Invloed van bosverstoring, bosherstel, en koffie-agrobosbouwpraktijken op diverse biodiversiteitscomponenten in de DR Congo

The Congo Basin houses the second largest continuous extent of tropical rainforests, which are recognised as global hotspots for biodiversity, including a great diversity of plant, and insect species, and crop wild relatives. Yet, multiple anthropogenic induced threats such as forest degradation through selective logging, are greatly affecting the biodiversity harboured in these forests. Additionally, the encroachment of cultivated crops into the natural rainforests may threaten the genetic integrity of crop wild relatives harboured in these ecosystems through hybridisation. Agroforestry and regrowth forests have the potential to mitigate the adverse effects of these anthropogenic threats on biodiversity, but these systems have currently received limited attention. To better understand and address the threat of forest degradation to tropical rainforest, we aimed to clarify how anthropogenic rainforest disturbance affects the biodiversity of the tropical rainforest in the Congo Basin, and how these effects might be mitigated by regrowth forests and the establishment of agroforestry. We have (i) explored the differences among undisturbed old-growth forests, disturbed old-growth forests, and regrowth forests in terms of tree species diversity, community traits, community composition, forest structure, and canopy closure; (ii) evaluated the association between rainforest disturbance and forest regrowth on the one side, and genetic diversity and genetic structure of the key understorey species Coffea canephora on the other side; (iii) assessed how the encroachment of Robusta coffee cultivation to the natural habitats of wild C. canephora, might threaten the genetic integrity of the latter; and (iv) we evaluated the benefits of Robusta coffee agroforestry practices to insect community as compared to traditional coffee monocultures, and assessed the conservation potential of these agroforestry systems by comparing them with the natural coffee forest as a benchmark.