The determinants of tropical forest deciduousness: disentangling the effects of rainfall and geology in central Africa

Understanding the environmental determinants of forests deciduousness i.e. proportion of deciduous trees in a forest stand, is of great importance when predicting the impact of ongoing global climate change on forests. In this study, we examine (i) how forest deciduousness varies in relation to rainfall and geology, and (ii) whether the influence of geology on deciduousness could be related to differences in soil fertility and water content between geological substrates.
The study was conducted in mixed moist semi-deciduous forests in the northern part of the Congo basin. We modelled the response of forest deciduousness to the severity of the dry season across four contrasting geological substrates (sandstone, alluvium, metamorphic and basic rocks). For this, we combined information on forest composition at genus level based on commercial forest inventories (62 624 0.5 ha plots scattered over 6 million of ha), leaf habit, and rainfall and geological maps. We further examined whether su...

探究森林落叶性（deciduousness）的环境决定因子，即林分（forest stand）中落叶树的占比，对于预测当前全球气候变化对森林的影响具有重要意义。本研究旨在开展两项探究：其一，明确森林落叶性随降雨与地质条件的变化规律；其二，探讨地质因子对落叶性的影响是否与不同地质基质（geological substrates）间的土壤肥力及含水量差异相关。
本研究的实施区域为刚果盆地北部的混合湿润半落叶林。我们针对四种差异化地质基质：砂岩（sandstone）、冲积物（alluvium）、变质岩（metamorphic rocks）与基性岩（basic rocks），构建了森林落叶性对旱季严重程度的响应模型。为此，我们整合了基于商业森林清查（commercial forest inventories）得到的属级森林组成数据（62624个0.5公顷样地，分布于600万公顷的研究区域内）、叶片习性数据，以及降雨与地质图资料。我们进一步探究了……