1st Edition

Dynamics of Forest Ecosystems in Central Africa During the Holocene: Past – Present – Future Palaeoecology of Africa, An International Yearbook of Landscape Evolution and Palaeoenvironments, Volume 28

Edited By Jürgen Runge Copyright 2008
    324 Pages 120 B/W Illustrations
    by CRC Press

    This book consists of scientific papers resulting from an international workshop: ‘Environmental and Cultural Change in West- and Central Africa’ organized by the German Research Foundation (DFG) in Yaoundé, Cameroon, March 2006. Problems of Holocene and Late Pleistocene modifications of the rain forest savanna fringe and their possible influence on cultural innovations are discussed.

    The book will be of interest to all concerned with tropical forests and related development problems of third world countries, especially ecologists, botanists and earth scientists. It will be valuable for advanced undergraduates and postgraduates as a reference for review and overview articles as well as a source of information for new original manuscripts on the topic of Late Pleistocene and Holocene landscape evolution in the lower latitudes of Africa. Palaeobotanists, Palynologists and Quaternarists equally will find this edition useful for their work.

    Contents

    CONTRIBUTORS

    FOREWORD, K. Heine

    PREFACE AND INTRODUCTION, Jürgen Runge

    1 DFG-RESEARCH UNIT 510 ON ‘ECOLOGICAL AND CULTURAL CHANGE IN WEST AND CENTRAL AFRICA’, YAOUNDÉ WORKSHOP REPORT, AND OUTLOOK FOR 2007–2009, Jürgen Runge

    2 OF DESERTS AND FORESTS: INSIGHTS INTO CENTRAL AFRICAN PALAEOENVIRONMENTS SINCE THE LAST GLACIAL MAXIMUM, Jürgen Runge

    3 SETTLING THE RAIN FOREST: THE ENVIRONMENT OF FARMING COMMUNITIES IN SOUTHERN CAMEROON DURING THE FIRST MILLENNIUM BC, Alexa Höhn, Stefanie Kahlheber, Katharina Neumann & Astrid Schweizer

    4 RECENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS IN THE TROPICAL RAIN FOREST OF SOUTH-WEST CAMEROON, Conny Meister

    5 THE BATIE PALAEOPODZOL AND ITS PALAEOCLIMATIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL SIGNIFICANCE, Mesmin Tchindjang, Samuel Aime Abossolo, Joseph Armathée Amougou, Mphoweh Jude Nzembayie & Kah Elvis Fang

    6 NEW EVIDENCE ON PALAEOENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS IN SW CAMEROON SINCE THE LATE PLEISTOCENE DERIVED FROM ALLUVIAL SEDIMENTS OF THE NTEM RIVER, Mark Sangen

    7 THE EVOLUTION OF THE HOLOCENE PALAEOENVIRONMENT OF THE ADAMAWA REGION OF CAMEROON: EVIDENCE FROM SEDIMENTS FROM TWO CRATER LAKES NEAR NGAOUNDERE, Simon Ngos III, Frank Sirocko, Rouwen Lehné, Pierre Giresse & Michel Servant

    8 PALAEOENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES IN THE NGOTTO FOREST: ALLUVIAL SEDIMENTS AS INDICATORS OF RECENT AND HOLOCENE LANDSCAPE EVOLUTION IN THE CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC, Marion Neumer, Eva Becker & Jürgen Runge

    9 EXTENSION OF FORMER TREE COVER IN THE TODAY’S SUDANO-SAHELIAN MILIEU AS EVIDENCE FOR LATE HOLOCENE ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES IN NORTHERN CAMEROON, Anselme Wakponou, Bienvenu Dénis Nizesete & Frédéric Dumay

    10 THE APPLICATION OF ORGANIC CARBON AND CARBONATE STRATIGRAPHY TO THE RECONSTRUCTION OF LACUSTRINE PALAEOENVIRONMENTS FROM LAKE MAGADI, KENYA, Brahim Damnati, Michel Icole, Maurice Taieb & David Williamson

    11 FOREST-SAVANNA DYNAMICS IN IVORY COAST, Dethardt Goetze, Klaus Josef Hennenberg, Stefan Porembski & Annick Koulibaly

    12 THE IMPACT OF LAND USE ON SPECIES DISTRIBUTION CHANGES IN NORTH BENIN, Konstantin König, Jürgen Runge, Marco Schmidt, Karen Hahn-Hadjali, Pierre Agbani, Didier Agonyissa & Annika Wieckhorst

    13 POTENTIALS OF NIGERIASAT-1 FOR SUSTAINABLE FOREST MONITORING IN AFRICA: A CASE STUDY FROM NIGERIA, Ayobami T. Salami

    14 LANDSCAPE AND VEGETATION PATTERNS STUDIED BY REMOTELY SENSED DATA ANALYSIS IN RAIN FOREST ECOSYSTEMS NEAR EBOLOWA (SOUTHERN CAMEROON), Thorsten Herold & Jürgen Runge

    15 REMOTE SENSING BASED FOREST ASSESSMENT: RECENT DYNAMICS (1973–2002) OF FOREST-SAVANNA BOUNDARIES AT NGOTTO FOREST, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC (CAR), Jürgen Runge

    16 LATE NEOPROTEROZOIC PALAEOGEOGRAPHY OF CENTRAL AFRICA: RELATIONS WITH HOLOCENE GEOLOGICAL AND GEOMORPHOLOGICAL SETTING, Boniface Kankeu & Jürgen Runge

    17 A PALAEOECOLOGICAL APPROACH TO NEOTECTONICS:THE GEOMORPHIC EVOLUTION OF THE NTEM RIVER IN AND BELOW ITS INTERIOR DELTA, SW CAMEROON, Joachim Eisenberg

    18 EFFECTS OF FOREST CLEARINGS AROUND BANGUI: URBAN FLOODS IN DENSELY POPULATED DISTRICTS OF THE CENTRAL AFRICAN CAPITAL, Cyriaque-Rufin Nguimalet

    19 NON WOODY FOREST PRODUCTS (NWFPs) AND FOOD SAFETY: SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT IN THE LOBAYE REGION (CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC), Cyriaque-Rufin Nguimalet, Arsène Igor Kondayen, Marcel Koko & Félix Ngana

    Biography

    Professor Dr. Jürgen Runge (1962) has worked, for almost 25 years, as a Physical Geographer and Environmentalist on the evolution of tropical landscapes, former and recent environmental changes and on questions related to tropical and subtropical land use in subsaharan semi-humid and humid regions in Africa. After basic studies in Geography, Geology, Soil Science and Botany at the Universities of Giessen and Göttingen, he specialized on West and Central Africa regions as an assistant Professor at the University of Paderborn.

    In 2000 he was appointed full Professor for Physical Geography and Geoecology focussing on subsaharan African region at Frankfurt University. In 2003 Dr. Runge and colleagues from different scientific disciplines set up the ‘Center for interdisciplinary research on Africa’ (Zentrum für interdisziplinäre Afrikaforschung, ZIAF, www.ziaf.de) where he was recently appointed as Vice Director.

    In 2005 he became Editor of the book series ‘Palaeoecology of Africa’.