B.B. Mujinya

• PhD
• Professor (Full) at University of Lubumbashi

Context The recent expansion of commercial agriculture in the Miombo woodlands of central Africa has led to widespread levelling of termite mounds. These mounds contain significantly lower soil organic carbon (SOC) than surrounding soils, and their levelling could largely reduce SOC content in the plough layer, which remains understudied. Objectiv...

Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) form the main matrix of microbial biofilms and play a crucial role in maintaining microbial life. However, factors influencing EPS concentration and production in soil are poorly understood. Here we show that EPS are closely related to microbial communities and nutrient acquisition in tropical forest and cro...

Land-use conversion can profoundly modify geochemical and microbial properties that drive organic carbon (C) dynamics in tropical soils. However, it is unclear how microbes adjust nutrient acquisition strategies to changing geochemical properties across deeply weathered soils developed from geochemically contrasting parent material. Here we show th...

Aquatic losses of nutrients are important loss vectors in the nutrient budgets of tropical forests. Traditionally, research has focused mainly on losses of inorganic nutrient forms, whereas the potential contribution of organic and particulate losses to the total nutrient export budget is much less constrained. In this study, we quantified full aqu...

Background Across the tropics, the share of secondary versus primary forests is strongly increasing. The high rate of biomass accumulation during this secondary succession relies on the availability of essential nutrients, such as nitrogen (N). Nitrogen primarily limits many young secondary forests in the tropics. However, recent studies have shown...

Using termite mounds as sampling medium for geochemical exploration is based on the assumption that mound construction results in upward transfer of particles that could reflect the composition of the underlying material. For large mounds such as those constructed by Macrotermes species, this is complicated by their dimensions and age. To investiga...

Background Across the tropics, the share of secondary versus primary forests is strongly increasing. The high rate of biomass accumulation during this secondary succession relies on the availability of essential nutrients, such as nitrogen (N). Nitrogen primarily limits many young secondary forests in the tropics. However, recent studies have shown...

The Katangese Copperbelt Area (KCA) located southeastern of D.R. Congo presents high concentration of Metal Trace Elements (MTE) due to a rich natural geochemical background and intense mining activities. However, the lack of data on specific baseline concentrations makes it difficult to assess and monitor the environmental quality of soils in the...

Studies on sediment export from tropical forest watersheds are scarce. Of the assessments that do exist, most are of larger rivers or are model-based and lack validation with measured data. Understanding the mechanisms of sediment export dynamics in forested headwaters is important for assessing downstream effects and as a baseline for net impacts...

Information on soil properties is crucial for soil preservation, the improvement of food security, and the provision of ecosystem services. In particular, for the African continent, spatially explicit information on soils and their ability to sustain these services is still scarce. To address data gaps, infrared spectroscopy has achieved great succ...

The African Tropics are hotspots of modern-day land use change and are, at the same time, of great relevance for the cycling of carbon (C) and nutrients between plants, soils, and the atmosphere. However, the consequences of land conversion on biogeochemical cycles are still largely unknown as they are not studied in a landscape context that define...

The Katangese Copperbelt area (KCA) located southeastern of D.R. Congo presents high concentration of metal trace elements (MTE) in several soils due to a rich natural geochemical background , and intense mining activities, causing serious health issues to humans and animals. However , the lack of data on specific baseline concentrations makes it d...

The Katangese Copperbelt area (KCA) located southeastern of D.R. Congo presents high concentration of metal trace elements (MTE) in several soils due to a rich natural geochemical background , and intense mining activities, causing serious health issues to humans and animals. However , the lack of data on specific baseline concentrations makes it d...

Questions Human disturbance is increasingly affecting forest dynamics across the tropics. Forests can recover via natural secondary succession to pre‐disturbance levels of biodiversity, species composition, and ecosystem carbon stocks. Central Africa will be subject to increasingly high shifting‐cultivation pressure in the next decades, but success...

Micromorphological features of structures created by termites have the potential of recording some aspects of the building practices that are involved in their development. This was assessed for terrestrial mounds and arboreal nests of various termite species that are common in the southern part of Katanga, DR Congo. The three main feeding-strategy...

The African Tropics are hotspots of modern-day land-use change and are, at the same time, of great relevance for the cycling of carbon (C) and nutrients between plants, soils and the atmosphere. However, the consequences of land conversion on biogeochemical cycles are still largely unknown as they are not studied in a landscape context that defines...

Nitrogen (N) availability can be highly variable in tropical forests on regional and local scales. While environmental gradients influence N cycling on a regional scale, topography is known to affect N availability on a local scale. We compared natural abundance of 15N isotopes of soil profiles in tropical lowland forest, tropical montane forest, a...

Information on soil properties is crucial for soil preservation, improving food security, and the provision of ecosystem services. Especially, for the African continent, spatially explicit information on soils and their ability to sustain these services is still scarce. To address data gaps, infrared spectroscopy has gained great success as a cost-...

Nitrogen (N) availability can be highly variable in tropical forests on a regional and on a local scale. While environmental gradients influence N cycling on a regional scale, topography is known to affect N availability on a local scale. We compared stable isotope signatures (δ15N) of soil profiles in tropical lowland forest, tropical montane fore...

Soil mineralogy plays an important role in stabilizing soil organic carbon (SOC) against decomposition by forming organo-mineral complexes with reactive mineral surfaces. However, few studies take the influence of parent material geochemistry on the development of C stabilization mechanisms into account. In addition, studies evaluating C stabilizat...

The observation of high losses of bioavailable nitrogen (N) and N richness in tropical forests is paradoxical with an apparent lack of N input. Hence, the current concept asserts that biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) must be a major N input for tropical forests. However, well‐characterized N cycles are rare and geographically biased; organic N co...

Question: Do termitophilous and non‐termitophilous trees of dry tropical woodlands show local adaptation? Location: Region of Lubumbashi, Upper Katanga (Democratic Republic of the Congo). Methods: Three pairs of congeneric tree species showing strict edaphic specialisation with respect to termite mounds (Combretum molle (termitophilous (T)) / C....

This paper provides an overview on the state of Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) in Lubumbashi, D.R Congo. To meet the recently proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), establishment of efficient waste management techniques and strategies geared towards monetizing waste in the framework of sustainable growth is inevitable. Solid waste...

Around Lubumbashi, the introduction of large-scale pivot-irrigated agriculture entails levelling of large termite mounds during field preparation. The effect on soil fertility and crop yield (Solanum tuberosum and Alium cepa) is evaluated along 11 transects extending from a former termite mound location to reference soil that received no termite mo...

The study of the formation and transformation of clay minerals is of the upmost importance to understand soil formation and to adjust land-use management to the land surface conditions. These clay minerals determine to a large extent the soil physical and chemical properties. It is commonly observed that over time the mineralogy of any parent mater...

The miombo woodlands of South Katanga (D.R. Congo) are characterized by a high spatial density of large conic termite mounds built by Macrotermes falciger (3 to 5 ha-1, ∼5 m high, ∼15 m in diameter). The time it takes for these mounds to attain this size is still largely unknown. In this study, the age of four of these mounds is determined by 14C-d...

The spatial distribution patterns and morphological characteristics of Macrotermes falciger mounds were investigated in the Lubumbashi area, D.R. Congo. Examination of the spatial patterns of M. falciger mounds on high resolution satellite images reveals a mean areal number density of 2.9 ± 0.4 mounds ha −1. The high relative number of inactive mou...

Tropical termites are of critical importance for ecosystem functioning and ecosystem services in woodland and savannah areas. Termite mounds can also be used as fertilizer and biological indicators of anthropogenic disturbance linked to agriculture or charcoal production. Remote sensing may help to identify and characterize termite mound density an...

The effects of Macrotermes falciger activity on clay composition, charge characteristics, and water-dispersible clay (WDC) content of Ferralsol materials were investigated by a physico-chemical, mineralogical, and micromorphological study of termite mounds and control soil profiles at various sites near Lubumbashi (Upper Katanga, D.R. Congo). The w...

This study examines the spatial distribution patterns and morphological characteristics of Macrotermes falciger mounds in the peri-urban zone of Lubumbashi, D.R. Congo. Spatial patterns of mounds were assessed using high-resolution satellite images for 24 plots of variable size (3 to 27 ha). Soil morphological features were described for five termi...

The miombo woodlands of South Katanga (D.R. Congo) are characterized by a high spatial density of large conic termite mounds built by Macrotermes falciger (3 to 5 ha-1). With an average height of 5.05 m and diameter of 14.88 m, these are some of the largest biogenic structures in the world. The mound material is known to differ considerably from th...

The Congo Basin, with a total area of about 3,822 000 km2 and a population exceeding 90 million people, has generally lagged behind in agricultural development. The purpose of this paper is to describe the different soil types in the Congo Basin, their major constraints, the actual utilization types, their management and the impact of land use on f...

Termite-derived methane contributes 3 to 4% to the total methane budget globally. Termites are not known to harbor methane-oxidizing microorganisms (methanotrophs). However, a considerable fraction of the methane produced can be consumed by methanotrophs that inhabit the mound material, yet the methanotroph ecology in these environments is virtuall...

The influence of Macrotermes falciger activity on clays, sesquioxides and water-dispersible clay (WDC) content was investigated by a physico-chemical, mineralogical and micromorphological study of termite mound and control soil profiles at various sites near Lubumbashi, SE Katanga, D.R. Congo. X-ray diffraction reveals that the termite-mound materi...

The origin of carbonate accumulations in termite mounds is a controversial issue. This study is an attempt to elucidate the processes of carbonate precipitation in Macrotermes mounds built on Ferralsols in Upper Katanga, D.R. Congo, whereby a differentiation between pedogenic and inherited carbonates is considered. Carbonate features were investiga...

Although the significant impact of mound-building termites on physical, chemical and biochemical soil properties over large areas of the (sub-) tropics has often been discussed, little is known about the influence of termites on electro-chemical properties of Ferralsols. In this study, we compared the curves describing the total cation exchange cap...