Abstract
Uganda's forests are globally important for their conservation values but are under pressure from increasing human population and consumption. In this study, we examine how conversion of natural forest affects soil bacterial and fungal communities. Comparisons in paired natural forest and human-converted sites among four locations indicated that natural forest soils consistently had higher pH, organic carbon, nitrogen, and calcium, although variation among sites was large. Despite these differences, no effect on the diversity of dominant taxa for either bacterial or fungal communities was detected, using polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE). Composition of fungal communities did generally appear different in converted sites, but surprisingly, we did not observe a consistent pattern among sites. The spatial distribution of some taxa and community composition was associated with soil pH, organic carbon, phosphorus and sodium, suggesting that changes in soil communities were nuanced and require more robust metagenomic methods to understand the various components of the community. Given the close geographic proximity of the paired sampling sites, the similarity between natural and converted sites might be due to continued dispersal between treatments. Fungal communities showed greater environmental differentiation than bacterial communities, particularly according to soil pH. We detected biotic homogenization in converted ecosystems and substantial contribution of β-diversity to total diversity, indicating considerable geographic structure in soil biota in these forest communities. Overall, our results suggest that soil microbial communities are relatively resilient to forest conversion and despite a substantial and consistent change in the soil environment, the effects of conversion differed widely among sites. The substantial difference in soil chemistry, with generally lower nutrient quantity in converted sites, does bring into question, how long this resilience will last.
Highlights
Tropical rainforests (TRF) possess most of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity and deforestation is the leading cause of biodiversity loss [1,2]
Maramagambo and Kaniyo Pabidi are located within Queen Elizabeth and Murchison Falls national parks (NP) respectively
In our study there are some local details that may influence our results. Both Maramagambo and Kaniyo Pabidi are located within Queen Elizabeth NP and Murchison Falls NP respectively and are protected by Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) personnel
Summary
Tropical rainforests (TRF) possess most of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity and deforestation is the leading cause of biodiversity loss [1,2] Due to their high biodiversity and endemism, the tropical rainforests in Uganda’s Nile river watershed are among the world’s most important for their conservation values. The United Nations Population Division [3] predicts that the population of the Nile Basin states will increase by 57% from 2010 to 2030, reaching 647 million people. This rapid population growth, high levels of poverty and prevalent civil insecurity continue to exert severe pressure on natural resources in the region. Most of this growing population (nearly 80%) is dependent on agriculture leading to large scale and continuing conversion of natural habitats [5]
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