Student or educator? Sign up with your school email and get 6 months of Pro free.
Cited by 414

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 59 of the 59 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Above-ground biomass and structure of 260 African tropical forests

Open access
Lewis, Simon L., Sonké, Bonaventure, Sunderland, Terry, Begne, Serge K., Lopez-Gonzalez, Gabriela, van der Heijden, Geertje M. F., Phillips, Oliver L., Affum-Baffoe, Kofi, Baker, Timothy R., Banin, Lindsay, Bastin, Jean-François, Beeckman, Hans, Boeckx, Pascal, Bogaert, Jan, De Cannière, Charles, Chezeaux, Eric, Clark, Connie J., Collins, Murray, Djagbletey, Gloria, Djuikouo, Marie Noël K., Droissart, Vincent, Doucet, Jean-Louis, Ewango, Cornielle E. N., Fauset, Sophie, Feldpausch, Ted R., Foli, Ernest G., Gillet, Jean-François, Hamilton, Alan C., Harris, David J., Hart, Terese B., de Haulleville, Thales, Hladik, Annette, Hufkens, Koen, Huygens, Dries, Jeanmart, Philippe, Jeffery, Kathryn J., Kearsley, Elizabeth, Leal, Miguel E., Lloyd, Jon, Lovett, Jon C., Makana, Jean-Remy, Malhi, Yadvinder, Marshall, Andrew R., Ojo, Lucas, Peh, Kelvin S.-H., Pickavance, Georgia, Poulsen, John R., Reitsma, Jan M., Sheil, Douglas, Simo, Murielle, Steppe, Kathy, Taedoumg, Hermann E., Talbot, Joey, Taplin, James R. D., Taylor, David, Thomas, Sean C., Toirambe, Benjamin, Verbeeck, Hans, Vleminckx, Jason, White, Lee J. T., Willcock, Simon, Woell, Hannsjorg, Zemagho, Lise·2013·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Abstract

We report above-ground biomass (AGB), basal area, stem density and wood mass density estimates from 260 sample plots (mean size: 1.2 ha) in intact closed-canopy tropical forests across 12 African countries. Mean AGB is 395.7 Mg dry mass ha −1 (95% CI: 14.3), substantially higher than Amazonian values, with the Congo Basin and contiguous forest region attaining AGB values (429 Mg ha −1 ) similar to those of Bornean forests, and significantly greater than East or West African forests. AGB therefore appears generally higher in palaeo- compared with neotropical forests. However, mean stem density is low (426 ± 11 stems ha −1 greater than or equal to 100 mm diameter) compared with both Amazonian and Bornean forests (cf. approx. 600) and is the signature structural feature of African tropical forests. While spatial autocorrelation complicates analyses, AGB shows a positive relationship with rainfall in the driest nine months of the year, and an opposite association with the wettest three months of the year; a negative relationship with temperature; positive relationship with clay-rich soils; and negative relationships with C : N ratio (suggesting a positive soil phosphorus–AGB relationship), and soil fertility computed as the sum of base cations. The results indicate that AGB is mediated by both climate and soils, and suggest that the AGB of African closed-canopy tropical forests may be particularly sensitive to future precipitation and temperature changes.

Overview

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1098/rstb.2012.0295

Cites

59 of 59 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Verification

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Citations

Cites

Show all 59 references

Cited by

See all 414

Metadata

Authors
Lewis, S. L., Sonké, B., Sunderland, T., Begne, S. K., Lopez-Gonzalez, G., van der Heijden, G. M. F., Phillips, O. L., Affum-Baffoe, K., Baker, T. R., Banin, L., Bastin, J.-F., Beeckman, H., Boeckx, P., Bogaert, J., De Cannière, C., Chezeaux, E., Clark, C. J., Collins, M., Djagbletey, G., Djuikouo, M. N. K., Droissart, V., Doucet, J.-L., Ewango, C. E. N., Fauset, S., Feldpausch, T. R., Foli, E. G., Gillet, J.-F., Hamilton, A. C., Harris, D. J., Hart, T. B., de Haulleville, T., Hladik, A., Hufkens, K., Huygens, D., Jeanmart, P., Jeffery, K. J., Kearsley, E., Leal, M. E., Lloyd, J., Lovett, J. C., Makana, J.-R., Malhi, Y., Marshall, A. R., Ojo, L., Peh, K. S.-H., Pickavance, G., Poulsen, J. R., Reitsma, J. M., Sheil, D., Simo, M., Steppe, K., Taedoumg, H. E., Talbot, J., Taplin, J. R. D., Taylor, D., Thomas, S. C., Toirambe, B., Verbeeck, H., Vleminckx, J., White, L. J. T., Willcock, S., Woell, H., & Zemagho, L.
Venue
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Published
2013-09-05
Volume
368
Issue
1625
Pages
20120295
ISSN
  • 0962-8436 (ISSN-L)
  • 1471-2970
OpenAlex
W2158971682
Cited by
414
References
59
FWCI
23.34
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
hybrid

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review

How to cite

Cite CoChat for the checks on this page, and the paper for its own findings.

This page
CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Above-ground biomass and structure of 260 African tropical forests. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1098/rstb.2012.0295
The paper
Lewis, S. L., Sonké, B., Sunderland, T., Begne, S. K., Lopez-Gonzalez, G., van der Heijden, G. M. F., Phillips, O. L., Affum-Baffoe, K., Baker, T. R., Banin, L., Bastin, J.-F., Beeckman, H., Boeckx, P., Bogaert, J., De Cannière, C., Chezeaux, E., Clark, C. J., Collins, M., Djagbletey, G., . . . Zemagho, L. (2013). Above-ground biomass and structure of 260 African tropical forests. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0295

Data sources

Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.

Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.