Floristic diversity, ecological structure, and carbon storage potential in the peatlands of the Eala botanical garden, Equateur province, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Keywords:
Peatlands, Aboveground biomass, floristic diversity, Carbon stock, Eala Botanical GardenAbstract
The peatlands of the Congo Basin are among the world’s most important tropical carbon reservoirs, yet little information is available on those of the Eala Botanical
Garden in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This study assessed the floristic diversity, ecological structure and carbon storage potential of these peatland
forests. A forest inventory was conducted in 26 plots of 20 m × 20 m, covering a total area of 1.04 ha. All woody individuals with a diameter at breast height (DBH)
≥ 10 cm were identified and measured. Aboveground biomass was estimated using the allometric equation of Chave et al. (2014) based on DBH and wood density.
A total of 626 individuals belonging to 23 species and 13 families were recorded. Fabaceae dominated the community (86.58% of individuals), while Daniellia
pynaertii exhibited the highest Importance Value Index (IVI = 230.35). Species richness ranged from 4 to 10 species per plot, with mean Shannon, Simpson and
Pielou indices of 1.277, 0.610 and 0.719, respectively. Aboveground carbon stocks ranged from 114.72 to 437.21 tC/ha. Multivariate analyses revealed that basal
area, biomass and carbon were the main drivers of ecological differentiation among plots. These findings provide baseline information for peatland conservation,
REDD+ initiatives and climate change mitigation strategies in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Downloads
References
Biddulph, G. E., Bocko, Y. E., Bola, P., Crezee, B.,
Dargie, G. C., Emba, O., Georgiou, S., Girkin, N.,
Hawthorne, D., Jovani-Sancho, J., Kanyama T.,
J., Mampouya, W. E., Mbemba, M., Sciumbata,
M., & Tyrrell, G. (2022). Current knowledge on
the Cuvette Centrale peatland complex and future
research directions. BOIS & FORETS DES
TROPIQUES, 350, 3‑14.
https://doi.org/10.19182/bft2021.350.a36288
Borcard, D., Gillet, F., & Legendre, P. (2018).
Numerical Ecology with R. Springer International
Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-
71404-2
Chave, J., Réjou‐Méchain, M., Búrquez, A.,
Chidumayo, E., Colgan, M. S., Delitti, W. B. C.,
Duque, A., Eid, T., Fearnside, P. M., Goodman,
R. C., Henry, M., Martínez‐Yrízar, A., Mugasha,
W. A., Muller‐Landau, H. C., Mencuccini, M.,
Nelson, B. W., Ngomanda, A., Nogueira, E. M.,
Ortiz‐Malavassi, E., … Vieilledent, G. (2014).
Improved allometric models to estimate the
aboveground biomass of tropical trees. Global
Change Biology, 20(10), 3177‑3190.
https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12629
Crezee, B., Dargie, G. C., Ewango, C. E. N., Mitchard,
E. T. A., Emba B., O., Kanyama T., J., Bola, P.,
Ndjango, J.-B. N., Girkin, N. T., Bocko, Y. E.,
Ifo, S. A., Hubau, W., Seidensticker, D.,
Batumike, R., Imani, G., Cuní-Sanchez, A.,
Kiahtipes, C. A., Lebamba, J., Wotzka, H.-P., …
Lewis, S. L. (2022). Mapping peat thickness and
carbon stocks of the central Congo Basin using
field data. Nature Geoscience, 15(8), 639‑644.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00966-7
Dargie, G. C., Lewis, S. L., Lawson, I. T., Mitchard, E.
T. A., Page, S. E., Bocko, Y. E., & Ifo, S. A.
(2017). Age, extent and carbon storage of the
central Congo Basin peatland complex. Nature,
542(7639), 86‑90.
https://doi.org/10.1038/nature21048
Etepe Kakoko,G.(2025).*Dynamiques climatiques et
biodiversité des tourbières de la concession Era
Congo dans le territoire d'Inongo(province de
Mai-Ndombe)en République Démocratique du
Congo.*Revue Congolaise de
Science&Technologie
,4(2),320-328..https://doi.org /10..59228 /rcst
..025.v4.i2 ..158
Evrard, C. (1968). Recherches écologiques sur le
peuplement forestier des sols hydromorphes de la
Cuvette centrale congolaise. Institut National
pour l’Étude Agronomique du Congo (INEAC).
FAO. (2021). Rapport de mission de cartographie des
tourbières. 1‑27.
Fayolle, A., Doucet, J.-L., Gillet, J.-F., Bourland, N., &
Lejeune, P. (2018). Tree species diversity and
forest structure in Central African tropical
forests. CIRAD Press.
Fisher, L., Gross, T., Hillebrand, H., Sandberg, A., &
Sayama, H. (2024). Sustainability: We need to
focus on overall system outcomes rather than
simplistic targets. People and Nature, 6(2),
391‑401. https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10589
Lê, S., Josse, J., & Husson, F. (2008). FactoMineR:
An R Package for Multivariate Analysis. Journal
of Statistical Software, 25(1).
https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v025.i01
Leifeld, J., & Menichetti, L. (2018). The
underappreciated potential of peatlands in global
climate change mitigation strategies. Nature
Communications, 9(1), 1071.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-03406-6
Lewis, S. L., Sonké, B., Sunderland, T., Begne, S. K.,
Lopez-Gonzalez, G., Van Der Heijden, G. M. F.,
Phillips, O. L., Affum-Baffoe, K., Baker, T. R.,
Banin, L., Bastin, J.-F., Beeckman, H., Boeckx,
P., Bogaert, J., De Cannière, C., Chezeaux, E.,
Clark, C. J., Collins, M., Djagbletey, G., …
Zemagho, L. (2013). Above-ground biomass and
structure of 260 African tropical forests.
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society
B: Biological Sciences, 368(1625), 20120295.
https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0295
Page, S. E., Rieley, J. O., & Banks, C. J. (2011). Global
and regional importance of the tropical peatland
carbon pool. Global Change Biology, 17(2),
798‑818. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-
2486.2010.02279.x
White, F. (1983). The vegetation of Africa: A
descriptive memoir to accompany the
UNESCO/AETFAT/UNSO vegetation map of
Africa. UNESCO.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Kolokota et al.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
