@article {66, title = {Mixed-Forest Species Establishment in a Monodominant Forest in Central Africa: Implications for Tropical Forest Invasibility.}, journal = { PLoS ONE }, volume = {9}, year = {2014}, month = {20 May 2014}, chapter = {e97585}, abstract = {

Background: Traits of non-dominant mixed-forest tree species and their synergies for successful co-occurrence in
monodominant Gilbertiodendron dewevrei forest have not yet been investigated. Here we compared the tree species
diversity of the monodominant forest with its adjacent mixed forest and then determined which fitness proxies and life
history traits of the mixed-forest tree species were most associated with successful co-existence in the monodominant
forest.
Methodology/Principal Findings: We sampled all trees (diameter in breast height [dbh]$10 cm) within 661 ha
topographically homogenous areas of intact central African forest in SE Cameroon, three independent patches of G.
dewevrei-dominated forest and three adjacent areas (450\–800 m apart). Monodominant G. dewevrei forest had lower
sample-controlled species richness, species density and population density than its adjacent mixed forest in terms of stems
with dbh$10 cm. Analysis of a suite of population-level characteristics, such as relative abundance and geographical
distribution, and traits such as wood density, height, diameter at breast height, fruit/seed dispersal mechanism and light
requirement\–revealed after controlling for phylogeny, species that co-occur with G. dewevrei tend to have higher
abundance in adjacent mixed forest, higher wood density and a lower light requirement.
Conclusions/Significance: Our results suggest that certain traits (wood density and light requirement) and population-level
characteristics (relative abundance) may increase the invasibility of a tree species into a tropical closed-canopy system. Such
knowledge may assist in the pre-emptive identification of invasive tree species.

}, author = {Peh, KS-H and Sonk{\'e}, Bonaventure and S{\'e}n{\'e}, Olivier and Djuikouo, Marie-No{\"e}l and Nguembou, Charlemagne and Taedoumg, Hermann and Kouob, Serge and Lewis, Simon L.} } @article {65, title = {Characterizing the Phylogenetic Tree Community Structure of a Protected Tropical Rain Forest Area in Cameroon.}, journal = { PLoS ONE }, volume = {9}, year = {2014}, month = {17 June 2014}, chapter = {e98920}, abstract = {

Tropical rain forests, the richest terrestrial ecosystems in biodiversity on Earth are highly threatened by global changes. This
paper aims to infer the mechanisms governing species tree assemblages by characterizing the phylogenetic structure of a
tropical rain forest in a protected area of the Congo Basin, the Dja Faunal Reserve (Cameroon). We re-analyzed a dataset of
11538 individuals belonging to 372 taxa found along nine transects spanning five habitat types. We generated a dated
phylogenetic tree including all sampled taxa to partition the phylogenetic diversity of the nine transects into alpha and beta
components at the level of the transects and of the habitat types. The variation in phylogenetic composition among
transects did not deviate from a random pattern at the scale of the Dja Faunal Reserve, probably due to a common history
and weak environmental variation across the park. This lack of phylogenetic structure combined with an isolation-bydistance
pattern of taxonomic diversity suggests that neutral dispersal limitation is a major driver of community assembly in
the Dja. To assess any lack of sensitivity to the variation in habitat types, we restricted the analyses of transects to the terra
firme primary forest and found results consistent with those of the whole dataset at the level of the transects. Additionally
to previous analyses, we detected a weak but significant phylogenetic turnover among habitat types, suggesting that
species sort in varying environments, even though it is not predominating on the overall phylogenetic structure. Finer
analyses of clades indicated a signal of clustering for species from the Annonaceae family, while species from the
Apocynaceae family indicated overdispersion. These results can contribute to the conservation of the park by improving our
understanding of the processes dictating community assembly in these hyperdiverse but threatened regions of the world.

}, author = {Manel, St{\'e}phanie and Couvreur, Thomas and Munoz, Fran{\c c}ois and Couteron, Pierre and Hardy, Olivier and Sonk{\'e}, Bonaventure} }