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The Congo Biogeochemical Observatory is an international consortium of researchers who study biogeochemical cycles (the pathways by which a key elements like carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus move through the biotic and the abiotic compartments of Earth) in tropical Africa with focus on the Congo Basin. The Congo comprises the second largest swathe of tropical forest on Earth and faces mounting impacts from forest loss driven by shifting agriculture in concert with rapid human population growth. Given these accelerating impacts, we believe it is critical to study the biogeochemistry, ecology, and hydrology of this globally relevant yet largely understudied region.
Latest News
January 24, 2023
Kidinda et al. show in a recently published article how the chemical index of alteration can be used in highly weathered soils of the humid tropics to study the influence of geochemical properties on microbial nutrient acquisition.
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August 14, 2022
Carbon allocation and net primary productivity of forests and soils in tropical montane ecosystems along the Albertine Rift System are driven by soil fertility and the geochemistry of the parent material. This was shown by Bukombe et al. at Augsburg University.
June 15, 2022
Young secondary forests of the Congo Basin have a conservative N cycle despite of high atmospheric N depositions. This has been shown by a new study of Makelele. et al at Ghent University.
January 17, 2022
A new article published by our observatory in Nature Communications shows extremely high methane emissions in flooded tropical forests of the Congo Basin whereas relatively low nitrous oxide emissions from all studied forest types were measured; which could be due to the direct conversion to N2.
