Historical tree phenology data across contrasting sites in the Congo Basin
We present a unique dataset of historical tropical tree phenology observations at two sites from different bioclimatic regions across the Congo Basin. We cover both the Atlantic Mayombe forest and the tropical forest in the central Congo Basin. To our knowledge this is the complete extant historical (1937-1957) phenology data across the Congo basin. The data contains ~10 million observations of 876 species, across 6339 individuals, and phenology metrics including leaf, flowering, and fruiting phenology. The data were recovered through expert transcription and validated community science based crowdsourcing. These data may provide a reference baseline and key information on how tree species are responding to a changing climate.
Authors
- Donatien Musepena (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-2242-3432)
- Emmanuel Kasongo Yakusu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3022-6743)
- Andrew David Richardson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0148-6714)
- José Mbifo Ndiapo
- Nestor K. Luambua (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3089-619X)
- Tom De Mil (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6207-9613)
- Dieu-Merci Assumani
- Margaret Kosmala (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1446-4856)
- Lisa Wingate (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1921-1556)
- Hans Beeckman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8954-6277)
- Koen Hufkens (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5070-8109)
- Corneille Ewango
- Bhély Angoboy Ilondea (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9333-8964)
- Jan Van den Bulcke (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2939-5408)
- Camille Couralet (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3869-9542)
- Benjamin Toirambe
- Wannes Hubau (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3795-4986)
- Adelard Lonema Chuda
- Elasi Ramanzani Kitima
- Jean-Remy M. Makana
- Hans Verbeeck
- Elizabeth Kearsley
- Steven B. Janssens
- P. Boeckx
- Marijn Bauters
- Piet Stoffelen
Institutions
- HOGENT University of Applied Sciences and Arts (BE)
- Royal Museum for Central Africa (BE)
- Meise Botanic Garden (BE)
- Harvard University (US)
- Université de Montpellier (FR)
- Northern Arizona University (US)
- Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech (BE)
- Ghent University (BE)
- Kaken Pharmaceutical (Japan) (JP)
- Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (FR)
- Interaction Sol Plante Atmosphère (FR)
- National Institute of Biomedical Research (CD)
- Ministère de l’Environnement et du Développement Durable (SN)
- BlueGreen Labs (bv) (Belgium)
- Université de Kisangani (CD)
- KU Leuven (BE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Scientific Data
- Published
- 2026-01-07
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-06542-z
- Primary Topic
- Remote Sensing in Agriculture
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- European Commission
- Belgian Federal Science Policy Office
- Universiteit Gent
- Bijzonder Onderzoeksfonds UGent