FSU Researchers: Savanna fires pump Central African forests full of Nitrogen

The remote forests of Africa’s Congo Basin have long been a blind spot for scientists working to understand how Earth’s natural cycles respond to the environmentally unique characteristics of different regions.

Now, two Florida State University researchers are part of a global team of scientists revealing the unexpected role that large-scale fires and high nitrogen deposition play in the ecology and biogeochemistry of these lush Central African forests.

Their findings, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could signal a fundamentally new understanding of these forests’ structure, functioning and biodiversity.