Units

Herbarium and Library of African Botany

Person in charge of the Unit : Oui

The unit is part of the Organismic Biology Department. Its own staff is limited as it works in close collaboration with different research units in the Department.The unit keeps a unique scientific patrimony. This includes the herbarium of the Université Libre de Bruxelles (dry herbarium: 300.000 sheets, spirit collection of orchids, silicagel collection) and a library. This represents the heritage of more than 60 y expertise in African botany at the Université Libre de Bruxelles.The unit supports research in biodiversity of tropical regions of several research unit at the Université Libre de Bruxelles.More than 120 articles citing collections kept at BRLU have been published  in international journals in the last 10 years. The collection is one of the most significant worldwide for DR Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome and Orchids of WC Africa.The acronym of the herbarium in the Index Herbariorum is BRLU. (http://sweetgum.nybg.org/ih/)

Laboratory of Systems Ecology and Resource Management

Person in charge of the Unit : Oui

The Laboratory of Systems Ecology and Resource Management (c/o Prof. Farid Dahdouh-Guebas), seeks to understand and to predict how and why spatio-temporal dynamics in vegetation and landscape occur. It adopts a retrospective approach using relevant methods from different disciplines (tropical botany, very high resolution sequential remote sensing and ground truth, vegetation science, socio-ecologic survey research, historic archive research,...), an integrative analysis (using geographical information systems, multivariate and multicriteria analyses,...) in order to generate outputs relevant for fundamental understanding of ecosystem functioning (health status, resilience), for forecasting changes and for ecosystem management (conservation, restoration ecology).  Within this framework we also emphasize on changes in biodiversity, on plant-animal and on man-ecosystem interactions. The mangrove is an important model, but close links exist with adjacent ecosystems such as the tropical rainforest or the coral reef. The research focuses on (sub)tropical vegetation and is done in collaboration with the Laboratory of Plant Biology and Nature Management of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Prof. Nico Koedam).  This laboratory was previously named the Laboratory of Complexity and Dynamics of Tropical Systems and the Laboratory of Systematic Botany and Phytosociology (Prof. Jean Lejoly - ULB).

Projetcs

Flora and vegetation of C Africa

Exploration of plant biodiversity in Central Africa. Description of new taxa. Application to management and conservation of natural ressources.

Reconstruction and prediction of spatio-temporal dynamics of mangroves : vegetation community analysis and study of multi-temporal remote sensing data.

This project focuses on the spatial structure, monitoring and protection of mangroves using fieldwork and remote sensing.