In 2017, when Vincent Deblauwe joined the Cameroon-based Congo Basin Institute (CBI) to study African ebony (Diospyros crassiflora) — economically valuable pitch-black, dense wood — the Indigenous Baka people accompanied him on his field trips. As they sat around campfires and trekked through the rainforests, Deblauwe tapped into their knowledge of flora and fauna, especially […]
  • In the past three decades, poaching has decimated Africa’s now-critically endangered forest elephants, and as a result, their vital role as seed dispersers of many forest plants has been disrupted.
  • A new study from Cameroon provides the first direct evidence that without forest elephants, there are fewer ebony saplings; on average, as few as 68%, in Central African rainforests.
  • Researchers found that seeds pooped out in elephant dung have a better chance of surviving and sprouting as they are protected from hungry rodents and other herbivores that chew and destroy the seeds.
  • The findings show that losing key ecosystem engineers and seed dispersers has far-reaching ecological and economic impacts, potentially altering entire ecosystems.

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Diospyros crassiflora general info