TERRA Research Centre, Central African Forests, University of Liège – Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Gembloux, Belgium; BIOSE, Management of Forest Resources, University of Liège – Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Gembloux, Belgium; Wood Biology Service, Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium
Adeline Fayolle
TERRA Research Centre, Central African Forests, University of Liège – Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Gembloux, Belgium; BIOSE, Management of Forest Resources, University of Liège – Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Gembloux, Belgium
Charly Favier
ISEM, Institut des Sciences de l'Évolution, UMR 5554-CNRS, Université Montpellier II, Montpellier, France
Laurent Bremond
ISEM, Institut des Sciences de l'Évolution, UMR 5554-CNRS, Université Montpellier II, Montpellier, France
Sylvie Gourlet-Fleury
Unité de Recherche Biens et Services des Écosystèmes Forestiers tropicaux, Département Environnements et Sociétés du CIRAD, Montpellier, France
Nicolas Bayol
FRM, Montpellier, France
Philippe Lejeune
TERRA Research Centre, Central African Forests, University of Liège – Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Gembloux, Belgium; BIOSE, Management of Forest Resources, University of Liège – Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Gembloux, Belgium
Hans Beeckman
Wood Biology Service, Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium
Jean-Louis Doucet
TERRA Research Centre, Central African Forests, University of Liège – Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Gembloux, Belgium; BIOSE, Management of Forest Resources, University of Liège – Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Gembloux, Belgium
The populations of light-demanding trees that dominate the canopy of central African forests are now aging. Here, we show that the lack of regeneration of these populations began ca. 165 ya (around 1850) after major anthropogenic disturbances ceased. Since 1885, less itinerancy and disturbance in the forest has occurred because the colonial administrations concentrated people and villages along the primary communication axes. Local populations formerly gardened the forest by creating scattered openings, which were sufficiently large for the establishment of light-demanding trees. Currently, common logging operations do not create suitable openings for the regeneration of these species, whereas deforestation degrades landscapes. Using an interdisciplinary approach, which included paleoecological, archaeological, historical, and dendrological data, we highlight the long-term history of human activities across central African forests and assess the contribution of these activities to present-day forest structure and composition. The conclusions of this sobering analysis present challenges to current silvicultural practices and to those of the future.
