Sustainability of tropical forest biodiversity and services under climate and human pressure (BIOSERF): tracking the regeneration of human-used plants through dispersal by the animal community

The objective of the BIOSERF project is to assess the sustainability of a tropical humid forest ecosystem and the local human communities in southern Congo under future climate, demographic and societal changes. The project focuses on the interactions between flora, fauna and local human population to understand the processes affecting biodiversity and ecosystem services in tropical humid areas, with the objective of setting up mechanisms to preserve local biodiversity. In close collaboration with a local NGO, it will use a dynamic vegetation model (CARAIB) which will be integrated within an agent-based model, to analyze the impacts of different ecosystem services in a tropical humid area, e.g. the production of medicinal plants, of wood and other forest products, or the services provided by the building of natural reserves. The vegetation model will be upgraded to take into account the process of regeneration of several plant species, selected for their use by local human populations, through a quantitative and qualitative description of plant dispersal by the animal community. To do so, a selection of five tree species frequently or traditionally used will be made based on the results of a sociological survey. Observations (direct or through camera trapping) of a sample of the selected species will allow identifying the main dispersers and the pattern of seed shadow they generate. Integrated into the CARAIB model, these results will allow figuring how the evolution of the dispersal community under pressures of climate change, habitat loss and hunting, but also potentially placed under managed protection could affect the services available to the human community.