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

Auteurs: Jonas Depecker et al., 2022