Habitat fragmentation is a major cause of current global biodiversity decline. In tropical regions, especially of Africa, very little is known about fragmentation processes and their functional consequences as well as implications for future land use.

In an innovative interdisciplinary approach, fragmentation and regeneration of tropical forests as the most important foundation for the livelihood of the inhabitants in West Africa are studied retrospectively and regarding future developments with primary focus on direct comparison of protection areas (Comoé National Park and Lamto Reserve, Ivory Coast) and neighbouring utilised countryside. In one respect, the results obtained during the BIOTA pilot phase form a foundation for a possible modelling approach of processes at the forest-savanna ecotone and the upscaling of local findings onto larger areas in the second BIOTA phase. In another respect, these results provide the basis for a comparison of the effects of utilisation and fragmentation processes in the comparatively weakly populated region of the Comoé National Park and in the more humid and densely populated region of the Lamto Reserve during the second phase. Complementary studies on regeneration and fire mortality of tree species at the BIOTA sites in Benin are envisaged.

Essential external cooperations are comprising a dendrochronological project with PD Dr. Martin Worbes, University of Göttingen, and GLOWA IMPETUS-A3 on selected tree species in the Comoé National Park and northern Benin, allowing for the combination of annual tree-ring growth with the annual precipitation amount and a reconstruction of the climate during the past 220 years. A cooperation with Prof. Dr. Christoph Oberprieler, University of Regensburg, and IMPETUS-A3 focuses on regional and subcontinental genetic variations of Anogeissus leiocarpus, a key tree species in the transition of forest and savanna in entire West Africa. The IVOIRE GIS at the Botanic Garden Geneva is provided with data concerning flora and vegetation ecology, so is the BIOMAPS project/BIOTA W03 and the database of the Herbarium Senckenbergianum in Frankfurt/Main.