Prof. Charles DECANNIÈRE

Agricultural engineer - forestry sciences (1981, UCL - Belgium)
PhD in agricultural sciences and biological engineering (1990, UCL - Belgium)

Summary of the current and previous research domains

2004-2012

• Forest decline caused by interactions of biotic and abiotic factors: climatic stress effects (frost and drought) on beech physiology and susceptibility to scolytine ambrosia beetles.
  Authors of the study: Sylvie La Spina, Jean-Claude Grégoire, Charles De Cannière

• Carbon stock dynamics in the Central Africa forest-savanna mosaics: above ground biomass estimation; influence of tree life history traits and growth rate on wood density; canopy texture and forest structure analysis using remote sensing images (in the western Congo Basin).
  Authors of the study: Jean-François Bastin, Jan Bogaert (ULg Gembloux ABT), Charles De Cannière

• Tree population dynamics, stand structure and species composition in a tropical rain forest around Kisangani (DRC): analysis of the spatial distribution of Pericopsis elata and the factors responsible for the degree of aggregation.
  Authors of the study: Faustin Boyemba, Sylvie Gourlet-Fleury (CIRAD), Charles De Cannière

• Soil charcoal analysis (pedoanthracology) to study the possible role of anthropogenic fire in Pericopsis elata population dynamics.
  Authors of the study: John Tshibamba (UNIKIS), Hans Beeckman (MRAC), Charles De Cannière

• Relationships between environmental factors, understory vegetation and productivity of teak plantations in Benin.
  Authors of the study: Armand Yevide (UAC), Jean Ganglo (UAC), Charles De Cannière

1993-2003

• Development of image analysis software dedicated to the quantitative wood anatomy of conifers (WoodAnalyst) allowing automated measurement and quantification of intra-ring wood anatomical characteristics which are analyzed through time and used to characterize the relationships between tree growth and the environment; anatomical interpretation of wood density microvariations in Douglas fir; identification of the transition zone from juvenile to mature wood showing the maturation of the vascular cambium.
  Authors of the study: Valérie Decoux, Mohamed El Aydam, Olivier Debeir, Hans Beeckman (MRAC), Emmanuel Defays, Charles De Cannière

• Assessing the quality and the usable proportion of Belgian small Douglas fir timber for glulam squares production: impact of juvenile wood and knots.
  Authors of the study: Mohamed El Aydam, Marc Van Leemput (CTIB), Jean-Michel Leban (INRA), Emmanuel Defays, Charles De Cannière

• Development of tree classification systems for hardwoods.
  Authors of the study: Pierre Stordeur, Emmanuel Defays, Charles De Cannière

• Preliminary study of the setting up of an observatory for forestry-wood chain in Wallonia. It has been established in 2011 and named Office Economique Wallon du Bois.
  Authors of the study: Emmanuel Defays, Jean Debroux (FNEF), Faska Khrouz, Charles De Cannière

• Economic analysis of the sawmill industry in Wallonia.
  Authors of the study: Emmanuel Defays, Jean Debroux (FNEF), Faska Khrouz, Charles De Cannière

1984-1990

• Conifer micropropagation for tree improvement programs; intra-clonal variability in mineral nutrient composition and growth rate among Western Red Cedar clones and its implications for the in vitro cloning technique. Effect of cytokinin 2ip on in vitro mineral nutrition.
  Authors of the study: Charles De Cannière, Pierre André (UCL)

Prof. Marjolein VISSER

Marjolein graduated in Agricultural sciences (Master, 1991) and Applied Biological Sciences (PhD, 2001) at the University of Ghent, Belgium. She first specialised in native seed production to restore degraded arid lands, with field experience dating back to 1992 in collecting, evaluating, multiplying and using native perennial grasses and legumes in South-Tunisia. She then completed a Marie Curie post-doctoral fellowship at the Environmental Change Institute, National University of Ireland, Galway on sustainable grazing of turlough grasslands. Turloughs are karst wetlands protected by the EU. This post-doc enabled her to get back in touch with the debate on nature conservation versus food production on European farmland.

Since joining the ULB in 2006, Marjolein’s research interests have broadened beyond native seed production and turlough grazing but both her older and newer work can be united under the banner of agroecology. Currently she leads research on agroforestry, grassland farming, the redefinition of soil fertility and on transdisciplinary research methods with an emphasis on the human dimension of food systems in both temperate and tropical conditions.

Sylvain ALONGO LONGOMB

Microclimatic and soil aspects of the edge effect in the Congolese Central Basin: Ecological impacts of tropical forest fragmentation.

: In the forest zone of Yangambi in the Central Basin Congo (DRC) land use is changing rapidly and forest fragmentation due to slash and burn agriculture has become one of the dominant processes of landscape dynamics. This study consists of a micro-scale field approach to determine the edge area between grassy fallows and dense forests. The study combines microclimate and soil data on transects in order to better understand the responses of the physico-chemical properties of the soil to land use changes and fragmentation. Upscaling the results of this micro-scale study allows us to estimate the edaphic impact of forest fragmentation by slash and burn agriculture in the forest zone at Yangambi and integrate this knowledge into management plans for sustainable land use.

Directeurs : Pr. Marjolein Visser, Pr. Jan Bogaert.

Affiliations : Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Université de Kisangani (UNIKIS).

Financement : Bourse CTB.

Jean-François BASTIN

Multiscalar analysis of aboveground-biomass (AGB) distribution within dense and degraded forests of the west of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

This research aims to improve the global knowledge on the spatial distribution of AGB in tropical forests and particularly in DRC. Here I consider a top-down – bottom-up approach in order to link field analysis with remote sensing analysis. On the field, I study the relationship between AGB and different stadia of forest succession. In remote sensing, based on very high resolution imagery, I evaluate the potential of textural analysis to predict structural parameters such as the AGB.

Directeurs : Pr. Charles De Cannière et Pr. Jan Bogaert.

Affiliations : Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Université de Liège – Gembloux AgroBio-Tech (ULg) , Ecole Régionale post-universitaire d’Aménagement et de gestion Intégrée des Forêts Tropicales (ERAIFT – Kinshasa).

Financement : Bourse FRIA (FNRS).

Collaborations et partenaires : Laboratoire de botanique et bioinformatique de l’architecture des plantes (AMAP-IRD, Dr. Nicolas Barbier), Université de Gand (Pr. Joris Van Acker, Dr. Jan van der Buclke), Musée Royale de l’Afrique Centrale de Tervuren (Dr. Hans Beeckman), World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-RDC, WWF-Allemagne).

Joseph BIGIRIMANA

Hady DIALLO

Influence des gradients anthropique et géomorphologique sur la variation de la biodiversité végétale dans la réserve de biosphère de la boucle du Baoulé. Cas de la réserve de Fina au Mali.

Like any ecological system, protected areas, including wilderness areas where human intervention is reduced to a minimum, evolve over time. The main idea of this PhD is based on the fact that these protected areas are reference ecosystems for the conservation of natural environments to better characterize the conservation status of ecosystems subject to human interference through grazing, burning and agriculture. This PhD therefore aims to contribute to the knowledge on the vegetation dynamics of the biosphere reserve of "boucle du Baoulé″ in Mali within the framework of nature conservation.

Directeurs : Pr. Marjolein Visser, Pr Mohamed Maiga.

Affiliations : Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), FAST Bamako Mali.

Financement : Bourse CTB.

Abdoulaye DIOUF

Julie FLAMENT

Identification of constraints and levers for a better grass valorisation, in the aim of improving the Walloon dairy farms’ self-sufficiency in cattle feeding.

In the context of the dairy sector’s liberalization in Europe and of input prices rising, a finding seems to emerge in the Walloon region: more self-sufficiency can bring sustainable solutions to dairy farms.

In particular, a better use of grass - the cheapest forage- for cattle feeding is considered as a way to increase farms’ self-sufficiency while reducing their feeding costs. However, this assumes control of the system and the development of many technical skills that were not favoured by the marginalization of the grassland productive functions during last decades in Europe; this resulted in the fact that cows consume more and more concentrated feed and cereals.

This research project aims to identify constraints and levers for a better grass valorisation on Walloon dairy farms, in order to provide ways for improving their self-sufficiency.

Directeur : Pr. Marjolein Visser.

Affiliations : Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB).

Paul HAKIZIMANA

François HAVYARIMANA

Forest and savannah landscape dynamics and anthropogenic impacts in the south and north-eastern Burundi.

This research is conducted to analyze the impact of the civil war on landscape dynamics in Burundi. This war started 1993, lasted for more than a decade and led to massive waves of displaced people, essentially farmers. This would have resulted in deforestation and the destruction of natural savannahs in the resettlement areas. Some authors estimate that deforestation rates have tripled between 1980 to 2003.

The present study aims to assess the area change of land cover classes and identify the causes of the observed deforestation rates despite the decline of agricultural activities in this period. It therefore combines Landsat satellite image analysis with fielding situ case studies. The influence of refugee camps on land cover dynamics will be quantified using indices developed in landscape ecology. This study will allow to identify management and conservation strategies of threatened ecosystems.

Directeurs : Pr. Charles De Cannière, Pr. Jan Bogaert et Pr. Marie José Bigendako.

Affiliations : Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Université du Burundi (UB).

Financement : Gouvernement Burundi, bourse BRIC ULB.

Léon IYONGO

Study of edge effects on rodent diversity in a fragmented ecosystem near Kisangani (Masako Forest Reserve, RD Congo).

This research aims for detailed knowledge on the response of a tropical forest ecosystems to human influence through the creation of gaps and edge habitats. More specifically, it aims to establish principles of forest management taking into account the ecology of small mammals like rodents.. Abiotic and biotic data are combined to compare natural habitat with human-made habitat dynamics via the concept of the edge effect.

Directeurs : Pr. Charles De Cannière et Pr. Jan Bogaert.

Affiliations : Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Université de Kisangani (UNIKIS, RDC) Ecole Régionale post-universitaire d’Aménagement et de gestion Intégrée des Forêts Tropicales (ERAIFT – Kinshasa, RDC).

Financement : Bourse CTB.

Collaborations et partenaires : Dr. Erik Verheyen (Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Bruxelles).

Denise KASALWE CIBWE

Sylvain KUMBA LUBEMBA

Analysing and explaining spatial patterns of abundant trees species within the framework of the sustainable management of Yoko forests, Ubundu, DR Congo.

Tropical forests are complex ecosystems where spatial heterogeneity of biotic and abiotic factors, and their interactions, determines the spatial structuring of plant populations. This project focuses on horizontal pattern analysis of major trees of the Yoko forests in DR Congo. The spatial distributions of the dominant species are characterized and the study seeks to explain these patterns with ecological determinants like topography, soil…. to establish principles for sustainable management of Yoko forests around Kisangani in DR Congo.

Directeurs : Pr. Marjolein Visser, Pr. Jan Bogaert, Pr. Léopold Ndjele.

Affiliations : Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Université de Kisangani (UNIKIS, RDC).

Financement : Bourse CTB.

Line LOUAH

A quantitative framework to analyze and guide agroecological innovation in the field: The case study of agroforestry.

At the crossroad of global challenges such as the environment, energy, food security and the fight against poverty, the 21st-century agriculture can no longer avoid the need to reconcile productivity and sustainability. Recent research demonstrates that agroecology, the application of ecological science to the study, design, and management of sustainable agriculture, holds great promise to meet this challenge. But during the last 40 years agroecological principles have failed to permeate into the production system and stay relagated to niche’s innovation status.

The starting point of the research is the finding of this lock-in, leading to the following research question: How to analyze and then addres, the mismatch between agroecological research and farmers' practices? This thesis claims to meet a methodological challenge: provide tools and methods to ensure an integrated consideration of farming world perceptions into agricultural research. To achieve this, this research strives to develop a systemic and transdisciplinary approach, built on the case study of a promising agroecological innovation: agroforestry – i.e. the integration of trees and crops on the same area of land - in Wallonia and in France. In fine, this methodological research should highlight the technical, social, economic, institutional and political levers, able to support a circular flow of information between researchers and practitioners and thereby, in the medium term, to achieve effective dissemination of agroecological innovations.

Directeurs : Pr. Marjolein Visser, Pr. Charles De Cannière.

Collaborations : Programme LEADER (UE) – Projet TRANSGAL « l’arbre en champ ».

Adi MAMA

Lola RICHELLE

Chantal SHALUKOMA NDUKURA

John TSHIBAMBA

Isabelle VRANKEN

Spatial structure and ecological impact of anthropogenic processes on tropical African landscapes: development of a generic set of analysis instruments.

This project aims to (1) Establish a typology of man-made landscape dynamics based on a collection of different case studies (classified satellite images); (2) Develop a generic set of instruments to quantify the intensity of man-made landscape degradation; (3) Apply those instruments to new cases for validation. In total, 20 case studies in Ivory Coast, D.R. Congo and Benin were collected. The notion of entropy as an indicator of man-made processes is studied and discussed. Other Issues like the fractal dimension of the land cover patches and the need for comparison with neutral models are also considered.

Those researches are done at the ULB (service d'écologie du paysage et systèmes de production végétale) and Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech (ULg, Biodiversity and Landscape unit). Those are granted within the scope of a research fellowship at the FNRS. The directors of this Ph. D. Thesis are Marjolein Visser (ULB) and Jan Bogaert (ULg).

Directeurs : Pr. Marjolein Visser et Pr. Jan Bogaert.

Affiliations : Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Université de Liège – Gembloux AgroBio-Tech (ULg).

Financement : FNRS.