observing birds or bats is usually rather straightforward.

But what should be measured of the plants inside the exclosures and of their uncaged controls? The easiest measure is often how much leaf material the herbivorous arthropods have eaten. This is also usually the strongest effect of predator exclusion, especially in experiments with a short duration. Other rather easy measurements are stem width, plant height or biomass. A big portion of the exclosure studies in tropics have been done in agricultural environments. There it is understandably interesting to measure the amount of the final product, such as how much there are coffee beans, how big are kales or how many kilograms there is cacao. It is worth to measure also the flower, seed or fruit production of non-agricultural plants. There are much less measurements done showing of what is happening inside the plant. For example, are the plants without insectivorous predators forced to produce more defensive chemicals, invest more in trichomes covering the leaves or lower their photosynthetic rate? There is need for more plant measurements in predator exclosure studies, especially in the natural tropical forests.

WED

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14:3

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A CROSS-CONTINENTAL COMPARISON OF FRUIT-SEED SYNDROMES IN THE TROPICAL RAINFORESTS OF PANAMA, THAILAND AND PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Chris Dahl1,2, Richard Ctvrtecka1, Sofia Gripenberg3, Dominic Rinan2, Jona Filip2, Roll Lilip2, Pitoon Kongnoo4, Montarika Panmeng4, Sutipun Putnaul4, Manat Reungaew4, Marleny Rivera5, Simon T. Segar1, Petr Klimes1, Stuart J. Davies5, Sarayudh Bunyavejchewin4, Joseph S. Wright5, George D. Weiblen6, Vojtech Novotny1, Yves Basset5

1Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia and Institute of Entomology, Biology Center of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, České Budějovice, CZ, [email protected] Guinea Binatang Research Center, Madang, PG3University of Oxford, Oxford, UK4Khao Chong Botanical Garden, Nayoung, TH5Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama, PA6Bell Museum and Department of Plant Biology, University of Minnesota, Minnesota, US

ForestGEO is a global network of permanent forest plots established to study long term tropical and temperate forest ecosystem dynamics. Until recently the wealth of plant data from ForestGEO plots has not been used by entomologists. We compare fruit/seed feeding insect predators in three ForestGEO rain forest plot sites, Panama, (Barro Colorado Island = BCI), Thailand (Khao Chong = KHC) and Papua New Guinea (Wanang = WAN). Insect feeding on fruits and seeds may reduce the survival rate and mortality of seedlings thus influences plant species diversity and composition.We used a standardized protocol and reared fruit/seed feeding insects in these forest plots. At these sites, matured or ripened fruits/seeds were sampled from 1146 plant species and were assigned to a syndrome category per species. We also took morphometric measurements of selected fruits and photographed them. We used Munsell Colour index and identified pictures to vertebrate dispersed fruit colour (black, blue, brown, green, orange, purple, violet, white and yellow) by Janson (1983) and Gautier-Hion et al. (1985).Overall, a total 1,163 kg of seeds/fruits reared 80,600 insects representing approx. 1,678 insect species at three sites. We used these data and analyze the fruit syndromes in three tropical forest communities, and compared fruit colour distribution, since, fruit colour may be a by-product of selection acting on correlated characters, therefore, we expect high fruit colour similarity between KHC and WAN. Further, BCI understorey may be dominated by high number of small fruiting trees and shrubs, on average will have smaller fruit size than those at KHC and WAN. Finally, the distribution of fleshy fruited plants is largely determined by water-energy dynamics and seasonality, thus proportion of dry fruits will be high at the drier and more seasonal at Neotropical Panama site. It may likely explain that Neotropical rain forest exhibit high proportion of dry drupes, non-fleshy dehiscent, and therefore attacked by specialized insect communities.

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14:4

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COMPARING THE MECHANISMS THAT GENERATE SEEDLING COMMUNITY COMPOSITION IN A DIVERSE TROPICAL ECOSYSTEM

Kirstie Hazelwood1, C. E. Timothy Paine1, Harald Beck2

1University of Stirling, Stirling, UK, [email protected] University, Towson, US

The determinants of species composition and the processes that maintain diversity in tropical forests is of increasing interest to ecologists and conservationists alike. An inverse relationship between conspecific density and survival, known as negative density dependence (NDD), is thought to play a pivotal role in structuring plant communities, in particular at the seedling stage. The mechanisms by which NDD operates are thought to be heavily reliant on host specific predators, in particular pathogenic fungi and insects, and to a lesser extent mammals, though the comparative contribution of these predators to NDD is unclear.

Well documented seedling plots in a non-degraded lowland tropical forest in Peru give us a unique opportunity to experimentally compare the contributions of four different mechanisms to NDD in seedlings, and to examine their contribution to diversity. We excluded fungal pathogens and insects using pesticides, and mammals of two size classes using wire mesh exclosures from seeding plots spread throughout mature floodplain forest, and monitored survival over three years.

Our control plots showed a strong negative relationship between seedling survival and conspecific density, indicating effects of overcompensating NDD. Fungal pathogens and small mammals reversed this effect, allowing higher seedling survival with higher conspecific density, while the effect of insects and large mammals reduced the strength of overcompensating NDD but did not reverse the trend. These results back up results from separate studies showing that the effects of fungal pathogens on NDD are stronger than those of insects, and that the effects of small mammals on NDD are stronger than those of large mammals. We are surprised to find, however, that small mammals generate stronger NDD than insects, since we expected insects to maintain higher host specific behaviours. Our study demonstrates the importance of fungal pathogens, and the understated relevance of small mammals in determining species composition in tropical forests.

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15:0

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ELEVATIONAL PATTERNS IN PREDATION, HERBIVORE PERFORMANCE AND HERBIVORY IN HOSTILE AND ENEMY FREE SPACE

Katerina Sam1,2, Bonny Koane3, Peter Amick3, Vojtech Novotny1,2

1Biology Centre CAS, Institute of Entomology, Ceske Budejovice, CZ, [email protected] of South Bohemia, Faculty of Science, Ceske Budejovice, CZ3The New Guinea Binatang Research Centre, Madang, PG

It is well recognized that predators can enhance plant growth by reducing herbivore abundance. Yet the strength of such trophic cascades has been found to be quite variable both within and between communities. We hypothesised that birds, bats and ants are important predators of arthropod. However, their relative importance will differ along a forest elevational gradient (200 - 3700 m). We also expected that various predators will affect prey in different ways, based on their size and life history. We conducted exclosure experiments at eight sites (500 m elevational increment) along the elevational gradient of Mt. Wilhelm in Papua New Guinea. We excluded ants, birds, bats separately and in combinations from tree saplings (Ficus sp., 100 per site) and completed experiment with work on control saplings. We protected saplings by nets (against birds and bats), by nets opened daily in the morning and in the afternoon (separate birds and bats) and by tangle foot (against ants). We surveyed insect communities and herbivorous damage every three months. Further, we completed our experiments with surveys of focal predators.

Herbivorous damage and arthropod abundances decreased with increasing elevations, and exclusion of vertebrates and birds had significant effect on herbivorous damage as well as on arthropod abundances, and their body size. Bats and ants did not seem to influence insect communities significantly. Species richness of insectivorous birds and bats decreased with increasing elevation, while their abundances peaked at mid-elevations. Ant species richness and abundance decreased steeply with increasing elevation.

We conclude that herbivore pressure and herbivore abundances are higher towards lowlands. Stable arthropod populations are remained low by natural enemies of various importance along gradients. Disruption on communities of natural enemies has the potential to allow arthropods to reach high levels, resulting in extensive herbivorous damage.

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15:1

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FUNGI, HERBIVORES AND PREDATORS CAN CHANGE THE COMMUNITY STRUCTURE OF EARLY SUCCESSIONAL STAGE OF TROPICAL FOREST

Piotr Szefer1,2, Kenneth Molem3, Austin Sau3, Vojtech Novotny1,2

1Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Entomology, České Budějovice, CZ, [email protected] of Science, University of South Bohemia, Ceske Budejovice, CZ3The New Guinea Binatang Research Center, Madang, PG

In the last few decades evidence has accumulated showing an important role of secondary forests in maintaining high tree diversity and ecosystem functions in tropics. Its conservation value can raise fast and plays increasingly important role over time, as secondary forests community structure becomes more similar to untouched primary forest.The outcome of secondary successional process strongly depends on the disturbance regime, time elapsed after disturbance and on landscape context of a former forest patch. Despite that knowledge very often the end results of successional trajectories remain highly unpredictable.

Recent manipulative experiments in tropical primary forests have shown important role of pathogens, insect herbivores and predators in shaping the diversity and composition of seedling communities. These studies point out an important mechanism of mediation of plant competitive interaction, which have great potential to drive tropical forests dynamics. However it is uncertain whether these biotic factors are of high importance during secondary succession in tropics, where fast growing plants compete aggressively for resources.

We designed a manipulative experiment to assess the effect of pathogenic fungi, insect herbivores and predators on general productivity, diversity and trait composition of secondary tropical forest in Papua New Guinea at its early stage.

After one year of regrowth 36 experimental plots (5×5 m) were harvested and total above-ground biomass of all species present within the plots was sampled. Plots were treated either with insecticides, fungicides, subjected to increased herbivory pressure or protected from birds, bats and ants with plastic fences and exclosures. Plant community structure responded significantly to treatments, resulting in changes of species composition, diversity, richness, productivity, and community weighted trait values. Individual treatments affected different aspects of successional plant communities, suggesting diversified roles of insects, fungal pathogens and predators in successional processes. Moreover, these responses were not always consistent between experimental blocks, which may imply complex mechanisms and interactive effects of local, initial conditions on the outcomes of food web manipulations during successional changes. We show that fungi, herbivores and predators can influence secondary successional processes. These findings may shed some light on high unpredictability of successional trajectories of tropical secondary forests, however mechanisms still remain hypothetical.


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SESSION 18ECOLOGICAL NETWORKS UNDER THE TROPICS

Chair: Colin FONTAINEContact: [email protected]

Ecological communities, whether they are forest, lake, savanna or coral reefs, consist of a wide variety of species that interact with each other in a variety of ways. These interactions are a key component of biodiversity in general and of communities in particular: all organisms depend on it for example to feed, reproduce or benefit from favorable habitats. Ecological networks are powerful tools to understand the organization and functioning of biological communities, as well as their dynamic and response to perturbations.

The aim of this symposium is to synthesize the current knowledge on ecological networks in tropical areas, to investigate whether tropical networks differ from those at higher latitude as well as discuss methodologies to sample and analyse interaction networks.

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09:3

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S18-O01 – TROPICAL NETWORKS

MOBILITY OF AVIAN FRUGIVORES DETERMINES THEIR ABILITY TO SWITCH TO OTHER PLANT RESOURCES IN FRAGMENTED FORESTS

Eike Lena Neuschulz1, Marta Quitián1,2, Vinicio Santillán1,2, Carlos Iván Espinosa3, Jürgen Homeier4, Katrin Böhning-Gaese1,2, Matthias Schleuning1

1Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Frankfurt, DE, [email protected] University, Frankfurt, DE3Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja, Loja, EC4University of Göttingen, Göttingen, DE

Matching of functional traits determines the selection of potential partners in species interaction networks, such as between plants and animals. The composition of functional traits in species communities, however, often varies in space, for instance along gradients of human land use. Understanding how flexible animal consumers can react to changes in the trait composition of plant communities is crucial to project consequences for ecosystem functions, such as animal-mediated seed dispersal.

We here investigate the ability of frugivorous birds to switch fruit resources between natural and fragmented forests by using a novel, trait-based approach, to quantify functional shifts of consumer species. We expected that a high functional shift between plant resources should be associated with bird traits that relate to foraging (i.e., avian bill width) and mobility (i.e., Kipp’s index). We sampled plant-frugivore networks in a tropical montane forest in Ecuador covering three elevations and two habitat types (natural and fragmented forest) at each elevation over a period of two years. We measured functional traits for each fleshy-fruited plant and bird species in the field and on museum specimens.

We found pronounced variation in the functional trait space of the fruiting plant community between natural and fragmented forests across all elevations. Kipp’s index was the most important trait determining functional shifts of birds, whereas bill width and phylogeny were not associated with functional shift. We conclude that high mobility enables birds to respond flexibly to changes in the trait composition of resource plants by switching to other resources in disturbed habitats and that linking species interaction networks and functional traits can help to better project the consequences of human impacts for ecosystem functioning.

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09:4

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SPECIALIZATION IN ANTAGONISTIC INTERACTION NETWORKS: SELECTIVE PRESSURES ON ANURAN CALLING IN THE PRESENCE OF FROG-BITING MIDGES

Ulmar Grafe1

1Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Gadong, BN, [email protected]

The advertisement calls of anurans are subject to eavesdropping by illegitimate receivers such as competitors, predators, and biting flies. Here I report on the selective pressures that act on anuran advertisement calls and calling behavior from frog-biting midges (Corethrellidae: Diptera) from northern Borneo. Frog-biting midges feed on frog blood and are also known to be vectors of trypanosomes and thus must be regarded as having significant influence on the design of frog advertisement calls and calling behavior. In a ten-

year effort, midges were collected directly from calling frogs and with traps broadcasting frog advertisement calls and pure tones in lowland mixed-dipterocarp rainforest and peatswamp forest in Brunei Darussalam and Sarawak, Malaysia.

Nine species of frog-biting midges were found to bite 23 species of frogs. Frogs with advertisement calls below 4 kHz were bitten more, suggesting a significant cost to calling in these species and an upper limit in the hearing threshold of most midges. In addition, sound traps broadcasting at high rates, high amplitude, and placed on the ground versus 4 m above ground were more attractive. Quantitative bipartite host-ectoparasite networks indicated an antagonistic interaction network containing both generalist and specialist relationships with significant specialization asymmetry. Host defenses and parasite offenses varied strongly in different frog and midge species. A significant role of habitat filtering, behavior, and coevolution in shaping network structure is proposed. W

EDN

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Y 10

:00


THE IMPORTANCE OF SEASONALITY IN ORGANISING AN UPPER MONTANE FOREST POLLINATION NETWORK ON MT. CAMEROON

Yannick Klomberg1,2, Jan Mertens1, Štěpán Janeček1,3, Michael Bartoš1,3, Robert Tropek1,4

1Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, CZ, [email protected] Biodiversity Center, Leiden, NL3Institute of Botany, Czech Academy of Sciences, Třeboň, CZ4Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, České Budějovice, CZ

Biotic pollination is a key factor in tropical forests, since 99 % of plant dependent on it. A crucial factor in shaping pollinator assemblages is climatic seasonality. However, currently there is a lack of comparative studies considering complete seasonal pollination network fluctuations at a given locality. To increase knowledge of pollination in the Afrotropics and gain further insights on the role of seasonality, we study pollination networks on Mount Cameroon, the highest mountain in west-tropical Africa. It offers a unique ecosystem diversity due to its bordering of several biogeographic regions and isolated positioning. Furthermore, Mt. Cameroon is one of the three wettest places in the world with per annum rainfall ranging between 3-15 m. The presence of two very contrasting seasons making it a perfect site for studying seasonal changes.

Besides identifying the pollination networks and seasonal variations we also aim to test the pollination syndromes with this dataset. These syndromes have been tested and debated on a global scale, but data from West-tropical Africa is lacking.

On two elevations (1400 and 2200 m) six 200 m transects were established in upper-montane forest. We recorded all flowering plant species from the complete forest strata and its visitors during 24-hour periods using video-cameras in both wet and dry season. This methodology allowed us to assess which flower visitors are potential pollinators. We recorded ± 600 plants of 105 different species. In the thus far analysed recordings we have documented over 10,000 individual flower visits comprising different visitor groups. Using this initial data, we will present preliminary findings of the role of seasonality in organizing an Afrotropical upper-montane forest pollination network. Furthermore, we will give insights in the applicability of pollination syndromes within this unique system.

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10:1

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TROPHIC STRUCTURE IN A TROPICAL CAVE ECOSYSTEM: SURFACE-SUBSURFACE ECOSYSTEM INTERACTION AND IMPLICATIONS FOR CONSERVATION

Daniel Husana1,2, Masumi Yamamuro3

1University of the Philippines Los Baños, Los Baños, PH, [email protected] of the Philippines Open University, Los Baños, PH3The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, JP

The absolute darkness of the cave ecosystem makes photosynthesis impossible, resulting in a scarcity of food. Nonetheless, certain animals that are adapted to long period of starvation live in this habitat. Here, we aimed to determine the source of nutrients for cave animals, and clarify the trophic structure and hierarchy in the tropical subterranean ecosystem as well as its implications to the conservation of cave habitats and its unique inhabitants. We investigated upland (freshwater) cave in the Philippines and used

stable isotope analysis technique.

Results of δ13C and δ15N stable isotope analyses revealed the trophic hierarchy in the cave aquatic habitat. Troglobitic (cave-obligate) animals occupied the top level of the trophic structure whereas non-cave-obligate animals occupied the bottom. Stable isotope analysis suggests that troglobitic fish is the top cave aquatic predator feeding on crabs and crickets. The result also suggests that the basic source of nutrition for cave animals is guano rather than other organic matter such as forest litter. The presence of many unique and endemic cave inhabitants, and the surface-subsurface interaction and connectivity implied a major concern for management and ecological conservation, suggesting the need for protection of both cave and the surface environment in an integrated and multidisciplinary manner.

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SESSION 19FREE SESSION: FRUGIVORES, SEED DISPERSAL AND FOREST REGENERATION

Chairs: Pierre-Michel FORGETContact: [email protected]

WED

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11:0

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S19-O01 – FREE SESSION: FRUGIVORES, SEED DISPERSAL AND FOREST REGENERATION

IS FRUIT ODOR AN ADAPTATION FOR LEMUR SEED DISPERSAL?

Omer Nevo1, Diary Razafimadimby2, Juan Antonio James Jefery3, Stefan Schulz4, Manfred Ayasse1

1University of Ulm, Ulm, DE, [email protected] of Antananarivo, Antananarivo, MG3University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, US4Technische Universität Braunschweig, Braunschweig, DE

Many angiosperms rely on animal vectors for pollination and seed dispersal. This resulted in an evolution of a plethora of floral and fruit traits which attract animal mutualists. In flowers, various studies have demonstrated the importance of both visual and olfactory signals in pollinator attraction. In fruits, visual signals have evolved to attract seed dispersers, primarily birds, which possess excellent colour vision. Yet with the exception of a few studies, the role of olfactory signals through fruit odour has remained understudied.

Primates are now known to possess an excellent sense of smell which, in the process of food acquisition, is primarily used for food selection, i.e. identification of individual ripe fruits in a patch. Thus, if fruit odour is under selection exerted by primate feeding behaviour, fruits of species that specialise on primate seed dispersal are expected to be selected to shift their odours upon ripeness to allow primates to discriminate ripe from unripe fruits. In contrast, in species that rely on olfactory less-oriented frugivores such as birds, a change in odour profile upon ripeness may result from fruit maturation processes but is expected to be substantially less marked.

We conducted a comparative study of changes in fruit odour in a community of 19 plant species from Madagascar. We show that plants that specialise on seed dispersal by lemurs – the local primates – tend to substantially increase their odour production upon ripeness while bird specialists or generalists do not. More strikingly, the difference in the chemical composition of ripe and unripe fruits is significantly higher in lemur-specialist species. These effects are independent of phylogeny. This indicates that fruit odour is an evolved signal whose function is to allow seed-dispersing primates to identify ripe fruits and thus facilitate plant reproduction.


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11:1

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FOUR DECADES OF FOREST LOSS IN BORNEO AND ITS LASTING EFFECTS ON FOREST FRUGIVORES AND SEED DISPERSAL

Natalia Ocampo-Peñuela1, John Garcia-Ulloa1, David Gaveau2, Jaboury Ghazoul1

1ETH Zurich, Zurich, CH, [email protected], Bogor, ID

Animal-assisted seed dispersal is an important ecosystem process often imperilled by habitat loss and fragmentation through the reduction of functional landscape connectivity. The loss of seed dispersal affects natural regeneration processes in remaining forested areas, and can limit the outcomes of forest restoration initiatives. To investigate the impacts of forest loss on animal-assisted seed dispersal, we modeled changes in habitat availability, species distribution and functional connectivity of frugivorous

forest vertebrates between 1973 and 2015 for Borneo.We mapped concentrations of 69 frugivorous birds and mammals in the island, using refined species distributions and habitat availability maps, and modelled landscape functional connectivity through graph theory approaches. Our methodology allowed us to identify the impacts of four decades of forest loss, characterize the most affected species, and create a vulnerability map of seed dispersal potential for the island.Spatially explicit models of habitat availability showed a mean loss of 30 % of species’ habitat in the period studied. Large vertebrates and lowland species were the most affected. Results of a mixed effects model showed that relative connected area loss was explained by the amount of habitat loss, with moderate impact of the elevational range of the species, its dispersal ability, and its ability to move through plantations.Given that oil palm only grows <1000 m, and that it is the primary cause of deforestation in Borneo, lowland forests have been disproportionally affected. These forests are highly diverse and can house concentrations of up to 60 frugivorous species in a given patch. The extirpation of these species is likely harming native plant populations, with impacts that are expected to worsen over generations.Through our models we are able to identify areas that are critical to the conservation of functional connectivity for frugivorous species at the landscape and regional scales. As such, our approach can be used to prioritize areas for the maintenance of seed dispersal processes. These conservation priorities are especially important in the face of continued expansion of commodity plantations (such as oil palm) in Borneo.


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LARGE TROPICAL AVIAN FRUGIVORES: A PANTROPICAL COMPARISON OF THEIR DIVERSITY, SEED DISPERSAL AND CONSERVATION STATUS

Olivier Boissier1

1Independent, Paris, FR, [email protected]

Large frugivorous birds in tropical rain forests can be comparable in size to their mammalian counterparts, with arboreal hornbills reaching the weight of a monkey and ground-dwelling cassowaries that of a bovid. These birds can also be very efficient dispersers of large seeds. But as primates and other seed-dispersing mammals are being extirpated out of ever increasing tracts of hunted rain forests, the role of large avian seed dispersers is likely to increase in these defaunated forests, so long as they can persist there. It is thus important to have detailed knowledge of this key ecological group.

I aimed to comprehensively review and compare the diversity of large rain forest avian frugivores (≥ 200 g) over all four tropical continents and to assess their seed dispersing potential and conservation status. I selected relevant species in the literature and recorded their range, weight, habits and diet. I extracted global conservation assessments from the IUCN Red List.

A total of 411 species of large avian frugivores were found in tropical rain forests worldwide. America, with 159 species, has the greatest species richness, and Africa the lowest (37 species). Australasia has the highest proportion of large avian frugivores over total rainforest avifauna, possibly in relation with the absence of primates. Arboreal species are significantly heavier in Asia (mean weight 870 g), while terrestrial species are significantly heavier in Australasia (mean weight 3.55 kg) than on other continents. A total of 42 % of all species are globally threatened or near-threatened. This figure rises to 62 % for species weighing over 1kg. Besides, 74 % of all species are declining. While their global situation is not as dire as that of primates, the conservation status of large avian frugivores is nonetheless very worrying. As dispersers of large seeds, the largest frugivore species (>1 kg) are essential for many rain forest trees, and their endangerment threatens forest regeneration.

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GENE DISPERSAL AND HISTORY OF THE COLONIZATION OF THE DAHOMEY GAP FROM THE CAMEROON VOLCANIC LINE BY GUINEO-CONGOLIAN FLORA

Boris B. Demenou1, Rosalía Piñeiro2, Jean-Louis Doucet3, Jérémy Migliore1, Franck K. Monthe1, Gilles Dauby1, Olivier J. Hardy1

1 Evolutionary Biology and Ecology Unit, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, BE, [email protected] 2 Jodrell Laboratory, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, UK3 Management of Forest Resources, Biosystem Engineering Department, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Université de Liège, Gembloux, BE

This study focuses on the history of colonization of the Dahomey Gap (DG) by two Guineo-Congolian (GC) plants species and the gene dispersal pattern that can explain the obtained demographical pattern. The DG is a corridor of savannahs located in South Benin and Togo that separates currently the GC forest into two blocks: the block of Upper Guinean (UG) and the block of Central Africa (Lower Guinean (LG) + Congolia (C)). It results from the fragmentation of the GC forest during the glacial phases. Currently, it contains some

typical GC plant species.In this study, we used data from nuclear microsatellites for two GC forest species Distemonanthus benthamianus (429 individuals) and Terminalia superba (299 individuals) and from whole plastome for D. benthamianus (47 individuals) to infer genetic discontinuities and the origin of DG populations. We then investigated the gene dispersal patterns of T. superba using an indirect approach to estimate gene dispersal distances. As results, we obtained that these two species exhibit similar phylogeographical pattern with respectively high and low differentiation (FST) between inferred gene pools; but which results from different demographic histories depending on the markers: DG population come from admixture of both forest blocks with microsatellite data and only from the Cameroon volcanic line with chloroplast data. One explanation of these results could be linked to the gene dispersal pattern. We discuss these results in the light of the obtained gene dispersal distance for T. superba (400 m to 817-1150 m) in this study and for D. benthamianus by Debout et al. (2011) and Hardy et al. (unpublished).

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SESSION 20TROPICAL FORESTS IN SPACE AND TIME: CHALLENGES IN CONNECTING REMOTE SENSING, FIELD DATA, AND FOREST MODELS – FROM LOCAL TO GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES

Chairs: Andreas HUTH, Franziska TAUBERT, Rico FISCHERContact: [email protected]

Tropical forests are characterized by complex patterns, structures and processes acting at various spatial and temporal scales. Consequently, forest attributes like biomass stocks or carbon, water and nutrient fluxes can vary in space and time. Understanding and predicting main forest attributes in response to global change drivers is a major challenge for scientists and policymakers.

State-of-the-art methods like field inventories, forest modelling or remote sensing techniques are generally applied to estimate and project forest attributes under global change. However, each of these methods can be limited in terms of accuracy, extent or resolution leading to uncertainties. To overcome such limitations and to improve estimates of forest attributes, the combination of these methods represents a promising approach.

We want to explore innovative linkages between remote sensing, field inventories and forest modelling at different spatial and temporal scales and to discuss perspectives of future research in forest ecology. We encourage scientists of different fields to contribute novel experimental and theoretical approaches that can be applied to characterize patterns, structures and processes in tropical forests.

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Y 09

:30

S20-O01 – TROPICAL FORESTS IN SPACE AND TIME

SIMULATING THE IMPACT OF LIANAS ON THE CARBON CYCLE OF TROPICAL FORESTS

Hans Verbeeck1, Manfredo di Porcia1, Marcos Longo2, Félicien Meunier1

1Ghent University, CAVElab, Ghent, BE, [email protected], California Institute of Technology, California, US

Lianas are an important component of tropical forests, commonly constituting up to 40 % of the woody stems and about 35 % of the woody species and contributing substantially to forest leaf biomass. Lianas compete strongly with trees for both above- and below-ground resources. Their indirect impact on the carbon balance, due to their influence on tree community dynamics (by increasing mortality and suppressing tree growth), is far larger than their direct contribution to biomass.

Currently tropical forests are experiencing large-scale structural changes, including an increase in liana abundance and biomass. This may eventually reduce the projected carbon sink of tropical forests. Despite their crucial role no single terrestrial ecosystem model has included lianas so far.

We have included lianas in a Dynamic Global Vegetation Model and test it against experimental data. We chose ED2 (Ecosystem Demography model version 2), a model that occupies the midpoint on the continuum from gap models that contain individual trees, to area-based global models. ED2 explicitly tracks horizontal and vertical heterogeneity in canopy structure making it very suitable to study liana impacts at a large scale. At the same time, the very inner structure of the model, that is its spatial implicitness, constraints the programming design of this new liana PFT.

The first part of the presentation will focus on the current representation of lianas in ED2 and the parameterization that has been used. We will focus mainly on the specific allometry and interaction with tree cohorts that we have implemented in the model. In the second part results will be shown where we compare the output of the model with data collected in an old growth forest at the Paracou site (French Guiana) and a regrowth forest in Gigante, Panama. We integrate the model with a multitude of data types: inventories, flux tower data, terrestrial lidar data, etc. By comparing runs starting from bare ground, runs starting from observed inventories and ‘liana’ vs ‘no liana’ runs we assess the strengths and weaknesses of the current model version and try to get a better insight in the impact of lianas on the carbon cycle of tropical forests. Our results indicate a total forest biomass reduction of 20 % due to the impact of lianas.

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Y 09

:45


IMPACT OF HYDRAULIC TRAITS OF LIANAS ON THEIR ABUNDANCE: PREDICTIONS FROM THE VEGETATION MODEL ED2

Félicien Meunier1, Manfredo di Porcia e Brugnera1, Long Nguyen Hoang1, Hans Verbeeck1

1Ghent University, Cavelab, Gent, BE, [email protected]

Tropical forests play an important role in global climate change mitigation, storing about half of the global terrestrial carbon on Earth. These ecosystems are experiencing important structural changes, of which one of the most apparent is liana proliferation. Lianas constitute a taxonomically diverse growth form, making them difficult to study. That explains why they were ignored so far in models.

Recently, however, it was lobbied for defining a new Plant Functional Type, representing lianas, in vegetation models, such as the Ecosystem Demography model (ED2). Among other processes, ED2 is able to simulate the water fluxes in the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum, and it was shown that the hydraulic properties were responsible for the differentiated responses to water stress in seasonally dry forests. Woody vines exhibit contrasted properties as compared to regular trees, which should lead to contrasted responses to drought stress and hence abundances.

We performed a meta-analysis of the literature to collect the available information about lianas (in particular, the functional parameters of the ED2 hydraulic module together with structural traits). The significant correlations between functional and structural parameters were then implemented in the ED2 model and four long-term simulations (with or without the lianas, with or without the hydraulic module) were run for a specific site.

Statistical differences were observed for hydraulic properties between the two groups. In particular, for the same wood density, lianas experience more severe cavitation which impacted their abundance, as well as the forest total biomass.

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Y 10

:00


RAIN FOREST DYNAMICS UNDER DIFFERENT EXPLOITATION REGIMES

Stephan A. Pietsch1

1IIASA-ESM, Laxenburg, AT, [email protected]

Among the tropical forests, moist and wet forests exhibit the highest tree species diversity and contain commercially highly valued timber. The density of exploitable stems per hectare, however, is normally restricted to 2-5 stems. Any timber exploitation is concomitant with damage and/or death of neighbouring trees and with the removal of several trees to gain access to the marketable timber resource. Depending on the type of forest exploitation concession, i.e. permanent, medium or short term, different harvesting and timber extraction strategies are applied. Within this study, the different strategies will be analysed for their sustainability in terms of Carbon stocks, Carbon sequestration and growth dynamics using model data fusion.

Results from BGC-model application, calibrated and validated with a set of ~200 plot level data sets on soil, litter and biomass C - representing different land use histories and management strategies - revealed that (1) different growth traits are favoured by different management strategies, (2) ecosystem productivity response is non-linear and (3) that sudden shifts in productivity dynamics occur.

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Y 10

:15


PRODUCTIVITY OF THE AMAZON RAINFOREST AND THE ROLE OF FOREST STRUCTURE

Andreas Huth1, Edna Rödig1, Rico Fischer1, Franziska Taubert1, Anja Rammig2, Matthias Cuntz3

1Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research UFZ, Leipzig, DE, [email protected] Munich, Munich, DE3INRA, Nancy, FR

Precise descriptions of forest productivity, biomass, and structure are essential for understanding ecosystem responses to climatic and anthropogenic changes. However, relations between these components are complex and rarely investigated, in particular for tropical forests.

We developed an approach to simulate carbon dynamics of around 410 billion individual trees within 7.8 Mio km² of Amazon rainforest. We then integrated remote sensing observations from lidar (forest height map) in order to detect different forest states and structures caused by small-scale to large-scale natural and anthropogenic disturbances.

Under current conditions, we identified the Amazon rainforest as a carbon sink, gaining 0.56 Gt C per year. This carbon sink is driven by an estimated mean gross primary production (GPP) of 25.1 tC.ha-1.a-1, and a mean woody aboveground net primary production (wANPP) of 4.2 tC.ha-1.a-1. We found that successional states play an important role for the relations between productivity and biomass. Forests in early to intermediate successional states are the most productive and carbon use efficiencies are non-linear. Simulated values can be compared to observed carbon fluxes at various spatial resolutions (individual to Amazon-wide scale). Notably, we found that our results match different observed patterns (e.g., MODIS GPP).

We conclude that forest structure has a substantial impact on productivity and biomass. It is an essential factor that should be taken into account when estimating current carbon budgets or analyzing climate change scenarios for the Amazon rainforest.

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Y 11

:00


HIGH RESOLUTION ANALYSIS OF TROPICAL FOREST FRAGMENTATION AND ITS IMPACT ON THE GLOBAL CARBON CYCLE

Rico Fischer1, Katharina Brinck1,2, Jürgen Groeneveld1, Mateus Dantas De Paula1, Joseph O. Sexton3, Danxia Song3, Andreas Huth1

1Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research UFZ, Leipzig, DE, [email protected] College, London, UK3University of Maryland, College Park, US

Deforestation in the tropics is not only responsible for direct carbon emissions but also extends the forest edge wherein trees suffer increased mortality (edge effect). Here we combine high resolution (30 m) satellite maps of forest cover with estimates of the edge effect.

We show that 19 % of the remaining area of tropical forests lies within 100 m of a forest edge. The tropics house around 50 million forest fragments. Edge effects in tropical forests have caused an additional 10.3 Gt (2.1 - 14.4 Gt) of carbon emissions, which translates into 0.34 Gt / year and represents 31 % of the currently estimated annual carbon releases due to tropical deforestation.

Fragmentation substantially augments carbon emissions from tropical forests and must be taken into account when analyzing the role of vegetation in the global carbon cycle.

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Y 11

:15


GLOBAL PATTERNS OF TROPICAL FOREST FRAGMENTATION

Franziska Taubert1, Rico Fischer1, Juergen Groeneveld1,2, Sebastian Lehmann1, Michael Mueller1, Edna Roedig1, Thorsten Wiegand1,3, Andreas Huth1,3,4

1Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research GmbH – UFZ, Leipzig, DE, [email protected] Dresden, Dresden, DE3German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, DE4University Osnabrueck, Institute of Environmental Systems Research, Osnabrueck, DE

Remote sensing allows for the quantification of global tropical deforestation with high spatial resolution. This in-depth mapping enabled us to achieve substantial advances in the analysis of continental-wide fragmentation of tropical forests.

We identified roughly 130 million forest fragments in three continents that show surprisingly similar power law size and perimeter distributions as well as fractal dimensions. Power law distributions have been observed in many natural phenomena such as wild fires, landslides and earth quakes. The principles of percolation theory provide one explanation for the observed patterns and suggest that forest fragmentation is close to the critical point of percolation. Simulation modelling supports this hypothesis. The observed patterns do not only emerge from random deforestation which can be described by percolation theory but also from a wide range of deforestation and forest recovery regimes.

Predictions of our models outline that additional forest loss will strongly increase the total number of forest fragments (maximum by factor 33 over 50 years while decreasing their size), and that this consequence can be partly mitigated by reforestation and forest protection.

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Y 11

:30


EFFECTS OF FRAGMENTED FOREST DEGRADATION ON THE WATER CYCLE - INSIGHTS FROM A FOREST SIMULATION MODEL

Mateus Dantas de Paula1, Jürgen Groeneveld1,2, Andreas Huth1,3,4

1Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Leipzig, DE, [email protected] of Forest Growth and Forest Computer Science, Tharandt, DE3Institute of Environmental Systems Research, Osnabrück, DE4German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, DE

Deforestation is expected to cause large disruptions to the water cycle, affecting forest evapotranspiration and runoff, and causing changes in weather patterns and higher incidence of flooding events. However these disruptions could become much more severe, since the remaining fragmented forests continue to degrade for a long time after deforestation has ceased due to edge effects, a major cause of forest degradation.

Here we use an individual-based dynamic forest model, parameterized with local forest inventory, climate and soil data from a 126,000 ha reference landscape from the Brazilian northeastern Atlantic forest, containing 20,928 ha of fragmented forest to understand the consequences of forest degradation due to edge effects on the evapotranspiration and runoff. We simulate forest areas of 1-121 hectares with 100 meter edge influence during 1000 years in the reference landscape and observe the average changes to evapotranspiration and runoff due to edge effect mediated forest degradation.

Our results show a reduction of 54 % of transpiration from a fragment of 1 hectare (mean = 363 mm/ha) to 121 hectares (mean = 790 mm/ha), and an increase of total surface runoff of 35 % (1 ha mean = 1743 mm/ha, 121 ha mean = 1140). Most hydrological change for transpiration and runoff occur for fragment sizes up to 50 hectares. When applying the model to the whole landscape, we found that not considering the effects of edges overestimated 34 % total evapotranspiration and underestimated in 45.7 % total runoff. This work demonstrates the importance of forest models in quantifying ecosystem processes under disturbance regimes, and can be incorporated to remote sensing products in order to further model regional climatic changes in precipitation and impacts to watershed dynamics or water environmental services.

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Y 11

:45


DENSITY-DEPENDENT REGULATION AND DENSITY-INDEPENDENT LIMITATION TOGETHER DETERMINE THE ABUNDANCE OF A COMMON TREE SPECIES

Marco Visser1

1Princeton University, Princeton, US, [email protected]

Stable coexistence requires that species have positive population growth rates at low density, and negative rates at high density. Yet few studies empirically quantify such population-level density-dependence, focussing almost exclusively on density-dependence of early life-stages, while none evaluated the relative importance of all underlying demographic processes toward population regulation.

We used high resolution aerial pictures to quantify landscape-scale variation in adult density on Barro Colorado Island, in Panama. We used this to select ten nearby locations varying 20-fold in population density of a common tropical palm species Attalea butyracea. Subsequently, we established 10 4-ha field plots and followed the fate of seeds, seedlings and adult palms from 2007 to 2012. We measured all vital rates (growth, survival and reproduction) and quantified density dependence in these rates, and then applied density-dependent Integral Projection Models to integrate vital rate functions across the life cycle.

Estimated population growth rates were positive at low density and negative at high density, mainly due to negative density dependence of seedling establishment. Invasion growth rates and projected equilibrium density, however, were mostly determined by transition rates of density-independent life stages that reflect light limitation. Our results highlight that density-dependence at early life-stages can regulate populations around observed densities, but that density-independent limiting factors are crucial determinants of species abundance, and ultimately coexistence, which cannot be ignored.

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Y 13

:30


MODEL-DATA FUSION TO RETRIEVE TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONAL PROPERTIES FROM SATELLITE OBSERVATIONS

Jean-François Exbrayat1, A. Anthony Bloom2, T. Luke Smallman1, Mathew Williams1

1National Centre for Earth Observation and School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK, [email protected] Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, US

Recent model benchmarking and inter-comparison studies have highlighted some non-trivial uncertainties in our understanding of key terrestrial ecosystem properties. Differences in plant carbon allocation and residence times in particular lead to worrisome differences in terrestrial carbon stocks simulated by Earth system models in the present and their evolution under changing climate and disturbance regimes.

Observations of ecosystem functional properties may only be available at local scale but wall-to-wall satellite observations coupled with model-data fusion approaches provide a means to retrieve them over large continuous domains. Here, we use the CARbon Data MOdel framework (CARDAMOM) to produce a re-analysis of the terrestrial carbon cycle in agreement with remotely sensed observations of leaf area and biomass stocks under current climate and fire regimes. CARDAMOM relies on a Bayesian Markov Chain Monte-Carlo model-data fusion to retrieve confidence intervals of model parameters that regulate ecosystem properties.

We present pantropical results for the first fifteen year of the 21st century at a 1°×1° spatial resolution. Overall, the spatial distribution of retrieved plant carbon allocation strategies and residence times does not correspond to usual land-cover maps used in global vegetation models. A sensitivity analysis reveals that fire-prone ecosystems present shifts toward more allocation of net primary productivity to woody carbon pools, at the expense of photosynthetic carbon pools, which is commensurate with field observations.

In conclusion, CARDAMOM is capable of retrieving ecosystem carbon stocks, fluxes and traits consistent with observations and theory. It will be a tool of choice to take full advantage of upcoming satellite missions dedicated to observing tropical forests, and inform the development of more robust climate change projections.

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Y 13

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ABOVE, AROUND AND AMONG TREES: INTEGRATING INDIVIDUAL-BASED MODELLING AND REMOTE SENSING DATA FOR ECOLOGICAL INFERENCE ABOUT TROPICAL RAINFORESTS

Fabian Jörg Fischer1,2, Jérôme Chave1,2

1CNRS, Toulouse, FR, [email protected]é Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, FR

Research into the ecology of tropical rainforests has made important progress in recent years. We have not only deepened our understanding of ecosystem processes across scales (from the ecophysiology of individual organisms to regional biodiversity patterns), but also seen significant improvements regarding both data quality and quantity. New data sources such as remote sensing have been successfully developed, and existing data sets are increasingly consolidated and made accessible in open databases. Integrating the resulting wealth of information into a coherent picture of tropical rainforests remains, however, an altogether different challenge. This becomes particularly apparent when looking at mechanistic models that simulate the emergence of patterns through underlying processes. While the approach is highly promising given its integrative powers, it is far from clear how to strike the right balance between the theoretical knowledge of the processes involved and our practical abilities to parameterize them for species-rich tropical communities.

With regard to these questions, we propose an innovative approach that relies on mechanistic modelling and combines it with techniques known from Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC). Remote sensing data can thus be linked back to ecologically meaningful units such as individual trees and help make inferences about processes that would be difficult to parameterize otherwise. We here present results from a suite of simulation runs with the individual-based forest growth simulator TROLL which has been applied to a tropical rainforest in French Guiana. Using LiDAR data from recent flights in French Guiana, we will demonstrate how we can effectively narrow down ill-constrained parameters through remote sensing data, gain insight into the emergence of forest structure and investigate the respective roles of intraspecific and interspecific variation in the process.

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Y 14

:00


DESCRIBING 3-D STRUCTURE OF TROPICAL FORESTS FROM RADAR ACQUISITIONS: POTENTIALS, CHALLENGES, AND LINKS TO GROUND AND LIDAR MEASUREMENTS

Matteo Pardini1, Maria Tello Alonso1, Victor Cazcarra Bes1, Kostantinos Papathanassiou1

1German Aerospace Center (DLR), Wessling, DE, [email protected]

Remote sensing systems have been demonstrated to be a powerful source of information for monitoring tropical forest ecosystems. In particular, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and LIght Detection And Ranging (lidar) systems provide measurements sensitive to 3-D forest structure parameters at high spatial resolution. This is of critical importance given the high spatial heterogeneity and complexity of tropical forests.

In particular, SAR acquisitions in tomographic mode enable the estimation of 3-D radar reflectivity profiles. A framework for qualitative and quantitative forest structure estimation from these reflectivity profiles has been recently proposed. It is based on a pair of complementary indices for the characterization of horizontal and vertical structure. In order to ensure the physical interpretation and ecological relevance, the indices have been derived in correspondence of structure indices already established in forestry and ecology studies. This two-index framework has been shown to provide:(1) the systematic interpretation of the 3D radar reflectivity in terms of physical forest structure. This is not always an intuitive task because of the dependency of radar reflectivity on system parameters as well as on the geometric and dielectric properties of the forest.(2) the direct comparison of forest structure estimates from field inventory data to estimates derived from radar and even lidar measurements.

In this presentation, potentials and challenges of the application of this framework to tropical forests are discussed. Results from the recent AfriSAR campaign, in which time-coincident SAR and lidar data were acquired over several tropical forest sites in Gabon, will be presented. The correspondence between the structure descriptors calculated from remote sensing data and ground measurements, together with the behaviour of the obtained forest structure estimates as a function of the spatial scale will be addressed as well.

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Y 14

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FOREST AGE STRUCTURE ASSUMPTIONS WITHIN GLOBAL FOREST MODEL. BRAZIL CASE STUDY

Olga Turkovska1, Dmitry Schepaschenko1, Stephan Pietsch1, Aline Soterroni1,2

1International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, AT, [email protected] Institute for Space Research, Sao Paulo, BR

Current aboveground biomass is a key quantity researched by spatially explicit forest and land-use models, estimated through net primary production, forest area, forest age structure etc. Of these factors, forest age structure has been difficult to constrain due to a lack of observations and geographical heterogeneity. Moreover, forest age structure simulation within forest and land-use models is limited to several assumptions, often without actual connection to spatial data and consideration of forest types particularities, e.g. tropical forests. However, forest age structure, i.e. distribution of forest area amongst age classes significantly impact the estimates for current aboveground biomass on the site-specific and regional scale. For instance, forest age structure within spatially explicit global forest model (G4M) is described on a level of a spatial unit (0.5 × 0.5˚) as a uniform distribution of the forest area amongst age classes (normal forest). While the number of age classes depends on selected time step and the last age class is constrained by rotation time for a forest in the spatial unit. However, evidence suggests that a uniform age structure assumption does not adequately capture the forest structure in tropics, for example, in Brazil. At the same time, the question what would be the adequate assumption for simulating tropical forest structure remains open.

The study researches the adequacy of the normal forest assumption for simulating forest age structure applied in G4M and investigates the impact of variations in the age structure assumptions of tropical forest, for example by applying site and country-specific assumptions based on the literature and observations (e.g. http://forest-observation-system.net/). In particular, this exercise explores the changes in aboveground biomass estimates due to different approaches towards age structure simulation within G4M for the tropical forests.

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Y 14

:30


ELEVATION GRADIENTS SHAPE TREE DISTRIBUTIONS IN TROPICAL FORESTS

James Margrove1, Christopher Philipson1, Robert Bagchi2, Colin Maycock3, David Burlsem4, Jaboury Ghazoul1

1ETH Zurich, Zurich, CH, [email protected] of Connecticut, Connecticut, US3Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, MY4University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK

Variation in the topographical distribution of tropical tree species has long been associated with local soil water availability. The fundamental drivers of these patterns, which contribute to mechanisms of species coexistence remain poorly resolved. We experimentally quantified the sensitivity of seedlings of 16 tree species to ephemeral water inundation across micro-topographical gradients (on the scale of a few tens of centimetres) and characterised adult tree distributions of these species across a more extensive macro-topographical gradients (tens of metres) using spatial point pattern analysis.

We show that species-specific seedling sensitivity to water inundation and trait wood density explain a large component (70.1 %) of adult elevation distribution. Seedlings of trees that typically occur at higher elevations and thus drier localities are more sensitive to water inundation. These species tend to have high wood density. Seedlings of adults whose distribution predominantly lies within low-lying wetter areas have higher tolerances to flooding, and these species tend to have lower wood densities. We suggest that communities of tropical forest trees express fine scale partitioning along soil water gradients. Water inundation episodes on the scale of tens of centimetres act on early life stages in wetter low lying regions to filter out sensitive species. We also reveal an elevation gradient of increasing species wood densities even after controlling for inundation sensitivities. Wood density has long been associated as a trait coupled with stress tolerance, and we suggest and periodic droughts enable these species to grow on higher elevations. With this knowledge, it is becoming ever clearer that an increasingly variable rainfall amplitude in the region will affect the spatial structure, species composition, and diversity of future forests.

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MAPPING TROPICAL DISTURBED FORESTS IN MATO GROSSO THROUGH LANDSAT SURFACE REFLECTANCE TIME-SERIES ANALYSIS

Yunxia Wang1, Guy Ziv1, Marcos Adami2, Edward Mitchard3, Sarah Batterman1, Timothy Baker1, Wolfgang Buermann1, David Galbraith1

1University of Leeds, Leeds, UK, [email protected] Institute for Space Research (INPE) – Amazon Regional Center, Belém, BR3University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

Tropical disturbed forests play an important role in global carbon sequestration due to their rapid biomass accumulation rates. However, the accurate estimation of carbon stocks in disturbed forests is still challenging due to large uncertainties in the extent and spatial distribution of disturbed forests. Using Google Earth Engine (GEE), we developed an automated approach to map forests that have been disturbed between 1984-2010 using time-series of Landsat surface reflectance imagery. This approach combines

temporal trajectories of Landsat spectral bands and four vegetation indices with a random forest classification algorithm. We demonstrated the feasibility of this method to map disturbed forests in three different forest ecoregions, namely seasonal forest, moist forest and dry forest in Mato Grosso, Brazil.

The overall mapping accuracy varied from 81.2 % for moist forest to 85.5 % for seasonal forest. According to our classification, the dry forest ecoregion experienced the most severe disturbances with 38.5 % of forests being disturbed during our period of interest, followed by seasonal forest and moist forest. We further separated disturbed forest into degraded forest and post-deforestation regrowth forest based on an existing post-deforestation land use map. We found that the area of degraded forest was up to 50 % larger than post-deforestation regrowth forest, with 21.8 % of primary forests in Mato Grosso currently degraded. The methodology developed in this study was found to be an accurate and efficient approach to map tropical disturbed forests including both degraded forests and post-deforestation regrowth forests. Applying this new classification approach to other tropical areas will provide a better constraint on the spatial extent and magnitude of disturbed forests and ultimately their importance in the global carbon cycle.


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Y 15

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CARBON RECOVERY OF LOGGED FORESTS

Christopher Philipson1,2, Mark E. J. Cutler2, Philip G. Brodrick3, Gregory P. Asner3, Doreen S. Boyd4, Pedro Moura Costa5, Giles Foody4, Geertje M.F van der Heijde4, Philippa R. Lincoln6, Michelle A. Pinard7, Glen Reynolds8, Martijn Snoep9, Hamzah Tangki10, John Tay11, Yap Sau Wai10, David F.R.P. Burslem7

1ETH Zürich, Zürich, CH, [email protected] for Environmental Change and Human Resilience, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK3Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, CA 94305, US4School of Geography University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK5Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK6LTS International, Edinburgh, UK7The Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, The University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK8Southeast Asia Rainforest Research Partnership, Lahad Datu, MY9Face the Future, Wageningen, NL10Yayasan Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, MY11School of International Tropical Forestry, University Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, MY

Logged-over tropical forests harbour substantial amounts of biodiversity and forest carbon, yet are under ever-increasing threat of land use change. Protecting logged forest from conversion to plantations could help maintain terrestrial carbon stocks, which could be funded by avoided-deforestation carbon-credit schemes. However, there are very few studies reporting the rate of biomass and carbon recovery of logged-forests in Southeast Asia. Accurate estimates of carbon recovery rates are essential to ensure carbon-offset projects are economically viable.

To assess the Aboveground Carbon Density (ACD) recovery of logged-forest through time, we combined three different networks of plots in the Ulu-Segama Forest Reserve in Sabah, Malaysia, with historic logging data. All of the forest plots where measured twice between 1996 and 2016, accounting for the inherent variation in logged forests and enabling us to estimate recovery rates over a 20-yr interval. The measured values of ACD in plots combined with a history of times since logging provide a high temporal-resolution to determine carbon recovery rates. We then extend this analysis using extrapolations from a high-resolution carbon map of the entire forest reserve constructed using an airborne LiDAR survey. This combination of approaches provides the first highly resolved estimates of carbon recovery rates following logging for Southeast Asian lowland dipterocarp forests and highlights their potential for rapid recovery.

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Y 15

:15


VARIATION IN SPACE AND TIME OF ANT DISTRIBUTION AMONG GROUND LAYERS IN AN ECUADORIAN PREMONTANE FOREST

Maurice Leponce1,2, Justine Jacquemin1,2, Yves Roisin2

1Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels, BE2Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, BE, [email protected]

Nearly half of the ant species present in a tropical forest are directly in contact with the ground for nesting or foraging, with evidence of vertical stratification among ground layers (i.e., surface, litter, and soil). How ants in each layer respond to environmental factors and to seasonality remains little studied. We hypothesized that ant species distribution varied spatially and seasonally among the three ground layers and that their distribution was distinctly affected by various abiotic and biotic factors.

The ant distribution was analysed spatio-temporally: vertically (between the ground surface, leaf-litter, and mineral soil, using pitfalls, Winkler, and soil cores), horizontally (every meter along a 100 m transect) and seasonally (between the dry and the rainy seasons). Four environmental parameters were measured every meter along the transect: canopy openness, slope, leaf-litter volume and soil properties.

Our results showed a clear vertical stratification, with distinct faunal composition in each layer and a strong seasonal effect. Stable distribution of several dominant species between seasons suggests a low nest relocation rate. During the dry season, higher ant richness and abundance were found in pitfall traps suggesting higher activity on the surface of the forest floor. Similarly, higher ant richness and abundance found in the soil during the dry season suggest the migration of drought-sensitive species downwards deeper into the soil. Species richness and dominant species distribution were related to distinct factors according to the layer considered; we found strong correlations between the quantity of leaf-litter and dominant ant species distribution and species richness in the leaf-litter layer, while no correlation was found with any factor in the soil layer. While soil properties influenced the ant distribution at the kilometer scale they had little influence at the meter scale.

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SESSION 21TROPICAL FOREST ECOSYSTEM RESPONSES TO CLIMATE CHANGE

Chair: Eric GUILBERTContact: [email protected]

Global warming predictions suggest many changes of climate parameters, even with the “best” scenario. We are already faced to these changes. In the tropics, already submitted to heavy anthropic pressure, these changes will deeply affect the environment. Forests are involved in carbon cycle and play a major role in climate system.

How will react this ecosystem? How will react the biodiversity? Such questions are highly challenging as forests provide many ecosystem services. All studies that aim to analyse, model, project and predict global warming effects on all components of tropical forest should provide information and tools…

To make our planet great again? The session sets out to evaluate how global warming might affects current tropical ecosystem structure, species distribution and interactions, highlighting the recent advances in the topic.

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Y 09

:30

S21-O01 – CLIMATE CHANGE

CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT ON CARBON-SEQUESTRATION POTENTIAL OF TROPICAL RAINFORESTS

Jean-François Exbrayat1,2, David T. Milodowski2, T. Luke Smallman1,2, Mathew Williams1,2

1National Centre for Earth Observation, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK, [email protected] of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

Tropical forests have been identified as both a major sink and source for anthropogenic carbon. Multiple international initiatives have been introduced to mitigate climate change by reforesting previously cleared areas and restoring degraded forests (e.g. UN-REDD). Key to implementing effective mitigation plans is knowledge of the capacity of forests to grow and store carbon under projected climate change. This capacity remains poorly constrained.

Here we use a machine-learning approach to determine the potential biomass of regions where climate could support rainforest. We first derive a relationship between climate and satellite observations of biomass in intact forest landscapes. We use this relationship to create maps of potential biomass of the hypothetical undisturbed landscape for the present. We then create maps also for the end of the 21st century according to projections from thirteen Earth system models under two representative concentration pathways (RCPs). All calculations are made at a 10’ spatial resolution.

The difference between the potential and observed biomass defines the carbon-sequestration potential for degraded and deforested landscapes, both for now and the future. Our results indicate a current carbon-sequestration potential of 69.0 Pg C (with a confidence interval ranging from 63.0 to 74.3 Pg C). We estimate that 64 % of the carbon-sequestration potential corresponds to reforestation in regions that have been previously cleared, and 36 % correspond to the restoration of degraded forests. Our results indicate that reforestation potential decreases to 33.0 Pg C (24.5 / 43.2) and 24.1 Pg C (17.8 / 32.4) when using climate change projections under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 respectively. This decrease is due to reduced carbon-sequestration potential from both previously disturbed regions and currently intact regions, indicating a risk of tropical rainforest die-back, due to projected warmer and drier conditions.

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Y 09

:45


SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO? PROJECTED CHANGES IN AVIAN FUNCTIONAL DIVERSITY ON TROPICAL MOUNTAINS UNDER CLIMATE CHANGE

Matthias Schleuning1, Irene M.A. Bender1,2,3, Larissa Nowak1,4, W. Daniel Kissling5

1Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Frankfurt, DE, [email protected] Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Halle-Jena-Leipzig, DE3Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, DE4Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt, DE5University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, NL

Tropical mountains are hotspots of biodiversity and considered particularly susceptible to climate change. Along elevational gradients, climate change forces species to move their ranges upwards, which triggers changes in the composition of ecological communities. We propose to combine approaches from biogeography (species distribution models) and community ecology (functional diversity) to quantify the potential consequences of climate change for ecological communities on tropical mountains.

Here we modeled current and projected future occurrence probabilities of 240 frugivorous bird species along a 3000 m elevational gradient in the tropical Andes, ranging from the lowlands up to the tree line, and computed projected changes in avian functional diversity, based on functional traits relevant for seed dispersal.

We found three main patterns of projected community change along the mountain: (1) functional attrition caused declines of functional diversity in the lowland, (2) functional turn-over was high at mid-elevations, and (3) functional decreases were weaker than expected at high elevations. We conclude that functional diversity of frugivorous birds is likely to respond differently to climate change at different elevational levels of tropical mountains, which has important consequences for seed dispersal and movement capacities of plants dependent on avian seed dispersal.

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Y 10

:00


PLANT DIVERSITY HOTSPOTS AND REFUGES IN THE TROPICAL ANDES

Gwendolyn Peyre1, David Campos2, Jonathan Lenoir3

1University of the Andes, Bogotá, CO, [email protected] of Tolima, Ibagué, CO3University of Picardie Jules Verne, Amiens, FR

The páramo biogeographical province includes the high mountain ecosystems of the northern Andes and constitutes a fast evolving biodiversity hotspot. The recent orogeny and following glaciation dynamics of the Cenozoic helped shape the páramo’s unique phytodiversity by creating continental biogeographic islands on mountain tops and promoting plant diversification. Today, the páramo hosts around 5000 vascular plant species, most of them represented within the families Asteraceae and Poaceae.

In this study, we focused on these two dominant plant families and aimed at identifying their past refuges and actual hotspots. To do so, we used presence-absence data from the VegPáramo database and modelled for each species their: (1) past potential distribution during the Last Glacial Maximum (21,000 years ago), (2) present potential distribution, and (3) present realized distribution. For all analyses, we relied on bioclimatic data from the CHELSA project database and conducted individual spatial distribution models (SDMs), using the Generalized Linear Model and Random Forest algorithms, and the Area Under the ROC Curve for model evaluation. We then stacked the SDMs based on taxonomy at genus and tribe levels. Finally, for each family, we identified páramo refuges with permanent species occupation as well as actual species-rich areas. The obtained results are therefore contributing valuable knowledge on plant distribution and evolution in the tropical mountain páramo.

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Y 10

:15


CYCLONES, FRAGMENTATION AND BIRD ASSEMBLAGES: NATURAL AND HUMAN DISTURBANCES IN A CHANGING CLIMATE

James Moloney1

1James Cook University, Townsville, AU, [email protected]

Severe tropical storms are predicted to increase in frequency and geographic extent in the future due to climate change. Furthermore, natural disturbance regimes such as cyclones now mostly occur in the context of human disturbance such as habitat fragmentation. In March 2006, Cyclone Larry severely disturbed already-fragmented lowland rainforests in North-eastern Australia. A previous study provided an opportunity to examine the impacts of a severe cyclone on vegetation and bird communities in continuous and fragmented

habitats of differing sizes over a ten-year period. Three unfragmented sites, 3 large fragments (>25 ha) and 3 small fragments (<25 ha) had been surveyed prior to the cyclone, and then 1-2 months, 5 months, 1 year, 2 years, and 10 years post-cyclone.

Immediately post-cyclone, vegetation was largely defoliated and, although canopy cover had recovered from >10 % immediately post-cyclone to <50 % by year 10, vegetation structure remained highly disturbed. The bird assemblage, however, recovered far more quickly after initial devastation, with bird assemblages in continuous sites and fragments comparable to pre-cyclone assemblages 2 years after the cyclone, and little further change after 10 years. No evidence of disproportionate species loss in fragments was apparent.

The relatively robust nature of the avifauna to both natural and human disturbance (in comparison to other tropical regions) is probably due to the nature of lowland bird assemblages in this region (relatively depauperate and generalist), and the species sifting that had already occurred at a local scale in fragments. However, other tropical regions with more specialised faunal assemblages, or that lie at present outside severe tropical storm zones, may show far greater sensitivity to climate change-driven storm impacts.

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Y 11

:00


ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF LIANAS ON TREE GROWTH IN TROPICAL FORESTS

Elizabeth Kearsley1, Geertje van der Heijden2, Stefan Schnitzer3,4, Hans Verbeeck1

1Ghent University, Gent, BE, [email protected] of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK3Marquette University, Milwaukee, US4Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama city, PA

Lianas (woody climbers) are structural parasites and an important component of tropical forests. Due to their strong competition with trees for above and below ground resources, lianas can have a large effect on tree diversity, recruitment, growth and survival, which can further impact tree community composition, carbon storage and carbon, nutrient and water fluxes. Moreover, recent research from the Neotropics has indicated that lianas are proliferating in abundance and biomass related to climate change. Although the drivers behind this liana increase are currently not fully understood, liana proliferation itself can endanger the future of the tropical carbon sink as lianas reduce carbon sequestration and storage in these forests. As tropical forests play an important role in the global carbon cycle, this in turn may lead to increased atmospheric CO2 concentrations, which may have serious implications for climate change.

In this study, we use a large-scale liana removal experiment conducted in the Barro Colorado National Monument in the Republic of Panama to investigate the impact of lianas on individual tree growth. The impact of varying severities of liana infestation in the crown on tree growth is assessed, while controlling for growth environment (light, neighboring competition) and species identity using structural equation modeling. The impact of lianas is validated with plots that are liana-free. Different scenarios of future increases in liana abundance and biomass are assessed.

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Y 11

:15


SIMULATING PRESENT-DAY DISTRIBUTION OF PODOCARPUS LATIFOLIUS/MILANJIANUS IN AFROMONTANE FORESTS OF CAMEROON WITH THE DYNAMIC VEGETATION MODEL CARAIB

Alexandra-Jane Henrot1, Marie Dury1, Anne-Marie Lézine2, Rachid Cheddadi3, Jérémy Migliore2,4, Alain Hambuckers5, Franck Trolliet1, Louis François1

1Unit for Modelling of Climate and Biogeochemical Cycles, UR-SPHERES, Université de Liège, Liège, BE, [email protected] d’Océanographie et du Climat LOCEAN, Sorbonne Université, Paris, FR3Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution, Université Montpellier, CNRS-UM-IRD, Montpellier, FR4Evolutionary Biology and Ecology, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, BE5Behavioural Biology Unit, UR-SPHERES, University of Liège, Liège, BE

It is today established that climate change alters biodiversity, since the migration speeds of many species, especially plants, are presumably too slow to follow climate change. Tropical mountain floras are particularly vulnerable to the climatic threat, because they combine high ecosystem diversity and large proportion of endemic species, with the risk of reaching the summits of the mountains, which would limit their migration. Moreover, these environments are often strongly impacted by man. Being able to identify and

predict the areas favorable to the persistence of species - microrefugia - becomes crucial in view of the fragmentation of the space devoted to their conservation. Microrefugia can be identified by using dynamic vegetation models (DVMs) at high-resolution over a given region. However, DVMs are usually run at the plant functional type level (PFT), whereas conservation studies require specific projections for each individual species. Thus, some efforts focus now on applying DVMs at the species level refining the definition of morpho-physiological parameters from initial PFT traits to specific traits collected in the field or found in trait databases. In the framework of the international VULPES project (VULnerability of Populations under Extreme Scenario, https://vulpesproject.wixsite.com/vulpes), we use the CARAIB DVM (Dury et al., iForest - Biogeosciences and Forestry, 4:82-99, 2011) to simulate the evolution over the last thirty years (1981-2010) of the distribution of Podocarpus latifolius/milanjianus, an endangered species localised in several patches of the Afromontane forest of Southwestern Cameroon. CARAIB is run at high resolution using climatic inputs derived from the ERA-Interim climate dataset combined with WorldClim climatology at 30 arc seconds (~1 km). Climatic tolerances of Podocarpus latifolius/milanjianus are adapted in the model simulations in function of the observed distribution. Sensitivity tests are performed to evaluate the impacts on the simulated distribution of Podocarpus of different plant traits and tolerances, as well as the effect of the competition with other species. CARAIB results are discussed in terms of biomass and net primary productivity (NPP).

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Y 11

:30


ANALYSING THE POSITION OF THE EASTERN ANDEAN TREE LINE WITH A MASS TRANSECT SAMPLING OF SATELLITE IMAGERY

Stefan Jozefowicz1, Przemyslaw Zelazowski1, Yadvinder Malhi2

1Laboratory of Remote Sensing and Environmental Modelling, Centre of New Technologies, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, PL, [email protected] Change Institute, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

The Eastern Andean tree line (EATL) is one of the world’s most vivid examples of an altitudinal ecotone, because of both its continuity at the continental scale, as well as it being the western boundary of the forest biome of Amazonia. Where the EATL is undisturbed by anthropogenic pressures such as wildfires and cattle ranching, its course is a spatial manifestation of the underlying environmental parameters limiting the distribution of individual species and biomes. This indicator quality of the EATL is of particular significance in the context of global climate change and the role of higher altitudes as a refugium for species migrating upslope as a result of that change. Despite this, there has been to our knowledge no systematic analysis of the EATL’s position to date.

The aim of this study was to extract information about tree line position for its most consistent stretch on the eastern slopes of the Andes, ranging between the latitudes of 6.5°S and 17.8°S, from the three-decade record provided by fine resolution sensors aboard the Landsat 4, 5, 7 and 8 satellites. We were aided in this task by the recent publication of the reprocessed, highly spatially accurate Landsat Collection. Spectral data in the form of vegetation indices, along with a set of climatic and geomorphometric characteristics of the terrain, were sampled by way of upslope transects with a locally-consistent aspect. The resulting database of tens of thousands of transects can be queried to (1) apply multiple definitions of EATL, (2) apply various quality restrictions, (3) discover and quantify the EATL’s location drivers on scales ranging from local to continental, (4) quantify shifts in the EATL’s position over time. The emergence of the well-known phenomenon of latitudinal tree line elevation change serves as a first-order validation of this approach.

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Y 11

:45


DEFORESTATION AND FOREST DEGRADATION TRENDS IN TROPICAL RAINFOREST

Kiswanto Kiswanto1,2, Satoshi Tsuyuki2

1Faculty of Forestry, The Mulawarman University, Samarinda, ID, [email protected] School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, JP

The tropical rainforest is located in a wide area surrounding the equator, covering more than ten percent of the total earth’s land surface. Unfortunately, prospects for tropical forests biodiversity are becoming increasingly depressing due to persistent deforestation and forest degradation. The trends in deforestation and forest degradation and their causes are studied using different disciplinary methodologies at the multiple scales, therefore, give balancing information of environmental management. Several international

groups produce routine estimates of tropical deforestation, most notably the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, which has been providing a global forest resources assessment every five to ten years since the late 1940s.

Our study also concerns to deliver yearly land cover maps that could be used to estimate annual deforestation and forest transitions but only in small scale such as a case in East Kalimantan Province, Indonesia. For showing the land cover classification and land cover changes over time in East Kalimantan (Indonesia), we produced yearly land cover maps from 2000 to 2016 using Landsat imageries interpreted visually and then analyzed land cover changes during 17 years, including a total of forest cover over time. In this study, we investigated annual deforestation trends during 17 years. Our results indicated that forest loss mainly occurred in natural forests, was caused by decreasing of forest quality, i.e. changes from primary to secondary forest, from secondary forest to shrubland, etc. Forest gain was only seen in plantation forest, that was changed from primary and secondary dryland forest.


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SESSION 22REMOTE SENSING FOREST RESPONSE TO ENSO: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES

Chair: Mark CUTLERContact: [email protected]

Remote sensing has the potential to provide information relating to important ecological variables at a range of temporal and spatial scales. However, despite this potential, the use of remote sensing for repeated monitoring of tropical environments is still not operational, with many challenges remaining.

This session will look at the opportunities and challenges that new methods in remote sensing can offer the monitoring of tropical forest environments, with a particular focus on forests that have been affected by the recent El Nino. In particular, speakers from several projects that have been supported by the UKs NERC-funded programme ‘Understanding the Impacts of the Current El Niño’ will be invited, giving presentations on their experiences of using remote sensing at a variety of spatial scales: from the monitoring of lianas with drones, to the analysis of productivity across wider landscapes using new Sentinel data.

The session will also be open to others who wish to give presentations on a related theme. Ultimately, the aim of the session is foster closer collaboration between remote sensing scientists and ecologists, by better understanding the need and aspirations of ecologists with respect to environmental monitoring, with the opportunities and realities of current remote sensing techniques.

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Y 13

:30

S22-O01 – REMOTE SENSING FOREST RESPONSE TO ENSO

MONITORING TROPICAL FOREST RESILIENCE: THE POTENTIAL OF EO TO MONITOR LONG-TERM CHANGE ACROSS FOREST LANDSCAPES

Mark Cutler1, Christopher Philipson1,2, David Burslem3, Giles Foody4, Doreen Boyd4, Geertje van der Heidjen4

1University of Dundee, Dundee, UK, [email protected] Zurch, Zurich, CH3University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK4University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK

Globally, almost half of all remaining tropical forest (c. 400 million ha) is allocated for timber production (Blaser et al., 2011), meaning these forests have a crucial role to play in the economic sustainability of many developing nations’ economies. To maintain the ecosystem services that local inhabitants and state / national economies may derive from these forests (including medicinal, timber and food production) as well as conservation, demands effective forest management to promote sustainable regeneration. However, the resilience of logged and degraded forests i.e. their capacity to respond to short-term perturbations (such as ENSO-induced drought) by resisting damage and recovering quickly, is poorly understood, with few long-term studies or field plot networks available to determine forest resilience across a gradient of prior disturbance and/or post-logging management regimes.

In this paper we report on findings from long-term monitoring of forest plots located across a disturbance gradient and the use of remotely sensed data at various scales to estimate forest properties and response to ENSO-induced drought at local to regional scales. Bringing together the results from monitoring across two decades and the more recently funded NERC STEED project (Spatio-TEmporal Dynamics of Forest Response to ENSO Drought) the forests surrounding the Danum Valley Field Centre, Malaysia, have shown huge variability in forest recovery (in terms of above-ground biomass), with recovery rates up to 3.6 MG.ha-1 but that these are highly dependent upon the volume of timber extracted during logging. This increase in biomass is mirrored in our remotely sensed estimates of AGB from Landsat TM and MODIS data, but also shows a high degree of variability across the disturbed landscape. This variability in productivity is also manifest when assessing the impact of short-term drought which the region experienced in 2015/16. We illustrate this by showing variability in leaf spectral response through to a landscape-scale MODIS-derived drought index, illustrating the potential of remote sensing at multiple spectral and spatial resolutions to estimate forest resilience to both logging and climatic disturbance.

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Y 13

:45


DO EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS CAUSE LIANA PROLIFERATION? USING UAVS TO TRACK CHANGES IN TROPICAL FOREST CANOPY COMPOSITION OVER TIME

Geertje van der Heijden1, Catherine Waite (speaker)1, Doreen S. Boyd1, David Burslem2, Christopher Philipson3, Mark Cutler4

1University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK, [email protected] of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK3ETH Zürich, Zürich, CH4University of Dundee, Dundee, UK

Extreme weather events, such droughts associated with El Niño events, are known to affect tropical forest functioning, but the specific responses of canopy structure and composition are not fully understood. Lianas are a key component of tropical forest canopies and are thought to have an advantage over trees in drought conditions as they may be more efficient in taking up water during such times drought conditions. As lianas reduce tree growth, and increase tree mortality and forest-level leaf production,

thereby reducing net above-ground carbon uptake by as much as 76 %/year, chances in liana infestation due to extreme weather events may therefore have potentially damaging ramifications for carbon storage and sequestration in tropical forests.

Using UAV imagery of Malaysian tropical forest collected in 2016 and 2017, this projects aims to characterise changes in the contribution of lianas to canopy structure, to inform the likely longer-term impact of ENSO drought on carbon accumulation. The ultra-high resolution (~1 cm/pixel) images enable changes in % liana canopy crown cover (a direct indicator of changes in liana) and tree crown greenness (which may be indicative of a change in overall crown health) to be assessed on a per tree basis. From this, we can examine whether liana infestation has increased in the period directly after the El Niño, and whether any changes in liana cover are related to changes crown greenness, which will provide potentially unique evidence to improve ecological understanding of tropical forest functioning. Initial results based on 30 trees infested with lianas in both 2016 and 2017 indicate that average % liana canopy cover is significantly higher in 2017 (mean = 25.8 % in 2017 vs. 14.6 % in 2016, p = 0.005). Additionally, changes in liana infestation were weakly, negatively correlated with a reduction in greenness between years (Adj R2 = 0.09984, p = 0.04948), indicating that increases in liana infestation may lead to a decline in overall tree crown health.

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Y 14

:00


FROM REMOTELY SENSING TROPICAL HUMAN-MODIFIED LANDSCAPES TO MONITORING PROGRESS TOWARDS AICHI AND SDG TARGETS

Marion Pfeifer1

1Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK, [email protected]

Remotely sensing forest ecosystem states over time is a great tool to map and monitor essential ecosystem functions. For example, leaf area index, fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation and fractional vegetation cover can be measured using optical instruments from below vegetation canopies, as we are currently doing within our GLOBAL LAI project. And using remote sensing data acquired from above vegetation canopies to then map those attributes for the landscape is a straightforward task, as we show for landscapes in Africa and Borneo. This is wonderful as LAI and fAPAR are Essential Climate Variables that regulate key ecosystem processes and determine habitat differentiation along vertical gradients of light availability. Both inter-correlate with each other and with FCover to control vegetation productivity and biomass at stand level. However, how does that help us to understand resilience, loss and recovery of ecosystems and the services they provide?

I will briefly discuss two new projects I am currently involved in that aim to address components of this question. The first one is testing imaging as a tool for detecting plant stress before visual symptoms start to appear and negative effects become established. By linking maps derived from this imaging to measurements of species those ecological functions within trophic networks are relevant for the delivery of ecosystem services (using our new BIOFRAG approach, Pfeifer et al. 2017 Nature), I aim to unravel the mechanisms behind the delivery of biodiversity dependent ecosystem services (https://blogs.ncl.ac.uk/marionpfeifer/projects/measuring-mapping-and-predicting-forest-and-crop-quality-in-human-modified-tropical-landscapes/). The second project, with Dr Andy Marshall, involves the monitoring of forest recovery in landscapes in Australia and Tanzania using a combination of imaging tools, field measurements and experiments to unravel mechanisms and pathways of recovery (http://force-experiment.com/).

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Y 14

:15


SPATIAL PATTERNS OF LIANA SUCCESS IN MALAYSIA

Chris Chandler1, Geertje van der Heijden1, Giles Foody1, Doreen Boyd1


Tropical forests are highly productive, biologically rich and carbon dense. As such, these ecosystems are critical to the global carbon balance and key in mitigating some of the effects of climate change. Lianas are important components of tropical forests, where they have been shown to increase in abundance and biomass over the last decades. Lianas compete intensely with trees for above- and below-ground resources, thus substantially limiting tree growth and survival. Such increases in liana biomass may induce changes in

tree species composition and dynamics, which could have consequences for tropical forest carbon storage in the future.

Studies on lianas have largely focused in the Neotropics, limiting our understanding of the drivers behind variation in liana infestation and the impact on carbon balance in the Palaeotropics. Furthermore, although liana infestation varies greatly across forests, the drivers of the broad-scale variation in liana pressure remains unexplored. Here, we therefore aim to map liana infestation in Bornean Malaysia with the use of airborne hyperspectral imagery to (1) investigate whether the spatial patterns in liana infestation are driven by variation in disturbance and/or forest structure and (2) test whether carbon sequestration and storage is affected by liana infestation on a regional scale.

Airborne hyperspectral imagery and LiDAR data were collected concurrently (Mark Cutler, Dundee). Preliminary results from ground measurements showed liana biomass and abundance were both greater in the primary forest in comparison to secondary forests. Comparison of liana infestation and forest structure revealed a canopy height maximum of 64.4 m for liana infestation. In addition, we find a clear difference in the spectral response between lianas and trees. A neural network is able to accurately predict liana presence across the hyperspectral imagery (82 % correctly classified). Additional training data may have the potential to predict liana infestation as a percentage of canopy cover on a continuous scale.

These results suggest that natural disturbance such as tree fall may be more frequent in the old-growth primary forest leading to increased liana recruitment and infestation. Furthermore, preliminary findings suggest that airborne hyperspectral imagery can provide a promising tool to identify liana infestation over large regions in tropical wet rainforests. TH

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RESPONSES OF NEOTROPICAL FOREST MAMMALS TO AN EXTREME EL NIÑO EVENT

Patrick Jansen1,2, Joseph Wright2

1Wageningen University, Wageningen, NL, [email protected] Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Ancon, PA

A phenomenon that has been linked to extreme El Niño events in some tropical moist forests is massive die-off of mammals. These die-offs, which represent a risk to the genetic diversity and even persistence of populations, occur during some but not all El Niño events, for reasons not understood. Several authors have speculated that the mechanism underlying these die-offs is that a dry El Niño phase causes a boom of mammal populations via elevated fruit production, and that a wet La Niña phase that follows produces a bust due to depressed fruit production. However, no study actually studied mammal populations through such a cycle.

We studied the mammal community of Barro Colorado Island, Panama, during and after the very strong El Niño event of May 2015 – April 2016. We used an island-wide network of camera traps to monitor mammal abundance, condition and aspects of behaviour, and transect counts to estimate mammal mortality. We linked the data to climate and fruiting data from the same site.

We found that seed production was elevated through most of 2015 and the first half of 2016, and led to a rise in mammal numbers, i.e. a ‘boom’. However, although fruit production was much lower during the two years that followed, we did not observe elevated mammal mortality, i.e. a ‘bust’. This El Niño event, unlike past events that were followed by mammal die-off, lacked a strong La Niña with harsh (cold and wet) weather conditions. Our observations, along with evidence from past events at the study site, suggests that die-offs associated with El Niño events are at least partially caused by harsh weather conditions affecting animals, and not by ENSO-driven variation fruit abundance alone.

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SESSION 23REHABILITATION OF TROPICAL FOREST LANDSCAPES: BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN ECOLOGY AND SUSTAINABLE USE

Chairs: Sven GÜNTER, Rizza Karen VERIDIANO, Nikolay AGUIRREContact: [email protected]

How can the potential and biodiversity of tropical forest landscapes under high human pressure be rehabilitated? This is what the session aims to address and discuss.

Over the last decades, there has been an increasing debate on how to link human and ecological dimensions when it comes to conserving and managing tropical landscapes. Albeit this holistic approach, there are still challenges that have yet to be addressed in terms of scaling-up, incorporating specific restoration ecology aspects into landscape approaches and finally transforming science-based studies into tangible policies and good practices.

The interdisciplinary nature and cross-cutting facets of landscape studies provide a suitable platform to address both forest resilience and options for restoration whilst also addressing the social dimensions of sustainable livelihoods. This is essentially what the session seeks to provide the conference participants. Session participants are particularly encouraged to submit contributions on the following topics:(1) State of the art and challenges in terms of analysing or implementing landscape approaches at various scales.(2) Restoration and rehabilitation of tropical landscapes.(3) Linking ecological data with social and socio-economic data to address the interdisciplinary nature of forest landscape management.

THU

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Y 09

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S23-O01 – REHABILITATION OF TROPICAL FOREST LANDSCAPES

DOES DIVERSITY REALLY MATTER FOR THE ACCUMULATION OF ABOVE-GROUND BIOMASS IN DRY FOREST REHABILITATION?

Fatima C.M. Piña-Rodrigues1, Harvey Marin Paladines1, José Mauro Santana da Silva1, Ivonir Piotrowski1

1Universidade Federal de São Carlos-CCTS- Environmental Science Department, Sorocaba-SP, BR, [email protected]

The restoration of degraded areas aims to restore biodiversity and the natural processes of ecosystems. The contribution of above-ground biomass accumulation is one of the most important ecological processes that generate stability and resilience in restored areas. So, to assess how diversity affects the contribution of above-ground biomass accumulation (ABA), we evaluate a restoration in the dense-functional functional model (DDF) in a Brazilian southeast dry forest. Species of tree and shrubs are chosen from local forest communities to restore a multilayer structure. After that we selected 142 species based on functional traits and ecological services such as pollinators and dispersers attraction, input of nutrient and biomass accumulation and nitrogen fixing.

An equal proportion of intermediate-late successional and pioneer species were mixed and densely planted (3 plants/m²). In five plots (0.423 ha, 0.605 ha, 0.489 ha, 0.432 ha and 0.590 ha) we sampled 120 subplots (0.5 × 2.0 m) along two years to collect litterfall using a conic trap (0.35 m2). Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling (NMDS) was used to represent species composition calculated from the Jaccard matrix of plots x species to obtain axis 1 scores (80 % of variance). Multiple linear regression analyzes were applied to analyze the ABA (Mg/ha) as dependent variable and the independent variables of species composition- CE (NMDS axis 1 scores), richness (R), dominance (Do), equability (J), diversity of Shannon (H’) and density (d) evaluated by the Akaike criterion. The composition and richness of species were the diversity factors that most influenced the contribution of ABA, represented by: ABA = 2.65349 + 0.06798CE + 0.18016R. This issue is relevant in a scenario which the current trend is the use of few species of rapid growth and the reduction of species richness in restoration projects, especially in Brazil.

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Y 09

:45


CARBON SEQUESTRATION POTENTIAL OF SECONDARY FOREST FOR LANDSCAPE RESTORATION AT THE ECUADORIAN AMAZON REGION

Paul Eguiguren1,2, Sven Günter1,2

1Technische Universität München - Germany, Munich, DE, [email protected]ünen-Institut, Hamburg, DE

Tropical forest has more of 50 % of carbon stored in biomass, having a great role in the global carbon cycle, also contains a great biodiversity and provides important ecosystem services. Despite this, are heavily threatened by deforestation leading to biodiversity loss and ecosystems services (carbon). Large areas of forests have been converted to other land uses (pastures, crops). In many cases agricultural land is abandoned after few years of its conversion; therefore, natural succession processes take place. Secondary

forests as result from natural succession are frequently considered to be a promising tool for restoration. In Ecuador it is estimated that almost 67000 ha/year had been regenerated between 2000 - 2008, 19800 ha/year were localized in the lowland amazon ecosystems. These areas are mainly the result of abandoned pastures and chakras (traditional agroforestry systems) on private or communal lands.

This study aims to analyze the carbon sequestration potential and carbon stocks of these secondary forests and compare them with carbon stocks in primary forest. We used a stratified random sampling design, 37 plots of 500 - 1600 m2 were established in secondary forests of different ages of succession (12 - 30 years). Additionally, 24 plots of 1600 m2 were allocated in well preserved primary forest. Analysis of variance using general mixed models and linear regression were conducted. Our results show that secondary forest between 12 and 30 years can store around 4 Mg.ha-1.yr-1. The carbon stock of secondary forests reached in average around 70 Mg.ha-1 representing almost 59 % of primary forests. Our results suggest that sequestration potential of secondary forests can be a promising tool for landscape restoration in addition to strategies focusing on avoided deforestation and conservation of primary forests. Also could serve as inputs for the implementation of actions related to the mitigation of climate change and moreover in biodiversity conservation.

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Y 10

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NATURAL FOREST REGENERATION AT MT. KILIMANJARO

Marion Renner1, Andreas Hemp2, Markus Fischer1,3,4

1Institute of Plant Sciences, Bern, CH, [email protected] of Systematic Botany, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, DE3Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, Bern, CH4Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F), Frankfurt, DE

Climate change, land use, logging and fire are strongly affecting tropical forests. However, little is known about woody regeneration for different land cover types and tropical climates. We investigated the regeneration of woody species in six natural and seven anthropogenic disturbed habitat types along the 3.5 km elevational gradient of Mt. Kilimanjaro. We recorded all woody regeneration stems between 25 and 130 cm tall.

We found woody regeneration along the full elevation gradient with a hump shape distribution peaking at mid elevation, where rainfall and overall woody biomass are highest. The taxonomic diversity was decreasing with elevation. Both suggest that climate warming has not yet shifted the overall distribution of woody species in natural habitats. The woody regeneration layer in the savanna bears much more species than the higher canopy layers, however the communities are strongly differing. This may indicate a lack of safe sites for early establishment. In contrast, the forest zone showed a lower species number in the sapling than in the higher canopy layers and a lower, however still 30 % species turnover, suggesting sporadic recruitment or recruitment lacks of species. Only long term observations could reveal clear answers.

Agricultural land use at lower elevation, namely maize fields, grasslands and coffee plantations, reduced the number and diversity of stems dramatically. Only home gardens showed a diverse sapling community, suggesting that the traditional use and the proximity to the forest prevented a lack of propagules and soil destruction. Plots with former disturbance in form of fire and logging showed an increased recruitment of stems and species than natural plots, a proof of still ongoing succession after time spans of 30-40 years. As we also did find saplings of species typical for natural forests in the disturbed forests, we conclude that these forests still bear the chance to return to the old growth state through natural regeneration.

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Y 10

:15


QUANTIFYING NET PRIMARY PRODUCTIVITY, POTENTIAL POVERTY ALLEVIATION AND FOREST CONSERVATION IN AN AFRICAN FOREST-COCOA LANDSCAPE

Alexandra Morel1,2, Michael Adu Sasu3, Mark Hirons1, Ken Norris2, Yadvinder Malhi1

1University of Oxford, School of Geography and the Environment, Oxford, UK, [email protected] of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, London, UK3Nature Conservation Research Centre, Accra, GH

As part of a three-year Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA) funded project looking at the ecological limits to poverty alleviation, we have been collecting continuous in situ measurements of net primary productivity (NPP) in cocoa farms and contiguous protected and logged forest. The plots were located across landscape (distance from forest) and management (density of shade trees maintained) gradients, to assess the trade-offs between crop yields and ecologically sensitive farm management.

In addition, we collected household demographic, farm management and standard of living data to assess the importance of agroforestry incomes for alleviating community-level poverty measures.

We found that NPP levels varied widely across our plots and, in some cases, cocoa plots were as productive as neighbouring protected forest. Crop yields were not related to NPP levels, suggesting farmers could be managing their cocoa farms to maximise cocoa yields, carbon sequestration and habitat for biodiversity. We developed an ecological production that found there was not a direct influence of shade management on cocoa yields; however, farms located closer to an intact forest did derive a yield benefit. This suggests policy options such as incentives for maintaining shade and forest conservation could accomplish both positive income effects and biodiversity conservation outcomes in this landscape.

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Y 11

:00


CAN INTERCROPPING WITH THE WORLD’S THREE MAJOR BEVERAGE PLANTS HELP IMPROVE THE WATER USE OF RUBBER TREES?

Junen Wu1, Wenjie Liu1, Chunfeng Chen1

1Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, CN, [email protected]

The dramatic expansion of rubber plantations in mainland South-East Asia and South-West China has caused many eco-environmental problems, especially negative hydrological consequences. These problems have gradually worsened and pose formidable threats to rubber agriculture, especially in the light of increasingly frequent extreme weather events. Although rubber-based agroforestry systems are regarded as the best solution for improving the sustainability of rubber agriculture and environmental conservation, plant water use and related interspecific interactions have rarely been examined in such systems.

We primarily used stable isotope (δD, δ18O and δ13C) methods to test whether intercropping could improve the water use of rubber trees in three types of promising agroforestry systems (i.e. rubber with tea, coffee and cocoa) in Xishuangbanna, China. We found that the rubber tree is a drought-avoidance plant with strong plasticity with respect to water uptake. This characteristic is reflected by its ability to cope with serious seasonal drought, allowing it to avoid interspecific competition for water. The rubber trees showed wasteful water behavior unless they were intercropped with tea or coffee. However, these intercropped species exhibited drought-tolerance strategies and maintained lower water use efficiencies to strengthen their competitive capacity for surface soil water. The stable δ13C values of the intercrop leaves indicated that all the agroforestry systems have stable internal microclimatic environments or higher resistance.

This study suggests that interspecific competition for water can enhance the water use efficiency of drought-avoidance plants (i.e. rubber trees) and lead to complementarity between the root distributions of plants in rubber agroforestry systems (i.e. rubber with tea, coffee and cocoa). All agroforestry systems have higher resistance, but tea was the most suitable intercrop in terms of water use because the interspecific competition for water was moderate and the agroforestry system retained much more soil water and improved the water use efficiency of the rubber tree. Considering the root characteristics of the tea trees, we suggest that the crops selected for intercropping with rubber trees should have a relatively fixed water use pattern, short lateral roots and a moderate amount of fine roots that overlap with the roots of the rubber trees in the shallow soil layer.

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Y 11

:15


IMPACTS OF OIL PALM PLANTATION AND RIPARIAN BUFFER QUALITY ON STREAM LITTER DECOMPOSITION AND BACTERIAL COLONIZATION IN BORNEO

Darshanaa Chellaiah1

1Monash University Malaysia, Selangor, MY, [email protected]

Southeast Asia is undergoing extensive conversion of tropical forests into exotic monoculture plantations, particularly oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) (OP). This undoubtedly alters aquatic productivity as headwater streams are heavily dependent on inputs of riparian leaf litter to provide energy and nutrients to aquatic food webs. To reduce plantation impacts, the retention of riparian buffer zones along stream and river banks are widely advocated as an environmental management tool.

In this study, we compared the efficacy of commonly used riparian buffer types in OP plantations to mitigate impacts on litter decomposition rates and associated bacterial assemblages quantified using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Our riparian types follow a disturbance gradient: (1) forested reference sites (NF); (2) OP with ~20 m buffer of native vegetation along both banks (OPF); (3) OP planted to stream edge with no chemical application within ~20 m of stream edge on both banks (OPOP); (4) OP planted to stream edge with chemical application (OPNB). The litterbag experiment was conducted using two leaf types of contrasting quality, native reference Macaranga tanarius and exotic OP leaves.

We found that both leaf species responded differently to changes in riparian quality. Macaranga litter was more susceptible to increases in nutrients and stream temperatures in OP streams with increased bacterial diversity and richness as well as decomposition rates. However, decomposition of OP leaves only slowed in OPOP streams, where we also found significantly different bacterial composition compared to all other riparian types. We propose that long term disturbances at these sites altered the sets of functional interactions of bacterial communities with possible implications on litter processing rates. Overall, our results show the complex interactions between responses of litter processing rates and bacterial decomposer assemblages to litter and riparian quality in oil palm streams in Borneo. Findings from this study provide support for the use of riparian buffers with emphasis on high tree diversity to effectively mitigate adverse OP plantation impacts on tropical stream functioning.

Merian Award Applicant THU

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Y 11

:30


ECOSYSTEM SERVICES FROM LARGE-SCALE RESTORATION

Catarina Jakovac1, Andre B. Junqueira1, Bernardo Strassburg1

1International Institute for Sustainability, Rio de Janeiro, BR, [email protected]

International agreements have set goals for restoring 150 million hectares of deforested and degraded lands by 2020 globally. Countries signing such agreements have set specific goals and are developing law instruments for achieving them. In this study we ask what would be the contribution in terms of ecosystem services of large scale restoration if the world achieve such goals?

We use Brazil as a model to quantify the contribution of landscape restoration to carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation at multiple scales. The Brazilian environmental law requires around 19.5 million hectares to be restored in private lands. If all that area is restored with native vegetation, 8,670,820 Gg of CO2 will be sequestered from the atmosphere into above and belowground biomass. The rainforests of the Amazon and Atlantic Forest biomes and the savannas of the Cerrado make together 90 % of the area to be restored and 97 % of carbon sequestration. Belowground biomass contributes with 23 % of the carbon sequestered. According to the recovery rates of native vegetation estimated for the Neotropics, such maximum carbon stocks would be achieved within 60 years. Therefore, around 144,514 Gg of CO2 would be sequestered per year. This amount represents 7 % of the mean annual emissions in Brazil (mean annual emission of Brazil is 1,984,485 Gg CO2eq) and 20 % if zero deforestation is attained. Brazil has committed, in the Paris Agreement, to reduce its emissions in 37 % by 2025. Therefore, forest restoration along with zero deforestation is important climate mitigation pathways to be followed. Our analyses indicate that belowground biomass plays an important role in carbon sequestration, especially in the savanna biomes, and should be taken into account.

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Y 11

:45


RESTORING RAINFOREST IN MADAGASCAR: ARE WE PLANTING ENOUGH TREES FOR PEOPLE AND LEMURS?

Maholy Ravaloharimanitra1, Lucien Randrianarimanana1,2,3

1The Aspinall Foundation Madagascar, Antananarivo, MG, [email protected] (Groupe des Etudes et Recherches sur les Primates de Madagascar), Antananarivo, MG3University of Antananarivo, Antananarivo, MG

Rainforest restoration is vital for reversing current trends of deforestation and for maintaining remaining habitat for Madagascar’s unique wildlife, including its >100 emblematic lemur species (90 % of which are threatened by extinction). We have therefore introduced reforestation and ecological restoration programs as a conservation tool to be implemented by local communities managing various lemur-rich rainforest sites in eastern Madagascar under government-backed management transfer schemes. In order to overcome initial scepticism of the need rainforest restoration, we have integrated community members in assessing the impact of current forest use on resource availability and ecological services.

We used spatial analyses to map forest evolution and correlate it with human demographics in order to run simulations of potential future scenarios. In order to reach a high level of accuracy, we have collected data on the number of cut trees and the amount of other forest products consumed per year. Based on these findings, we calculated the expected number of trees to be planted each year in order to keep the rainforest and its ecological services from shrinking.

As a result, motivation among the local community to engage in rainforest restoration and tree planting has considerably increased, which has helped us to set up a comprehensive rainforest restoration program aiming at both maintaining the local community’s resource base and securing crucial habitat for endangered lemurs.

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SESSION 24TOWARDS A RESILIENT RURAL LANDSCAPE IN THE ATLANTIC FOREST OF RIO DE JANEIRO: EXPERIENCES FROM INTECRAL PROJECT

Chairs: Claudia RAEDIG, Udo NEHRENContact: [email protected]

Since the days of the European colonization, within a period of about 500 years, today`s state of Rio de Janeiro has been transformed from a sparsely populated forested area to an economic and cultural hub of Brazil and the whole continent of South America. This process is characterized by technological progress, economic development and population growth, and at the same time by overexploitation of natural resources, land and ecosystem degradation, uncontrolled urban sprawl, and increasing social disparities. Today, the rural landscape of Rio de Janeiro state is dominated by an agricultural and pastoral matrix, with forest fragments occurring mainly in steep areas or in areas otherwise difficult to access. Forest fragmentation is accompanied by habitat and biodiversity loss as well as soil degradation and erosion.

For such lands, extreme weather events as the severe drought events in the northeast of the state (2014-2016) as well as floods and mudslides in response to heavy precipitation events in the mountainous south (2011, the municipality of Teresopólis being particularly affected) are increasingly devastating. Regional climate scenarios indicate that extreme weather events will increase in the future, triggering drought events in the northeast as well as raising disaster risk in the south of the state. As a consequence, the rural producers, mainly family farmers, will be adversely affected. According to more pessimistic predictions, even food and water supply for the metropole region of Rio de Janeiro might be at risk.

In light of this setting, the BMBF-funded German-Brazilian research project INTECRAL (Integrated eco technologies and services for a sustainable rural Rio de Janeiro, 2013-2017) with the collaboration of the World Bank-funded sustainable development programme ‘Rio Rural’ seeks to explore solutions for a more resilient rural landscape in Rio de Janeiro state. Nested in the complex legal environmental framework of Brazil, integrated strategies, concepts and tools were developed to contribute to the rural region’s sustainable development, maintaining the family farm dominated rural matrix as well as maintaining ecosystem functions and associated services of the forest fragments. In the session, different measures developed within INTECRAL project will be presented, which contribute to a resilient rural landscape, such as corridor strategies for private protected areas, restoration measures with endemic plant species, potential use and conservation options for a threatened tree species, or eco-friendly and affordable harvesting techniques.

THU

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Y 13

:30

S24-O01 – RESILIENT RURAL LANDSCAPE FOR RIO DE JANEIRO

AN INTRODUCTION TO INTECRAL (INTEGRATED ECO TECHNOLOGIES AND SERVICES FOR A SUSTAINABLE RURAL RIO DE JANEIRO) PROJECT

Claudia Raedig1, Udo Nehren1

1TH Köln, Cologne, DE, [email protected]

The BMBF-(German Federal Ministry of Education and Research) funded research project INTECRAL (2013 until 2017) aimed at finding integrative solutions for more sustainable development of the rural region of Rio de Janeiro (RJ). Before project start, research demands were aligned with the World Bank-funded ‘Program Rio Rural’ (PRR) at the State Secretariat of Agriculture and Livestock. PRR is a cooperation of different, mostly RJ-based stakeholders, working for a more resilient rural landscape in RJ state with a focus on supporting family farmers. Research demands were oriented towards management options that bring together agricultural production and biodiversity conservation and consider Brazil’s legal framework for environmental protection.

Solutions on one hand allow the cultivation of crops which due to legal restrictions could not possibly be pursued in an economically successful way in the future, like sugarcane cultivation at the family farm level. On the other hand, solutions are addressing biodiversity conservation, e.g. measures which maintain and connect areas with near-natural vegetation in an agricultural matrix. One important aspect often neglected due to standards used for decades for plantation of tree species globally is the use of native species. RJ state belongs to the Mata Atlântica biome which is known for its exceptional richness of endemic species and suggests the use of endemic species for ecological restoration and rehabilitation measures. One famous species, the national tree of Brazil Paubrasilia echinata Lam., a CITES-listed species, is further scrutinized for potentials and constraints for a sustainable cultivation strategy. Most relevant solutions provided by INTECRAL project will be summarized in the book ‘Strategies and tools for a sustainable rural Rio de Janeiro’ which will be published in 2018 in the Springer series on Environmental Management.

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Y 13

:45


AGROECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT IN RIO DE JANEIRO (BRAZIL): RECONCILING AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION AND BIRD CONSERVATION

Augusto Piratelli1, Fatima Piña-Rodrigues1, Claudia Raedig2

1Universidade Federal de Sao Carlos, Departamento de Ciencias Ambientais, Sorocaba, BR, [email protected] of Applied Sciences, Institute for Technology and Resources Management in the Tropics and Subtropics, Köln, DE

Recent research has focused on characterizing biodiversity and its ecological functions as well as associated ecosystem services (e.g. pollination, seed dispersal, and control of herbivorous arthropods). A more applied angle of this research is the development of biodiversity-friendly measures in agricultural practices maintaining ecosystem functions and services.

More than half of Brazil’s native vegetation is found on restricted areas, and farmers are required by law to maintain parts of their lands as “legal reserves” (LRs) and “permanently protected areas” (PPAs). These areas may serve as stepping stone for animals and plants, by connecting larger patches of native vegetation across agroecosystems. However, a recent revision of the Brazilian forest code has considerably reduced LRs and PPAs, also allowing the use of exotic species in half an area for restoration purposes. Without proper regulation, this situation may put at risk the biodiversity, the ecosystem services it plays, and the future of Brazilian agricultural production.

Birds serve as models for the range of ecosystem services that they consistently perform, and monitoring these species can provide substantial data for a more effective combination of agricultural production and biodiversity conservation. We discuss more sustainable agriculture practices for optimizing both for agricultural production and bird biodiversity conservation and, and thus for human well-being.

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Y 14

:00


SAVING SMALL SCALE SUGARCANE FARMERS IN THE STATE OF RIO DE JANEIRO: A DEVELOPMENT STUDY OF A HARVESTING TECHNOLOGY

Carl-Friedrich Gaese1

1TH Köln, ITT, Cologne, DE, [email protected]

Environmental legislation in Brazil takes account of the conservation. For the environment, the ban of burning of dry leaves before the sugarcane harvest is indisputable. However, for the family farmers, this ban will cause the relinquishing of sugarcane cultivation, since without pre-burning, the harvesting will be too expensive to maintain their existence. In the state of Rio de Janeiro pre-burning will end by the year 2024. Whereas solutions for large companies like the self-propelled harvester technology are available, there is a great need for harvest technology for small farms, because until now they are mostly dependent on manual harvesting. When family farmers are able to keep their sugarcane production, usually in combination with other agricultural activities, the diverse agricultural matrix of Rio de Janeiro can be maintained. In parallel, by implementation of a more efficient harvesting process, more high-quality material will be available for further processing as well as more material for feeding the energy demand and generate income for the farmers. Even the sustainable use of sugar cane leaves as a source of energy will become more important in the coming years.

Compared to the conventional harvesting technology, entire stalks of sugarcane are harvested avoiding major losses of sugar juice and reducing fermentation. Due to the gentle defoliation, the stalks can be used for replanting because rhizomes and nodes are not damaged. The device is pulled by a tractor and has low power consumption. Plant tops and leaf mass fall to the soil after removal and are not mixed with soil particles during the harvesting process. In this way, soil particles do not get into the further processing process and leaf mass can be used on the other hand for further use.

For this study both economic and structural conditions in Rio de Janeiro were examined including the state of art and the biologic and technical properties of sugarcane.

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Y 14

:15


PROMOTING CONNECTIVITY IN RIO DE JANEIRO STATE: CORRIDORS FOR LINKING PRIVATE PROTECTED AREAS

Lorena Valeria Guzmán Wolfhard1, Raedig Claudia1

1TH Köln, Cologne, DE, [email protected]

Brazil has a highly complex environmental legal framework, and in addition to the obligatory protection of forest, land owners have the option to create private protected areas (Reservas Particulares do Patrimônio Natural, RPPNs). Such RPPNs allow maintaining or re-establishing connectivity, by acting as stepping stones and thus counteracting forest fragmentation and associated biodiversity loss. So far, RPPNs are not considered for land management planning and their establishment is dependent of the knowledge of landowners about the possibility to create RPPNs and their willingness to establish such protected areas on their lands.

Therefore, this study aims to explore possible connectivity paths between established and probable future RPPNs in two municipalities in Rio de Janeiro, one in the comparatively forest-rich Serrana Region, and the other one in the comparatively forest-poor Northwest Fluminense Region. Connectivity routes among RPPNs were identified by using two methods: the “least cost path” method for finding the “cheapest” paths by assigning different weights to land use features and a second method which ranks the different land use features from areas suitable to non-suitable for linking of RPPNs. The latter method allowed for the use of more recent data of the study area and was supplemented with data of the willingness of landowners to establish RPPNs on their land (for the Fluminense Region). Both methods permitted the identification of suitable linkages between RPPNs and priority areas for future RPPN establishment, and can be considered as starting point for future connectivity strategies incorporating a more systematic establishment of RPPNs to counter fragmentation and biodiversity loss.

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Y 14

:30


BIOENGINEERED REHABILITATION OF DEGRADED LAND USING NATIVE PLANT SPECIES - A CASE STUDY FROM SOUTHEAST BRAZIL

Dietmar Sattler1, Anja Hebner2, Jens Wesenberg3, Jürgen Heinrich1

1Leipzig University, Institute of Geography, Leipzig, DE, [email protected]. Födisch Umweltmesstechnik AG, Markranstädt, DE3Senckenberg Museum of Natural History, Görlitz, DE

In Southeast Brazil, the continuously growing pressure from rural and industrial land use is causing progressive land degradation, especially within the unique Atlantic Forest dominion of this region. In contrast to considerable experience in afforesting native forests in Brazil, only little information on ecosystem-friendly bioengineering measures for the rehabilitation of degraded areas is available. Furthermore, natural engineering or soil-bioengineering measures using living plant material are still very rare and if applied, they mostly use non-native plants from other tropical regions. The use of non-native plants for rehabilitation of degraded areas carries several risks, in particular ecological incompatibility and the potential invasive spread of these plants.

The study presented provides a brief overview of the actual state-of-the-art regarding the use of native and non-native plant species in rehabilitation and restoration measures applied in the Atlantic Forest dominion. Moreover, results from a case study on bioengineered rehabilitation of a degraded pasture are presented where native plants were successfully used. The case study confirmed that bioengineered rehabilitation measures using native species are an additional and valid tool for small scale land restoration. Such measures can even help supporting local biodiversity conservation without compromising farmland activities within the dominion of the Atlantic Forest.

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Y 14

:45


POTENTIALS FOR THE CONSERVATION AND THE ECONOMIC USE OF THE THREATENED BRAZILIAN NATIONAL TREE PAUBRASILIA ECHINATA LAM. WITHIN RIO DE JANEIRO STATE

Silke Lichtenberg1, Udo Nehren1, Elisabeth Huber-Sannwald2, Juan Antonio Reyes-Agüero3

1Institute for Technology and Resources Management in the Tropics and Subtropics, Technische Hochschule Köln, Köln, DE, [email protected] Potosino de Investigación Científica y Technológica, San Luis Potosí, MX3Instituto de Investigación de Zonas Desérticas, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí, MX

Several native and endemic tree species of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, especially precious wood species, are highly endangered due to the historical and current overexploitation. In consequence, the legal extraction of wood from wild forests is completely prohibited and legal extraction from plantations of native tree species is strictly regulated.

Brazil’s national tree Paubrasilia echinata Lam. - in Portuguese pau-brasil – is one of them. Its precious wood is used worldwide as raw material for high quality violin bows. Alternative wood species are rarely accepted by professional musicians, bow makers and violin makers, even though some of them have been proven to meet the high technical standards of wood characteristics which pau-brasil guarantees for premium violin bows. Therefore, it was looked for alternative solutions to cover future wood demand and commercial pau-brasil plantations have been established and supported by the affected stakeholders.

There exist several plantation types with pau-brasil, such as monospecific and mixed tree plantations and agroforestry systems, yet there is poor understanding concerning their long-term productivity, wood quality, and economic return. For the sustainability of theses plantations and to guarantee continuous supply of planted pau-brasil for future wood markets, it is essential to identify potential ecological, economic, legal, and social assets and constraints including the potential contribution of wood supply by pau-brasil plantations. The presented data originate from a field study in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest with detailed inventories of nine plantations in Northeast and Southeast Brazil. Based on these data the conservation and utilization potential of pau-brasil for the state of Rio de Janeiro, the southernmost range of the species was discussed respective to the future pau-brasil wood markets.

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SESSION 25HUMAN-MODIFIED TROPICAL FORESTS? IMPACTS OF FOREST DEGRADATION AND BIODIVERSITY LOSS ON TROPICAL ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONING

Chair: Yit Arn TEHContact: [email protected]

Human disturbance in the tropics is leading to massive changes in biodiversity and major shifts in ecosystem biogeochemistry, altering key processes such as net primary productivity, ecosystem respiration, biogeochemical cycling and fluxes of reactive trace gases. Yet despite studies of land-use change impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem biogeochemistry of tropical forests, the links between these impacts have received less attention, challenging our ability to accurately model and predict the response of tropical ecosystems to current and future environmental forcings.

In this session, we will explore what is known about the linkages between forest degradation and biodiversity loss, and investigate the consequences of these concomitant phenomena for ecosystem processes and trace gas exchange. We will identify key knowledge gaps and discuss means of addressing them, including inter-disciplinary or multi-disciplinary modes of problem solving. Contributions are particular welcome from those investigating plant-soil interactions; biosphere-atmosphere exchange; traits-based approaches to studying ecological processes; remote sensing approaches to quantifying biodiversity and ecosystem functioning; the role of fauna in modulating biogeochemical cycles and multi-trophic processes.

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Y 09

:30

S25-O01 – HUMAN-MODIFIED TROPICAL FORESTS

COMPLETE CARBON BUDGET IN SELECTIVELY LOGGED AND OLD-GROWTH TROPICAL FORESTS IN BORNEO

Terhi Riutta1,2, Yadvinder Malhi1, Lip Khoon Kho1,3, Toby R Marthews1,4, Walter Huaraca Huasco1, Sylvester Tan5, Edgar Turner6, Glen Reynolds7, Sabine Both8, David FRP Burslem8, Yit Arn Teh8, Stuart J Davies5, Noreen Majalap9, Charles S Vairappan10, Robert M Ewers2

1University of Oxford, Oxford, UK, [email protected] College London, Ascot, UK3Tropical Peat Research Institute, Malaysian Palm Oil Board, Kajang, MY4Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford, UK5Centre for Tropical Forest Science, Washington, US6University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK7The Royal Society South East Asia Rainforest Research Partnership, Lahad Datu, MY8University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK9Forest Research Centre, Sabah Forestry Department, Sandakan, MY10Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, MY

The area of human-modified tropical forests exceeds that of undisturbed forests, making them an important component of the global carbon budget. However, carbon dynamics in human-modified tropical forests remain poorly quantified. Here, we present the first estimates for the complete carbon budget of five selectively logged forest plots and six old-growth forest plots in Malaysian Borneo.

We measured net primary productivity (NPP) of canopy, woody and fine root components, and autotrophic (Ra, comprising leaf, stem and root) and heterotrophic (Rh, comprising deadwood, litter, mycorrhiza and soil organic matter) respiration. The ecosystem carbon balance was estimated as the difference between NPP and Rh and gross primary productivity (GPP) was estimated as the sum of NPP and Ra. The methods follow the GEM plot protocols.

GPP and Ra were higher in logged forest than in old-growth forest, while NPP and carbon use efficiency (NPP/GPP) in both forest types was similar. Rh was higher in logged forest. The old-growth plots were a small carbon sink (given the uncertainties, not different from zero), while the logged plots were a small source of carbon to the atmosphere. Carbon sequestration via the high growth rate of trees in logged forest did not offset the carbon emissions from the excess organic matter and higher mortality, which were legacies of the logging. Given that the majority of tropical forest biome has experienced some degree of logging, accurate assessments of logged forest carbon sink and source strengths are crucial for estimating the carbon balance of the tropical biome.

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:45


HUMAN MODIFICATION ALTERS THE GREENHOUSE GAS BALANCE OF MANAGED TROPICAL PEATLANDS IN NORTHERN BORNEO

Yit Arn Teh1, Frances Manning1, Norliyana Zin Zawawi1, Sarah Cook2, Timothy Hill3, Lip Khoon Kho4

1University of Aberdeen, School of Biological Sciences, Aberdeen, UK, [email protected] of Leicester, Department of Geography, Leicester, UK3University of Exeter, Department of Geography, Exeter, UK4Malaysian Palm Oil Board, Tropical Peat Research Institute, Kuala Lumpur, MY

Human modification of tropical peatlands, especially in Southeast Asia, has the potential to alter the source-sink potential of tropical peatlands for C and the composition of greenhouse gas emissions. Given the large scale of tropical peatland conversion in Southeast Asia and the key role that these types of ecosystems play in local communities’ livelihoods, it is imperative that we find means of improving the sustainability of these managed peatland landscapes to mitigate climate change and environmental pollution.

Here we report ecosystem fluxes of CO2, CH4 and N2O fluxes from managed tropical peatlands in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo that are currently under oil palm production. Trace gas flux was quantified using a mixture of top-down methods (i.e. eddy co-variance) and bottom-up approaches (i.e. intensive C plots, flux chamber measurements, quantification of aqueous transfers). We also explored the potential for mitigation of greenhouse gas fluxes through altered management practices, focusing on fertilizer and water table management.Top-down and bottom-up methods indicated that these ecosystems were net atmospheric sources of CO2 emitting approximately 3 ± 4 Mg C.ha-1.yr-1. Water table position played a key role in modulating rates of C loss, with reduced C emissions at higher water table positions. These ecosystems were also net atmospheric sources of CH4 and N2O. Net CH4 flux was approximately 37 to 62 ± 88 kg C.ha-1.yr-1 and showed pronounced spatial heterogeneity. Flooded microforms displayed elevated rates CH4 efflux, and played a disproportionately large role in regulating ecosystem CH4 balance. Net N2O flux was more difficult to estimate because of lack of agreement between our top-down and bottom-up measurement methods. Eddy covariance measurements suggest a net annual flux of 11 kg N.ha-1.yr-1, while chamber-based flux measurements suggest a net annual flux of 591 ± 843 kg N.ha-1.yr-1 to 4782 ± 8522 kg N.ha-1.yr-1. This discrepancy between top-down and bottom-up methods is due in part because of the very high temporal heterogeneity in N2O flux, driven by periodic fertilizer application. These data suggest that altered water table and surface management practices are the best means of controlling C trace gas fluxes, while advances in fertilizer management could play a critical role in mitigating N2O flux.

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Y 10

:00


WHERE CAN WE STORE MOST CARBON? USING AN 80-YEAR CHRONOSEQUENCE TO IDENTIFY DRIVERS OF CARBON UPTAKE IN SECONDARY FORESTS

Isabel Jones1, Lynsey Bunnefeld1, Pattison Zarah1, Daisy Dent1,2

1University of Stirling, Stirling, UK, [email protected] Tropical Research Institute, Panama City, PA

Secondary tropical forests regenerating after land abandonment can rapidly uptake carbon into above-ground biomass, presenting a cost-effective tool for lowering atmospheric CO2. However, carbon uptake and storage in secondary forests can vary across space and time. Understanding the factors that drive differential rates of carbon uptake across regenerating forests, such as soil nutrient status, is essential for building more accurate predictive models of carbon uptake and storage capacity across secondary forests globally.Using a chronosequence of secondary forests in Panama, ranging from 40-120 years, we use structural equation modelling to disentangle the relationships between carbon pools in above-ground biomass, deadwood, below-ground biomass and soil, and quantify the relative importance of site characteristics such as forest age, soil nutrients, and land-use history in determining levels of carbon storage.

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Y 10

:15


EFFECTS OF SELECTIVE LOGGING ON A PRODUCTION FOREST’S SUCCESSION OF THE AMAZON: A SIMULATION EXPERIMENT

Ulrike Hiltner1,2, Achim Bräuning2, Andreas Huth1,3,4, Rico Fischer1

1Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, Dept. Ecological Modelling, Leipzig, DE, [email protected] Erlangen-Nuremberg, Inst. of Geography, Erlangen, DE3University of Osnabruck, Inst. of Environmental System Research, Osnabruck, DE4German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research iDiv, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, DE

There is a growing concern about the extent to which tropical production forests in the Amazon are managed sustainably. The Amazon rainforest is an essential carbon reservoir, with a high degree of biodiversity worth protecting. It provides useful resources, such as timber, which has contributed to the loss of about 20 % of the forest area in the last five decades. The implementation of economically and ecologically sustainable silviculture strategies plays a central role in preventing further loss of resilience and

forest degradation. However, in order to identify effective silviculture strategies, methods to support the decision-making process are urgently needed. One opportunity to estimate future stand structures is provided by dynamic forest growth models able to extrapolate field data in the long-term under different scenarios of future environments and logging intensity.

We applied the dynamic, individual-based forest model FORMIND, with management module, to a humid tropical lowland forest of the northeastern Amazon in French Guiana. We developed a simulation experiment, for undisturbed forest growth and selective logging options, which helps us to better understand long-term effects of different disturbance intensities on the forest’s aboveground biomass production and tree species composition. For the first time, we were able to validate the short-term accuracy of our simulation experiment with the help of multi-year, large-scale forest inventory data, in which secondary succession and undisturbed growth conditions have been recorded over the last 32 years. Our simulation results show the model accurately mirrors aggregated forest attributes, such as aboveground biomass and basal area, of both undisturbed growth and selective logging. We demonstrate that silviculture strategies with low disturbance have advantages over conventional ones in context of forest resilience. Due to a higher disturbance of forest residues, current silviculture burdens future biomass production, tree species composition, and delays recovery. TH

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LAND-USE CHANGE AFFECTS PLANT TRAIT DISTRIBUTION IN A SEASONALLY DRY TROPICAL FOREST

Julia Sfair1,2, Francesco de Bello2, Marcelo Tabarelli1

1Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, BR, [email protected] of South Bohemia, Ceske Budejovice, CZ

The intensity of land-use, associated to climate change and soil nutrient depletion, are affecting the biota of Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests (SDTF) in irreversible ways. Although there are plenty evidences that human disturbance, water availability and soil nutrients can affect plant diversity, little is known about how these environmental conditions can affect functional composition and diversity in SDTF.

In a Brazilian SDTF (Caatinga), we investigated how chronic anthropogenic disturbance (CAD, which included wood extraction and livestock pressure) along a rainfall and soil gradients affects the local (alpha) and between areas (beta) functional diversities and the variation of traits, considering interspecific and intraspecific variability.

Areas with low rainfall not only have low functional diversity, but also have different functional composition in comparison to wetter areas. On the other hand, CAD has higher impact on trait distribution: whereas wood extraction promoted species that avoid water loss, livestock affected more edible plant individuals, with softer tissues. When we analyze the trait variation of the most abundant and frequent species (i.e., successful species), the response to each environmental variable is idiosyncratic, i.e., whereas some species are affected by wood extraction, others are more influenced by livestock pressure or rainfall. In fact, these species have different strategies to cope with water stress, nutrient variation and CAD, i.e., the most successful species do not have a set of traits that characterize them. In synthesis, CAD, rainfall and soil fertility can affect different aspects of functional composition and diversity, with potential implications for the ecosystem functioning of SDTF under increasing levels of disturbance, climate change and soil nutrient depletion.

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Y 11

:15


THE IMPACTS OF LOGGING ON SOIL MICROBIAL DIVERSITY IN TROPICAL FORESTS OF BORNEO

Dafydd Elias1,2, Nick Ostle2, Niall McNamara1, Rob Griffiths3, Sam Robinson2, Sabine Both4, David Burslem4, Terhi Riutta5, Yadvinder Malhi5

1Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Lancaster Environment Centre, Library Avenue, Bailrigg, Lancaster, UK, [email protected] and Soil Ecology Laboratory, Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK3Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Maclean Building, Benson Lane, Crowmarsh Gifford, Wallingford, UK4Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK5Environmental Change Institute, Oxford University Centre for the Environment, South Parks Road, Oxford, UK

With land use change such as logging predicted to have dire consequences for above ground tropical biodiversity, it is crucial to understand whether these impacts may alter belowground biotic communities. Soil microbial communities mediate multiple ecosystem services such as net primary production, litter decomposition, nutrient cycling and biosphere-atmosphere trace gas exchange. Alteration of the belowground soil microbiome may drive changes to these ecosystem processes as recent studies have

shown a positive link between below ground diversity and ecosystem function.

We sampled 4 unlogged and 4 logged established tropical forest plots across Sabah, Malaysia to measure soil properties and characterise microbial communities. We used next generation Illumina amplicon sequencing to identify soil bacteria and fungi in order to test the hypotheses that soil microbial diversity would be reduced by logging.

Results show that whilst bacterial diversity was driven predominantly by soil pH rather than logging history, species richness of ectomycorrhizal fungi was significantly reduced by logging. We propose that this is due to the selective removal of large individuals from the Dipterocarpaceae family which are one of the dominant ectomycorrhizal symbionts in south-east Asian tropical forests. This may have important implications in terms of carbon cycling, nutrient mobilization and transfer of nutrients from soil organic matter to trees.

This work forms part of the wider NERC Human Modified Tropical Forest Programme which aims to understand the role of biodiversity in major biogeochemical cycles of tropical forests. TH

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DISTURBANCE-INDUCED MICROCLIMATE CHANGE DRIVES COMMUNITY SHIFTS IN RAINFOREST ANTS AFTER LOGGING AND CONVERSION TO OIL PALM

Michael Boyle1,2, Tom Bishop1,3, Sarah Luke4,5, Stephen Hardwick1, R. Isolde Lane-Shaw1, Marion Pfeifer1,6, Michiel van Breugel7,8, Theodore Evans9,2, Clare Wilkinson1, Arthur Chung10, Robert Ewers1

1Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, London, UK, [email protected] of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore, SG, 3Centre for Invasion Biology, Dept of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, ZA4School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK5Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK6School of Biology, Newcastle University, Newcastle, UK7Forest GEO, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama, PA8Yale-NUS College, Singapore, SG9School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, AU10Forest Research Centre, Sabah Forestry Department, Sepilok, MY

Logging and habitat conversion create hotter microclimate conditions in tropical landscapes, which represents a powerful form of localised anthropogenic climate change. These novel conditions are thought to directly affect tropical organisms, particularly ectotherms, although empirical evidence is lacking. Here we investigated how interactions between environmental temperature and the physiological traits of species affected communities of ants, a key functional group in tropical ecosystems.We obtained 3 years of microclimate recordings from 244 sampling points across a gradient of forest disturbance in Malaysian Borneo, and quantified the ant community (4,620 individuals) at a subset of 59 of these sampling points. Live ants were collected from the same areas (2,359 individuals), and subjected to laboratory warming experiments to determine thermal tolerances.The abundance of ant genera along a gradient of forest disturbance was defined by an interaction between their thermal tolerance and environmental temperature. In warmer microhabitats, genera with high thermal tolerance had increased abundance, and those with low thermal tolerance had decreased abundance. The genus-level changes in abundance scaled up to generate community-level changes, with a 1°C increase in maximum daily temperature corresponding to an increase of 0.39°C in community-weighted mean thermal tolerance.Our results empirically demonstrate that disturbance-induced microclimate change directly influences the abundance of key organisms in tropical landscapes. Forests around the world are being rapidly disturbed and fragmented, leaving novel landscapes characterised by altered microclimates. Our findings reinforce the need to develop a mechanistic understanding of the impacts of microclimate change in human-modified landscapes.

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Y 11

:45


INTER-ANNUAL DYNAMICS AND PERSISTENCE OF SMALL MAMMAL COMMUNITIES IN A SELECTIVELY LOGGED TROPICAL FOREST IN BORNEO

Philip Chapman1, Oliver Wearn2, Terhi Riutta1,3, Chris Carbone2, J. Marcus Rowcliffe2, Henry Bernard4, Robert Ewers1

1Imperial College London, London, UK, [email protected] Society of London, London, UK3Oxford University, Oxford, UK4Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, MY

Understanding temporal change and long-term persistence of species and communities is vital if we are to accurately assess the relative values of human-modified habitats for biodiversity. Despite a large literature and emerging consensus demonstrating a high conservation value of selectively logged tropical rainforests, few studies have taken a long-term perspective. We resampled small mammals (≤1 kg) in a heavily logged landscape in Sabah, Borneo between 2011 and 2016 to investigate temporal patterns of species-level changes in population density.

We found that small mammal population density in heavily logged forest was highly variable among years, consistent with patterns previously observed in unlogged forest, and uncovered evidence suggesting that one species is potentially declining towards local extinction. Across nine species, population densities varied almost sevenfold during our six-year study period, highlighting the extremely dynamic nature of small mammal communities in this ecosystem. Strictly terrestrial murid species tended to exhibit strong temporal dynamics, whereas semi-arboreal foraging species such as tree shrews had more stable dynamics. We found no relationships between population density and fruit/seed mass, and therefore no evidence that our patterns represent responses to interannual mast fruiting of the dominant canopy dipterocarp trees. This may be due to the removal of most of the canopy during logging, and hence the dipterocarp seed resource, although it possibly also reflects spatiotemporal limitations of our data. Our results underline the importance of understanding long-term variability in animal communities before developing conservation and management recommendations for human-altered ecosystems.

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SESSION 26FOREST MANAGEMENT CERTIFICATION: CURRENT CHALLENGES OF IMPACT EVALUATION

Chairs: Marion KARMANN, Franck TROLLIETContact: [email protected]

Tropical forests are being threatened by habitat degradation and deforestation worldwide. These changes, mainly caused by a global increasing demand for land, timber and Non Timber Forest Products, affect the sustainability of biodiversity, a wide array of ecosystem services associated with it, and the long-term well-being of humans from a local to a global scale. While logging activity is often perceived as a major threat to tropical forest ecosystems, forest management (FM) certification has been developed as a response to growing anthropogenic disturbances.

FM certification aims at promoting better environmental, social and economic forest management practices. Today FM certification is mainstream, supported worldwide by major producers and buyers. Certification appear thus as a powerful tool to ensure the long-term balance between the maintenance of forests’ ecological functions, the well-being of local human populations and the sustainable exploitation of forest resources. Yet, precisely evaluating how certification schemes impact those various dimensions is challenging and still requires efforts from the community of researchers.

The objective of this session is to get an overview about the most recent research findings, challenges and needs to evaluate ecological impacts of FM certification on tropical forests.

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Y 13

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S26-O01 – IMPACT EVALUATION OF FOREST CERTIFICATION

NEED, CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES TO EVALUATE THE IMPACT OF FOREST MANAGEMENT CERTIFICATION: THE CASE OF THE FOREST STEWARDSHIP COUNCIL

Marion Karmann1, Franck Trolliet1

1Forest Stewardship Council International, Bonn, DE, [email protected]

This talk will start with an overview of the origins and goals of forest management certification and take the example of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) scheme to explain into more details the functioning and potential impacts of responsible forest management. As a multi-stakeholders initiative FSC has standards developed to ensure a balance between environmental, social and economic advantages in forestry operations. Consequently, FSC does not strive explicitly and exclusively for highest ecological requirement. Compliance of forest management with those agreed standards is regularly evaluated by third party.

In contrast, the evaluation of on-the-ground impacts of forest management certification is performed by independent researchers. Although recent findings suggest that FSC does ensure environmental benefits, evaluators have different objectives, varying perspectives on FSC goals, use varying – not necessarily aligned methodologies. Therefore, generalization of the findings on the effects of FSC remains hardly possible. Moreover, researchers are often faced with challenges to properly conduct such assessments and draw robust conclusions. We will present some of the main difficulties of impact evaluation and discuss alternatives to better understand how assessments can be conducted, from rigorous scientific designs to specific instruments inherent to the FSC system and tools that need to be developed. We will finally emphasis that sound impact evaluations are crucial to understand what works and what does not (and for whom), and target avenues for the improvements of certification system.

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Y 13

:45


CERTIFICATION OF TROPICAL FORESTS: FROM IMPACT ASSESSMENT TO POLITICAL ECONOMY?

Alain Karsenty1

1CIRAD, Montpellier, FR, [email protected]

Certification has not reduced deforestation in tropical countries. However, improving the management of productive forests would indirectly contribute to preventing deforestation through sustainable forest-oriented development of a territory. It generates jobs and tax revenues that play their role in public decision-making processes regarding land use. It is difficult for narrowed impact assessments to grasp this process, which is more a matter of political economy. Impact evaluators and public policies scientists must work jointly to

get a full picture of the effects of policy instruments.

Various observations suggest that companies investing in certification to gain or maintain market share are self-regulating to avoid losing their certificates, and thus comply with laws and regulations. Can FSC certification guarantee greater sustainability than strict compliance with the law? Several cases suggest that the letter of a regulation may be respected but its spirit betrayed, justifying certification. The rise of legality certifications, nevertheless, poses a challenge to the FSC and should lead to rethinking the concept of sustainability of tropical forest management.

Certified areas are promoted by governments to demonstrate (their) good forest management. Certification has become an institution in the sociological sense of an established social form. If the positive externalities of certification are considered as collective goods, and these labels are increasingly used in public policies, it becomes legitimate to supplement market incentives with subsidies for the adoption of certification. Three measures can be foreseen: (1) prioritisation in public procurement, (2) a reduction in forest royalties for certified companies, offset by international transfers to national budgets, (3) a pooling of the costs of certification audits through an allocation of certain revenues from the Forestry Funds.

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Y 14

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A BIODIVERSITY ASSESSMENT BETWEEN PROTECTED AND MANAGED FORESTS IN SOUTHEASTERN CAMEROON

Davy Fonteyn1, Simon Lhoest1, Marc Dufrêne2, Nicolas Barbier3,4, Fructueux Houngbégnon1, Moses Libalah3, Bonaventure Sonké3, Nicolas Texier3,4, Donatien Zebaze3, Adeline Fayolle1

1University of Liège, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, TERRA Research Centre, Central African Forests, Gembloux, BE, [email protected] of Liège, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, BIOSE & TERRA, Biodiversity and Landscape, Gembloux, BE3Plant Systematic and Ecology Laboratory, University of Yaoundé I, Yaoundé, CA4AMAP Lab, IRD, CIRAD, CNRS, INRA, Montpellier University, Montpellier, FR

In Central African forests, selective logging represents the main land allocation with 49.2 million of ha (28.7 % of forested areas) while protected areas represents 45.3 million of ha (26.5 % of forested areas). If managed sustainably, production forests can broaden conservation strategies outside of protected areas, preventing access to poachers and hunters, and preserving forests, though harvesting some trees per hectare (generally < 2) at each rotation (between 20 and 30 years).In this study, we aimed to assess the biodiversity retained by semi-deciduous forests allocated to protection and production in southeastern Cameroon. We specifically compared the floristic and faunistic diversity of a protected area, a FSC-certified logging concession and surrounding community forests.Camera traps and 1-ha forest plots were installed in the Dja Biosphere Reserve (n = 11 cameras, n = 5 plots), different sites in the Pallisco FSC-certified concession (n = 54 cameras, n = 25 plots) covering short and long post-logging times and also unlogged forests, and three surrounding community forests (n = 11 cameras, n = 6 plots). Plot data were collated from three institutions (University of Yaoundé I – ENS), French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD) and Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech (University of Liège).Though they retained a relatively high tree species richness, specifically for pioneer species, the community forests were found to be depauperate in animal diversity and showed a strong shift in animal species composition towards small-sized species (such as the giant pouched rat). Both indicate an already advanced defaunation process. Even if a great part of the animal diversity is retained inside the FSC-certified logging concession, the Dja Reserve holds the richest and most abundant animal communities with the occurrence of threatened species like the giant pangolin or chimpanzees. Finally, the forest structure, more than the composition, seemed to be influenced by the logging activity and showed strong heterogeneity within and between managed and protected forests.Selective logging done on a sustainable way seems to be a unique chance to combine wood production and biodiversity protection by connecting the current network of protected areas and acting like buffer areas around them as long as the forest access is strictly restricted and controlled.

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SESSION 27MULTISCALE FUTURE SCENARIOS FOR THE FORESTS OF THE CONGO BASIN: WHAT WILL HAPPEN, WHY AND HOW

Chairs: Claude GARCIA, Jean-François BASTIN, Fabien QUETIERContact: [email protected]

The future of the forests of the Congo Basin is constrained by two processes: climate change and land use change. An improved understanding of the drivers and pathways of landscape change and a more realistic depiction of the decision-making processes of the stakeholders involved would allow managers and land planners to better anticipate the ecological, social and economic impacts of human interventions.In this session, we report on the outcomes of the twin projects CoForTips/CoForSet, aimed at developing future scenarios for the forests of the Congo Basin. We identified ecological transitions between forest types allowing managers to better anticipate the ecological impacts of human interventions. We have shown that we can expect forest transitions under the combined effect of climate and land-use change. Unless we change course, the future forests of the Congo Basin will be more fragmented, more deciduous and richer in pioneer light demanding species. We described practices and norms that the women and men living in the forested landscapes of the Congo Basin develop in response to change, which in turn determine landscape trajectories. We documented that demography and food-crop agriculture do not drive rapid changes of the system. Agricultural expansion and logging triggered by industries and infrastructure development, particularly roads and mining, are the main drivers of sudden shifts. We have measured and documented the transition from hunter-gatherer to agricultural societies forced by external drivers of change.We merged expert, local and scientific knowledge to develop models linking social, economic and environmental drivers. These models facilitate improved understanding of the social and ecological system of the forests of the Congo Basin, highlighting drivers behind system change, and we developed theoretical models that highlight underlying patterns of deforestation linked to small-scale agriculture. We developed precise and realistic simulations predicting changes in land cover for the next 50 years. We developed process-based role-playing games that allow stakeholders to grasp the complexity of the system and devise new strategies and new forms of collective action. We have addressed the what, the how and the why of forest landscape change in the Congo Basin. These outputs allow stakeholders and decision makers to develop their own scenarios of land use and biodiversity. Our methodologies, and in particular the role-playing games, can be used at the village level to develop social capital and trust, while at the regional level they act as negotiation tools, helping shape the future governance of the forests of the region. They will help stakeholders make more informed decisions today and better anticipate future outcomes.

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Y 14

:15

S27-O01 – FUTURE SCENARIOS FOR THE CONGO BASIN

FUNCTIONAL SHIFTS WITHIN CENTRAL AFRICAN RAINFORESTS

Jean François Bastin1, Frederic Mortier2, Maxime Réjou-Méchain3, Sylvie Gourlet-Fleury2, Raphael Pélissier3, Claude Garcia5, Nicolas Bayol6, Guillaume Cornu2, Fabrice Benedet2, Jean-Louis Doucet4, Adeline Fayolle4

1ETH-Institute of Integrative Biology, Crowther Lab, Zurich, CH, [email protected], UPR F&S, Montpellier, FR3IRD-AMAP, Montpellier, FR4Gembloux Agro Bio-Tech - Université de Liège, Gembloux, BE5ETH-Zurich, Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, Zurich, CH6FRM, Montpellier, FR

Understanding the reaction of ecosystems to climate change and anthropogenic pressure is a central question in ecology and environmental sciences. In the terrestrial tropics, theoretical and empirical works suggest that once external disturbances have reached a given threshold, forest-savanna systems can switch from one state to another. Considering the multiplicity of the tropical forest systems, we make the assumption that numerous shifts may actually occur within the forest itself, without changes in forest cover but with risks of critical modifications in forest functioning.

To test this hypothesis, we used a finite mixture of regression models aiming at simultaneously predicting and grouping forest functional profiles at the stand level with respect to anthropogenic pressure, climate and soil. The model is built on a dataset of more than 140 000 plots of 0.5-ha each gathered from Central African forest companies. Forest stand functions are analyzed through two key functional traits: the successional status - pioneer vs. non-pioneer trees- and the leaf phenology - evergreen vs. deciduous trees.

Our model captured a significant part of variation in the functional composition over the study area and revealed how anthropogenic pressure, climate change, soils or their combination lead to profound modifications within the forests. In particular, we showed that shifts from evergreen to deciduous stands can be mediated both by anthropogenic pressure or climate change.

This work shows for the first time how external forcing may jointly lead to multiple shifts in the functional composition of tropical forests. Our model allowed to predict directional changes in forest functioning according to anthropogenic pressure and climate thus opening new perspectives in theoretical ecology, global vegetation modelling and in the understanding of the vulnerability of tropical forests to global changes.

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Y 14

:30


PLAYING THE GAME: DEFINING INDICATORS FOR INTACT FOREST LANDSCAPES IN THE CONGO BASIN

Claude Garcia1,2, Juliette Chamagne1, Helene Dessard1, Céline Dillmann2, Tina Cornioley2, Fabien Quetier3

1CIRAD, Montpellier, FR2ForDev / ETHZ, Zurich, CH, [email protected], Mezes, FR

In 2014, the General Assembly of the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) adopted Motion 65 that called for the protection of the vast majority of Intact Forest Landscapes (IFL) in FSC certified concessions around the Globe. To comply with Motion 65, a Regional Working Group for the Congo Basin on High Conservation Values (HCV-RWG) was established in 2016. To support its decision-making process, FSC invited a team of researchers as facilitators.

The facilitation team associated Companion Modelling and MineSet. Companion Modelling is a participatory approach based on the development and use of role-playing games to support decision-making. MineSet, is a model of regional landscape change developed to explore the future of tropical forest landscapes in Central Africa over the next decades. MineSet places players in the roles of CEOs of logging and mining companies, interacting with markets, the government and NGOs, planning their activities and developing strategies to cope with the environmental, economic and social impacts of their decisions. It features all the major underlying drivers of land use change in Central Africa: demographics, economic and finance signals, governance and transparency, technological changes, and cultural differences. As the game unfolds, the players discover the complexity of the system, and devise new rules and strategies to balance development and conservation.

The game and the discussion that follows enables stakeholders to share and confront their perceptions of the system, better grasp its complexities, explore alternative futures in a low-risk environment, and negotiate new forms of collective action. Taking on the role of a stakeholder has a profound impact on players’ awareness and understanding of the system, and has the potential to reshape their perception on the problem at hand. This experience is a critical component of the approach and central to the learning process.

Thanks to this combination, the RWG could unlock stalled negotiations, level the playing field between participants and move toward consensus. This example serves as proof of concept of the use of facilitation and games to address complex negotiations under conditions of high uncertainty and divergent interests. It shows a way to foster transformation in landscape management.

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Y 14

:45


CRITICAL CYCLES OF RESILIENCE FOR LAND USE IN THE CONGO BASIN

Stephan A. Pietsch1, Bernard Bustier2, Johannes Pirker1, Aline Mosnier1

1IIASA-ESM, Laxenburg, AT, [email protected] - Ministère de Défense Nationale, Libreville, GA

Stability and resilience of Congo Basin landscapes are affected by a multitude of factors. Besides climate change and increasing inter annual climate variability, direct human land use impact is a major driver of ecosystem productivity, related carbon balance issues and maintenance of ecosystem services provision.

Within this research we assess the impact of land use intensification, climate variability on the resilience and stability of the Congo basin biomes, using (1) field data from ~ 200 field plots, representing all typical land use types occurring in the region, (2) a calibrated and validated BioGeoChemistry model (BGC-MAN) and (3) an analysis of respective ecosystem dynamics and the related shifts in stability, productivity and resilience.

Results indicate sequences of tipping points, changes in ecosystem resilience and the long-term system memory of climate and human impacts.

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Y 15

:00


WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE FORESTS OF THE CONGO BASIN, HOW AND WHY

Claude Garcia1,2, Laurene Feintrenie1,3,4

1CIRAD, Montpellier, FR2ForDev / ETHZ, Zurich, CH, [email protected], Turrialba, CR4World Agroforestry Centre, Nairobi, KE

Statements about the future do not fall under the constraints of classical logic. They are not true or false. They are undetermined, so-called future contingents. This unescapable uncertainty is a source of stress and discomfort for all, political leaders included. The use of scenario planning for decision-making is a way to reduce this discomfort, and to develop strategies that are better able to cope with surprise. However, the development of scenarios requires underlying mental models, however loose.

All models are wrong, with one exception. All others degrade the information to make it manageable with our cognitive limitations. This degrading is done across several dimensions. A useful framework proposes a trade-off between precision, realism and generality. Another major limitation is the representation of human agency in these models, a critical determinant of the dynamics of social and ecological systems. The manner in which agency is represented is often unsatisfactory. We present here how we overcame these trade-offs and obstacles, clarifying here the contribution of different forms of models to the development of narratives of possible futures.

To explore the futures of the forests of the Congo Basin, we developed theoretical, empirical and process-based models that merge expert, local and scientific knowledge, integrating social, economic, governance, ecological and geophysical processes. These models represent, predict and explain regional trajectories of landscape change at the time scale of 50 to 100 years. The scenarios explicitly address different management and policy options.

Taken together, these three types of models explain what will happen to the forests of the Congo Basin in the coming decades, how and why. As in any good crime story, this leaves only two questions unanswered: who? and when? But these are no longer questions scientists can explore. These belong to the realm of strategy and decision making. They belong to the realm political will, corporate commitments, and stakeholder livelihood strategies.

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SESSION 28FREE SESSION: TROPICAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION

Chairs: Pierre-Michel FORGET, Catherine REEBContact: [email protected]

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S28-O01 – FREE SESSION: TROPICAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION

USING UAVS AND PHOTOGRAMMETRY FOR ECOLOGICAL ANALYSIS IN TEMPORARY ROCK POOLS OF COLOMBIAN GUIANA SHIELD

Ángela Aristizábal-Botero1, David Paez-Perez2, Emilio Realpe1

1Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, CO, [email protected], Bogotá, CO

The Guiana shield is one of the most ancient bedrock formations on Earth with a variety of ecosystems like: tropical forests, flooding savannas and temporary rock pools. Temporary rock pools are one of the least studied systems in South America, even though there are a lot of physiological challenges for their highly diverse communities due to the seasonally and sub-seasonally desiccation caused by heat.

We identified the acquisition of spatial characteristics of the landscape as the first step in the investigation of the ecological processes governing the communities inhabiting this underexplored ecosystem. To this end, we employed a UAV (i.e., drone) with onboard RGB+NIR cameras to capture aerial images. These images were then processed using photogrammetry software to obtain high resolution digital terrain models (DTM), RGB and NDVI orthophotographs.

Based on the surveyed information, several analyses were performed. The morphometry analysis of pools yielded the relationship between their volume, depth and surface area. The connectivity analysis helped us determine the flow network that emerges during rain events; this is useful as an important parameter to understand dispersion dynamics of many species in this system. Using the morphometry of the pools, historical precipitation and evaporation data, a hydrologic model was implemented to simulate individual pool hydroregimes. RGB and NDVI images were used to measure the vegetation coverage over pools and estimate a photosynthetic rate. Lastly, human settlement patterns shown in multitemporal aerial images were associated with ecological indexes to inform conservation initiatives.

In conclusion, new technologies in UAVs, low cost onboard sensors, photogrammetry and GIS software offer the possibility to quickly survey any ecosystem, which result in a powerful set of tools for abiotic characterization in biological and ecological investigations.

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WHAT MAKES RATS SUCCESSFUL INVADERS ON MADAGASCAR?

Melanie Dammhahn1,2, Toky M. Randriamoria3, Steven M. Goodman3,4

1Animal Ecology, Zoological Institute & Museum, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, DE, [email protected] Ecology, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, DE3Association Vahatra, Antananarivo, MG4Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, US

Invasive species are a critical contemporary conservation threat because they change ecological interactions, modify ecosystem functionality, and even cause extinctions of indigenous species. Understanding what makes a successful invasive species as well as predicting the consequences of the introduction of non-indigenous organisms is of major interest in ecology. Rodents of the genus Rattus are among the most pervasive and successful invasive species worldwide. A broad and flexible generalist diet has been suggested as key to the invasion success of Rattus spp.

Here, we used an indirect approach to better understand foraging niche width, plasticity, and overlap within and between introduced Rattus spp. as well as overlap between invasive Rattus spp. and native small mammals in anthropogenic habitats and natural humid forests of Madagascar. Based on stable carbon and nitrogen isotope values measured in hair samples of individual rodents, we found that R. rattus had an extremely wide foraging niche, encompassing the isotopic space covered by a complete endemic forest-dwelling Malagasy small mammal community. Comparisons of Bayesian standard ellipses, as well as (multivariate) mixed-modeling analyses, revealed that the stable isotope niche of R. rattus tended to change seasonally and differed between natural forests and anthropogenic habitats, indicating plasticity in feeding niches. In co-occurrence, R. rattus and R. norvegicus partitioned feeding niches. Isotopic mismatch of signatures of individual R. rattus and the habitat in which they were captured, indicate frequent dispersal movements for this species between natural forest and anthropogenic habitats. Since R. rattus are known to transmit a number of zoonoses, potentially affecting communities of endemic small mammals, as well as humans, these movements presumably increase transmission potential.

Our results suggest that due to their generalist diet and potential movement between natural forest and anthropogenic habitats, Rattus spp. might affect native forest-dependent Malagasy rodents as competitors, predators, and disease vectors. The combination of these effects helps explain the invasion success of Rattus spp. and the detrimental effects of this genus on the endemic Malagasy rodent fauna.

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THREATENED BIRDS, DYNAMIC HABITATS AND DISTURBANCE PROCESSES - CONSERVATION ECOLOGY IN ONE OF THE WORLDS MOST UNDERSTUDIED SAVANNA ECOSYSTEMS

Jo Kingsbury1, G. Matt Davies1, Chris Tonra1, Ross Macleod2

1The Ohio State University, Columbus, US, [email protected] of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

The Beni savannas of Northern Bolivia are one of the world’s most remote, understudied and threatened grassland ecosystems. Here, vegetation dynamics are driven by complex interacting environmental and agricultural disturbance processes, including flooding, fire and cattle grazing. In turn, the distribution of bird communities is shaped by how these processes influence prevailing vegetation composition and structure. We explore how the distribution and habitat use of avian grassland specialists is influenced by habitat structure and disturbance history along the cerrado-grassland gradient with focus on three key conservation species, Alectrurus tricolor (cock-tailed tyrant), Coryphaspiza melanotis (black-masked finch, and Emberizoides herbicola (wedge-tailed grass-finch).

Our results indicate that: (1) Cock-tailed tyrants specialize on specific disturbance-sensitive micro-habitats within the cerrado-grassland ecotone, while black-masked finch and wedge-tailed grass-finch are generalists but track available food resources that may be influenced by the timing and severity of disturbance processes; (2) Black-masked finch and cock-tailed tyrants have greater sensitivity to grazing pressure and agricultural fire-management than the more common wedge-tailed grass-finch – a factor likely contributing to their current high rates of global decline; (3) Prescribed burning is integral for the conservation of avian communities within this region, but scale, timing and frequency are likely important considerations due to their influence on key habitat resources; and (4) Management within protected areas that aims to retain a range of post-burn stages in a shifting mosaic could help to support wider avian communities. Our study develops a better understanding of how disturbance processes influence biodiversity in this understudied region. Our results will be critical for strengthening management protocols in protected areas like the Barba Azul Nature Reserve, and will help inform more sustainable approaches to agriculture in the wider Beni Savanna region.

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LAND-USE CHANGE AND CONSERVATION IN NORTH-EAST THAILAND

James Moloney1, Wassana Phanurak2, Netchanok Khongthon1

1James Cook University, Townsville, AU, [email protected] Ratchasima Rajhabhat University, Nakhon Ratchasima, TH

In this study, we investigate patterns and drivers of landscape change, and the consequent impacts on vertebrate biodiversity and traditional resource use in Nakhon Ratchasima province, North-east Thailand. Firstly, we quantified regional landscape change from the 1950s until the present from a combination of aerial photography and satellite image analysis, and examined environmental correlates. Secondly, bird, mammal and reptile assemblages were examined across five different land-cover types using active searching, point-

counts, opportunistic recording and formal and informal interviews with local people. Thirdly, interviews examine natural resource use and governance.

We found that significant areas of the original closed forest on floodplains had already been cleared by the 1950s. The last 35 years has seen increased clearance of woodland in drier areas as crops diversify. The most intact forest type is low woodland, which in some cases is managed. However, bird and mammal assemblages here are less diverse than within other, less protected forest types. In particular, the dry-season diversity of insectivorous birds and evergreen forest species as well as mammals is low within this more secure forest in comparison to outside, unprotected areas. Furthermore, many of the traditional resources important to local people are found within unprotected and fast-disappearing areas. While there is the possibility of land swaps and purchases to maintain ecosystem services, more coordinated planning is required to maintain functioning ecosystems.

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HUNTING IN TIMES OF CHANGE: INDIGENOUS STRATEGIES IN THE COLOMBIAN AMAZON

Nicole Ponta1, Claude Garcia1,2, Nathalie van Vliet3

1ETH Zürich, Zurich, CH, [email protected], Montpellier, FR3CIFOR, Bogor, ID

The Amazon region, following a tropical pattern, is experiencing socio-economic changes at an exceptionally high rate, generating pressure on the people that need to adapt to new settings. Despite the change, indigenous people still rely on the forest they are embedded in and – among other activities – do hunt and trade wildlife in order to meet their livelihood requirements. Their forest dependency combined with added external pressures forces them to walk the fine line between overhunting and exacerbated poverty. Individual strategies, shaped by the hunters’ values and ambitions as well as external conditions, need to cope with the novelty and evolve accordingly. For the effective implementation of conservation initiatives, we, as scientists, should acknowledge this delicate balance and take into account people’ strategies with their underlying drivers and their adaptive capabilities. Lacking the understanding that drives decision-making of the forest dwellers can lead to frustration and mistrust by both parties while at the same time delivering poor outcomes hampering present and possibly future initiatives.

To uncover hunting strategies in the Colombian Amazon and their evolution under the current socio-economic transition, we co-designed a role-playing game together with the relevant stakeholders. The game simulates the mosaic of activities that hunters perform in the wet and dry season, while also allowing for specific hunting strategies. Conditions change while the game unfolds, opening up to alternative potential scenarios that have been suggested by the stakeholders themselves. Will hunters give up hunting when given the opportunity of an alternative income source? Will institutional changes affect their livelihoods? These are some of the questions that we have been able to explore through the game.

When it comes to coupled human-nature systems, the best way forward to produce just and resilient conservation strategies might be triggering an adaptive process of experiential learning and scenario exploration. It is about identifying the strings that pull the system and adjusting our strategies whatever direction we take. The use of games as “boundary objects” helps us eliciting the plurality of those strategies, their drivers and how outside change affect them.


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SCIENTIFIC POSTER SESSIONABSTRACTS

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S02-P01 – MANGROVES FUNCTIONING AND MANAGEMENT

LANDSCAPE GENETIC METHOD TO EXPLAIN INTRA- AND INTER-ISLAND PROPAGULE TRANSPORT OF MANGROVE SPECIES

Maki Thomas1, Yuichi Nakajima1, Matin Miryeganeh1, Satoshi Mitarai1

1Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Okinawa, JP, [email protected]

Understanding migration systems is integral to design effective Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) that will maintain population connectivity in the face of environmental changes. Applying knowledge of migration systems in MPA design is especially important for fringe mangrove habitats in island systems where mangrove population connectivity is maintained through dispersal by ocean currents and there is a high rate of habitat loss.

This project focuses on the migration system of Rhizophora stylosa, a mangrove species common throughout the Ryukyu Archipelago in the northern West Pacific region and a representative species of the family Rhizophoraceae, which is abundant throughout the Indo-West Pacific. We utilized landscape genetic methods to demonstrate how differences in local habitat landscape affect the migration patterns among islands. To further investigate the extent of connectivity among isolated populations and their dispersal patterns, we performed microsatellite analysis in chloroplast and nuclear genomes with samples collected from 22 coastal areas on four different islands, representing a spatial scale of over 500 km.

The genetic results were also compared with physical oceanographic data derived from the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) and other obtained observational data. Discrepancies between genetic and oceanographically simulated connectivity may suggest that the mangrove propagule’s dispersal is limited dominantly by local hydrodynamics, including inner reef currents, wind or coastal wave driven forces, while coincidence between them may suggest rare but consistent inter population interactions.

S03-P01 – CONTINENTAL WETLANDS

EVOLUTION OF REFERENCES ABOUT THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE ECOLOGY OF TROPICAL WETLANDS IN THE INDIAN OCEAN

Georges Simon Andrianasetra1, Germain1

1CIDST, Mahajanga, MG, [email protected]

Research on the ecology of wetlands requires different scientific approaches and useful procedures for conducting monitoring and ecological studies. The object of this work is (1) to provide information on the diversity of themes and references related to the ecology of wetlands in the Indian Ocean region, and talk to diverse audiences such: students, academics, professionals in continental wetlands and fans of the ecology of flora fauna of inland water. (2) to demonstrate the evolution of information upon the valorization of wetlands that permit to: inform, understand, act and protect wetlands based on their relationship with living things (flora) in the islands of the Indian Ocean.

Thus, an inventory of all available documents (hardcopy as well as online versions) on the ecology of continental wetlands will be fulfilled with the aim of establishing a catalog to evaluate the evolution of knowledge and information on this topic. Exchanges between the different actors during this conference could be held, in order to improve and update the different information and experiences on the tropical ecology of wetlands. As a perspective, a network of stakeholders on the ecology of wetlands could be established.

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S03-P02 – CONTINENTAL WETLANDS

CONTRIBUTION TO THE STUDY OF THE RAFFIA AREAS IN THE BOENY REGION FOR SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT AND ENHANCEMENT

Zolalaina Andriamanantena1, Hery Lisy Tiana Ranarijaona1

1Doctoral School Natural Ecosystems (EDEN), University of Mahajanga, Mahajanga, MG, [email protected]

Madagascar, because of its insularity, is a country of megabiodiversity. The country’s fauna and flora are remarkably diverse and endemic. The Boeny Region is also rich in forest resources such as dense forests, savannahs, mangroves and raffia areas. Rafia farinifera, a monoecious plant whose ideal ecology is the tropics. The raffia areas are managed by local grassroots communities or COBAs in the fokontany of Ankilahila or managed by the local authorities or fokontany for the case of Beharafa Mangapaika or restored in the

raffia areas of Tanandava Mariarano.

This study was conducted to understand the potential of this ecosystem by conducting ecological surveys. The Duvigneaud transect method and the Braun-Blanquet plating method were adopted. The MARP method was carried out to complete the ecological surveys in order to identify all the pressures and to provide recommendations for the local population as well as for VOI members and local and/or national authorities, in order to restore them.

A total of 48 species belonging to 44 genera and 34 families with were identified in all study sites. The floristic compositions of the areas according to their type of management are not similar. However, for raffia in the same study area, the floristic composition seems similar. The density of the raffia palms is very dense in the areas of management transfer and restoration areas but low in areas managed by the fokontany. The natural regeneration of raffia palm is important in areas where VOI is present. Many products from raffia palm are used for different purposes. It is the same for the associated plants with raffia palm. Anthropogenic pressures and natural pressures are the factors of degradation of these raffia areas. Despite these pressures on the raffia areas, the presence of the VOI in the study areas plays a key role in the preservation of these natural resources. However, for the sites managed by the local authorities or the fokontany, the degradation of the raffia areas is strongly noticed. To ensure the sustainability of raffia palm especially regeneration in the face of different pressures, protect, restore and train local population for sustainable development and biological conservation will be provided.

S04-P01 – SAVANNA FUNCTIONING AND DYNAMICS

WHERE DO THE NSENENE SWARMS COME FROM?

Anu Valtonen1, Robert Opoke1,2, Geoffrey Malinga1,2, Petra Junes1, Philip Nyeko3, Heikki Roininen1

1Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, FI, [email protected] of Biology, Gulu University, Gulu, UG3Department of Forestry, Biodiversity and Tourism, Makerere University, Kampala, UG

The edible grasshopper, Ruspolia differens (Serville) (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae), locally called as “Nsenene”, is a widespread species swarming in grassland habitats across Afrotropics. It is an important source of food for humans in East Africa where they are harvested with powerful lights from the natural populations during the two annual swarming seasons. There are various traditional beliefs concerning the origins of the swarms but it is clear that the swarming dynamics is poorly understood and the source populations for swarms are so far unknown.

As a first step to reveal the origins of R. differens swarms, we explored the host plants of R. differens with both laboratory experiments (no-choice and multiple-choice experiments) and a field monitoring study of a non-swarming population in Uganda. Our results show that R. differens accepts a wide range of grass and sedge species but has a clear preference for certain hosts. The most important host plants in our study location are grasses Brachiaria ruziziensis R.Germ. & C.M.Evrard, Panicum maximum Jacq., and Chloris gayana Kunth. It is therefore likely that R. differens swarms originate in grasslands where these hosts are available. In order to preserve viable natural populations of R. differens in East Africa in the long-term, our results call special attention to sufficient protection of natural and semi-natural grasslands from overgrazing and rapid urban expansion.

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FACTORS CONTROLLING LONG-TERM SAVANNA DYNAMICS IN THE CAMPOS DE HUMAITÁ, MIDDLE MADEIRA RIVER REGION, SOUTHWESTERN BRAZILIAN AMAZONIA

Rogerio Gribel1, Dilce de Fatima Rossetti2, Luiz de Souza Coelho1

1Brazilian Institute for Amazonian Research, Manaus, BR, [email protected] Institute for Space Research, São Jose dos Campos, BR

Disjointed savanna patches scattered in Amazonia and growing under the same climatic conditions than the rainforest, is still an intriguing scientific question. The most frequent hypotheses for these open formations are: (1) the expansion of savannas during drier periods of the Pleistocene, being the contemporary Amazonian savannas residual ecosystems; (2) possible environmental disturbances caused by extensive and recurrent anthropogenic fires during the Holocene; and (3) changes in hydrological dynamics due

to environmental changes, caused or not by tectonic forces, which could have influenced the characteristics of the substrates, thus leading to the establishment of different vegetation types.

We reconstruct vegetation dynamics from an area in southwestern Amazonia based on the study of eight botanical plots combined with paleoenvironmental analysis of 20 lithostratigraphic profiles confined to three fluvial paleolandforms with open vegetation in the middle Madeira River. The sedimentary evolution and history of vegetation change through time were built with basis on facies analysis integrated with radiocarbon dating, as well as d13C and C/N analyses of sedimentary organic matter.

The majority of the profiles evidenced flooding episodes and sedimentary deposition characteristic of paralic aquatic environments. Floristic studies showed that savannas in topographically lower terrains presented greater floristic similarity between them, suggesting that the duration of flooding has greater influence than soil characteristics in the species distribution. Small microtopographic variations at local scale also strongly affected the presence of tree species. C/N and radioisotope dating revealed that savannas had existed in the area for at least 20,000 years BP, particularly been located over fluvial paleolandforms represented by channel and lake deposits that were left behind over the fluvial terraces. Radioisotope dating in forest sites contiguous to savannas suggested the replacement of these by the formers in several events initiated during the mid and late Holocene. Our results reinforce the concept that, at least for the region of study, factors linked to sedimentary dynamics, and not to climate or anthropogenic fires, play a preponderant role in the distribution of the savannas.


BIOMASS STOCKS, SPATIAL STRUCTURE AND FLORISTIC COMPOSITION OF SAVANNAS IN THE BATEKE PLATEAU

Paula Nieto-Quintano1, Edward T. A. Mitchard1, Casey M. Ryan1

1University of Edinburgh, School of Geosciences, Edinburgh, UK, [email protected]

The Bateke Plateau in the Republic of Congo is one of the last frontiers for ecology, being among the botanically and structurally least known areas in Africa. Here we assess the biomass, floristic diversity and spatial structure of this ecosystem. We established four large (25 ha) permanent sample plots at two savanna sites, inventoried all trees, and assessed shrub and grass species and biomass, as well as soil characteristics in subplots.

Tree density was very low (41 stems/ha for DBH ≥ 10 cm), even though annual precipitation is relatively high (1800 mm), probably due to the very sandy and nutrient poor soils. The total plant carbon stocks (above-ground and below-ground dry matter) was 7.4 ± 0.3 MgC/ha, with over half being grass biomass, and the remainder divided approximately equally between trees and saplings/shrubs. The carbon stock of the system is dominated by the top of the soil (SOC 16.7 ± 0.9 Mg/ha in 0-20 cm depth). We found significant spatial clustering of trees at scales of less than 240 meters (Moran’s I test). We identified 49 plant species (4 tree species, 13 shrubs, 4 sedges, 17 herbs and 11 grass species), with an average species richness of 23 per plot. There is tree hyperdominance of Hymenocardia acida Tul. (Phyllantaceae), and a richer understory species composition dominated by Loudetia simplex and Hyparrhenia diplandra. The understory diversity is higher than expected given that the Bateke Plateau is surrounded by rainforest and has been isolated from other savannas for much of its history.

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AN EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN TO INVESTIGATE THE ROLE OF MAMMAL COMMUNITY ON FOREST DYNAMICS IN THE CERRADO BIOME (BRAZIL)

Olivier Pays1, Franco L Souza2, Pierre-Cyril Renaud1, Cyntia C Santos1,2, Fabio de Oliveira Roque2, Mauricio Silveira2, Erich Fisher2, Francisco Valente-Neto2, Ana Claudia Piovezan Borges2, Clarissa de Araujo Martins1,2, Damien Arvor3

1UMR 6554 CNRS - LETG-Angers, University of Angers, Angers, FR, [email protected] de Pós-graduação em Ecologia e Conservação, InBio. Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Campo Grande, MS, BR3UMR 6554 CNRS - LETG-Rennes, University of Rennes, Rennes, FR

Although land use changes in the tropical regions affect drastically biodiversity and ecological services, assessing their long-term impacts remains challenging and alarming. Defaunation of large mammals may exacerbate the top-down or bottom-up control of the communities in a context dependent way in relation to the land use changes. However, these predictions have never been tested using a long-term integrated framework including observational and experimental studies at landscape scale in the Cerrado hotspot.

Thus, we designed experiments along a gradient of native vegetation loss on the Serra da Bodoquena Plateau in selected areas with livestock and crop where there is a variation from 9 to 100 % of native vegetation cover. The effect of the agricultural matrix around the fragments is particularly studied. We selected fragment of native vegetation typical from Cerrado and set up two plots of 15 × 15 m, one that excludes mammals larger than 1 kg and another control.

The ecological functions (regulation and supporting services) that are studied in relation to the resilience of native vegetation are the following: (1) forest dynamics including tree and understory community, seed and fruit dispersion and survival, seedling, (2) soil including nutrients cycling, decomposition (leaf and woods), soil and litter community, (3) plant and animal diversity including phylogenetic and functional diversity and animal-plant interactions. The main questions that are investigated are: Is there any effect (and if so, what is the shape of the relationship) of native vegetation loss (i.e. attributes of forest fragments) and the studied functions? Is there any effect of the agricultural matrix around the forest fragments on the role of mammals on forest dynamics? Are pastures more permeable than crops to mammal community? Here we will present some primarily results on mammal community structure and the dynamics of land-use change of the studied area.

S05-P01 – DIVERSIFICATION OF AFRICAN FORESTS

STRUCTURE AND COMPOSITION OF FOREST OF BRACHYSTEGIA LAURENTII (DE WILD.) LOUIS EX J. LÉON. IN THE MAB YANGAMBI, IN DRC

Hippolyte Nshimba Seya Wa Malale1, Bijou Lituka Yalufi1

1University of Kisangani, Kisangani, cd, [email protected]

This study aims at analyzing the structure and composition of a forest dominated by Brachystegia laurentii in the Yangambi Biosphere Reserve. To do this, two plots of 1 ha each, 50 × 200 m were sampled in a forest near the Isalowe River.

A total of 89 species belonging to 69 genera and 40 families were identified in the two plots; 59 species, 54 genera and 35 families in the first plot and 54 species, 45 genera and 26 families in the second plot. A total of 699 trees of dbh more than 10 cm were surveyed; an average density of 350 trees/ha; 328 trees in the P1 and 371 trees in the P2 with a basal area varying from a plot to another, i.e. 31 m²/ha in P1 and 35 m²/ha in P2.

A clear dominance of Brachystegia laurentii (59 %) was found, 55 % in P1 and 62 % in P2. Alongside this species, two species have distinguished themselves by their greater relative dominance, frequency and density than other species. These are Scorodophloeus zenkeri and Staudtia kamerunensis. A remarkable diversity was also highlighted. The Shannon-Weaver index gave a value of 3.089 for the P1 and 2.799 for the P2 and the Simpson index gave 0.906 for the P1 and 0.844 for the P2. In both plots, species are distributed more or less equitably with a very close equitability index, 0.757 for P1 and 0.702 for P2. This study also revealed a predominance of Megaphanerophyts (56 %) and Mesophanerophyts (40 %) in the forest studied. The diaspores barochores (39 %) and sarcochores (40 %) are better represented in the set of forest. The first type is better represented in P2 and the second type is better represented in P1. Species of the phytosociological class of Strombosio-Parinarietea, characteristic of terra firma natural forests, are also better represented.

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S06-P01 – AUDIO AND VIDEO MONITORING

ECOACOUSTIC SURVEYS PREDICT ALPHA AND BETA DIVERSITY IN SOUTHERN ECUADORIAN MONTANE FOREST

David C. Siddons1,2, Vinicio Santillán3, Martha Quitián3, Yvonne Tiede2, Christine I.B. Wallis2, Pedro X. Astudillo1, Eike L. Neuschulz3, Matthias Schleuning3, Katrin Böhning-Gaese3, Roland Brandl2, Jörg Bendix2, Nina Farwig2

1Universidad del Azuay, Cuenca, EC, [email protected]ät Marburg, Marburg, DE3Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F), Frankfurt (Main), DE

Effective biodiversity measurement and monitoring systems across wide spatial and temporal scales is an important challenge for conservation management under changing environmental conditions. Assessing biodiversity traditionally requires observational field studies that require both experts and time. Ecoacoustics has the potential as an efficient tool to provide information on biodiversity and monitor change with minimal need for experts on the ground.

We tested the effectiveness of five ecoacoustic indices as proxies for traditional point count bird surveys in twelve montane forest sites with two levels of disturbance and two elevations in southern Ecuador. We conducted point counts over two seasons and recorded point counts on different occasions during the same periods. We compared species richness and α-diversity indices calculated from the observational point counts to α-diversity indices calculated from the acoustic surveys using GLMM to account for possible autocorrelation. We also calculated an Ecoacoustic β-diversity measure derived from an NMDS ordination of occupied frequencies and compared the results to an NMDS of the point counts using Procrustes analysis.

The Acoustic Diversity Index and Acoustic Evenness Index proved to correlate strongly with several traditional α-diversity indices and species richness. The Ecoacoustic β-diversity NMDS distinguished sites between elevations and was significantly correlated with the traditional observed avian community NMDS, effectively predicting β-diversity. Our results show that Ecoacoustic indices have potential to be used as proxies for biodiversity monitoring and assessment.


S06-P02 – AUDIO AND VIDEO MONITORING

DEEP NETWORKS TAG THE LOCATION OF BIRD VOCALISATIONS ON AUDIO SPECTROGRAMS

Lefteris Fanioudakis1, Ilyas Potamitis (speaker)1

1Technological Educational Institute of Crete, Heraklion, Crete, GR

Monitoring bird diversity in tropical forests provides essential information for bird community composition and distribution. Moreover, the appealing elegance of birds singing is an excellent means to raise public awareness about tropical conservation. This work focuses on reliable automatic detection and segmentation of bird vocalizations as recorded in the open field. Acoustic detection of avian sounds can be used for the automatized monitoring of multiple bird taxa and query in long-term recordings for species of interest. Bird recognition requires a database containing a large number of example vocalizations. Bird vocalization recordings with exact boundaries are costly, rare and uncommon for large datasets. Although it is relatively easy to annotate a small recording as having a bird vocalization or not based on visual inspection of its spectrogram it is costly to derive exact bounding boxes for all vocalizations it includes. On the contrary ‘weakly’ labeled data are abundant (see e.g. the Xeno-canto database). Weakly labelled in the context of this work means that a recording is labeled as having a bird sound or not but there is no other metadata on where is the bird sound exactly located within the recording. Predicting the exact location of the vocalization allows different kind of measurements to be derived e.g. bird activity per time -unit, extraction of the repertoire of vocalizations, recognition of different species.

Our work focuses on automatic training procedures that require minor human supervision and aims at inspecting large audio corpora. In this work, we use the Salience map as a by-product of Deep-nets that allows us to localize the vocalizations. The Salience map allows having a glimpse of where exactly the deep net basis its decision to classify a recording as having or not a bird vocalization. Thus, implicitly, the Salience map tags the spectrogram with the correct localization of birds’ vocalizations. Once we derive the Salience map of the part of the available database having a positive label for birds, we apply bounding boxes on the saliency blobs and then we apply state of the art Deep-learning detection algorithms (e.g. YOLO v2) to derive bounding boxes for the part of the test set classified by the DenseNet as having a bird.

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S07-P01 – ADVANCES IN CANOPY SCIENCE

SPATIAL PATTERNS OF LIANA SUCCESS IN MALAYSIA

Chris Chandler1, Geertje van der Heijden1, Giles Foody1, Doreen Boyd1


Tropical forests are highly productive, biologically rich and carbon dense. As such, these ecosystems are critical to the global carbon balance and key in mitigating some of the effects of climate change. Lianas are important components of tropical forests, where they have been shown to increase in abundance and biomass over the last decades. Lianas compete intensely with trees for above- and below-ground resources, thus substantially limiting tree growth and survival. Such increases in liana biomass may induce changes in

tree species composition and dynamics, which could have consequences for tropical forest carbon storage in the future.

Studies on lianas have largely focused in the Neotropics, limiting our understanding of the drivers behind variation in liana infestation and the impact on carbon balance in the Palaeotropics. Furthermore, although liana infestation varies greatly across forests, the drivers of the broad-scale variation in liana pressure remains unexplored. Here, we therefore aim to map liana infestation in Bornean Malaysia with the use of airborne hyperspectral imagery to (1) investigate whether the spatial patterns in liana infestation are driven by variation in disturbance and/or forest structure and (2) test whether carbon sequestration and storage is affected by liana infestation on a regional scale.

Airborne hyperspectral imagery and LiDAR data were collected concurrently (Mark Cutler, Dundee). Preliminary results from ground measurements showed liana biomass and abundance were both greater in the primary forest in comparison to secondary forests. Comparison of liana infestation and forest structure revealed a canopy height maximum of 64.4 m for liana infestation. In addition, we find a clear difference in the spectral response between lianas and trees. A neural network is able to accurately predict liana presence across the hyperspectral imagery (82 % correctly classified). Additional training data may have the potential to predict liana infestation as a percentage of canopy cover on a continuous scale.

These results suggest that natural disturbance such as tree fall may be more frequent in the old-growth primary forest leading to increased liana recruitment and infestation. Furthermore, preliminary findings suggest that airborne hyperspectral imagery can provide a promising tool to identify liana infestation over large regions in tropical wet rainforests.

S08-P01 – TROPICAL TREES ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION

HABITAT-SPECIFIC EDAPHIC CONTROLS ON PALM COMMUNITY PHYLOGENETIC STRUCTURE IN THE WESTERN AMAZON

Robert Muscarella1, Henrik Balslev1

1Aarhus University, Aarhus, DK, [email protected]

Palms are a diverse and iconic group in tropical forests with critical importance for ecological and human systems. Understanding patterns and drivers of palm diversity can shed light on general mechanisms promoting tropical species diversity. We paired data on palm community composition from 541 transects located across two main habitat types in the western Amazon (seasonally inundated and non-inundated) with information on soil chemistry, topography, climate, and phylogenetic relationships among palms to ask (1) how does phylogenetic structure of palm communities vary along soil gradients within and between major habitat types? And, (2) which clades primarily drive observed patterns in phylogenetic community composition?

Among non-inundated transects, palm communities tended to be more phylogenetically clustered in areas of low soil nutrient concentrations. In contrast, among seasonally inundated transects, phylogenetic clustering of palm communities was higher with greater mean annual precipitation but varied less along measured soil gradients. In both habitat types, phylogenetic clustering was largely due to co-occurring species from two genera: Geonoma and Bactris. This finding illustrates a key role for these two genera for understanding palm community composition, and also provides insight to the potential drivers of diversification for these two hyper-diverse genera.

Our study demonstrates strong regional and edaphic controls on palm phylogenetic structure across the western Amazon, suggesting different mechanisms acting in different habitat types. Understanding the mechanisms promoting diversity of this highly diverse and ecologically important group will serve to advance understanding general patterns of diversification in the tropics.

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TREE REACTION TO DROUGHT IN A MONTANE RAINFOREST IN SOUTHERN ECUADOR

Volker Raffelsbauer1, Achim Bräuning1

1Friedrich-Alexander University, Erlangen-Nuremberg, DE, [email protected]

The eastern declivity of the Cordillera Real in southern Ecuador is covered by a highly diverse mountain rainforest. Local climate is humid with around 2200 mm of annual rainfall, and dry spells are rather rare but nevertheless a regular event during the “Veranillo del Niño” (VdN) periods in October or November (Volland-Voigt et al. 2011). However, different tree species might respond diverse to occasional drought stress, raising the question if some species might be better adapted to a higher frequency of dry periods that may occur under future climate conditions.

We monitored 43 individuals of eight different families with high-resolution electronic dendrometers and analyzed tree responses during dry intervals with a minimum length of four consecutive days without rainfall during July 2007 to November 2010, and additionally during March 2015 to March 2017. We calculated the averaged stem shrinkage rates during these periods, and compared the specific recovery times in consideration of plant families and plant functional types.

Our results showed that the two deciduous broadleaved species Cedrela montana and Tabebuia chrysantha showed the biggest loss of increment during dry spells, with up to 2 mm stem shrinkage after 10 days of drought. However, the two species differ strongly regarding growth rate and averaged daily increment change with +0.046 mm and +0.016 mm respectively. Looking at the recovery time, Vismia tomentosa and Tapirira guianensis moved into focus. While Vismia recovered to the pre-drought circumference after only five days, Tapirira needed 52 days on average to restore its circumference. If such dry spells change in duration and frequency, this may result in an alteration of the forest composition.


ECOLOGICAL GENOMICS OF NICHE EXPLOITATION AND INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE IN TROPICAL FOREST TREES

Sylvain Schmitt1, Myriam Heuertz2, Bruno Hérault3,4, Niklas Tysklind5

1UMR Biodiversité Gènes et Communautés, Université de Bordeaux, Cestas, FR, [email protected] Biodiversité Gènes et Communautés, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Cestas, FR3Institut National Polytechnique Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Yamoussoukro, CI4UR Forêts et Société, Centre de coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD), Montpellier, FR5UMR Écologie des Forêts de Guyane, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Kourou, FR

Understanding characteristics, causes and consequences of biodiversity is a fundamental challenge in ecology and evolution. Biodiversity presents three nested levels, from individuals, over species, to ecosystems.Intraspecific variability affects the individual level of biodiversity. High levels of intraspecific variability, notably in ecologically important traits has been reported. Intraspecific variability is shaped by the interaction between (1) genetic variability, (2) environmental heterogeneity and (3) stochastic factors.However, we still know little about the effects of this variability on population dynamics, species interactions and ecosystem processes. Interestingly though, variability at the level of genotypes and traits has been suggested to promote local adaptation of populations and to promote species coexistence at the community level, thus suggesting a role for this variability in the origin and maintenance of biodiversity.We here present the conceptual framework of the recently started PhD thesis of S. Schmitt. The main objective of the thesis is to further explore the genotype-environment interactions in shaping the intraspecific trait variability of biodiversity. The study site for the thesis is the lowland rainforest in the research station of Paracou, French Guiana, where detailed inventory and tree growth data, as well as environmental characterization are available. We specifically wish to consider the intraspecific genomic variability as a continuum within structured populations of closely related species, and measure its role on individual tree performance through growth over time, while accounting for effects of a finely-characterized environment at the abiotic and biotic level. Eventually, we expect to help building a theory of community ecology starting with individuals, because interactions with environment is based at the individual level.

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S10-P01 – TROPICAL SOIL ECOLOGY

COMMUNITIES OF COLLEMBOLA ON RÉUNION ISLAND: RECOLONIZATION OF HABITATS DESTROYED BY LAVA FLOWS AND IMPACT OF EXOTIC PLANT SPECIES

Sandrine Salmon1, Maxime Villers1, Adji Ami Diop1, Cyrille D’Haese1, Jean-François Ponge1, Pierre-Michel Forget1, Dominique Strasberg2, Nathalie Machon3

1UMR 7179 MECADEV Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle-CNRS, Brunoy, FR, [email protected] PVBMT CIRAD-Université de La Réunion, Peuplements Végétaux et Bio-agresseurs en Milieu Tropical, Saint-Denis La Réunion, FR3UMR 7204 CESCO Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle-CNRS, Paris, FR

Natural recolonization of disturbed environments is a key issue for the maintenance of biodiversity, especially in a context of habitats threatened by exotic species. Recolonization by collembola of habitats destroyed by lava flows has never been documented. These soil-dwelling arthropods provide an essential basis for the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems. Our objective was to answer the following questions: Which habitats (forests, crops) serve as sources for collembola recolonization? Do exotic plant species

influence this recolonization? Which traits allow rapid recolonization?

Our study was performed in the Reunion island, where several habitats have been destroyed by lava flows and where 3500 introduced plant species threaten the functioning of ecosystems. Collembola were collected from soil, litter, herbaceous layer, moss and tree bark sampled from different habitats (lava flows, forests and sugarcane fields). They were identified at the species or morphospecies level. Their functional traits were measured. For the first time collembolan species were inventoried in forests, crops and lava flows on Reunion Island: 56 species and morpho-species belonging to 12 families were observed. Species richness was increased in crops and forests compared to lava flows indicating that recolonization was incomplete.

Our results show that the recolonization of habitats destroyed by lava flows depends on many factors that differ according to the considered micro-habitat (vertical stratum). Colonization was a function of the percentage of exotic plants, the distance to the nearest forest and the age of lava flow, in herbaceous layer, soil and litter, respectively. Dominant functional traits observed in lava flows were those belonging to edaphic species. The rapidity with which edaphic species colonized lava flows, added to the observation of many of these species on tree trunks, suggests that they could have benefited from air transport for settlement in lava flows.

S10-P02 – TROPICAL SOIL ECOLOGY

BACTERIAL DIVERSITY IN THREE DIFFERENT FIRE INCIDENCE AREA IN MOPANE WOODLAND OF LIMPOPO NATIONAL PARK

Ivete Maquia1,2, Denise Brito1, Natasha Ribeiro3, Nuno Duro4, Mário Da Costa4, Paula Fareleira5, Isabel Maria Videira e Castro5, Maria Manuela Ferreira Pinto4, Andrea Berruti6, Erica Lumini6, Ana I. F. Ribeiro-Barros4

1Nova School of Business and Economics, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, PT2Biotechnology Center, Eduardo Mondlane University, Maputo, MZ, [email protected] of Agronomy and Forest Engineering, Eduardo Mondlane University, Maputo, MZ4Plant Stress and Biodiversity Laboratory, Linking Landscape, Environment, Agriculture and Food, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, PT5Instituto Nacional de Investigação Agrária e Veterinária, Oeiras, PT6National Research Council Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection, Torino, IT

Mopane woodland represent the second most important forest ecosystem in Southern Africa which is characterized by the dominance of the woody legume Colosphosperum mopane, a specie of high socio-economic and medicinal value. Anthropogenic fires are one of the major ecological risks compromising this ecosystem, and so far there have been few studies on the effect of fire on mopane microbial fauna, particularly on biological nitrogen fixers such as Rizhobium.

In the present study, the microbial diversity was analyzed in three types of mopane woodlands soils of the Limpopo National Park (LNP) using the 16S rRNA marker. No significant differences were observed between the microbial flora of the different soils. Regarding to nitrogen fixing bacteria, the following genera were identified: Firmicute (55 %), Bacteroidetes (19 %), Proteobacteria (12 %), Tenericutes (8 %), Actinobacteria (3 %) and other bacterias. To analyse the presence of symbiotic nitrogen-fixing rhizobia, cowpea was inoculated with soils, and bacteria purified from the resulting nodules. Four different species were purified, namely Bradyrhizobium iriomotense, B. ingae, B. yuanmingense and Rhizobium freirei. These results indicate that fire does not interfere in the microbiology of LNP soils. Although the formation of symbiotic nodules in C. mopane is not common, the symbiotic capacity of isolated species will be studied in the near future.

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S11-P01 – MOLECULAR TAXONOMY AND CRYPTIC SPECIES IN SOILS

USE OF ACOUSTICS FOR SPECIES DELIMITATION IN A NEOTROPICAL ANT SPECIES COMPLEX

Kenzy Peña-Carrillo1,2, Gianni Pavan3, Rubí Meza-Lazaro4, Alejandro Zaldivar-Riveron4, Jean-Paul Lachaud5,6, Gabriela Pérez-Lachaud1, Paul Devienne1, Chantal Poteaux1

1Laboratoire d’Ethologie Expérimentale et Comparée, Université Paris-Nord, Villetaneuse, FR, [email protected] Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agrícolas y Pecuarias, General Terán, MX3Centro Interdisciplinare di Bioacustica e Ricerche Ambientali, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e dell’Ambiente, Universita di Pavia, Pavia, IT4Colección Nacional de Insectos, Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, MX5Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale, CNRS-UMR 5169, Université de Toulouse UPS, Toulouse, FR6Departamento de Conservación de la Biodiversidad, El Colegio de la Frontera Sur, Quintana Roo, MX

Neotropics are well-known for its considerably high biodiversity. Several causes, both biotic and abiotic ones, have been proposed to explain this extraordinary biodiversity, where a large number of species remained unnoticed due to the occurrence of cryptic species.Ectatomma ruidum (Roger 1860) is a Neotropical ant species whose distribution range extends from northern Mexico to Brazil, and is one of the most common species of its genus. Recent phylogenetic

and species delimitation studies based on mtDNA and nuclear markers have revealed that, though the morphology of E. ruidum is conserved along its distributional range, it actually represents a complex of three to four species (E. spp. 1-4), with two of them having a wide geographic distribution along the Neotropics (E. spp. 1 and 2). However, the status of one of these species is not supported by mitogenomic sequencing or by analyses of cuticular hydrocarbons (E. sp. 4). Moreover, two of the species of this complex appear to hybridize in a restricted area in the state of Oaxaca, near the Itsmo de Tehuantepec, Mexico (E. spp. 2 and 3), a region that is known for its complex evolutionary history and its rich biodiversity. Both hybridizing species are facultatively polygynous and have an infrequent polymorphism in queen size, with some nests showing two morphotypes of reproductive females (miniaturized queens called microgynes and a normal one, called macrogyne). By contrast, no hybridization was reported between the two sympatric species with wide geographic distribution, with one of them not having microgynes.We hypothesized that reproductive isolation between E. spp. 2 and 3 could be broken due to the presence of microgynes that mated with males of different origin. Previous studies have shown that acoustic signals and morphology of the stridulatory apparatus could help for species delimitation in ants. Therefore, here we show the results of our study where we compare the produced sounds and the morphology of the stridulatory apparatus in castes of the species belonging to the E. ruidum complex as taxonomic tools to delimit its species boundaries.

S12-P01 – TROPICAL MOLECULAR ECOLOGY

TRANSCRIPTOMIC RESPONSES OF MANGROVE TREES TO DIFFERENT STRESSFUL ENVIRONMENTS

Matin Miryeganeh1, Hidetoshi Saze1

1Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Okinawa, JP, [email protected]

Mangroves are salt tolerant trees that grow in coastal saline water in tropics and subtropics and are adapted to harsh conditions with high salinity, extreme tides, strong winds, high temperatures, and anaerobic wetlands. They have developed specific morphological and physiological characteristics, such as breathing and support roots, salt-excreting leaves, and viviparous seedlings. Despite increasing awareness of mangrove’s ecological importance, the molecular mechanisms underlying their adaptation to extreme habitats remain elusive. Mangrove communities show gradual phenotypic changes in forest structure such as tree height and biomass that usually decrease due to increasing stress factors along the tidal gradients.

We have set the study site in a mangrove forest located along the estuary of a river and coastal area of Pacific Ocean in Okinawa-Japan. This forest is consisted mainly of three mangrove species from the family Rhizophoraceae, and show highly developed morphological adaptations to extreme conditions. We are investigating how gene expression varies among individuals from different habitats in different level of stress, and how this variation is correlated with their morphological differences. A detailed de novo annotation of genes based on RNA sequencing data was done and gene expression analysis identified remarkable genomic characteristics that are conserved within each group but differ among them. Annotations of Gene Ontology also, revealed differences in the transcriptome profiles among the two populations. This study may contribute to a better understanding of the adaptive responses in plants and may help to evaluate the risk of plant species in fluctuations of the environmental conditions and can make a good model system for studying genetic mechanisms related to abiotic stress adaptation in tropical forest trees.

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GENETIC DIVERSITY AND POPULATION STRUCTURE OF THE THREATENED TREE SPECIES AFZELIA AFRICANA SM. AND IMPLICATION FOR THE SPECIES CONSERVATION IN BENIN

Thierry Houehanou1,2,3, Kathleen Prinz4, Frank Hellwig1,4, Achille Assogbadjo2,3, Jens Gebauer5, Romain Glele Kakaï3

1Laboratory of Ecology, Botany and Plant Biology; Faculty of Agronomy, University of Parakou, Parakou, BJ, [email protected] of Applied Ecology, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Abomey Calavi, Abomey Calavi, BJ3Laboratoire de Biomathématiques et d’Estimations Forestières, Faculté des Sciences Agronomiques, Université d’Abomey Calavi, Abomey Calavi, BJ4Institute for Ecology and Evolution, Department for Systematic Botany with Hausknecht Herbarium and Botanical Garden, Friedrich-Schiller-University, Jena, DE5Sustainable Agricultural Production Systems with Special Focus on Horticulture, Faculty of Life Sciences, Rhine- Waal University of Applied Sciences, Kleve, DE

Afzelia Africana is a valuable and threatened tree species in its occurrence range in Africa. Up to now, no information regarding molecular ecology is available to motive the conservation of this tree species in Africa in general and particularly in Benin. This study was then carried out to assess the genetic diversity and the differentiation among populations of Afzelia afrcana from different zones in Benin. 170 adults’ individuals from fifteen populations split in three different geographical subpopulations (Southern, Central

and Northern) were analyzed at 12 microsatellite loci.

All loci were polymorphic with the number of alleles per locus ranging from 4 to 20. High levels of genetic diversity were found over the three subpopulations. Mean values of observed/expected heterozygosities were 0.818/0.752, 0.877/0.753 and 0.848/0.765 respectively in Southern, Central and Northern subpopulations. We observed a weak but statistically significant genetic differentiation among geographical subpopulations regarding the values of Fst (Value = 0.028; P= 0.001) and Rst (Value = 0.055; P= 0.001). Significant isolation by distance was obtained with the Mantel test. The inbreeding coefficient was negative suggesting an outbreeding but not significant in each subpopulation. Analysis of genetic diversity of juveniles in comparison to adults will confirm later the possible existence of inbreeding or not since only adults have been studied. In addition, the occurrence of geographical genetic differentiation at countryside involves those natural subpopulations to be conserved in situ in their geographical zones. Therefore, it is required to conserve a representative gene pool in a protected area of each geographical zone.



EVIDENCE FOR RAPID ADAPTATION TO THE TROPICS IN CREOLE CATTLE GENOMES

Dan Pitt1, Michael W Bruford1, Pablo Orozco-terWengel (speaker)1, Mario Barbato2, Rodrigo Martínez3, Natalia Sevane1

1School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK, [email protected] of Zootechnics, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Piacenza, IT3Corporación Colombiana De Investigación Agropecuaria (Corpoica), Centro de investigaciones Tibaitatá, Bogotá, CO

The introduction of Iberian livestock species in the Americas after Columbus’ arrival imposed high selection pressures on a limited number of animals over a brief period of time. Knowledge of the genomic regions selected during this process may help in enhancing climatic resilience and sustainable animal production. We first aimed to determine taurine and indicine ancestry contributions on the genomic structure of tropical Creole cattle. Second, we inferred their demographic history using analytical approaches (approximate Bayesian computation -ABC-, linkage disequilibrium -LD- analysis, Ne Slope analysis -NeS-). Third, we performed whole genome scans for signatures of selection based on cross-population extended haplotype homozygosity tests (XP-EHH) and population differentiation (FST) to disentangle the genetic mechanisms involved in adaptation and phenotypic change by rapid and major environmental transition. To tackle both questions, we combined SNP array data in modern Creole cattle with modern day samples from breeds comprising their putative Iberian ancestors.

Reconstruction of the population history of Creoles from the end of the 15th century to the present day featured a major demographic expansion until the introduction of zebu and commercial breeds into the Americas ~170 years ago, triggering a drastic Ne contraction. Using the NeS approach provided insights into short-term complexity in population change, undetected using ABC, and depicting a decrease/expansion episode at the end of the ABC expansion period, as well as several recent fluctuations in Ne and the attainment of the current small Ne only towards the end of the 20th century. We detected selection signatures for tropical adaptation, including, importantly, for the slick hair coat phenotype, identifying a new candidate gene (GDNF), as well as novel candidate regions involved in immune function, nervous and behavioural processes, iron metabolism and adaptation to new feeding conditions. The outcomes from this study will help in future-proofing farm animal genetic resources (FAnGR) by providing molecular tools that allow selection for improved cattle performance, resilience and welfare under climate change.

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S13-P01 – TROPICAL TREE ALLOMETRY

THE IMPORTANCE OF TREE ALLOMETRY FOR LOCAL-SCALE VARIATION IN ABOVEGROUND BIOMASS

Grace Jopaul Loubota Panzou1, Ted Feldpausch2, Sylvie Gourlet-Fleury3, Eric Forni3, Jean-Louis Doucet1, Joël Loumeto4, Adeline Fayolle (speaker)1

1Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Gembloux, BE, [email protected] of Exter, Exeter, UK3CIRAD, Montpellier, FR4University of Marien Ngouabi, Brazzaville, CG

Aboveground biomass (AGB) plays a critical role in determining the long-term dynamics of carbon in tropical forests. Consequently, understanding what factors are important in controlling AGB in tropical forests has major implications for projecting the terrestrial carbon stocks, in the context of an increasingly uncertain future.

In this study, we aimed to explore the local-scale AGB variation in two forest sites in northern Congo, representative of contrasted

forest types under the same climate but growing on vastly different soils and parent material (quartzite substrate for CIB and sandstone substrate for Mokabi). Tree diameter was measured in 36 permanent forest plots of 1-ha in each site, and tree allometry (total tree height, height of the first branch and crown dimensions) was measured on a subsample of 18 plots of 1-ha in each site. Allometric data were available for a total of 2202 trees (1040 for CIB and 1162 for Mokabi) covering a large range of diameters (10-200 cm). We first developed site-specific allometric models that were used to estimate AGB at plot level. We then explore the determinants of AGB variation at plot level using multiple regressions and mixed linear models.

For a given diameter, trees tended to be taller and to have deeper crown in the Celtis forest of the CIB (rich soils), while they tended to have larger crown in the Manilkara forest of the Mokabi (sandy soils). Similar trends were reported within species for the sixteen species shared by both sites, suggesting an environmental control of tree allometry. We found that AGB strongly varied between the two forest sites, with greater AGB per hectare in the Celtis forest of the CIB site. Within-site AGB variation was positively related to basal area, though between-site AGB variation was determined by tree allometry (height-diameter and crown allometries). These results have strong implications for forest biomass and carbon monitoring.

S13-P02 – TROPICAL TREE ALLOMETRY

EVOLUTION OF ABOVEGROUND BIOMASS OF DRY TROPICAL FOREST IN THE NORTH-WEST COAST OF MADAGASCAR IN RELATION WITH HUMAIN ACTIVITIES

Tian Li1,2, Lantotiana Michel Eric Randriamanana3, Harimalalanirina Fabriella Camélias Rasoamanantenaniaina3, Nomenjanahary Zo Tahina3, Roger Edmond3, Faramalala Miadana3, Hary Jeannoda Vololoniaina3, Annette Hladik4, Riera Bernard1,2

1Mécanismes adaptatifs & évolution, Paris, FR, [email protected]éum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, FR3Université d’Antananarivo, Département Biologie et Ecologie Végétale, Antananarivo, MG4UMR 7206. Éco-Anthropologie et Ethnobiologie, MNHN, CNRS et Université Paris-7., Paris, FR

The dynamics of tropical dry forest woody plants was studied in the protected area of Antrema, North-west Madagascar. Stem density, basal area, and above-ground biomass were estimated from two large permanent censuses of 3 plots, in the forests of Badrala, Ankoririaka and Ambanjabe. They were established on contrasting locations and censused three times at Badrala, first in 2014, then again in 2016 and another time in 2017 together with Ankoririka and Ambanjabe forest.

Mean stem density was 462 stems ha-1 in 2014, 460 stems ha-1 in 2016, 466 stems ha-1 in 2017 in Badrala forest, with the basal area 11.9 m2 in 2014, 12.2 m2 in 2016, 13.3 m2 in 2017. Stem mortality rate ranged between 0.65 % and 1.25 % y-1. In this plot, stem density increases slightly over the study period, on the contrary, the cut of stem has increased over the years. In Ankoririka and Ambanjabe forests, stems density was 392 per ha-1 and 420 per ha-1, with the basal area 6.73 m2 and 11,26 m2 in 2017, and in recent years 7 trees were cut in Ankoririka and 28 trees in Ambanjabe, which represent 10 % of total basal area. The difference in stem density, basal area and stem cut is consistent with the hypothesis of different typologies of pedology and the distance between villages and Doany (sacred place for local people). Even though in a protected area, the dynamic of forest suffers still a strong influence by the ethnic people.


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S14-P01 – TROPICAL FOREST NUTRIENT ECOLOGY

EFFECTS OF MODERATE NUTRIENT ADDITION ON TREE PHYSIOLOGICAL PROCESSES. THE EXAMPLE OF ALCHORNEA LOJAENSIS IN SOUTHERN ECUADOR

Susanne Spannl1, Achim Bräuning1,2, Erwin Beck1

1University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, DE, [email protected] of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, DE

In the humid tropics, availability of macro-nutrients like N and P is assumed to be the limiting growth factor for trees. Therefore, stable carbon isotopes (δ13C) in tree rings are suitable proxies for plant physiological responses and functioning under changing environmental conditions, since those are susceptible for nutrient modifications.

Within the framework of an ongoing Ecuadorian NUrient Manipulation EXperiment (NUMEX), intra-annual variations of δ13C were combined with microscopic thin sections, cumulative growth rates, wood anatomical structures, light intensity and tree height of the evergreen species Alchornea lojaensis (sample collection in April 2012).

Although this innovate and new approach highlighted the species-specific responses to changing nutrient availability of nitrogen, it was not possible to detect growth ring boundaries utilizing intra-annual δ13C signals; as clear date marker points within the wood were missing at this time. Therefore, in 2017, same measurements were repeated again to improve and expand our knowledge about growth mechanisms of A. lojaensis. A comparison of these two studies will be presented to assess the effects on materialistic manifestations of tree physiological activity after almost 10 years of continued nutrient fertilization.


S14-P02 – TROPICAL FOREST NUTRIENT ECOLOGY

SODIUM IN A TROPICAL MONTANE FOREST IN SOUTH ECUADOR: DEMAND OF PHYLLOSPHERE MICROORGANISMS AND EFFECTS ON DECOMPOSITION

Tobias Fabian1, Andre Velescu1, Tessa Camenzind2, Matthias C. Rillig2, Wolfgang Wilcke1

1Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute of Geography and Geoecology, Karlsruhe, DE, [email protected] Universität Berlin, Institute of Biology, Berlin, DE

Sodium is not an essential nutrient for plants and its effects on biota are mainly discussed in view of salinity in arid ecosystems. However, current studies in tropical forests investigate the hypothesis of Na being a limiting element in decomposition, thus affecting the carbon cycle. Na limitation of soil fauna may occur when Na inputs from the atmosphere and rock-derived Na concentrations in soils are low. Furthermore, Na might also be required by organisms of the phyllosphere, which might explain observations that deposited Na is retained in forest canopies.In our study on Na limitation in a tropical montane forest on the eastern cordillera of the Andes of South Ecuador, we investigated the hypotheses that (1) the study area is characterized by low Na concentrations because of low atmospheric deposition, (2) soil organic matter decomposition processes are limited by Na restrictions of faunal and fungal activity, and (3) Na is retained in the canopy because of Na limitation of microorganisms in the phyllosphere.Ecosystem Na fluxes have been monitored in a 9 ha-large catchment under an undisturbed montane forest since 1998. Results reveal low Na concentrations in the organic layer and the mineral soil. Lower Na fluxes with throughfall+stemflow than with bulk deposition indicate Na retention in the canopy. Furthermore, Na input to the soil was higher than Na fluxes with litter leachate, suggesting Na retention in the organic layer in most of the 15 observation years.To explore the role of phyllosphere microorganisms in Na retention, we conducted an experiment with fresh leaves having different degrees of phyllosphere cover and sprayed them with a NaCl solution containing 1 mg L-1 Na. Increasing phyllosphere cover led to enhanced Na retention, which was more pronounced on understory tree leaves than on leaves of the upper canopy.Effects of Na limitation on decomposition were tested by degradation of cellulose filter papers soaked in different Na solutions (NaCl, NaH2PO4, Na2SO4). Differential effects on soil microfauna and fungi were tested in a litterbag experiment set up in a factorial design. Our results revealed enhanced decomposition rates following Na additions in the presence of soil fauna. These results suggest a potential role of Na in regulating ecosystem processes.


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S15-P01 – ALTITUDINAL GRADIENT

ECOLOGY OF BIRD COMMUNITIES ALONG AN ELEVATIONAL TROPICAL GRADIENT IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Katerina Sam1,2, Bonny Koane3, Vojtech Novotny1,2

1Biology Centre CAS, Institute of Entomology, Ceske Budejovice, CZ, [email protected] of South Bohemia, Faculty of Science, Ceske Budejovice, CZ3The New Guinea BInatang Research Centre, Madang, PG

Elevational gradients continue to provide an attractive setting for biodiversity studies and serve as a heuristic tool and natural experiment in the study of community ecology. Here we present robust quantitative data on bird communities along a complete undisturbed rainforest elevational gradient. Our aim was to describe bird communities in detail and inspect various aspects of their ecology and patterns along the gradient.

Mt Wilhelm gradient is located in the Central Cordillera of Papua New Guinea, spanning from the lowland floodplains of the Ramu river (200 m) to the tree line (3700 m). We collected bird community data at eight sites (500 m elevational increment) during five independent surveys - in dry, wet seasons and extremely dry seasons (El Nino event). We used point counts, mist-netting and random walks throughout the area to survey birds. We divided all recorded birds (more than 40,000 individuals comprising 248 species) into five feeding guilds. We examined patterns of species richness, density, range size and distribution of birds. We further describe patterns in functional diversity and seasonal movements of birds.

Data indicate that species richness and abundance of birds is highest at the lowest elevations and decreases steeply for all birds together and for frugivores. However, the diversity and abundances of insectivores remains constant until 1700 m a.s.l. and then decreases with increasing elevation. The patterns in frugivore-insectivores and insectivore-nectarivores are more similar to those of insectivores rather than frugivores. We observe overall highest species turn-over at mid-elevations (between 1200-1700 m), and highest abundances of insectivorous birds at 700-1700m. Extreme droughts during of El Nino even in 2015 had significant effect on bird communities, especially on frugivorous birds at lower elevations. Finally, we discuss malaria parasitemia in birds along the elevational gradient, and their elevational migrations.

S15-P02 – ALTITUDINAL GRADIENT

WOODY PLANTS ARE FLESHY-FRUITED IN THE LOWLANDS: STRONG ENVIRONMENTAL GRADIENTS CONTROL FRUIT TYPES ON A HIGH-ELEVATION OCEANIC ISLAND

Albert Sébastien1, Olivier Flores1, Dominique Strasberg1

1UMR PVBMT, Université de la Réunion, Saint-Pierre, RE, [email protected]

We assessed the importance of abiotic factors in explaining the spatial distribution of fleshy-fruited (FF) and dry-fruited (DF) woody species on La Réunion (Mascarene archipelago). We used an historical dataset of 429 vegetation plots surveyed in well-preserved, native habitats between 50 and 3000 m. We assigned fruit types to 213 woody species. We calculated the FF and DF species richness, and the proportion of FF species (pFF). We used general linear models to measure the relationships between these response variables and abiotic factors (elevation, climatic and topographic variables), controlling for spatial autocorrelation. Phylogenetic signal and endemism were assessed to disentangle assembly rules along environmental gradients.

Elevation was always the best predictor. pFF decreased from 82 % at 50 m to 0 % above 2350 m. Precipitation of the driest month had also a highly significant effect. pFF were higher on the windward where there was no precipitation seasonality. Topographic variables had an overall weak influence on response variables. Strong environmental filtering was highlighted at high elevations where single-island endemic DF plants dominated. The striking relationship between elevation and pFF suggests a strong bottom-up control in communities, i.e. the availability of resources controls the fruit type composition. Biogeographic constraints may mostly influence the composition of fruit types at high elevations because (1) the sources of preadapted FF lineages are scarce and distantly located, and (2) current FF lineages on La Réunion might lack the evolutionary potential to adapt to harsh high-elevation conditions. Finally, because fruit types are closely related to seed dispersal strategies, these results show that these strategies change radically along elevational gradients. In an island where all large frugivorous vertebrates are now extinct, this raises the question of the future of FF species-rich communities.

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S16-P01 – ECOLOGY AND TAXONOMY OF TROPICAL BRYOPHYTES

EPIPHYTIC BRYOPHYTES RESPOND TO CHANGES IN FOREST STRUCTURE

Tinja Pitkämäki1, Johanna Toivonen2, Sanna Huttunen1

1Biodiversity Unit, University of Turku, Turku, FI, [email protected] of Biology, Turku, FI

Increasing human impact threatens the forest biota of tropical Andes. The loss and degradation of forest habitat have been most dramatic in cloud forests (CFs) which, due to their exceptional biodiversity and valuable ecosystem services provided, have become a priority target for conservation. Both the plant diversity and ecosystem function in CFs are linked to high epiphyte loads. In particular, the extensive cover of epiphytic bryophytes on tree trunks and branches is a distinguishing feature of CFs. Previous studies have already

demonstrated changes in epiphyte assemblages after disturbances such as logging. As full protection is not always an option, there is a need for sustainable management strategies to prevent biodiversity loss and sustain ecosystem function: understanding the relationships between environmental variables and community composition of epiphytic bryophytes is the first step towards this goal.

We conducted a vegetation survey in primary and secondary cloud forests of Northern Peru to study the effects of forest structure on epiphytic bryophytes. In the studied forests, tree density and basal area turned out to be good indicators of the degree of anthropogenic disturbance. The biomass of epiphytic bryophytes decreased as the forests became more disturbed. Associated changes in the community composition suggest that communities respond to altered microclimatic conditions following logging. Results are presented for both taxonomic diversity and growth-form based functional diversity.

S17-P01 – MANIPULATIONS OF TROPICAL FOOD WEBS

EFFECTS OF MACROCONSUMERS ON INVERTEBRATE FEEDING GROUPS ACROSS A GRADIENT OF VEGETATION LOSS IN TROPICAL KARST STREAMS

Elaine Corrêa1, Fabio Roque1, Ryan Utz2, Augusto Ribas1, Bruno Martínez1, Franco Souza1

1Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Campo Grande, BR, [email protected] School of Sustainability, Chatham University, Gibsonia, US

Species loss resulting from human activities tends to disproportionately affect consumers at the top of trophic networks, resulting in changes to community structure and ecosystem functioning across aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Few studies have simultaneously and experimentally addressed the effects of native vegetation depletion and macroconsumer loss on invertebrate food webs in streams.

The aim of this study was to investigate how native riparian forest loss affects the interaction of macroconsumers such as fish and shrimp on composition of benthic invertebrate functional groups in tropical karst streams in Central-West Brazil. We experimentally excluded macroconsumers from the benthic zone of seven streams that reflected a continuous gradient from 20 % to 100 % of riparian forest cover.

Across sites, the absence of macroconsumers appeared to promote an increase of abundance of scraper (e.g. Leptophlebiidae) and predator (e.g. Tanypodinae and Odonata) invertebrates, but did not alter collector or total invertebrate abundance. Additionally, the effect of native vegetation loss on trophic interaction was variable and was site-specific. Our results demonstrate the impact of native vegetation loss on the trophic interaction of macroconsumers and invertebrate functional groups in tropical karstic streams. Such potential top-down effects have been poorly studied in tropical karstic streams to date.

Financial support: CAPES, PELD Planalto da Bodoquena: redes de interações em longo Prazo, CAPES-COFECUB and FUNDECT/CAPES.

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S18-P01 – TROPICAL NETWORKS

THE ROLE OF UV REFLECTANCE IN THE POLLINATION SYSTEM OF HYPOXIS CAMEROONIANA ON MT. CAMEROON

Yannick Klomberg1,2, Raissa Dywou Kouede3, Michael Bartoš1,4, Robert Tropek1,5, Eric Fokam3, Štěpán Janeček1,4

1Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, CZ, [email protected] Biodiversity Center, Leiden, NL3Department of Zoology and Animal Physiology, Faculty of Science, University of Buea, Buea, CM4Institute of Botany, Czech Academy of Sciences, Třeboň, CZ5Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, České Budějovice, CZ

Ultraviolet (UV) light reflectance has long been believed to play a role in predicting plant pollinators. UV reflection patterns on flowers act as specific guides to the flower or on a smaller scale as nectar guides. The UV pattern is expected to alter the behaviour of insects and influence plant reproductive success.

We focused on the role of UV reflectance in the pollination of the pyrophytic species Hypoxis camerooniana, a plant with UV reflecting petals on Mt. Cameroon. We filmed 54 flowering plants from opening till closing of the flower in the montane grasslands around Mann Spring (± 2250 m), resulting in over 1000 hours of footage. Four treatments of UV manipulation were applied, including the full or partial application of UV absorbing cream and related controls treated with neutral cream. Moreover, we filmed non-treated flowers to see the effect of our experimental approach. We observed visitor’s behaviour and checked the interaction(s) with reproductive organs to distinguish potential pollinators. After recording, pistils were collected for analysis of germinated pollen tubes to test pollination effectiveness.

Preliminary results show a general decrease of visitation rates in treated flowers, with UV blocked flowers showing the lowest visitation rates. Flies are the notable exception, since they alone favour control treated flowers. Diurnal visitation patterns are not affected by treatment. Night visitation was rare due to nyctinasty, the night visitor community was mainly formed by harvestmen and crickets. Most visits occurred in the morning hours. Day visitation was dominated by bees, with the second largest group being flies. Based on the pollen tube count we can conclude that treatment did not influence pollination success, since only trivial differences between all treatments and natural control were found

S20-P01 – TROPICAL FORESTS IN SPACE AND TIME

DYNAMICS AND DIVERSITY OF A SUBTROPICAL FOREST IN FUSHAN, TAIWAN: SIMULATION APPROACH VIA THE INDIVIDUAL-BASED TROLL MODEL

E-Ping Rau1, Jérôme Chave1

1Laboratoire Évolution & Diversité Biologique, Toulouse, FR, [email protected]

A major challenge in ecology is to understand processes that drive the high diversity and dynamics of tropical and subtropical forests, many of which are subjected to frequent cyclones. These episodic climatic disturbances have strong impact on tree growth and survival, but their effects on community structure have not been extensively studied. Simulation with mechanistic models integrating plant functional traits represent a powerful tool to this end.

In this study, we applied individual-based TROLL model to a subtropical forest with frequent typhoon visits, parametrizing with functional trait and climate data. We used both local climate data from meteorological stations and global re-analysis climate data from CRU-NCEP database, and evaluated their respective performance. We found that global climate data showed less variability in precipitation and slightly lower temperature than local climate data, but the simulation results were not greatly affected by the type of climate data used. Results after simulations over 500 years showed adequate estimations of forest structure (maximum height and biomass), underestimation of the number of small trees and overestimation the number of large trees; species evenness was also largely overestimated. These discrepancies suggested the potential importance of typhoons in shaping forest structure and diversity.

In the future, we will attempt to improve the model by developing modules that capture how disturbance events may influence forest dynamics, comparing across sites (Luquillo, BCI, etc.) with different climatic disturbance intensity, and incorporating spatial heterogeneity, in hopes of improving the generality of the model and providing fundamental understandings on processes shaping tropical forests.

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S20-P02 – TROPICAL FORESTS IN SPACE AND TIME

SIMULATING SEED DISPERSAL TO REPRODUCE PAST DYNAMICS AND DISTRIBUTION OF AFRICAN TROPICAL TREES

Marie Dury1, Olivier J. Hardy2, Jérémy Migliore2,3, Alexandra-Jane Henrot1, Franck Trolliet1, Alain Hambuckers4, Anne-Marie Lézine3, Joy Singarayer5, Louis François1

1Unit for Modelling of Climate and Biogeochemical Cycles, UR-SPHERES, University of Liège, Liège, BE, [email protected] Biology and Ecology, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Bruxelles, BE3Laboratoire d’Océanographie et du Climat LOCEAN, Sorbonne Université, Paris, FR4Behavioural Biology Unit, UR-SPHERES, University of Liège, Liège, BE5Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, Reading, UK

Climate change and human pressure threaten species richness of African tropical forests. Understanding how the past climate changes have shaped the current distribution and composition of African rainforests can certainly help to the ecosystem conservation in the future. This topic is addressed in the framework of the multi-disciplinary AFRIFORD project (Genetic and palaeoecological signatures of African rainforest dynamics: pre-adapted to change?). The CARAIB dynamic vegetation model is applied at the level of representative African tropical tree species to reconstruct their past and present distributions in equatorial Africa. To reproduce fully population dynamics, the results of the vegetation model are combined with a seed dispersal model.

First, we simulate with the CARAIB DVM the changes over time in the potential distribution of tree species studied in AFRIFORD taking competition between species into account. From Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) to present time, the vegetation model is forced with the 1-kyr snapshot outputs of the HadCM3 climate model, statistically downscaled at a spatial resolution of 0.5° and bias-corrected. The calculated distributions are essentially in equilibrium with climate, except for small delay times associated with biomass growth. These distributions are also compared directly with the potential (no dispersal limitation either) distributions obtained from species distribution modelling (MaxENT) for the same set of tree species and with the same climate forcing. Then, to simulate tree species under limitation by both climate and seed dispersal, we present preliminary results obtained with the dispersal module. Tests about the sensitivity of species dynamics to climate and competition are performed. Species dispersal is simulated on a sub-grid at 100 m resolution from the LGM refugia identified by the DVM. The dispersal capacities are dependent on species productivity and survival simulated by the DVM under past climate conditions.

S22-P01 – REMOTE SENSING FOREST RESPONSE TO ENSO

TOWARDS LANDSCAPE SCALE METRICS OF ENSO-INDUCED TREE MORTALITY IN PRIMARY AND DISTURBED TROPICAL FORESTS VIA REMOTE SENSING

Doreen Boyd1, Liam Clark1, Giles Foody1, David Burslem2, Christopher Philipson3, Geertje van der Heijden1, Catherine Waite1, Mark Cutler4

1University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK, [email protected] of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK3ETH Zürich, ETH Zürich, CH4University of Dundee, Dundee, UK

A commonly reported impact of drought affecting tropical forests is an increase in tree. Any loss of trees from drought has a significant impact upon ecosystem services, particularly with respect to carbon dynamics and projected changes to the species composition of forests as drought frequencies change. However, this critical factor in determining how resilient forests are to short term drought (whether driven by ENSO or other factors) is highly variable across both time and space, and poorly studied in logged forests in particular.

In this paper findings are presented from the NERC-funded STEED (Spatio-TEmporal Dynamics of Forest Response to ENSO Drought) project which has used plots, UAV and satellite observations of Bornean tropical forests to measure ENSO-induced mortality. We show that there remain significant challenges in analysing these data not least because the relative youth of higher spatial resolution sensors (e.g. WorldView-3) means that ‘best practice’ has yet to be established for how tree mortality, for instance, is best detected using these data.

Furthermore, while the use of imagery taken from multiple sensors at multiple times is able to elucidate forest response to perturbations (i.e., drought) at multiple spatial scales, factors such as cloud cover present significant barriers. While it is possible to select imagery with limited cloud cover, this is rarely consistent across time. Work has been done to overcome these issues in other forest environments but very little in tropical environments. Nonetheless, initial findings from the STEED project indicate that it is possible to identify incidences of tree mortality from imagery and this paper postulates how remote sensing might be best employed for future ENSO events to ensure a fuller understanding of the impact of drought across time and space.

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S22-P02 – REMOTE SENSING FOREST RESPONSE TO ENSO

SPECIES DISTRIBUTION MODEL FOR A MICRO-ENDEMIC HUMMINGBIRD WITH VEGETATION INDICES AS A PREDICTOR OF HABITAT STRUCTURE

Edwin Zarate1,2, Pedro X. Astudillo1, David C. Siddons1,2, Roland Brandl2, Nina Farwig2, Jörg Bendix2

1Universidad del Azuay, Cuenca, EC, [email protected]ät Marburg, Marburg, DE

Species Distribution Models (SDMs) are very important tools to predict geographic distribution of biodiversity via ecological niche modelling mainly using climatic information. The most used information is data from the WorldClim Global Climate database. However, the spatial resolution of these data is at best 1 km2 and interpolated, useful for relatively homogeneous areas. In areas such as Ecuador, bisected by the Andes mountain range, the climatic variations are notable over short distances and ecosystems and

landscapes also change abruptly.To improve these predictions, it would be appropriate to work with finer scale climatic information, which is not always available for the areas of interest. For this reason, we opted to model finer scale variation using Landsat remote sensing images as a proxy for habitat variation rather than using climatic variation. We used texture analysis of NDVI and NDWI indices as a proxy for habitat structure. We focused on southern Ecuador across the known distribution range of a micro-endemic hummingbird (Metallura baroni) found in páramo and shrub in high areas of the Andes, and developed an SDM using MAXENT. The results were promising (AUC = 0.957) and can be mapped to 1:50K, providing a cartographic tool for better planning and direct conservation decisions at a local scale.

S23-P01 – REHABILITATION OF TROPICAL FOREST LANDSCAPES

CHALLENGES AND RISKS OF BUSHMEAT EXPLOITATION AT KISANGANI REGION (DRC)

Casimir Nebesse1, Guy-Crispin Gembu (speaker)1, André Malekani1, Olivier Basa1, Dudu Akaibe1, Erik Verheyen2

1Université de Kisangani, Kisangani, CD, [email protected] Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels, BE

Bushmeat exploitation in Kisangani area (Thsopos Province) is an increasingly activity, because it developed in the shadows and almost out of control. There are signs of the emergence of a thriving business in Kisangani City. As part of the MRV project, we conducted a study on bushmeat exploitation in the different markets of Kisangani City.

The study allowed us to measure the impact of hunting on the various wild species exploited and sold as bushmeat. The results of this work show that Kisangani region is losing biodiversity through commercial bushmeat harvesting activities. At least 45.65 % of bushmeat encountered in different markets of Kisangani are partially protected species; 21, 73 % combine fully protected and unprotected species traded. Unfortunately, this exploitation is irrational and remains poorly controlled as a result of weak governance, the widespread lack of enforcement of laws and regulations that have all reinforced, to varying degrees, over-hunting.

This high demand for bushmeat increase poaching in the rural areas of Kisangani City through the use of homemade guns (calibre 12) and other prohibited hunting animals. This hunting is practiced in an unsustainable and less selective way on the wildlife would in the long run the risks of: (1) local disappearance of certain large Mammals (ecological stakes); (2) impoverishment of the rural populations which practice the hunting and the reduction of incomes in their households (economic stakes), and (3) the difficult survival for households of hunters and bush meat sellers (social issue).

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S23-P02 – REHABILITATION OF TROPICAL FOREST LANDSCAPES

WHERE HAS THE PEAT GONE? DETERMINING REGIONAL-SCALE CARBON LOSSES USING INSAR FROM TROPICAL PEATLANDS

Martha Ledger1, Sofie Sjögersten1, Andrew Sowter2, David Large3, Chris Evans4, Keith Morrison5

1Department of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK, [email protected] Ventures, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK3Department of Engineering, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK4Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Bangor, UK5Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, Reading, UK

80 % of peatland in Indonesia and Malaysia are now drained for production of pulp wood and palm oil. Associated increased peat decomposition and large-scale forest fires are now significant contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions. However, carbon losses from these processes remain poorly quantified as assessing the impact of peatland drainage across SE Asia is extraordinarily difficult due to the challenging nature and scale of the environment.

Space-based platforms offer the opportunity for regular and efficient pan-regional monitoring. A transformative development in satellite Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR), a technique that measures surface motion, has the potential to solve this problem. A new “intermittent small baseline subset” (ISBAS) modelling technique developed at Nottingham, provides excellent coverage across almost all land surfaces irrespective of ground cover. This enables long term measurement of peatland surface motion across whole catchments, regions and countries. Importantly, the ISBAS technique is able to determine surface deformation under tropical forest canopy using C-band InSAR data. This enables continuously monitoring of surface motion ranging from 0.1 – 40 cm/yr at spatial scales ≥90x90m. Field-based subsidence measurements are a common approach for assessing carbon losses from peatlands. Thus, space-based InSAR-derived motions should directly relate to carbon loss, allowing pan-regional assessment of carbon loss from otherwise inaccessible tropical peatlands.This project aims to determine whether rate of subsidence of the peat surface measured by InSAR is a proxy for rate of carbon loss in tropical peatlands in SE Asia. To achieve this, we will combine InSAR and field measurements of subsidence, with peat carbon stock data using statistical regression modelling techniques to validate the use of subsidence as a proxy for carbon loss. This project will deliver, for the first time, regional C loss rates from tropical peatlands in SE Asia following land use change.


S25-P01 – HUMAN-MODIFIED TROPICAL FORESTS

IMPACTS OF LOGGING GAPS ON SOIL MICROBIAL DIVERSITY AND FUNCTION IN BORNEO

Samuel Robinson1,2, Dafydd Elias2, Niall McNamara2, Nick Ostle1, Rob Griffiths3

1Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK, [email protected] for Ecology & Hydrology, Lancaster, UK3Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Wallingford, UK

Tropical forests provide a vital global carbon sink, resulting from complex biogeochemical processes driven by plant-soil interactions. Current rapid land-use change threatens to alter the capacity of tropical forest soils to store carbon, with over 30 % of forest cover in Borneo being lost since the 1970’s due to logging and conversion to oil palm plantation. The selective removal of large canopy-forming trees in addition to creation of logging roads dramatically affects forest structure, vegetation community and microclimate. Subsequent alteration in plant inputs to the soil has downstream consequences for soil microbial communities and function.

Key foci for this research are to investigate linkages between structure of human-made logging gaps, vegetation and microclimate/environmental characteristics, and soil microbial diversity, community structure and function (carbon and nutrient cycling) within logged-over forest in lowland dipterocarp rainforest across the Sabah region of northern Malaysian Borneo. 6 study plots were established inside logging gaps across two sites in degraded forest (within the NERC BALI Project disturbance gradient) and sampled for: (1) soil chemical, physical and biological (microbial diversity through next-generation sequencing) properties; (2) gap size and shape (canopy cover, aerial photography and LiDAR); (3) vegetation cover and height, and (4) environmental and climate characteristics (air temperature, humidity, soil temperature and moisture content) in addition to installing longer-term environmental data loggers. Sampling was repeated in paired co-located control plots under adjacent closed-canopy forest for comparison. Metrics will be tested between gap and forest plots, as well as spatial variation within gaps and across sites. These data will also be used to inform ex-situ soil incubation studies investigating soil function (respiration) under controlled temperature and drought manipulations to provide understanding of potential atmospheric feedbacks under future climate scenarios.

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S28-P01 – FREE SESSION: TROPICAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION

SUPPLEMENTARY FOOD ENHANCES THE NUMBER OF BREEDING PAIRS IN A CAPE VULTURE COLONY

Dana Schabo1, Sonja Heuner1, Michael Neethling1, Sascha Rösner1,2, Roger Uys3, Nina Farwig (speaker)1

1University of Marburg, Marburg, DE, [email protected] GmbH, DE3Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife, ZA

Vultures provide important ecosystem services, as they dispose carrion, maintain energy flows and prevent the spread of diseases. At the same time, the number of vultures is declining worldwide due to numerous threats, such as poisoning and collisions with power-lines as well as the lack of adequate food sources. Vulture restaurants, i.e. supplementary feeding stations, have become a widespread conservation tool aimed at supporting vulture colonies. However, the effect of vulture restaurants on population dynamics

of vulture species is still poorly understood.

In our study, we used a 12-year dataset from a breeding colony of the Cape Vulture Gyps coprotheres and a nearby vulture restaurant in South Africa to investigate the effect of supplementary food on population dynamics and breeding success. We found a significantly positive effect of supplementary food during the nest-building stage on the number of breeding pairs. However, breeding success, i.e. the proportion of successful nests, was not affected by supplementary food during the incubation and rearing stage. Our results indicate that carefully managed vulture restaurants might stabilize vulture colonies and can therefore aid vulture conservation.


MULTIPLE-TAXA RESPONSES TO LAND USE CHANGES IN A BRAZILIAN SAVANNA LANDSCAPE

Clarissa Araújo Martins1, Maurício Silveira1, Francisco Valente Neto1, Marciel Elio Rodrigues1, Claudenice Faxina Zucca1, Erich Arnold Fischer1, Olivier Pays2, Pierre-Cyril Renaud2, Fabio Oliveira Roque1

1Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Conservação, UFMS, Campo Grande, MS, BR, [email protected], Université d’Angers, Angers, FR

Processes underlying gradients of biodiversity are a fundamental yet unresolved topic in ecology. Intensification of land uses cause species loss but may also change the phylogenetic structure of the communities. Understanding how land use changes in the tropical regions affect phylogenetic structure of communities is useful for setting regulatory limits and defining conservation action. Community phylogenetic structure results in three basic patterns: clustered, overdispersed and random. Based on classic ideas, phylogenetic clustering occurs when communities comprised of ecologically similar species are present at the same place and time as a result of environmental filtering, whereas phylogenetic overdispersion results when limiting similarity occurs between closely-related, and therefore competing, species. Within random phylogenetic structure, the species tend to co-occur regardless of their phylogenetic relatedness.

Our hypothesis is that as the percentage of native vegetation cover decreases in a landscape, the phylogenetic clustering pattern of the communities would increase due to the loss of phylogenetic related species. Using the Net Relatedness Index (NRI), we evaluated the phylogenetic community structure for birds, bat, aquatic macroinvertebrates and dragonflies along a gradient of loss of vegetation cover in a Cerrado hotspot region, Brazil. Our results did not show an evident pattern of increasing phylogenetic clustering pattern of the communities as the percentage of native vegetation cover decreases. There is no congruence of patterns in the response of the groups to the loss of native vegetation cover. Apparently, groups can respond idiosyncratically to land use.

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DEVELOPING LONG-TERM MONITORING OF NATURAL AREAS FOR A UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE: STUDY CASE OF LA REUNION

Claudine Ah-Peng1, Olivier Flores1, Vincent Legros1, Benoit Lequette2, Jacques Rochat1, Mathieu Rouget3, Nicholas Wilding (speaker)1, Dominique Strasberg1

1University of La Réunion, Saint-Pierre, RE, [email protected] National de La Réunion, La Plaine-des-Palmistes, RE3CIRAD, Saint-Pierre, RE

La Réunion island, in the Mascarenes, has been recognized as a World Heritage site for its Piton, Cirques and Remparts since 2010. The site, coinciding with the core zone of La Réunion National Park, represents 100000 ha, equivalent to 40 % of the island. These dramatic landscapes of rugged terrain, impressive escarpments, forested gorges are dominated by three cliff-rimmed cirques and two volcanoes ― a dormant massif forming the highest peak, Piton des Neiges (3069 m), and in the eastern part of the island lies the very

active volcano, the Piton de la Fournaise (2632 m). The island harbours a wide variety of natural habitats (tropical montane cloud forests, subalpine shrublands, lowland forests, dry forest…), now all remnant in the Mascarene archipelago, that host high levels of endemism for both flora and fauna. Thereby, La Réunion is the most significant contributor towards conservation of terrestrial biodiversity in the Mascarene islands.

The Divines project (FEDER) aims at developing innovative methods for characterizing and monitoring terrestrial biodiversity in the long term for conservation managers to ensure the protection of this world heritage site. In this poster, a description of the goals, actions and preliminary results of the DIVINES project will be described from gene to ecosystem levels.


A NEW TOOL FOR THE CONSERVATION OF THE GABONESE FLORA: THE THREATENED PLANT SPECIES OF GABON WEBSITE

Nicolas Texier1,2,3, Tariq Stevart2,3,4, Ehoarn Bidault3,5, Peter B. Phillipson3,5

1Université Libre de Bruxelles, Evolutionary Biology and Ecology (EBE), Bruxelles, BE, [email protected]é Libre de Bruxelles, Herbarium et Bibliothèque de Botanique Africaine, Bruxelles, BE3Missouri Botanical Garden, Africa & Madagascar Department, St. Louis, US4Jardin Botanique de Meise, Meise, BE5Institut de Systématique, Évolution, et Biodiversité, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle de Paris, Paris, FR

The concept of High Conservation Value (HCV) was developed by the Forest Stewardship Council to support sustainable forest management. It provides a standard that many Gabonese logging companies have employed to certify their production. The concept is also used for the certification of sustainable palm groves and can also be directly transposed to the mining sector, two activities that have been expanding rapidly in recent years in the country. In order to define priority sites for conservation, and thus to guide actions to ensure the conservation of the flora, taxonomic knowledge and risk of extinction assessments are essential prerequisites for the application of the HCV approach (under criterion 1). However, for plants, only a small fraction of the flora has been assessed and a list of threatened species has not been available.

To help remedy this shortcoming, we have developed a website, with a financial support of Prince Albert II de Monaco Foundation and WWF, to present the threatened plant species of Gabon (http://www.tropicos.org/Project/Threatened_Plants_Gabon). The website is hosted as a project on Missouri Botanical Garden’s Tropicos platform and aims to provide all stakeholders using the HCV concept or requiring the identification of endangered species, with information on threatened plant species present in Gabon. More specifically, for each species, it provides: a brief description; documents its phenology, distribution and habitat; proposes its preliminary conservation status according to the IUCN Red List criteria and cites the main literature associated with this species. Photos of live plants and/or scans of reference herbarium samples enrich these data, as well as a distribution map of known specimens. To date, 58 species have already been assessed and are presented on the website but more than 500 species have also been identified as potentially threatened and are currently under assessment.

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BAT HUNTING BODES HUMAN AND FOREST HEALTH THREAT IN CONGO BASIN RAINFOREST

Prescott Musaba1, Guy-Crispin Gembu1, Erik Verheyen2, Dudu Akaibe1, André Malekani1, Claude Mande1

1Université de Kisangani, Kisangani, CD, [email protected] Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels, BE

Large and small mammals have been used as main animal protein source and even income source for many urban and rural families in the African lowland rainforest regions, like the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). In the Tshopo Province (DRC), where the cattle farming is not practiced, bat hunting is obviously one of the most profitable commercial activities since their consumption have been increased among households with low incomes.

While bats provide an undeniable ecosystem service, they have nevertheless been proven the multi-host for human and wildlife pathogenic agent. This research aims to present cultural and socio-economic broad overview of bat dealers and consumers perception.

From 2013 to 2016, overall 3,266 bat specimens were counted in Kisangani markets. Among five frugivorous bat species mostly recorded on stands, Eidolon helvum (Kerr, 1792) specimens occurred nearly 92 % of the sold capital. While interviews with households in Kisangani reveal that the strongest preference for E. helvum bushmeat is related to its flesh taste, yet most families are unaware of the health risks associated with this consumption.

According to bat dealers and consumers, bats’ bushmeat activities are spread throughout the year with a peak profitability during high rainfall season (April to September), this leads to enough profit and to provide families with sufficient animal protein. Therefore, these findings imply that bat consumption is associated with human culture and the household incomes plummeting during the last decade. These indicators augur the eventual harmful consequences on human, fauna and the Congo basin rainforest health.


ECOLOGICAL MODELLING OF AGGREGATION OF PARASITE ACANTHOGYRUS SP. IN WILD NILE TILAPIA (OREOCHROMIS NILOTICUS L.)

Dana Vi Husana1, Jomar Rabajante1, Vachel Gay Paller1

1University of the Philippines, Los Banos, PH, [email protected]

Parasite aggregation is a naturally occurring phenomenon whose implications in ecological studies range from coinfection dynamics of the parasites to stability of population dynamics and their effects on host community health. While several studies mainly attribute overdispersion to differences in host susceptibility and aggregation of infective stages in the environment, other possible factors include direct reproduction in hosts, and accumulation with host trophic level or age.

Here, we present a discrete time model that shows the relationship between the age of the host and the degree of parasite aggregation. The model includes two parameters which can be adjusted to fit different cases. One parameter is the force of infection which would vary for different host age groups while the other parameter represents the decrease of parasites due to treatment. Although the model is designed in the context of Acanthogyrus sp. in various age groups of Oreochromis niloticus found in Sampaloc Lake, Laguna, Philippines, it would be applicable for other host-parasite systems as a means of predicting other scenarios related to parasite aggregation. Since the parameters can be adjusted, this serves as an initial study upon which other models with new factors and further improvements can be based on.

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QUANTITATIVE ASSESSMENT OF NAEGLERIA FOWLERI UNDER CLIMATE CHANGE IN LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN, LOUISIANA

Samendra Sherchan1

1Tulane university, New Orleans, US, [email protected]

Brackish water samples from Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana were assessed for the presence of pathogenic amoeba Naegleria fowleri, which causes primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). It is an emerging pathogen and it is expected that the number of cases will increase due to climate change.

In our study, quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) methods were used to determine N. fowleri, E. coli, and enterococci

in water collected from Lake Pontchartrain. N. fowleri target sequence was detected in 35.4 % (56/158) of the water samples from ten sites around the lake. Statistically significant positive correlations between N. fowleri concentration and water temperature as well as E. coli (qPCR) were observed. Multiple linear regression (MLR) model shows seasonal factor (summer or winter) has significant effect on the concentration of N. fowleri, E. coli and enterococci (qPCR) concentration. Significant positive relationships between E. coli and enterococci was observed from both qPCR (r = 0.25) and culture based method (r = 0.54). Meanwhile, significant positive correlation between qPCR and culture based methods for enterococci concentration was observed (r = 0.33). In our study, water temperature and E. coli concentration were indicative of N. fowleri concentrations in brackish water environment. Future research is needed to determine whether sediment is a source of N. fowleri found in the water column.

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INFORMATIONFOR PARTICIPANTS

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INFORMATION FOR PARTICIPANTS

VENUE - CONFERENCE CENTRE

The conference centre is located in the Quartier Latin – Paris 5th Arrondissement:International Conference Center Sorbonne Université (CICSU) 4 place Jussieu, ENTRANCE TOUR 44, 75005 Paris

GPS coordinates: Lat. 48.84641/ Long. 2.35485

Served by many means of public transport:• Metro: lines 7 and 10 – Station “Jussieu”;• Bus: lines 24 and 63 – Stop “Université Paris 6”, lines 67 and 89 – Stop “Jussieu”• Railway station (SNCF station, French National railway company): Gare d’Austerlitz.

You have then to cross the Jardin des Plantes to reach the campus (7-10 mn).• Free underground parking with 800 places.


ROOMS - CONFERENCE CENTRE CICSU

The conference centre at Sorbonne Université (SU, 4 place Jussieu, entrance tour 44) is organized in two close buildings.

To get to the registration room, please enter via “tour 44”, go up the stairs and follow the signage.

First floor in buildings 44-54/44-45 for registrations, the four parallel sessions, coffee breaks, and also side rooms (cloak room, meeting/working rooms GTÖ board room).

Auditorium under the patio 44-55 (basement level) for opening and closing ceremonies, plenary talks, public lecture, and GTÖ membership assembly. Lobby for posters session and coffee breaks.

REGISTRATION DESK

The registration desk is in Building 44-54, first floor, room 105. Enter the building via “Tour 44”. The registration will be open from Monday, 26th March 16:00 until Thursday, 29th March 14:00.

Conference fees and additional bookings at the registration desk can be paid in cash and credit card (Master/Visa).

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TALKS & POSTERS

For each oral presentation, there will be a 15 minutes time slot (12 min for the presentation + 3 min for discussion). Please make sure to respect this time period. The conference room is equipped with a beamer and a Windows computer to allow PowerPoint presentations. It will not be possible to use your own computer. Please make sure that your PowerPoint presentation can run on a Windows computer, and prepare a PDF presentation to be sure…

The IT desk will be located in the registration office in building 44-54, first floor (room 105). Speakers, please provide memory stick to our staff in charge of uploading presentations at the IT desk at registration time Monday from 16:00. This allows us more time in case problems should occur. All the other presentations need to be handed over to the conference IT staff no later than the afternoon preceding the day the presentation is scheduled!

Please put up your poster at registration time Monday 16:00 to 17:30. Posters should be on display from 18:00 on Monday 26 March 2018 until the end of the Conference on Thursday 29 March 2018, posters should be removed on Thursday by 17:00 as remaining ones will be disposed. Authors are expected to attend their poster whenever possible during breaks to facilitate interaction with participants and at the scheduled time slot Wednesday afternoon. Please consult the conference programme at https://www.soctropecol-conference.eu/index.php?cat=program. Posters will have to be stuck to the hard top boards. Magnets will be supplied by the organisers. Each poster presentation will be allocated one display board. The dimensions of the poster should be in A0 portrait format (120 cm high and 85 cm wide).

For further details please check the conference webpage https://www.soctropecol-conference.eu//index.php?cat=talksandposter

CLOAK ROOM

We have established a cloak room in the registration office building 44-54, first floor (room 105). Please be aware that the university cannot take responsibility for any loss.


INTERNET

Wireless lan access will be provided.

MEETING & WORKING ROOMS

Three working/meeting rooms are available in building 44-44, level 1 (rooms 110, 112 and 114). These rooms are opened to the participants during the week.

LUNCH FACILITIES

Restaurant L’Ardoise (SU campus, between buildings 25 and 26, level 0), offers two style lunches either in the self-service area the so-called Brasserie or the Restaurant where you get served. Opened from 12:00 to 14:00. Payment methods accepted: Cash.

You can also find other snacks/café/restaurant around the SU – Jussieu campus.

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PARTNER - TROPIMUNDO

THE ERASMUS MUNDUS MASTERS COURSE IN TROPICAL BIODIVERSITY AND ECOSYSTEMS – TROPIMUNDO

Farid Dahdouh-Guebas1,2, Ludwig Triest2, Jean-Yves Dubuisson3, Bernard Riéra4, Giacomo Santini5, Sabrina Coste6, Daniel Imbert7, François Nguetsop8, Harisoa Ravaomanalina9, Aidy M Muslim10, Satyanarayana Behara10, Stefano Cannicci11

1Department of Organism Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles – ULB, Brussels, BE, [email protected] of Biology, Faculty of Sciences and Bio-engineering Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel – VUB, Brussels, BE3Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité, Université Pierre et Marie Curie – UPMC, Paris, FR4MECADEV UMR 7179 CNRS-MNHN, Muséum National d‘Histoire Naturelle, Département Adaptations du vivant, Brunoy, FR5Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi di Firenze – UNIFI, Sesto Fiorentino, IT6AgroParisTech-ENGREF, INRA, UMR Ecologie des Forêts de Guyane, Université de Guyane – UdG, Kourou, GY7Université des Antilles – UdA, Pointe-à-Pitre, GP8Department of Plant Biology, Université de Dschang – UDsch, Dschang, CM9Dept. of Plant Biology and Ecology, University of Antananarivo – UNIVANTA, Antananarivo, MG10MOE 7th Higher Institution Center of Excellence HICoE in Marine Science, Institut Oceanografi Dan Sekitaran (INOS), Universiti Malaysia Terengganu – UMT, Terengganu Darul Iman, MY11The Swire Institute of Marine Science and the School of Biological Sciences, University of Hong Kong – HKU, Hong Kong, HK

TROPIMUNDO is an Erasmus Mundus Masters Course in Tropical Biodiversity and Ecosystems funded by the European Commission. It is the

first MSc program (2 yrs, 120 ECTS) that integrates the knowledge and skills related to four adjacent interlinked tropical ecosystems under threat (tropical rainforests and woodlands, wetlands, - both terrestrial and coastal such as mangrove forests, seagrass beds and coral reefs). Study of these ecosystems is crucial to understand, protect and manage tropical biodiversity in an era characterised by an international biodiversity crisis with imminent risks of extinction of species due to global warming and anthropogenic impacts such as habitat destruction and changes in land use.

TROPIMUNDO is unique in incorporating a 2nd semester (with theoretical courses and a significant field course) in the tropics in Guadeloupe, France (Université des Antilles – UdA), Cameroon (Université de Dschang – Udsch), Madagascar (University of Antananarivo – UNIVANTA), Malaysia (Universiti Malaysia Terengganu – UMT) or Hong Kong (University of Hong Kong – HKU). These institutions cover specialisations in Caribbean insular ecosystems, Central African terrestrial ecosystems, Malagasy forest ecosystems, and Malaysian mangrove ecosystems and other South-East Asian terrestrial and coastal ecosystems, covering a wide choice of skills and qualifications in tropical biodiversity and ecosystems.

Furthermore TROPIMUNDO brings together European expert higher education institutes, with long-standing worldwide expertise in tropical rainforests and woodlands and in coastal ecosystems in Belgium (Université Libre de Bruxelles – ULB, Vrije Universiteit Brussel – VUB), France (Université Pierre et Marie Curie – UPMC c/o Sorbonne Université, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle – MNHN and Université de Guyane – UdG) and Italy (Università degli Studi di Firenze – UNIFI). They integrate world class scientific education and research expertise on the aforementioned tropical ecosystems and experience in designing and teaching in international MSc programs. The 1st semester primarily aims at teaching basic courses in Europe, whereas the 3rd semester focuses on specialised courses at one of the European partners. The 4th and final semester is dedicated to the thesis. Graduates obtain multiple degrees or a joint degree, a joint Europass Diploma Supplement, a Europass Mobility and a Europass Language Passport. TROPIMUNDO’s learning outcomes stretch far beyond academic knowledge and insight, but also aim at demonstrating enhanced capabilities in effective analysis and communication, independence, creativity and assertiveness, critical judgement, and ethical and social understanding.

During the two years of the Master program TROPIMUNDO students are able to concentrate on botany, zoology and integrative ecosystem approaches in institutions worldwide. Multiple specialisations are included, such as the evolution of tropical flora and vegetation; faunistic assemblages; informatics tools to treat and manage biodiversity data and databases (biogeographical, genetic, geographical information systems) including the management and conservation of historic collections such as herbarium sheets; the study of diversity, dynamics and evolution of tropical and subtropical ecosystems (with a focus on four related systems, namely tropical rainforests and woodlands, mangrove forests, seagrass beds and coral reefs, including the interactions between flora, fauna, man and the environment within and between each of these adjacent ecosystems);conservation and restoration ecology of natural habitats and their biodiversity including competences in sustainable management and governance of biodiversity, and finally, in tropical ethnobotany, exploitation and valorisation of the functions, goods and services of natural habitats and their resources, and conservation of traditional ecological knowledge.

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TROPIMUNDO maximises the inclusion of European languages by offering a content and language integrated learning program (English or English + French), and it is delivered in a society that is French, English, Dutch, Italian or Spanish-speaking, which is valorised using buddy programs and Tandem Learning. This aims at improving the students’ language capabilities for which facilities are provided by all partners.

TROPIMUNDO management is handled by a multi-level and shared responsibility involving 4 decision bodies (Steering, Selection, Internal Evaluation and External Evaluation), and 1 main execution structure (Coordination Office), all operating with equal commitment by the partners. A series of Associated Partners, including scientific institutes, governmental and non-governmental organisations responsible for conservation or management of tropical ecosystems and their biodiversity, and public authorities, agreed to advertise the program, to provide or to communicate existing placements, jobs, internships or thesis perspectives and scholarships, and to assist in evaluating the program. This links TROPIMUNDO to the real and professional world.

Referenceswww.tropimundo.eu

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SIDE EVENTMINIFORUM COPED - ACADÉMIE DES SCIENCES

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SIDE EVENTMINI FORUM COPED: DIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION OF AFROTROPICAL FORESTS DIVERSITE ET CONSERVATION DE LA FORET TROPICALE AFRICAINE

Chairs: Pierre-Michel FORGET, Philippe TAQUETContact: [email protected]

The side event ‘Miniforum COPED’ is organized by Pierre-Michel Forget, Professor Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, and by Philippe Taquet, Member of the Académie des sciences, as well as by COPED (Standing Committee for Developing Countries) of the Académie des sciences. The side event has two main objectives. First, the COPED aimed at inviting lead African scientists to communicate about their research in the field of plant and animal diversity, ecology and dynamic and conservation of afrotropical forests during the European Conference of Tropical Ecology (gtoe18) at CICSU, Paris. Second, the COPED aimed at organizing an international meeting in March 2019 in Central Africa targeting “Preservation and sustainable use of biodiversity of tropical forests”. Therefore, COPED invited scientists to contribute to two discussion sessions in order to establish the academic and scientific committee, and to discuss the content of the program of COPED2019. The Miniforum also benefitted from the help from the French Embassy in the United States that supported travel of one speaker (D. Kenfack).

Three themes have been provisionally proposed to stimulate the exchanges between participants of the miniforum: (1) biodiversity: inventory and conservation of natural resources; (2) management and sustainable use: forestry, commercial timber, natural resources, climate and health; (3) monitoring and management of forests: observatory, satellite, arboretum, education, ecotourism, tree atlas. As a start, the oral communications of the side event are fulfilling those themes.

PROGRAM09:30 Auger, P. Welcome from the COPED President, Académie des Sciences.

09:35 Forget, P.-M., Taquet, P. Introduction: content and goal of the miniforum COPED.

09:45 Pulcherie B., Sosef, M. S. M., Chatrou, Lars W. Biogeography of Campylospermum Tiegh. and its center of diversity in tropical Africa.

10:00 Missoup, A.D., Nicolas, V., Colyn, M., Keming Chung, E., Hutterer, R., Wendelen, W., Denys, C. Systématique et biogéographie des rongeurs des milieux forestiers afrotropicaux.

10:15 Gonmadje, C., Doumenge, C. McKey, D. Biodiversity and conservation value of an Atlantic central African forest: the Ngovayang Massif (Cameroon).

10:30 Break and Posters

11:00 Ntie, S., Davis, A. R., Hils, K., Mickala, P., Thomassen, H. A., Morgan, K., Vanthomme, H., Gonder M. K., Anthony, N. M. Patterns of evolutionary diversification among Central African duikers (subfamily Cephalophinae).

11:15 Nyirambangutse, B., Zibera, E., Dusenge, M. E., Nsabimana, D., Pleijel, H., Uddling, J., Wallin, G. Canopy nutrient cycling in Afromontane tropical forests at different successional stages.

11:30 Kenfack, D. CTFS and permanent plots in African Rainforests.

11:45 Abernethy, K., Koumba Pambo, A. F., Jeffery, K. Scientific capacity building and the evidence base for change in Central African forests.

12:00 Forget, P.-M., Taquet, P. Conclusion and invitation for discussion meetings (28 afternoon and 29 morning).

11:15 Nyirambangutse, B., Zibera, E., Dusenge, M. E., Nsabimana, D., Pleijel, H., Uddling, J., Wallin, G. Canopy nutrient cycling in Afromontane tropical forests at different successional stages.

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SE-O01 – SIDE EVENT – MINIFORUM COPED – ACADEMIE DES SCIENCES

BIOGEOGRAPHY OF CAMPYLOSPERMUM TIEGH. AND ITS CENTER OF DIVERSITY IN TROPICAL AFRICA

Pulcherie Bissiengou1, Marc S. M. Sosef2, Lars W. Chatrou3

1Herbier National du Gabon, IPHAMETRA-CENAREST, Libreville, GA, [email protected] Garden Meise, Meise, BE3Wageningen University and Research, Biosystematics group, Wageningen, NL

The genus Campylospermum belongs to the family Ochnaceae s.l., which is widely distributed in tropical and subtropical forests and savannas of the Old and New World. It is a family of trees and shrubs or rarely herbs and consists of about 500 species in 27 genera. The highest species richness is found in the Neotropics, where 250–300 species and 15 genera are present. In Africa, including Madagascar, about 150 species and nine genera occur, while the lowest diversity is observed in Southeast Asia, hosting only 20 species and 8

genera. The majority of the genera is confined to a single continent, exceptions being Campylospermum and Ochna, both with an Old World distribution.

The continental African species of the genus Campylospermum occur from Senegal to Angola and from Ethiopia to Zambia, with highest diversities in regions covered by evergreen forest. They are distributed within three biogeographic areas, the Congolian region, the Sudanian region and the Zambezian region. Widespread species such as C. reticulatum and C. vogelii are found in all three biogeographic regions, but most are restricted to only one. No species is restricted to the Sudanian region; the occurrences there all relate to outlier populations of more drought-resistant species that have their main distribution centre within the Congolian region. Relatively few species, such as C. bukobense, C. lunzuensis and C. plicatum, are distributed across the Congolian and Zambezian region. Five species (C. andongensis, C. lutambensis, C. sacleuxii, C. scheffleri, C. warneckei) are endemic to the Zambezian region while the majority (38 species, about 81 %) of Campylospermum species is restricted to the Congolian region. The latter is subdivided into three subregions: Guinea, Congo and Shaba. Eighteen species are restricted to the Congo subregion while three species (C. amplectens, C. congestum and C. schoenleinianum) are endemic to the Guinea subregion. No endemics are known to occur in the Shaba subregion. Species such as C. calanthum, C. duparquetianum, C. dybovskii, C. elongatum, C. flavum and C. sulcatum are more widely distributed and found in both the Guinea and Congo subregions.

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SYSTEMATICS AND BIOGEOGRAPHY OF RODENTS FROM AFROTROPICAL FORESTS

Alain Didier Missoup1, Violaine Nicolas2, Marc Colyn3, Ernest Keming Chung4, Rainer Hutterer5, Wim Wendelen6, Christiane Denys2

1Department of Animal Biology Organisms, Faculty of Science, University of Douala, Douala, CM, [email protected] de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité, ISYEB - UMR 7205 - CNRS, MNHN, EPHE, Sorbonne Université, Paris, FR3UMR CNRS 6553 ECOBIO, Station Biologique de Paimpont, Plelan Le Grand, FR4Kilum-Ijim Forest Project, Kumbo, CM5Section of Mammals, Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig, Bonn, DE6Zoology Department, RMCA-Tervuren, Tervuren, BE

With more than 2200 species already described, rodents represent nearly half of the biodiversity of mammals. Tropical areas in sub-Saharan Africa host an important part of this biodiversity: 89 genera have been reported, for a total of 469 species. With the discovery of a cryptic diversity within the group, several species have been described during the last decade, by combining morphological, molecular and cytogenetic data. New evidences on diversification patterns in tropical Africa have been reported.

Our studies in collaboration with several European museums including the National Museum of Natural History of Paris have permitted, by using an integrative approach combining morphological and genetic data, to test the systematic position and to confirm the geographical distribution of several taxa. Phylogenetic data also allowed us to discuss on mechanisms promoting the biodiversity in afrotropical forests. The role of several barriers among which mountain ranges and fluvial systems in the diversification processes, as well as the effect of Plio-Pleistocene climatic oscillations and Miocene volcano-tectonic activities were particularly highlighted. It would be interesting to check the status and the geographical distribution of other taxa in further works using an integrative systematic approach. New data on the climatic niche modelling and the analysis of genetic data at the population level would be also helpful for a better understanding of processes promoting the diversification in tropical Africa but also for a conservation purpose.

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BIODIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION VALUE OF AN ATLANTIC CENTRAL AFRICAN FOREST: THE NGOVAYANG MASSIF (CAMEROON)

Christelle Gonmadje1,2, Charles Doumenge2, Doyle McKey3

1Department of Plant Biology, University of Yaoundé I, Yaoundé, CM, [email protected], Campus International de Baillarguet, Montpellier, FR3Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, UMR CNRS 5175, Montpellier, FR

The Ngovayang Massif of southern Cameroon is a range of small hills near the Atlantic coast, in the Lower Guinea floristic region. This region is known to harbor forests with high levels of biodiversity and endemism, but this Massif is botanically poorly known. We assessed tree species diversity and level of endemism of the Ngovayang forest, comparing it with other sites in Central Africa. Fifteen 1-ha permanent plots within old-growth forests of the Ngovayang Massif were censused.

A total of 7967 individuals with dbh ≥ 10 cm were recorded, belonging to 583 species, 267 genera and 71 families. The mean number of stems was 532 ± 75 stems ha-1. The mean Fisher’s alpha index was 42.4 ± 6.5. Taking into account other data available, the list of vascular plants known in the Massif reaches a total of 1497 species. We found 224 species of high conservation value, including Cameroon endemics and other rare and threatened species. Species richness and endemism are comparable to those of the richest known sites in Central African forests. Topographic heterogeneity, high precipitation and atmospheric humidity owing to the proximity of the ocean, and permanence of a forest cover during past geological times probably all contribute to explaining the Massif’s high tree diversity and endemism. This study highlights the botanical importance of the poorly studied Ngovayang forest within the Lower Guinea region, justifying efforts for improved assessment of this value and for the development of suitable national conservation strategies.

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PATTERNS OF EVOLUTIONARY DIVERSIFICATION AMONG CENTRAL AFRICAN DUIKERS (SUBFAMILY CEPHALOPHINAE)

Stephan Ntie1, Anne R. Davis2, Katrin Hils3,4, Patrick Mickala1, Henri A. Thomassen4, Katy Morgan2, Hadrien Vanthomme5, Mary K. Gonder6, Nicola M. Anthony2

1Département de Biologie, Université des Sciences et Techniques de Masuku, Franceville, GA, [email protected] of Biological Sciences, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, US3Cheetah Conservation Fund, Otjiwarongo, NA4Comparative Zoology, Institute for Evolution and Ecology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, DE5Département Écologie et Gestion de la Biodiversité, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, CNRS UMR 7179, Brunoy, FR6Department of Biology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, US

Duikers are an important component of the mammal community throughout the whole Congo basin. However very little is known about their ecology and drivers of diversification. Meanwhile, duikers are a significant source of proteins for local people and are increasingly threatened by hunting pressure and habitat alteration. The present study set out to assess patterns of evolutionary diversification in central African duikers (genera Cephalophus and Philantomba). They constitute good markers for tropical diversification because they are highly tied to forested habitat. The sampling strategy consisted of collecting geo-referenced duiker feces across 43 sites and seven countries across Central Africa. Analyses of historical and contemporary population genetic structure were carried out on the three most abundant species (C. dorsalis, C. callipygus, and P. monticola) in our sampling area using a ~ 650 bp mitochondrial fragment of the control region and 12 polymorphic microsatellite loci.

These data show that (1) the highlands of southwest Nigeria and southwest Cameroon comprise genetically distinct populations of C. callipygus and P. monticola species, (2) environmental variation explains most of the nuclear genetic differentiation in both C. callipygus and P. monticola, (3) signatures of demographic expansion for all three taxa are broadly coincident with a history of post-glacial expansion, and (4) the Sanaga, Ogooué and Sangha rivers may constitute partial riverine barriers and/or act as fluvial refugia.

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CANOPY NUTRIENT CYCLING IN AFROMONTANE TROPICAL FORESTS AT DIFFERENT SUCCESSIONAL STAGES

Brigitte Nyirambangutse1, Etienne Zibera1, Mirindi Eric Dusenge1,2, Donat Nsabimana1, Håkan Pleijel3, Johan Uddling3, Göran Wallin3

1Department of Biology, University of Rwanda, Butare, RW, [email protected] Department, The University of Western Ontario, London, CA3Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Göteborg, SE, [email protected]

Canopy nutrient composition and cycling control biogeochemical processes and tree growth in forests. However, the understanding of nutrient limitations and cycling in tropical montane forests (TMF) is currently limited, in particular for Afromontane forests. In this study we investigated leaf nutrient composition and resorption, canopy nutrient cycling and soil carbon and nutrient content in 15 permanent plots at different successional stages in a TMF (elevation 1950 to 2550 m a.s.l.) in Rwanda, Central Africa. Leaf concentrations of 12 elements were analysed in attached green leaves as well as in shed leaves of 10 early (ES) and 10 late (LS) successional tree species.

Leaf nutrient concentrations mostly did not differ between ES and LS species (exception: K was 20 % higher in ES), but the ratios of P, K and Mg to N were significantly higher in ES species. Mean resorption efficiencies of N (37 %), P (48 %) and K (46 %) were much higher than for other nutrients. Nutrient resorption efficiency exhibited very large interspecific variation, did not differ between ES and LS species, and was not related to the leaf concentration of the respective element. Total leaf litterfall was on average 4.9 t.ha-1.yr-1 (66 % of total litterfall) and was independent of the successional stage of the forest. The total content of C, N, P and K in leaf litterfall did not differ between ES and LS stands. Ground litter turnover rates of C and N were 0.98 and 0.78 y-1, respectively. High leaf N concentrations, intermediate N:P ratios and low resorption efficiencies compared to values reported for other TMFs indicate high fertility and likely co-limitation by N and P, however progressively increasing towards P limitation during the course of succession. Our results further demonstrate that resorption efficiency and canopy litterfall inputs to soil mostly do not differ between ES and LS species in Afromontane tropical forests.

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CTFS-FORESTGEO AFRICA PROGRAM: AN INITIATIVE TOWARDS THE LONG-TERM MONITORING OF AFRICAN FORESTS

David Kenfack1

1Africa Program Coordinator, CTFS – ForestGEO, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, PA, [email protected]

Deforestation and climate change is impacting African forests by threatening its biodiversity and its ability to provide ecosystem goods and services. A network of long-tern monitoring plots is being established across the main vegetation types of the continent to document how these forests respond to global change.

The program was initiated in 1994 and now comprises five large (20 – 120 ha) plots in Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Kenya, and Nigeria. The plots represent four of eight main vegetation types in Africa and monitor the growth and survival of over one million individual trees in over 1400 species. These plots use standardized protocols and are part of a global network coordinated by the Center for Tropical Forest Science – Forest Global Earth observatory (CTFS-ForestGEO) of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Within the plots all free standing trees ≥1 cm diameter are measured, tagged, mapped, and identified. Subsequent re-measurements every five year provide data on growth, mortality, recruitment of different species, information that is critical to forest conservation and understanding how global change is impacting African forests.

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SCIENTIFIC CAPACITY BUILDING AND THE EVIDENCE BASE FOR CHANGE IN CENTRAL AFRICAN FORESTS

Katharine Abernethy1,2, Aurelie Flore Koumba Pambo3,4, Kathryn Jeffery1,3

1University of Stirling, UK, [email protected] de Recherche en Ecologie Tropicale, GA3Agence Nationale des Parcs Nationaux, GA4CENAREST, GA

Monitoring change over time in tropical biomes is a crucial part of planning conservation policies and evaluating whether the actions taken are effective. As global climate change advances and the time for mitigation of change reduces, the need for accurate estimations of biome response becomes more acute. Although suites of indicators of ecosystem health, such as the Essential Biodiversity Indicators, have been developed over the past decade, using them on the ground requires extensive resources in staff training, equipment

organization and funding and uptake of the data can be very poor, if results are not easily accessible to decision-makers.

We look at the challenges of the 21st century for adequate surveillance and management of Central African environments and the resources that have so far been channeled to meet these challenges. We cover the emergence of remote-sensing databanks, publically available databases, internet education tools and digital books and discuss the provision of a robust evidence base for the state of the central African biomes. We analyze the gaps in 2018 in our ability to undertake and use adequate monitoring of environmental change, and propose some pathways to improving the available evidence base.

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SOCIAL EVENTS

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SOCIAL EVENTS

WELCOME RECEPTION

Date: Monday, 26th March, 2018 Time: From 19:00 to 21:30 Venue: CICSU - Jussieu Campus, Auditorium lobby Open to all participants!

Meet your friends and colleagues and everybody you haven‘t seen since the last European Conference for Tropical Ecology/gtö…

PUBLIC LECTURE

Date: Tuesday, 27th March, 2018 Time: From 18:00 to 19:30 Venue: CICSU - Jussieu Campus, Auditorium lobby Sebastian Lotzkat - Species revisited – catching (up on) the cornerstones of biology

(Abstract in the beginning of the book) Open to everyone!

CONFERENCE DINNER

Date: Wednesday, 28 March, 2018 Time: From 18:30 to 21:00 Venue: Aquarium Tropical – Palais de la Porte

Dorée, 293 avenue Daumesnil, 75012 Paris Access by public transport: Metro line 8

(station „Porte Dorée“), Tram T3a (station „Porte Dorée“), or Bus line 46 (stop „Porte Dorée“).

Access from the conference centre – SU: Take the metro line 7 attention take the 7 which goes direction „Mairie d’Ivry“ get off at the station „Porte d’Italie“ leave the metro, cross the road and walk to tram stop few meters and take the tram T3a, direction „Porte de Vincennes“ get off at the stop „Porte Dorée“. Attention you have to use a new ticket as you have left the metro. Please allow approximately 40 min for getting to the Aquarium Tropical. Allow 2 tickets per trip (the connection between metro and tram is not possible with the same ticket).

Fee: Euro 50.00. Registration mandatory.

SOCIAL EVENTS

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ALL ABOUT PARIS

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ALL ABOUT PARIS

TRANSPORTS IN PARIS

Public transportMost public transport in Paris is organised by the RATP. The network includes metro lines, trains RER A and B, trams and buses. Maps of the network are available free of charge from the information desks at the metro stations.RATP website: https://www.ratp.fr/enTimetables: on weekdays, the metro and RER operate from 5:30 a.m. to about 1:15 a.m. Consult the time tables shown at the metro stations or bus stops.

Where to buy a metro ticket?Metro tickets cost € 1.90 each (€14.50 for 10 [ask for ‘un carnet’]). You can buy tickets at automatic ticket machines in metro stations, in tobacconists and on the websiteMetro tickets are valid in zone 1 and 2 only for journeys within Paris city limits.

Metro Map: https://www.ratp.fr/en/plans-lignes/plan-metroAttention! Special rates for airports as there are outside zone 1 and 2, please visit: https://www.ratp.fr/en/titres-et-tarifs/airport-tickets.More detailed information about public transport, metro, trams and busses can be found here: https://en.parisinfo.com/practical-paris/how-to-get-to-and-around-paris/public-transport

Bike rentalThanks to the policy of the Paris City Council, the bicycle is gaining ground: today 700 kilometres of bike paths are available to cyclists.Near to the main train stations and the principal tourist routes, you’ll find companies renting bicycles for a day, a weekend or a week. (cf. list below)

Vélib’: Set up by the City of Paris, Velib’ is a self-service bicycle sharing scheme. It is very affordable, and bikes are available throughout Paris (and beyond the city limits) 24 hours a day. It is the ideal way to get around Paris. More information here: https://www.velib-metropole.fr/#/

Taxis informationHow to get a taxi?• By hailing one in the street (it is free if the sign on the roof is lit up and green),• At a taxi rank,• By calling one of the main taxi firms.

The Taximètre: Fare comparison and taxi booking hotline. Please see: https://www.letaximetre.fr/

ALL ABOUT PARIS

Paris taxi drivers are not known for their flawless knowledge of the Paris street map; if you have a preferred route, say so. Taxis can also be hard to find, especially at rush hour or early in the morning. Your best bet is to find a taxi rank (station de taxis, marked with a blue sign) on major roads, crossroads and at stations. A white light on a taxi’s roof indicates the car is free; an orange light means the cab is busy. There is a service charge of €2.10. The rates are then based on zone and time of day:A: 10am-5pm Mon-Sat central Paris, €0.82 per km.B: 5pm-10am Mon-Fri, 5pm-midnight Sat, 7am-midnight Sun central Paris; 7am-7pm Mon-Sat inner suburbs and airports, €1.10 per km.C: midnight-7am Sun central Paris; 7pm-7am Mon-Sat, all day Sun inner suburbs and airports; all times outer suburbs, €1.33 per km.Most journeys in central Paris cost €6-€12; there’s a minimum charge of €5.60, plus €1 for each piece of luggage over 5kg or bulky objects, and a €0.70 surcharge from mainline stations. Most drivers will not take more than three people, although they should take a couple and two children. There is an additional charge of €2.75 for a fourth adult passenger.Don’t feel obliged to tip, although rounding up to the nearest euro is polite. Taxis are not allowed to refuse rides if they deem them too short and can only refuse to take you in a certain direction during their last half-hour of service (both rules are often ignored). If you want a receipt, ask for un reçu or la note. Complaints should be made to the Bureau de la réglementation publique, 36 rue des Morillons, 75732 Paris Cedex 15.

These firms take phone bookings 24/7; you also pay for the time it takes your taxi to reach you. If you wish to pay by credit card, mention this when you order.• Alpha 01.45.85.85.85, www.alphataxis.fr• G7 01.47.39.47.39, www.taxisg7.com• Taxis Bleus 08.91.70.10.10, www.taxis-bleus.com

HEALTH INFORMATION

Useful phone numbersFire, medical emergency or ambulance: 18 or 15 and from a mobile phone: 112Police: 17Fire brigade: 18SAMU medical urgences: 15

Anti-poison centre: 01 40 05 48 48 ([email protected] or www.centres-antipoison.net/paris)24/7 urgent medical aid and advice on drugs, medication, poisons, etc. Centre Antipoison et de Toxicovigilance de PARIS.Hôpital Fernand WIDAL 200 rue du Faubourg Saint Denis 75475 Paris Cedex 10

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ALL ABOUT PARIS

Hospitals in ParisThe 39 hospitals of the Assistance Publique – Hôpitaux de Paris, located in various parts of Paris and the Île-de-France, provide a service for all the public, 24 hours/24 and 7 days/7. They account for 25 general emergency departments.Each hospital also has its own specialist consultations. A doctor will direct you to the one that is most appropriate to your needs. During the hospitalization of a child or loved one, some hospitals may also offer you accommodation or give you information about a specialist agency.Some of the major Parisian hospitals are: La Pitié Salpêtrière, the Hôtel-Dieu, Lariboisière, Necker and Bichat.

For urgent consultations in EnglishMany practitioners at the American Hospital, the Institut Franco-Britannique and the Hôpital Foch are perfectly bilingual. It is also possible to contact SOS Médecins France on +33 (0) 1 47 07 77 77: operators will direct you, when possible, to an English-speaking doctor.

PharmaciesChemists are usually open all day from 8am to 8pm. They close on a rota basis on Sunday and sometimes on Monday. But when one chemist is closed, the addresses of the nearest open chemists are listed on the door.

PRACTICAL INFORMATION

Bank card lost or stolenCardstop: 0 825 000 222 (0.15 € TTC for 1 minute) and 24/7.From outside: +33 388 39 85 71

BanksThere is a multitude of banks in Paris, both French and foreign. They are generally open from 9am to 5pm, or 6pm, from Monday to Friday, sometimes from Tuesday to Saturday. Certain branches may close at lunchtime, between 12.30pm and 2pm.Even though you may find some banks who will accept your currency in exchange for euros, you are more likely to come across exchange bureaux, which specialize in this type of transaction. Make sure you have some ID with you.

Your credit card will enable you to withdraw cash in euros 24 hours a day at the hundreds of automatic cashpoints in the city. They often give you the choice of instructions in French, English or other languages. The majority of international cards are accepted by cash dispensers at the principal French and foreign banks. However, not all banks provide a currency exchange service.

ALL ABOUT PARIS

Post OfficeA postcard or a letter to send? You can post them in one of the yellow letter boxes found on most street corners. Stamps can be bought in post offices or tobacconists.Most post offices are open from 8am to 7pm, Monday to Friday, and 8am to midday on Saturday. Closed on public holidays.

ClothingIn March, bring warm clothes, and it is always a good idea to pack an umbrella and a rain coat.

ElectricityA.C. 220 volts - 50 cycles. Plugs are of the round 2-pin type.

Phone country code0033

PARIS WAY OF LIFE

Eating outParis ‘Capital of Gastronomy’ invites travellers from all over the world to have a feast! Choose and book your restaurant via PARISINFO: https://en.parisinfo.com/where-to-eat-in-paris

Discovering ParisParis is multifaceted and there are numerous ways of discovering it. As well as the top sights, there are many other amazing places. Here are our suggestions: https://en.parisinfo.com/discovering-paris

Walks in ParisMythical, trendy, popular, unusual… Paris has many aspects to reveal in the course of a variety of itineraries: https://en.parisinfo.com/discovering-paris/walks-in-paris

Shopping in ParisLuxury, ready-to-wear, gastronomy, antiques, lifestyle… shopping addresses galore: https://en.parisinfo.com/shopping

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ALL ABOUT PARIS

Paris InformationPlease find here very useful links for your stay in Paris:• Discover Paris in a few days:

https://en.parisinfo.com/discovering-paris/paris-for-the-first-time/paris-in-1-2-or-3-days

• Paris, 10 must see: https://en.parisinfo.com/discovering-paris/themed-guides/Paris-a-fabulous-heritage/paris-10-must-sees/Paris-10-must-see

• Famous moments to visit in Paris: https://en.parisinfo.com/what-to-see-in-paris/monuments/famous-monuments-or-monuments-to-discover

• What to do in Paris in March-April 2018? https://en.parisinfo.com/discovering-paris/major-events/what-to-do-in-paris/in-march-april-it-s-springtime-in-paris/what-to-do-in-paris-in-march-and-april

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Conference management: Heike KUHLMANN, KCS Kuhlmann Convention Service; Rue des Chênes 12, CH-2800 Delémont; Phone: 0041-32-4234384; Fax: 0041-32-4234385; Email: [email protected]

Helpers: Jean-Philippe AKPOUE, Marion BARBE, Mouna CHAMBON, Paul CHATELAIN, Raphaël DE LAAGE DE MEUX, Boris DEMENOU, Julie DESMIST, Manon DUCRETTET, Héloïse DUPRAT, Blandine GAILLARD, Clément GROS, Laurent GRUMIAU, Tian LI, Aboubacar MAIGA, Jérémy MIGLIORE, Lantotiana RANDRIAMANANA, Marie SEGUIGNE, Shabnam TAHERI, Félicien TOSSO, Julie ZALKO

We are grateful also to the CICSU for their logistic help.

Session Chairs: Luc ABBADIE, Nikolay AGUIRRE, Louise ASHTON, Selene BAEZ, Sébastien BAROT, Jean-François BASTIN, Thomas COUVREUR, Mark CUTLER, Julian DONALD, Lise DUPONT, Marianne ELIAS, Adeline FAYOLLE, Rico FISCHER, Colin FONTAINE, Pierre-Michel FORGET, Claude GARCIA, Jacques GIGNOUX, Sandrine GROUARD, Eric GUILBERT, Sven GÜNTER, Damien Daniel HINSINGER, Jürgen HOMEIER, Alice C. HUGHES, Andreas HUTH, Sanna HUTTUNEN, Patrick A. JANSEN, Marion KARMANN, Jean-Christophe LATA, Moses LIBALAH, Elina MÄNTYLÄ, Vincent MEDJIBE, Tarik MEZIANE, Emma MICHAUD, Udo NEHREN, Violaine NICOLAS-COLIN, Pablo OROZCO-TERWENGEL, Pete B. PHILLIPSON, Fabien QUETIER, Ute RADESPIEL, Claudia RAEDIG, Hery Lisy Tiana RANARIJAONA, Catherine REEB, Malika RENE-TROUILLEFOU, Virginie ROY, Katerina SAM, Joeri Sergej STRIJK, Jérôme SUEUR, Piotr SZEFER, Franziska TAUBERT, Yit Arn TEH, Franck TROLLIET, Rizza Karen VERIDIANO.

Photos credits: CNRS Photothèque – Thomas VIGNAUD, Erwan AMICE_LEMAR & Pierre-Michel FORGET

AND SPECIAL THANKS TO YOU

378 379


INDEX OF PARTICIPANTS

380 381


Family name

First name Organisation E-Mail Ref. Page

Abernethy Katharine Institut de Recherches en Ecologie Tropicale

GA [email protected] 362

Akodewou Amah CIRAD / AgroParisTech / Université de Lomé

FR [email protected] 84

Aldana Ana NA CO [email protected]

Alebrahim Mohammad Taghi

University of Mohaghegh Ardabili

IR [email protected]

Andrianasetra Georges Simon

Centre d�'Information et de Documentation Scientifique et Technique

MG [email protected] 299

Araujo Martins

Clarissa UFMS BR [email protected] 336

Aristizábal Ángela Universidad de los Andes CO [email protected]

291

Arnaud Marie Leeds University UK [email protected] 58

Ashton Louise University of Hong Kong HK [email protected] 143

Bader Maaike University of Marburg DE [email protected]

188, (190), (193)

Báez Selene Escuela Politécnica Nacional del Ecuador

EC [email protected] (171), 172

Barot Sébastien iEES Paris - Sorbonne Université cc 237

FR [email protected] (79), (82)

Bastin Jean-Francois ETH-Zurich, Institute of Integrative Biology, Crowther Lab

CH [email protected] 166, 285

Beck Erwin University of Bayreuth, Dept. Plant Physiology

DE [email protected] (320)

Bendix Joerg University of Marburg DE [email protected]

(306), (330)

Beng Kingsly Chuo Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences

CN [email protected]

134

Bertucci Frédéric Centre de Recherches Insulaires et Observatoire de l'�Environnement, USR3278


Biscarini Filippo Cardiff University UK [email protected] 153

Bissiengou Pulcherie Herbier National du Gabon GA [email protected] 356

Blanchard Fabian Ifremer / UMR LEEISA GF [email protected] (52)

Boissier Olivier Independent FR [email protected] 215

Bolanos Pablo Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle


Boom Arthur Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB-EBE)

BE [email protected] 91

Bousquet-Mélou

Anne Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d'�Ecologie, Aix-Marseille Université

FR [email protected]

55, (63)

Boyd Doreen University of Nottingham UK [email protected]

329

Boyle Michael Imperial College London UK [email protected]

277

Bräuning Achim University Erlangen-Nürnberg / Institute of Geography

DE [email protected] (274), (310), (320)

Family name


Bretagnolle François University of Burgundy, UMR Biogéosciences


Bryja Josef Institute of Vertebrate Biology of the Czech Academy of Sciences

CZ [email protected] 89

Budde Katharina Birgit

Université de Bordeaux / INRA FR [email protected]

(119), 122

Caillaud Anne IUCN France FR [email protected] 60

Cárate Tandalla

Daisy Escuela Politécnica del Chimborazo

EC [email protected] 171

Chandler Chris University of Nottingham UK [email protected]

250, 308

Chapman Philip Imperial College London UK [email protected] 278

Chatelain Paul Muséum National d�'Histoire Naturelle


Chatrou Lars Wageningen University NL [email protected] 118, (356)

Chellaiah Darshanaa Monash University Malaysia MY [email protected] 258

Chen Chunfeng Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Science

CN [email protected] 137

Corrêa Elaine Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul

BR [email protected] 325

Couteron Pierre Institut de Recherche pour le Développent (IRD)

FR [email protected] (162)

Couvreur Thomas Institut de Recherche pour le Développent (IRD)

FR [email protected] (87), (88), (159)

Cragg Simon University of Portsmouth UK [email protected] 62

Cutler Mark University of Dundee UK [email protected] (233), 247, (248), (329)

D�Haese Cyrille MECADEV, UMR 7179 CNRS / MNHN


Dahdouh-Guebas

Farid Université Libre de Bruxelles / Vrije Universiteit Brussel

BE [email protected] 59, 348

Dahl Chris Biology Centre of Czech Academy of Science, Institute of Entomology


Dammhahn Melanie University of Greifswald / Animal Ecology

DE [email protected]

292

Damtew Mesfin Vrije Universiteit Brussel / Ecology and Biodiversity


Dantas de Paula

Mateus Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ

DE [email protected] (223), 225

Dellinger Agnes University of Vienna AT [email protected] 178

Demenou Boris Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB-EBE)

BE [email protected] (121), 216

Dirberg Guillaume Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle


Donald Julian University of the West of England Bristol / Evolution, Diversité Biologique Toulouse


Dossa Gbadamassi G.O.

Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences


382 383


Family name


Doucet Jean-Louis Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech / Liège University

BE [email protected] (93), (165), (216), (285), (318)

Doumenge Charles CIRAD FR [email protected] (93), (121), (358)

Dubuisson Jean-Yves Sorbonne Université FR [email protected] (348)

Dubuisson Elodie Sorbonne Université / MNHN / Isyeb


Dueñas Juan Free University Berlin, Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB)

DE [email protected] 170

Dunthorn Micah Department of Ecology, University of Kaiserslautern


Dupont Lise Université Paris Est Créteil FR [email protected] 149

Duprey Nicolas Max Planck Institute for Chemistry


Dury Marie University of Liège BE [email protected] 136, (242), 328

Ebenye Mokake

Seraphine University of Buea CM [email protected]

Eguiguren Paul Thunen Institute - Germany DE [email protected] 254

Elias Marianne Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité

FR [email protected] 125, (182)

Elias Dafydd Centre for Ecology & Hydrology UK [email protected] 276

Exbrayat Jean-François School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh

UK [email protected] 227, 237

Fabian Tobias Karlsruher Institut für Technologie

DE [email protected] 173, 321

Faivre Valentin Agence Mensam FR [email protected]

Farwig Nina University of Marburg DE [email protected] (177), (306), (330), 334

Fauvelot Cécile Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)


Faye Adama Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)


Fayolle Adeline Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech BE [email protected] (93), (156), 161, (165), (283), (285), (318)

Fernandez Catherine Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d'Ecologie, Aix-Marseille Université


Finckh Manfred University of Hamburg / Biodiversity, Evolution and Ecology of Plants


77, (78)

Fischer Fabian CNRS Toulouse FR [email protected] 228

Fischer Rico Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research GmbH - UFZ

DE [email protected] 223, (274)

Fonteyn Davy University of Liège, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, TERRA Research Centre, Central African Forests


Family name


Forget Pierre-Michel Muséum National d'�Histoire Naturelle (MNHN)

FR [email protected] (312), 354

Frotté Lou Université des Antilles GP [email protected] 49

Gaese Carl-Friedrich TH Köln DE [email protected]

265

Garcia Claude CIRAD / ETHZ CH [email protected] (285), 286, 288, (295)

Garcia-Ulloa John ETH Zurich CH [email protected] 132, (214)

Gasc Amandine Institut de recherche pour le dévelopement (IRD)


Gebert Friederike University of Würzburg DE [email protected]

184

Gebrekirstos Aster World Afgroforestry Centre KE [email protected]

Gembu Guy Crispin Université de Kisangani (UNIKIS)

CD [email protected] 331, 338

Gignoux Jacques Institut d�'Ecologie et de Sciences de l�'Environnement de Paris - UPMC - cc 237


Glotin Hervé UMR LIS CNRS Université de Toulon

FR [email protected] 98, (100), (110)

Gonmadje Christelle University Yaoundé I CM [email protected] 358

Gradstein Robbert Muséum National d'�Histoire Naturelle (MNHN)


Grafe Ulmar Faculty of Science, Universiti Brunei Darussalam

BN [email protected]

208

Groenendijk Jessica San Diego Zoo Global Peru PE [email protected]

Grouard Sandrine Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, UMR7209 Archéozoologie, Archéobotanique: Sociétés, Pratiques, Environnements


Guilbert Eric UMR7179 CNRS / MNHN FR [email protected] (182)

Guimarães Elza Laboratory of Ecology and evolution of plant-animal interactions, São Paulo State University

BR [email protected]

Günter Sven Thünen Institute of International Forestry and Forest Economics

DE [email protected] (254)

Guzman Jacob

Valeria Biodiversity, Macroecology Biogeography


Guzmán Q. J. Antonio Center for Earth Observation Sciences, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta

CA [email protected] 108

Guzmán Wolfhard

Lorena Valeria

University of Applied Sciences, Institute for Technology and Resource Management in the Tropics and Subtropics


Gvozdik Vaclav National Museum CZ [email protected] 94

Hardy Olivier Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB-EBE)

BE [email protected] (90), (91), (93), (121), (136), (156), (159), (216), (328)

384 385


Family name


Hazelwood Kirstie University of Stirling UK [email protected] 202

Henrot Alexandra-Jane

UMCCB, UR-SPHERES, University Liège

BE [email protected] (136), 242, (328)

Heuertz Myriam INRA FR [email protected] 119, (122), (311)

Heymann Eckhard W. Deutsches Primatenzentrum DE [email protected] 128

Hilje Branko Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Department, University of Alberta

CA [email protected] 102

Hiltner Ulrike Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research GmbH - UZF/ Dept. Ecological Modelling


Hinsinger Damien Guangxi University CN [email protected]

Homeier Jürgen University of Goettingen DE [email protected] (170), (171), (172), (174), 175, (181), (207)

Houehanou Thierry Faculty of Agronomy, University of Parakou, Benin

BJ [email protected]

130, 316

Hughes Alice Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences


37

Husana Dana Vi University of the Philippines PH [email protected] 339

Husana Daniel Edison University of the Philippines Los Baños

PH [email protected] 210

Huth Andreas Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research GmbH

DE [email protected] 222, (223), (224), (225), (274)

Huttunen Sanna Univeristy of Turku FI [email protected] 196, (192), (324)

Irvine Kenneth IHE Delft NL [email protected] 131

Iskandar Eka Naturalis Biodiversity Center NL [email protected] 194

Jackson Toby University of Oxford UK [email protected]

109

Jain-Poster Ketan Stanford University US [email protected]

Jakovac Catarina International Institute for Sustainability


Jansen Patrick Wageningen University NL [email protected] 251

Jaramillo-Correa

Juan P. Institute of Ecology, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

MX [email protected] 116

Jones Isabel University of Stirling UK [email protected] 273

Jozefowicz Stefan Laboratory of Remote Sensing and Modelling of Environment

PL [email protected] 243

Juergens Norbert Universität Hamburg DE [email protected] 70

Karmann Marion Forest Stewardship Council International


Karsenty Alain CIRAD FR [email protected] 282

Kearsley Elizabeth Ghent University BE [email protected] 241

Kenfack David Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

US [email protected] 361

Family name


Kingsbury Joanne School of Environment and Natural Resources, The Ohio State University,

US [email protected]

293

Kiswanto Kiswanto The Mulawarman University ID [email protected] 244

Kittel Isabell Jasmin

University Bremen, Center for Tropical Research


Kleinschroth Fritz ETH Zürich CH [email protected] 67

Klomberg Yannick Charles University CZ [email protected] 209, 326

Koffi Kouamé Fulgence

Sorbone Université - Université Nangui Abrogoua

CI [email protected] 79

Konaré Sarah Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences-Paris


74

Kosecka Monika Laboratory of Applied Bioacoustics, Technical Univrsity of Catalonia, BarcelonaTech (UPC)

ES [email protected] 97

Kurz Holger BfBB DE [email protected]

Lata Jean-Christophe

Sorbonne Université / Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences - Paris

FR [email protected] (79), 81, (82)

Law Stephanie University of Liverpool UK [email protected] 112

Le Bienfaiteur Sagang Takougoum

University of Yaoundé 1 CM [email protected] 164

Le Guen Annaig CNRS LEEISA FR [email protected]

Le Maho Yvon Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien, CNRS Strasbourg and Scientific Center of Monaco


Ledger Martha University of Nottingham UK [email protected]

332

Leponce Maurice Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences

BE [email protected]

234

Li Tian Mécanismes adaptatifs & évolution


Libalah Moses Systematic and Ecology Laboratory

CM [email protected] (161), 162, (164), (283)

Lichtenberg Silke Technische Hochschule Köln DE [email protected] 268

Ligot Gauthier University of Liège / Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech / TERRA Research Center, Central African Forests


Link Roman Mathias

Georg-August-University Göttingen


Lissambou Brandet-Junior

Université des Sciences et Techniques de Masuku

GA [email protected]

159

Logatoc Eugene Lorence

Plant Biology Division, Institute of Biological Sciences, University of the Philippines Los Baños

PH [email protected]

Lopez Pascal Jean UMR BOREA FR [email protected] (48)

Lotzkat Sebastian Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut Frankfurt


Lührs Mia-Lana Büro Renala DE [email protected]

Majd Roghayyeh University of Mohaghegh Ardabili

IR [email protected]

386 387


Family name


Mäntylä Elina Biology Centre of Czech Academy of Science, Institute of Entomology


Maquia Ivete Biotechnology Center Eduardo Mondlane University

MZ [email protected] 313

Marçal Rosa Ana Clara University of Campinas (UNICAMP)

BR [email protected]

Marfleet Kate University College London and Natural History Museum

UK [email protected]

Margrove James ETH Zurich CH [email protected]

231

Mayr Antonia University of Würzburg DE [email protected]

179

McGuire Krista University of Oregon US [email protected] 40

McKey Doyle Centre for Functional and Evolutionary Ecology, University of Montpellier

FR [email protected] (121), (358)

Me�zaka Anna Marburg Univrsity, Faculty of Geography, Ecological Plant Geography Group


Mendes Knoechel-mann

Clarissa Technishe Universitat Kaiserslautern/ Universidade Federal de Pernambuco


Meunier Félicien Ghent University, Cavelab BE [email protected] 220

Meyer Christoph University of Salford UK [email protected] 129

Meziane Tarik Muséum National d�'Histoire Naturelle (MNHN)


Michaud Emma National Center of scientific Research-Environmental Marine Sciences laboratory


Migliore Jérémy Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB-EBE) / CNRS-Sorbonne Université (LOCEAN)

BE [email protected] 90, (91), (121), (136), (216), (242), (328)

Miryeganeh Matin Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology / Plant Epigenetics Unit (Saze unit)

JP [email protected] 315

Missoup Alain Didier University of Yaoundé 1 CA 357 240, 294

Moloney James James Cook University AU [email protected] 57

Monsalve Alejandra Universidad Nacional de Colombia

CO [email protected] 57

Monthe Franck Université libre de Buxelles (ULB-EBE)

BE [email protected] 121, (159), (216)

Morel Alexandra University of Oxford, School of Geography and the Environment

UK [email protected]

256

Mota de Oliveira

Sylvia Naturalis Biodiversity Center NL [email protected]

189, (194)

Moudingo Ekindi

Jean Hude University of Douala CM [email protected] 56

Muellner-Riehl Alexandra Leipzig University DE [email protected] 39

Muscarella Robert Aarhus University DK [email protected] 123, 309

Muttaqin Anwari Nur Boston University US [email protected]

Family name


Mwampamba Tuyeni Institute of Ecosystems and Sustainability Research / National Autonomous University of Mexico

MX [email protected] 41

N�dri-Kone Aya Brigitte University Nangui Abrogoua CI [email protected] 80, (82)

Nehren Udo Technische Hochschule Köln DE [email protected] (263), (268)

Neji Mohamed Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB-EBE)

TN [email protected] 156

Neuschulz Eike Lena Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Reserach Centre Frankfurt


Nevo Omer University of Ulm / Institute of Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Genomics


213

Neyret Margot Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)


Nicolas-Colin Violaine Museum National d�'Histoire Naturelle, UMR 7205

FX [email protected] 92, (357)

Niekisch Manfred Zoo Frankfurt DE [email protected]

Nieto Quintano

Paula University of Edinburgh UK [email protected] 303

Njovu Henry Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biocenter, University of Wuerzburg


Novotny Vojtech Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences

CZ [email protected] 199, (201), (203), (322)

Nshimba Seya Wa Malale

Hippolyte Université de Kisangani, Faculté des Sciences, Dpt Ecologie et gestion des ressources végétales (EGREV), Laboratoire de S.O.S FORET

CD [email protected]

305

Ntie Stephan Université des Sciences et Techniques de Masuku

GA [email protected] 359

Nunoo Isaac Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology

GH [email protected]

Nyiram-bangutse

Brigitte University of Rwanda RW [email protected] 360

Ocampo-Penuela

Natalia ETH Zurich CH [email protected] 214

Orozco-terWengel

Pablo Cardiff University UK [email protected] 154, (317)

Oslisly Richard ANPN /IRD GA [email protected]

Palmeirim Jorge Faculdade de Ciencias, Universidade de Lisboa

PT [email protected] 180

Pardini Matteo German Aerospace Center (DLR)


Parolin Pia University of Hamburg, BEE DE [email protected]

68

Parra Sanchez

Edicson Imperial College London UK [email protected]

Pays Olivier UMR 6554 CNRS - LETG-Angers - University of Angers


388 389


Family name


Peña Carrillo Kenzy Laboratoire d'�Ethologie Expérimentale et Comparée, Université Paris 13


Peyre Gwendolyn Universidad de los Andes CO [email protected] 239

Pfeifer Marion Newcastle University UK [email protected] 249, (277)

Philipson Christopher ETH Zürich CH [email protected] 233

Pierick Kerstin Georg-August University of Göttingen


Pietsch Stephan A. International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis

AT [email protected] 221, 287

Piratelli Augusto Universidade Federal de Sao Carlos/Departamento de Ciencias Ambientais


Pitkämäki Tinja University of Turku FI [email protected] 192, 324

Polania Jaime Universidad Nacional de Colombia Sede Medellin

CO [email protected] 57

Ponta Nicole ETH Zurich CH [email protected] 295

Potamitis Ilyas Technological Educational Institute of Crete

GR [email protected] 307

Poteaux Chantal Laboratoire d'Ethologie Expérimentale et Comparée


Pozsgai Gabor Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University


Pröhl Hjördis Heike Institute of Zoology, University of Veterinary Medicine


155

Radespiel Ute Institute of Zoology, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover


158

Raedig Claudia TH Köln DE [email protected] 263, (264), (266)

Raffelsbauer Volker Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg


Rau E-Ping Laboratoire Écologie & Diversité Biologique


Ravaloha-rimanitra

Maholy The Aspinall Foundation Madagascar

MG [email protected] 260

Reeb Catherine Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Institut de Systématique, evolution, biodiversité


René-Trouillefou

Malika UMR BOREA Université des Antilles

GP [email protected]

48

Renner Marion Institute of Plant Sciences CH [email protected] 255

Riutta Terhi University of Oxford / School of Geography and the Environment

UK [email protected] 271, (278)

Robinson Samuel Lancaster University and Centre for Ecology & Hydrology

UK [email protected] 333

Rodrigues Fatima Universidade Federal de Sao Carlos/Departamento de Ciencias Ambientais

BR [email protected] 253, (264)

Rodríguez Quiel

Eyvar Elias Autonomous University of Chiriqui, Panama


Romero Arias Johanna Univeristé Libre de Bruxelles (ULB-EBE)

BE [email protected]

142

Family name


Rossetti Dilce INPE BR [email protected] 133, (302)

Rowe Karen Museums Victoria AU [email protected] 104

Roy Virginie Université Paris-Est Créteil / Institute of ecology and environmental sciences - Paris


Ruiz Pinzon César Augusto

Institut Méditérannéen de Biodiversité et Ecologie marine et continentale


Salazar Laura Universidad Tecnologica Indoamerica

EC [email protected] 181

Salmon Sandrine Muséum National d�'Histoire Naturelle, UMR 7179 Mecadev


Sam Katerina Biology Centre of Czech Academy of Science, Institute of Entomology

CZ [email protected] 203, 322

San Miguel Anitza Valencia College; Conservacion de la Naturaleza Amazonica del Peru, A.C.

US [email protected]

Sanchewska Karolina Fulbright Poland-Botanical Institute in Krakow

PL [email protected]

Santiago Louis University of California US [email protected] 120

Santos Cyntia Université de Angers and UFMS-Brasil


Sattler Dietmar Leipzig University, Institute of Geography


Schleuning Matthias Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre


238

Schmitt Sylvain Université de Bordeaux / Unité Mixte de Recherche Biodiversité Gènes et Communautés


311

Schumacher Nils-Christian University of Wuerzburg DE [email protected]

83

Schweizer Daniella Ecosystem Management ETH CH [email protected]

Sébastien Albert Université de la Réunion, UMR PVBMT

RE [email protected] 323

Segovia Ricardo School of GeoSciences / University of Edinburgh


Sethi Sarab Imperial College London UK [email protected] 111

Sfair Julia Universidade Federal de Pernambuco


Sherchan Samendra Tulane university US [email protected] 340

Shrestha Ramesh Babu

Evironment Nepal NP [email protected]

Siddons David Universidad del Azuay EC [email protected] 306, (330)

Silva de Miranda

Pedro Luiz The University of Edinburgh UK [email protected] 144

Sommer Simone Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Genomics


Spannl Susanne University of Bayreuth DE [email protected]

320

Srikan-thasamy

Tharaniya Sorbonne Université,UPMC,iEES-Paris

FX [email protected]

(79), 82

390 391


Family name


Strijk Joeri Guangxi University CN [email protected]

Sueur Jerome Muséum National d'�Histoire Naturelle (MNHN)

FR [email protected] (99), (103), (105)

Szefer Piotr Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Entomology


Taubert Franziska Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ


Teh Yit Arn University of Aberdeen UK [email protected] (143), (271), 272

Thomas Maki Okinawa Instititute of Science and Technology

JP [email protected] 298

Thornton Ann University of Southampton UK [email protected] 64

Tiede Yvonne Philipps-Universität Marburg, Biologie


177

Tiwari Rakesh University of Leeds UK [email protected]

Tom-Dery Damian University of Hamburg, Applied Plant Ecology


75

Tosso Félicien TERRA Research Centre, Central African Forests, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liège


Tripathi Hemant University of Edinburgh, Department of GeoSciences


Trolliet Franck Forest Stewardship Council International

DE [email protected] (136), (242), (281), (328)

Trone Marie Valencia College; Conservacion de la Naturaleza Amazonica del Peru, A.C.

US [email protected] (98), 100, 110

Turkovska Olga International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis

AT [email protected] 230

Ulloa Juan Sebastian

ISYEB, UMR 7205 CNRS MNHN UPMC EPHE Muséum National d'�Histoire Naturelle - Université Paris-Sud


Valadou Bénédicte Agence Française pour la Biodiversité


Vallée Vincent Ifremer Guyane, Fisheries Biodiversity Unit


Valtonen Anu Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, University of Eastern Finland

FI [email protected] 301

Velescu Andre Karlsruher Institut für Technologie

DE [email protected] 16, (173), (174), (321)

Veranso-Libalah

Marie Claire Institut für Molekulare und Organismische Evolutionsbiologie, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität

CM [email protected] 87

Verbeeck Hans Ghent University, CAVElab BE [email protected] 167, 219, (220), (241)

Veridiano Rizza Karen Thuenen Institute for International Foresty and Forest Economics


Visser Marco Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University

US [email protected] 226

Family name


Waite Catherine University of Nottingham UK [email protected]

107, 248, (329)

Wang Yunxia University of Leeds UK [email protected] 232

Wantzen Karl M. UNESCO Chair FX [email protected]

Wilding Nicholas Université de La Réunion, UMR Peuplements vegetaux et bioagresseurs en milieu tropical

RE [email protected] 191, 336

Wölfel-schneider

Mirco Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT)


61

Wu Junen Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences


Zarate Edwin Universidad del Azuay EC [email protected] 330

Zigelski Paulina Universität Hamburg DE [email protected] (77), 78

Zolalaina Andria-manantena

Doctoral School Natural Ecosystems

MG [email protected] 135, 300

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CHALLENGES IN TROPICAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION -

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challenges in tropical ecology and conservation - global ... · society for tropical ecology...

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