Landry Cizungu

Catholic University of Bukavu | UCB · Faculty of Agriculture

The lack of field-based data in the tropics limits our mechanistic understanding of the drivers of net primary productivity (NPP) and allocation. Specifically, the role of local edaphic factors - such as soil parent material and topography controlling soil fertility as well as water and nutrient fluxes - remains unclear and introduces substantial u...

The net primary productivity (NPP) of tropical forests is an important component of the global terrestrial carbon (C) cycle. The lack of field-based data, however, limits our mechanistic understanding of the drivers of NPP and C allocation. In consequence, the role of local edaphic factors for forest growth and C dynamics is unclear and introduces...

Central African tropical forests face increasing anthropogenic pressures, particularly in the form of deforestation and land-use conversion to agriculture. The long-term effects of this transformation of pristine forests to fallow-based agroecosystems and secondary forests on biogeochemical cycles that drive forest functioning are poorly understood...

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...

In the mostly pristine Congo Basin, agricultural land-use change has intensified in recent years. One potential and understudied consequence of this deforestation and conversion to agriculture is the mobilization and loss of organic matter from soils to rivers as dissolved organic matter. Here, we quantify and characterize dissolved organic matter...

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...

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is a determinant of soil functions both agroecologically and environmentally. Forest soils contain higher amounts but are also sensitive to anthropogenic disturbances including changes in land use. Clearing for agriculture and harvesting fuelwood are forms of the current threats to the forests of the Congo Basin and partic...

Significance Atmospheric N deposition affects productivity and biodiversity of forests worldwide. However, field-based estimates of atmospheric N deposition for tropical forests are extremely sparse. Our results from a monitoring network in the central Congo Basin exceed current regional N deposition simulations. Ultrahigh-resolution mass spectrome...

The Amazon and Congo basins are the two largest continuous blocks of tropical forest with a central role for global biogeochemical cycles and ecology. However, both biomes differ in structure and species richness and composition. Understanding future directions of the response of both biomes to environmental change is paramount. We used one elevati...

Elevational gradients are an empirical tool to assess long-term forest responses to environmental change. We studied whether functional composition of tropical forest along elevational gradients in South America and in Africa showed similar shifts. We assessed community-weighted functional canopy traits and indicative δ15N shifts along two new alti...

Many pristine humid tropical forests show simultaneously high nitrogen (N) richness and sustained loss of bioavailable N forms. To better understand this apparent up-regulation of the N cycle in tropical forests, process-based understanding of soil N transformations, in geographically diverse locations, remains paramount. Field-based evidence is li...

Next to land use change and climate change, nitrogen (N) deposition is another threat for forest ecosystem functioning. Central Africa contains the second largest area of contiguous moist tropical forests of the world. Tropical forests account for one third of primary production contributing significantly to the terrestrial carbon sink. Currently,...

Globally, tropical forest soils represent the sec-ond largest source of N 2 O and NO. However, there is still considerable uncertainty on the spatial variability and soil properties controlling N trace gas emission. There-fore, we carried out an incubation experiment with soils from 31 locations in the Nyungwe tropical mountain for-est in southwest...

Globally, tropical forest soils represent the second largest source of N2O and NO. However, there is still considerable uncertainty on the spatial variability and soil properties controlling N trace gas emission. To investigate how soil properties affect N2O and NO emission, we carried out an incubation experiment with soils from 31 locations in th...

This paper describes a collaborative research involving South Kivu province in Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi to disseminate resilient agro-ecosystem packages.Modifying crop arrangement by planting legumes within and between cassava rows (intercropping) increased bean yields and reduced soil erosion. However, the yield benefit was...