Dataset Accompanying the Study by Boeschoten and RV Meyer-Sand et al. 'Combined genetic and chemical methods boost the precision of tracing illegal timber in Central Africa'

This Zenodo repository contains the processed dataset used in the research paper titled "Combined genetic and chemical methods boost the precision of tracing illegal timber in Central Africa" Commun Earth Environ 6, 789 (2025)(https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02698-z). In this study, we investigate the potential of genetic, chemical and isotopic methods to trace timber origin in Cameroon, Gabon and Republic of the Congo. Key Finding: The combination of methods outperformes each individual method, identifying 94% of samples to within 100 km of the real origin. All materials used in this study were collected under the following permits: Cameroon- Research Permit No. 00000116/MINRESI/B00/C00/C10/C12 (Yaoundé, 09 Sep 2019); Research Permit No. 000066/MINRESI/B00/C00/C10/C12 (Yaoundé, 07 Jun 2021); Scientific research permit No. 2144 PRBS/MINFOF/ SETAT/SG/DFAP/SDVEF/SC/NGY (Yaoundé, 23 Jul 2021); ABS Permit 00010/MINEPDED /CNA/NPABS/ABS-FP (Yaoundé, 03 Dec 2021); PIC Decision No. 00013/D/MINEPDED/CNA of 03 Dec 2021. Gabon- Research authorization No. AR017/21/ MESRTTENCFC/CENAREST/CG/CST/CSAR. Please note that no commercial use is permitted under the current permits and any further use of these materials is subject to authorization from the relevant authorities in the countries where the biological material was collected.