Long term trends in Central African Forest phenology

Salary support for a PDRA to carry out analyses of long term phenology datasets available for the Gabon National Parks Agency. These analyses will contribute directly to the country's assessment of likely climate change impacts on forest people and wildlife populations, and thus knock-on effects on forest economy including ecotourism. research will contribute to the Gabon's Independent Nationally Determined Contribution report to the IPCC. Analyses will include focus on (but not exclusively) a) changes in forest productivity in Gabon, in relation to climate changes of past 30 years b) changes in fruit seasonality and resources for frugivorous and folivorous wildlife c) changes in predictability of fruit harvests and resources for local populations d) sources of error in the data e) recommendations of future forest monitoring at a national scale in Gabon

In addition, the PDRA will work with UoS Gabon programme and ANPN scientific staff to write standard protocols for collection, archive, management and auto-reporting on phenology data, in order to expand their monitoring of this Essential Biodiversity Variable.