Forests bear the historical legacies of human activities over thousands of years, including agriculture, trade, disease and resource extraction. Many of these activities may represent indices of the proposed geological epoch of the Anthropocene. Modifications to soil, topography and vegetation evidence anthropogenic influences. Yet studies of vegetation change throughout the humid tropics tend to occlude these influences by focussing on forest dynamics, timber, and biodiversity through permanent sample plots or forestry inventory plots. We highlight how history and social science can be combined with ecology to help better understand human signatures in forest dynamics. We (1) critically review ecological methods in the light of the environmental and social history of the Afrotropics; (2) map current plot networks for West and Central Africa in relation to the Human Footprint Index; (3) using two case-studies, demonstrate how history and social science bring new insights and inferences to plot-based studies; all leading to (4) novel forms of interdisciplinary collaboration for sustainable forest conservation, management and restoration.

森林具有数千年来人类活动的历史遗产，包括农业，贸易，疾病和资源开采。这些活动中的许多活动可能代表了人类世建议的地质时期的指数。对土壤，地形和植被的修改证明了人为的影响。然而，在整个潮湿热带地区对植被变化的研究倾向于通过永久性样地或林业盘点图来关注森林动态，木材和生物多样性，从而消除了这些影响。我们重点介绍了如何将历史和社会科学与生态相结合，以帮助更好地理解森林动态中的人类特征。我们（1）根据非洲人的环境和社会历史批判性地回顾生态方法；（2）根据人类足迹指数绘制西非和中非当前的绘图网络；（3）使用两个案例研究，展示历史和社会科学如何为基于情节的研究带来新的见解和推论；所有这些都导致了（4）新型形式的跨学科合作，以实现可持续森林保护，管理和恢复。