Abstract
The rapid conversion of native forests to farmland in Ethiopia, the cradle of biodiversity, threatens the diversity of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) pivotal to plant nutrition and carbon sequestration. This study aimed to investigate the impact of this land-use change on the AMF species composition and diversity in southern Ethiopia. Soil samples were collected from nine plots in each of three land-use types: native forest, agroforestry, and khat monocropping. The plots of the three land-use types were located adjacent to each other for each of the nine replicates. Three 10 × 10m subplots per plot were sampled. AMF spores were extracted from the soil samples, spore densities were determined, and species composition and diversity were evaluated through morphological analysis. Both spore density and species richness were statistically significantly higher in the native forest than in the agroforestry plots with no clear difference to khat, whereas the true diversity (exponential of Shannon–Wiener diversity index) did not differ among the three land-use types due to high evenness among the species in agroforestry. In total, 37 AMF morphotypes belonging to 12 genera in Glomeromycota were found, dominated by members of the genera Acaulospora and Glomus. The highest isolation frequency index (78%) was recorded for Acaulospora koskei from native forest. Consequently, the agroforestry system did not appear to aid in preserving the AMF species richness of native forests relative to perennial monocropping, such as khat cultivation. In contrast, the native forest areas can serve as in situ genetic reserves of mycorrhizal symbionts adapted to the local vegetative, edaphic, and microbial conditions.
Highlights
For several decades in Ethiopia, once the biodiversity cradle of the planet, natural forests have been rapidly converted into farmland
The study sites were located in the districts of Wonsho and Shebedino in the Sidama zone, southern Ethiopia, because the three land-use types that represent the typical land-use change continuum in southern Ethiopia are located next to one another in these areas
The forest areas were converted into agricultural land on a large scale in southern Ethiopia, predominantly to multistrata agroforestry systems and recently increasingly to cash monocropping systems such as khat farms
Summary
For several decades in Ethiopia, once the biodiversity cradle of the planet, natural forests have been rapidly converted into farmland. In southern Ethiopia, forests have been converted mainly into agroforestry systems and further into agricultural systems of monocropped perennials such as coffee, pineapple, and eucalyptus, and increasingly to khat (Catha edulis), which is used and exported as a stimulant (Abebe 2005; Abebe et al.2010). This land-use change has resulted in soil degradation, with a decline in soil organic matter (SOM) and nitrogen (Lemenih et al 2005; Girmay et al 2008), as well as in changes in other soil physical and chemical properties (Getachew et al 2012). AM increase the soil volume exploited by the host plant, which leads to enhanced plant
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