Tropical forests are biomes of global significance due to their exceptional biodiversity, carbon storage capacity, and key role in the hydrological cycle. In recent decades, ecosystems across South America, Central America, Central Africa, and Southeast Asia have experienced increasing pressures from human activities, climate change, and intensified natural variability (e.g., extremes). These drivers have altered the cycling of nutrients, carbon, water, and energy, while also affecting human livelihoods. Although such disturbances have profound impacts, concurrent recovery processes are often overlooked in assessing their net effects. This gap is particularly acute for African tropical forests which remain comparatively underrepresented in pantropical syntheses despite their major contribution to the global carbon cycle.
In this session, we aim to place a particular emphasis on the dynamics of disturbance, recovery, and resilience in tropical forest ecosystems. We invite contributions that examine the consequences of these contrasting processes across multiple dimensions, including above- and belowground biomass, forest-atmosphere interactions, carbon budgets, biodiversity, and social livelihoods. We welcome studies using diverse approaches, ranging from experimental and field-based investigations to remote sensing and modeling, particularly on data poor regions like Central Africa. Our goal is to foster a holistic understanding of how disturbance and recovery shape both the current and future states of tropical vegetation and the communities that depend on it.
Pieter Zuidema, Rodrigo San Martin