Pierre MeertsUniversité Libre de Bruxelles | ULB · Department of Biology of Organisms (DBO)
Pierre Meerts
PhD
Contributing to the writing of the Flore d'Afrique Centrale at Meise Botanic Garden.
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October 2021 - present
Publications
Publications (179)
The genus Coleus is revised for DR. Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, based on herbarium taxonomy. Ninety-five taxa are reported (89 species, 1 subspecies, 5 varieties). Fifteen new species and one new variety are described (Coleus duvigneaudii, C. esculentus var. kolweziensis, C. hildei, C. kaminaensis, C. kundelunguensis, C. linarioides, C. lisowskii, C. m...
Citer l'article / To cite the article Numbi Mujike D., Meerts P., Mbinga Lokoto B., Ngoy Shutcha M., 2023. Four multipurpose species of the genus Vitex (Lamiaceae) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo show different responses to propagation techniques for nursery production. Bois et Forêts des Tropiques, 357 : 43-56. Doi : https://doi.
Chlorophytum vespertinum Vollesen from Zambia and Tanzania is described and illustrated. The species exhibits characters unique in Chlorophytum Ker Gawl.: pendulous flowers and fruits, flowers that open late in the afternoon and close before midnight, and leaves with a long-extended reflexed or recoiled tip. Its affinities are discussed in the cont...
The revision of the genus Clerodendrum in D.R. Congo, Rwanda and Burundi is presented. Thirty-three taxa are accepted (28 species, 4 varieties, 1 form). Two new varieties are described (Clerodendrum capitatum var. pubitubum, Clerodendrum johnstonii var. rubropunctatum). Two new synonyms are proposed. A neotype is designated for C. buchneri, C. buet...
The genus Teucrium is one of the most species-rich and widespread genera of the Lamiaceae family. Species of this genus are mostly perennial, rarely annual, shrubby, sub-shrubby, or herbaceous plants distributed in various habitats, mostly thermophilic or temperate, in the Mediterranean and surrounding areas. Teucrium species are an interesting obj...
Background and aims - Brachystegia is a species-rich tree genus found in tropical Africa and a typical element of Miombo woodlands, a widely distributed subtype of the Zambezian savanna. Plastid DNA was shown to be largely uninformative to assess species phylogenetic relationships due to widespread chloroplast capture among species. Here, we aim to...
• Here we describe a new network of researchers and long-term,
in situ, measurements that will characterize the changing socio-ecology of the woodlands of southern Africa. These woodlands encompass the largest savanna in the world, but are chronically understudied, with few long-term measurements.
• A network of permanent sample plots (PSPs) is req...
Background and aims – Sustainable management of the medicinal plant resources provided by tropical forests is of utmost importance to human populations in developing countries. Trees and shrubs of the genus Vitex (Lamiaceae) are of great medicinal importance in Haut-Katanga (SE D.R. Congo), frequently used to treat tropical diseases. However, the s...
This is the Bibliography of the recent taxonomic account of the Labiatae for the Flore du Gabon (also includes Ulmaceae and Verbenaceae). The full text of the whole book cannot be uploaded due to copyright issues, but the bibliography has been approved for upload.
Background: The Lamiaceae family is one of the largest still not covered by the Flore d’Afrique centrale (except Premnoideae and Viticoideae) and many specimens are left unidentified in collections.Objectives: To prepare the treatment of subfamilies Lamioideae and Scutellarioideae, herbarium materials have been revised.Methods: Herbarium material f...
During the preparation of the treatment of the Lamiaceae for Flore d’Afrique centrale (Sosef 2016), the authors had to deal with Scutellaria polyadena Briq., a name published in Durand & De Wildeman (1898: 56) for a species endemic to south-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia. They came across the name Scutellaria polyadenia Rech.f....
Evolutionary processes on islands, and the attributes of rare plant species restricted to islands have received increasing attention in the last decade, but most of the evidence comes from oceanic archipelagos while continental islands have been much less studied. We test if narrow endemic species of Aegean islands (E Mediterranean region) have evo...
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (D.R. Congo) represents a striking gap of knowledge on alien plant species. In this paper, we use digitised herbarium collections to assemble a new checklist of alien plant species in D.R. Congo and to examine patterns in the alien flora. The new checklist comprises 436 alien species i.e., 189 (43%) casuals, 247...
Aim: Miombo woodlands form a characteristic vegetation type covering 2.7 million km² in southern and eastern Africa. Despite their wide geographical extent, their origin, floristic and spatial evolution through time remain understudied. To fill this gap, we studied the evolution of Brachystegia trees, one of the most representative genera of these...
This volume covers 7 genera and 77 species of the Phyllanthaceae family, previously classified under the Euphorbiaceae. The remaining genera have been published earlier in this Flora series, but a key to all genera is included here. In addition to clear morphological descriptions and user-friendly keys, this volume provides abundant information on...
Background and aims-This work provides the first pattern analysis of the alien flora of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (D.R. Congo), using Asteraceae and Fabaceae as a case study. Methods-Based on herbarium collections, existing databases, and literature data, a database of 38 alien species of Asteraceae and 79 alien species of Fabaceae has b...
In Upper Katanga region (Democratic Republic of the Congo) Wild
Edible Fungi (WEF) are an important source of food and income.
This study is the first to present the trace metal content of six edible
mushrooms collected from the mining region around Lubumbashi.
Samples were taken in places where local people collect fruit
bodies for consumption. In...
Functional traits are commonly used to calculate a wide array of functional diversity indices to infer different mechanisms of community assembly and species coexistence. Recently, the degree of interspecific covariation between multiple functional traits has been suggested as a mechanism influencing both species distributions and abundances in com...
La classification et la dénomination des plantes et des animaux qui peuplent notre planète est une première étape cruciale de la science biologique. Les chercheurs du Jardin botanique ont réalisé qu'une telle introduction à la systématique des plantes (aussi appelée taxonomie des plantes) faisait défaut en français, mais, de plus, qu'elle n'était p...
The classification and naming of the plants and animals occurring on our planet is a crucial first step of biological science. Researchers from the Botanic Garden realized that such an introduction to plant systematics (also known as plant taxonomy) was lacking in the French language, but, moreover, that it was hardly ever taught at universities an...
The revision of the genus Vitex L. in Cameroon is presented. Sixteen taxa are accepted in Cameroon (15 species, 1 variety). One new variety is described (V. gabunensis var. daubyi). Three species are new to the flora of the country (V. ciliata, V. gabunensis, V. oxycuspis). Five new synonyms are proposed. Lectotypes are designated for V. grandifoli...
Comparison test of traits of termitophilous and non termitophilous species
Trait values of 36 species, with their termitophily index
Question: Do functional traits vary in relation to affinity for termite mounds in trees of dry tropical woodlands?
Location: North of the Zambezian Region, Plain of Lubumbashi, Upper Katanga, DR Congo.
Methods: In four woodland sites, the occurrence of a total of 3454 stems, on and off Macrotermes mounds has been recorded. Twenty-one functional tr...
Questions
Do functional and phylogenetic diversity vary along a natural metal gradient? Do resources acquisition and metal tolerance‐related traits show the same patterns of variation? Is the ability to grow on metal‐enriched soil phylogenetically conserved or the result of functional convergence?
Location
Fungurume V hill (10°37′03″ S, 26°17′22″...
The complex of Uapaca kirkiana is revised in the northwest of the Zambezian region (Angola, D.R. Congo, Zambia) based on herbarium taxonomy. Five taxa are recognised, i.e. Uapaca kirkiana Müll.Arg. var. kirkiana, U. kirkiana var. gossweileri (Hutch.) Meerts, U. kirkiana var. benguelensis (Müll.Arg.) Meerts, U. teusczii Pax f. teusczii and U. teuscz...
Background and aims – The genus Vitex is revised for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (D.R. Congo), in order to prepare the treatment of the genus for the Flore d’Afrique Centrale. Methods – Herbarium taxonomy. All the relevant material kept in BM, BR, BRLU, COI, K, P, POZG, WAG has been examined, supplemented with recent field observations in...
Studies on the relative contribution of inter- and intra-population trait variations in broad-niched species along edaphic gradients are still scarce. Here, we explore the variation of eight traits in five populations of Cyanotis longifolia, a broad-niched metallophyte thriving on very broad gradients of soil copper concentration in Central Africa....
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....
Following the production of a near-comprehensive generic phylogenetic analysis of African angraecoid orchids, paraphyly of the genus Rhipidoglossum relative to Cribbia, Margelliantha and Rhaesteria was in need of being resolved by integrating morphological observations into this newly available molecular framework. Accordingly, we critically revise...
Fifty-one names of plants now recognised as Chlorophytum that are based on type materials from Angola are reviewed. Twenty-three of these names are based on Welwitsch’s collections for which there is generally no holotype. All the original materials have been critically reviewed. For eight names, some of the original materials did not match the pro...
Advances on the ecology and evolution of adaptation to metal toxicity are based on studying metallophytes that are not restricted to soils strongly enriched in trace elements. The evolution of Cu and Co tolerance and accumulation, which principally occurs among the Copperbelt of Central Africa, is poorly known. In this paper, we studied Cu and Co t...
A flora treatment for the Dipterocarpaceae occurring in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Burundi is given. In this region, the family is represented by two genera and fifteen species. Within these species one subspecies, 16 varieties and 8 formae have been distinguished. The taxonomic status of three taxa is doubtfull and these are...
In southern African savannas, geoxylic suffrutices or ‘underground trees’ attain only a hundredth to a tenth the height of normal trees, but other traits have received little attention. Geoxylic suffrutices and congeneric trees were compared for minimum and maximum values of seven morphological traits. Thirty-six geoxyle-tree pairs co-occurring in...
Within the framework of the preparation of the treatment of the family Dipterocarpaceae for the Flore d’Afrique Centrale, the revision of the genus Monotes in D.R. Congo is presented, including a discussion on its distinction from the closely related genus Marquesia. Monotes has suffered from taxonomic inflation. A much more synthetic treatment tha...
Divergence in functional traits and their plasticity can occur between metallicolous and non-metallicolous populations, driven by the selective pressure of metal toxicity in metalliferous soils, which is often associated with other edaphic constraints. The intraspecific variation of functional traits and their plasticity in response to cobalt in th...
Background: Understanding the patterns of biodiversity distribution and what influences them is a fundamental pre-requisite for effective conservation and sustainable utilisation of biodiversity. Such knowledge is increasingly urgent as biodiversity responds to the ongoing effects of global climate change. Nowhere is this more acute than in species...
This review synthesizes contemporary understanding of Cu-Co tolerance and accumulation in plants. Accumulation of foliar Cu and Co to >300 μg g-1 is exceptionally rare globally, and known principally from the Copperbelt of Central Africa. Cobalt accumulation is also observed in a limited number of Ni hyperaccumulator plants occurring on ultramafic...
This work offers, for the first time, a complete overview of the flora of woody plants of Haut-Katanga (Democratic Republic of the Congo).
It includes keys for the identification of all the trees and shrubs recorded from the area (almost 700 species).
214 species are described in detail and illustrated with original colour photographs (silhouette,...
The tropical vegetation of Africa is characterized by high levels of species diversity but is undergoing important shifts in response to ongoing climate change and increasing anthropogenic pressures. Although our knowledge of plant species distribution patterns in the African tropics has been improving over the years, it remains limited. Here we pr...
Silica (SiO 2) in forage grasses has been found in reducing cell-wall digestibility. This study investigates whether: (i) the seasonal variability affects the silica and minerals accumulation and forage values of leaves of R. cochinchinensis and (ii) silica concentration is correlated with minerals and fodder value. In an itchgrass population selec...
Aims: Relationships between local habitat heterogeneity and tree communities in miombo woodlands have been very little studied. While some studies have addressed this topic at broad scales and based on few environmental parameters, this study aims at 1) detecting fine-scale habitats (≤ 10 ha) on the basis of a detailed characterisation of soil expl...
Ectomycorrhizal fungi (EMF) are highly diversified and dominant in a number of forest ecosystems. Nevertheless, their scales of spatial distribution and the underlying ecological processes remain poorly understood. Although most EMF are considered to be generalists regarding host identity, a preference toward functional strategies of host trees has...
Questions
How do resource acquisition‐related traits and stress tolerance‐related traits shift along Cu and Co gradients? What are the relative contributions of species turnover and intraspecific variation in driving these shifts?
Location
Fungurume V hill, Katanga province, Democratic Republic of Congo.
Methods
We measured five functional traits...
Background
Chemical soil factors play an important role in generating and maintaining plant diversity. Naturally metal-enriched habitats support highly distinctive plant communities consisting of many rare and endemic species. Species of these plant communities possess remarkable physiological adaptations and are now being considered key elements i...
A checklist to the trees and shrubs of Upper Katanga (the Zambezian part of Katanga, ca. 260,000 km2) (D.R. Congo) is presented. It comprises 694 taxa (664 species, 15 subspecies, 15 varieties). For each accepted taxon the list provides habitat and geographic distribution. Eleven taxa are new records for the D.R. Congo and 29 are new records for Up...
The tropical vegetation of Africa is characterized by high levels of species diversity but is undergoing important shifts in response to ongoing climate change and increasing anthropogenic pressures. Although our knowledge of plant species distribution patterns in the African tropics has been improving over the years, it remains limited. Here we pr...
Copper smelting has created large surfaces of bare soil contaminated by trace metals (TMs: e.g., total Cu: 42,500 mg kg−1 in bare soil vs. 220 mg kg−1 in remote forest) in the Lubumbashi suburbs of the ‘Cité Gécamines/Penga Penga’ (Katanga, D.R. Congo). Human exposure to trace metals at the site has become a primary environmental concern. This stud...
To provide an inter-continental overview of the floristics and biogeography of drought-adapted tropical vegetation formations, we compiled a dataset of inventory plots in South America (n=93), Africa (n=84), and Asia (n=92) from savannas (subject to fire), seasonally dry tropical forests (not generally subject to fire), and moist forests (no fire)....
A flora treatment for the Anthericaceae (APGIV: Asparagaceae p.p.) occurring in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Burundi is given. The family comprises only one genus in the area of the Flora: Chlorophytum. A total of 52 species, among which 3 imperfectly known ones, as well as 4 subspecies, 24 varieties and 1 form are treated. User...
Nine plants specimens of an apparently new Tridactyle species were collected in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. They have an erect habit and a particular leaf shape which makes the species unique in the genus. The flowers and inflorescences share the general morphology of Tridactyle tridactylites, one of the most frequently collected species of Tridac...
Understanding the evolutionary ecology of geographically restricted species is of great importance for the design of conservation strategies and for gaining insight into the evolutionary processes involved in the origin and maintenance of those species. With a very high proportion of endemic species and/or subspecies, the province of Almeria in And...
Implications des relations sol-plante en ingénierie écologique des habitats et sols métallifères dégradés: le cas des habitats riches en cuivre du Katanga (République Démocratique du Congo) * par mOts-Cles. — Cuivre; Ingénierie écologique; Interactions sols-plantes; Métaux lourds; Traits fonctionnels. resume. — La restauration écologique des habita...
Implications des relations sol-plante en ingénierie écologique des habitats et sols métallifères dégradés, le cas des habitats riches en cuivre du Katanga (République Résumé La restauration écologique des habitats dégradés et des sols nus riches en métaux lourds créés par l’activité minière est devenue aujourd’hui un enjeu environnemental majeur po...
Understanding the phylogenetic structures of plant communities is being developed in community ecology. Based on the species coexistence, we analyzed phylogenetic signals within forest layers, using species abundance data as well as their occurrences (presence/absence) within plots. We found that plant communities in the different