title: Functional community structure of African monodominantGilbertiodendron dewevreiforest influenced by local environmental filtering.
abstract: Monodominant patches of forest dominated byGilbertiodendron dewevreiare commonly found in central African tropical forests, alongside forests with high species diversity. Although these forests are generally found sparsely distributed along rivers, their occurrence is not thought to be (clearly) driven by edaphic conditions but rather by trait combinations ofG. dewevreithat aid in achieving monodominance. Functional community structure between these monodominant and mixed forests has, however, not yet been compared. Additionally, little is known about nondominant species in the monodominant forest community. These two topics are addressed in this study. We investigate the functional community structure of 10 one-hectare plots of monodominant and mixed forests in a central region of the Congo basin, in DR Congo. Thirteen leaf and wood traits are measured, covering 95% (basal area weighted) of all species present in the plots, including leaf nutrient contents, leaf isotopic compositions, specific leaf area, wood density, and vessel anatomy. The trait-based assessment ofG. dewevreishows an ensemble of traits related to water use and transport that could be favorable for its location near forest rivers. Moreover, indications have been found for N and P limitations in the monodominant forest, possibly related to ectomycorrhizal associations formed withG. dewevrei. Reduced leaf N and P contents are found at the community level for the monodominant forest and for different nondominant groups, as compared to those in the mixed forest. In summary, this work shows that environmental filtering does prevail in the monodominantG. dewevreiforest, leading to lower functional diversity in this forest type, with the dominant species showing beneficial traits related to its common riverine locations and with reduced soil N and P availability found in this environment, both coregulating the tree community assembly.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Ecology and Environmental Biology Computational and Applied Vegetation Ecology - CAVElab Ghent University Gent Belgium; Department of Applied Analytical and Physical Chemistry Isotope Bioscience Laboratory - ISOFYS Ghent University Gent Belgium; Service of Wood Biology Royal Museum for Central Africa Tervuren Belgium.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-0046-3606
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kearsley
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Ecology and Environmental Biology Computational and Applied Vegetation Ecology - CAVElab Ghent University Gent Belgium.
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Verbeeck
authors.affiliation: Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology Harvard University Cambridge MA USA.
authors.forename: Koen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hufkens
authors.affiliation: Evolutionary Ecology Group University of Antwerp Antwerp Belgium.
authors.forename: Frederik
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Van de Perre
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Analytical and Physical Chemistry Isotope Bioscience Laboratory - ISOFYS Ghent University Gent Belgium; Institute of Geography Augsburg University Augsburg Germany.
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Doetterl
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Biosciences Ghent University Gent Belgium.
authors.forename: Geert
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Baert
authors.affiliation: Service of Wood Biology Royal Museum for Central Africa Tervuren Belgium.
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Beeckman
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Analytical and Physical Chemistry Isotope Bioscience Laboratory - ISOFYS Ghent University Gent Belgium.
authors.forename: Pascal
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Boeckx
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Analytical and Physical Chemistry Isotope Bioscience Laboratory - ISOFYS Ghent University Gent Belgium; Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal Universidad Nacional de Córdoba & CONICET Cordoba Argentina.
authors.forename: Dries
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Huygens
keywords: Democratic Republic of Congo; Gilbertiodendron dewevrei; environmental filtering; functional traits; plant population and community dynamics; single‐species dominance; species establishment