Miombo Woodland
For my M.Sc. thesis (University of Ghent, 1999) and my Ph.D. (KULeuven, 2004), I sampled trees in the miombo woodlands of Tanzania and Zambia. I primarily studied the tree species Brachystegia spiciformis (Brsp) and found out that it forms annual rings, consisting of marginal parenchyma bands. The trees grow during only a few months every year (December-March) and are sensitive to precipitation variability during this period. The samples that I collected are now housed in the Xylarium of the Africamuseum in Tervuren, Belgium.
In Summer 2011, I visited southern Africa again after almost 10 years and collected Brsp samples near Catapu, Mozambique, in collaboration with Matt Therrell from the Southern Illinois University. It is our intention to continue collecting across southern Africa and to develop a tree-ring network for the region that can be used for precipitation reconstruction and to quantify forest productivity and disturbances.
Summary
Trouet V, Haneca K, Coppin P, Beeckman H (2001) Tree ring analysis of Brachystegia spiciformis and Isoberlinia tomentosa: evaluation of the ENSO-signal in the miombo-woodland of eastern Africa. IAWA Journal 22: 385-399.
Trouet V, Bauwens I, Beeckman H, Coppin P (2002) Modelling Net Primary Production of the miombo woodlands in Zambia. Proceedings of the 29th International Symposium on remote sensing of environment (Buenos Aires, Argentina, April 8-12, 2002).
Fichtler E, Trouet V, Beeckman H, Coppin P, Worbes M (2004) Climatic signals in tree rings of Burkea africana and Pterocarpus angolensis from semi-arid forests in Namibia. Trees – Structure and Function 18: 422-451.
Trouet V, Coppin P, Beeckman H (2006) Annual ring patterns in Brachystegia Trees of the Miombo Woodland reveal climatic Influence. Biotropica 38(3): 375-382.
Trouet V, Esper J, Beeckman H (2010) Climate/growth relationships of Brachystegia spiciformis from the Miombo woodland in southern Africa. Dendrochronologia DOI: 10.1016/j.dendro.2009.10.002
Trouet V, Mukelabai M, Verheyden A, Beeckman H (in review) Cambial phenology of Brachystegia spiciformis (Leguminosae) Trees From South Central Africa. PLOS ONE
Publications
