scholarly journals Land-Cover Legacy Effects on Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Abundance in Human and Wildlife Dominated Systems in Tropical Savanna

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geofrey E. Soka ◽  
Mark E. Ritchie

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can be important mutualists to plant hosts in acquiring soil nutrients. Past work has not explored whether previous land-cover history influences current AMF abundance in croplands and whether different land-cover histories in grazed but not cultivated areas influence AMF. This study was conducted to assess the effects of land-cover history in and near Serengeti National Park on AMF abundance in areas with three different land uses. The results showed that land-cover history influenced a number of soil physicochemical properties following conversion of grassland to cropland or woodland to cropland during the past 27 years. Different original land cover generally did not significantly influence current AMF abundance in croplands or livestock-grazed soils. However, livestock-grazed current grasslands that were formerly woodlands had lower AMF abundance than sites that had been grasslands since 1984. These results suggest that lower AMF abundance in livestock-grazed and cropland areas as compared to protected wildlife-grazed areas may reflect reduced total carbon inputs and higher disturbance and are not strongly influenced by the legacy of previous land cover. Given that recent studies have detected legacy effects on AMF, such effects may reflect more the impact on the taxonomic composition of AMF rather than their total abundance.

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kiros Tsegay Deribew

AbstractThe main grassland plain of Nech Sar National Park (NSNP) is a federally managed protected area in Ethiopia designated to protect endemic and endangered species. However, like other national parks in Ethiopia, the park has experienced significant land cover change over the past few decades. Indeed, the livelihoods of local populations in such developing countries are entirely dependent upon natural resources and, as a result, both direct and indirect anthropogenic pressures have been placed on natural parks. While previous research has looked at land cover change in the region, these studies have not been spatially explicit and, as a result, knowledge gaps in identifying systematic transitions continue to exist. This study seeks to quantify the spatial extent and land cover change trends in NSNP, identify the strong signal transitions, and identify and quantify the location of determinants of change. To this end, the author classifies panchromatic aerial photographs in 1986, multispectral SPOT imagery in 2005, and Sentinel imagery in 2019. The spatial extent and trends of land cover change analysis between these time periods were conducted. The strong signal transitions were systematically identified and quantified. Then, the basic driving forces of the change were identified. The locations of these transitions were also identified and quantified using the spatially explicit statistical model. The analysis revealed that over the past three decades (1986–2019), nearly 52% of the study area experienced clear landscape change, out of which the net change and swap change attributed to 39% and 13%, respectively. The conversion of woody vegetation to grassland (~ 5%), subsequently grassland-to-open-overgrazed land (28.26%), and restoration of woody vegetation (0.76%) and grassland (0.72%) from riverine forest and open-overgrazed land, respectively, were found to be the fully systematic transitions whereas the rest transitions were recorded either partly systematic or random transitions. The location of these most systematic land cover transitions identified through the spatially explicit statistical modeling showed drivers due to biophysical conditions, accessibility, and urban/market expansions, coupled with successive government policies for biodiversity management, geo-politics, demographic, and socioeconomic factors. These findings provide important insights into biodiversity loss, land degradation, and ecosystem disruption. Therefore, the model for predicted probability generally suggests a 0.75 km and 0.72 km buffers which are likely to protect forest and grassland from conversion to grassland and open-overgrazed land, respectively.


2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Burgoyne ◽  
Kevin Mearns

This manuscript investigates the complexities and challenges in the management of the Ololosokwan community conservation area in Northern Tanzania. The conservation area is adjacent to the Serengeti National Park, just south of the Tanzanian-Kenyan Border where nomadic Maasai Pastoralists are free to cross international borders in search of grazing for their cattle. The Ololosokwan community is faced with the difficulties of managing a number of conflicting land-uses and community aspirations while striving toward the maintenance of a successful and sustainable community conservation area in collaboration with a private tourism operation. Benefit sharing was found to be an effective way in which to heal negative stakeholder engagements of the past, and active participation in the development of community livelihoods was found to be a more meaningful pursuit in this cause than merely sharing money. Despite opportunities for stakeholders to show that they are willing to work together, existing conflict is likely to continue as stakeholders still mistrust each other and often align themselves with groups that share common interests.


2018 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marieta Hristozkova ◽  
Liliana Gigova ◽  
Maria Geneva ◽  
Ira Stancheva ◽  
Ivanina Vasileva ◽  
...  

Abstract Mycorrhizal fungi, algae and cyanobacteria are some of the most important soil microorganisms and major components of a sustainable soil-plant system. This study presents for the first time evidence of the impact of green alga and cyanobacterium solely and in combination with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) on plant-antioxidant capacity. In order to provide a better understanding of the impact of AMF and soil microalgae on Ocimum basilicum L. performance, changes in the pattern and activity of the main antioxidant enzymes (AOEs), esterases and non-enzymatic antioxidants including phenols, flavonoids, ascorbate, and α-tocopherols were evaluated. The targeted inoculation of O. basilicum with AMF or algae (alone and in combination) enhanced the antioxidant capacity of the plants and the degree of stimulation varied depending on the treatment. Plants in symbiosis with AMF exhibited the highest antioxidant potential as was indicated by the enhanced functions of all studied leaf AOEs: 1.5-, 2- and more than 10-fold rises of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione-S-transferase (GST) and glutathione reductase (GR), respectively. The greatest increase in the total esterase activity and concentration of phenols, flavonoids and ascorbate was marked in the plants with simultaneous inoculation of mycorrhizal fungi and the green algae. 2,2-diphenyl-1-pycril-hydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging method and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay proved the increased plant antioxidant capacity after co-colonization of green algae and mycorrhizae.


2019 ◽  
Vol 113 (2) ◽  
pp. 321
Author(s):  
Mazen IBRAHIM

The impact of indigenous arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) on agronomic characteristics of sunflower (<em>Helianthus annuus</em> L.) was evaluated in a pot experiment. The indigenous AMF, including <em>Glomus intraradices, Glomus mosseae</em>, and <em>Glomus viscosum</em>, were isolated from an agricultural field in which cotton and sunflower plants were grown. The most abundant species (<em>G. viscosum</em>) was multiplied in a monospecific culture. Sunflower plants were inoculated with the mixture of three selected AMF species or solely with <em>G. viscosum</em>. The number of leaves, shoot length, head diameter, above ground biomass, and seeds mass were significantly higher in the plant inoculated with AMF mixture followed by individual inoculation with <em>G. viscosum</em> followed by the control. AMF mixture outperformed the <em>G. viscosumby</em> increasing mycorrhizal dependency and mycorrhizal inoculation effect of sunflower. The results indicate that AMF mixture could be considered as a good inoculum for improving growth and yield of sunflower in sustainable agriculture.


Groupwork ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 96-102
Author(s):  
Paul Johnson

In June 2018, I was fortunate enough to attend and present at the IASWG Symposium at Kruger National Park in South Africa. It was a truly amazing experience. However, in July of 2019  I was once again able to return to the  African continent. This time to visit Zimbabwe. For the past four years, my friend and School Principal Chris Labbe,  had been visiting and working with the  IMVELO organization to raise funds for the following three schools:  Ngamo Primary School, Mlevu Primary School and St Joseph’s Primary School.These three schools are located in the indigenous and rural rural villages of Hwanga  National Park.  During the course of the visits to these three Schools, my wife Peg McGovern and I were able to observe the incredible work that was being done between IMVELO and the local communities. The overarching theme of the IASWG 2018 symposium had been “Groupwork in Communities.” On my visit to Hwanga,  I witnessed the impact  of Groupwork in these indigenous and rural communities. On my return home, I reviewed the Groupwork literature, and it reinforced what I observed and encountered  in Zimbabwe.  The wonderful sense of community, sustainability, cooperation, integration of programs, social action and empowerment. It truly was an amazing experience and a trip of a lifetime.


2012 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Lisek ◽  
Lidia Sas Paszt ◽  
Beata Sumorok

Summary In organic farming, mineral fertilizers are replaced by various preparations to stimulate plant growth and development. Introduction of new biopreparations into horticultural production requires an assessment of their effects on the growth and yielding of plants. Among the important indicators of the impact on plants of beneficial microorganisms contained in bioproducts is determination of their effectiveness in stimulating the growth and yielding of plants. Moreover, confirmation of the presence of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi in the roots and plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) in the rhizosphere is also necessary. In addition to conventional methods, molecular biology techniques are increasingly used to allow detection and identification of AM fungi in plant roots. The aim of this study was identification and initial taxonomic classification of AM fungi in the roots of ‘Elkat’ strawberry plants fertilized with various biopreparations using the technique of nested PCR. Tests were performed on DNA obtained from the roots of ‘Elkat’ strawberry plants: not fertilized, treated with 10 different biopreparations, or fertilized with NPK. Amplification of the large subunit of ribosomal gene (LSU rDNA) was carried out using universal primers, and then, in the nested PCR reaction, primers specific for the fungi of the genera Glomus, Acaulospora, and Scutellospora were used. Colonization of strawberry roots by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi was determined on the basis of the presence of DNA fragments of a size corresponding to the types of the fungi tested for. As a result of the analyses, the most reaction products characterizing AM fungi were found in the roots of plants treated with the preparation Florovit Eko. The least fragments characteristic of AM fungi were detected in the roots of plants fertilized with NPK, which confirms the negative impact of mineral fertilizers on the occurrence of mycorrhizal fungi in the roots of strawberry plants. The roots of plants fertilized with Tytanit differed from the control plants by the presence of one of the clusters of fungi of the genus Glomus and by the absence of a cluster of fungi of the genus Scutellospora. In the roots of plants treated with other biopreparations there were reaction products indicating the presence of fungi of the genera Glomus, Scutellospora and Acaulospora, like in the roots of the control plants. The results will be used to assess the suitability of microbiologically enriched biopreparations in horticultural production.


2010 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 724-733 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chao Yang ◽  
Chantal Hamel ◽  
Michael P. Schellenberg ◽  
Juan C. Perez ◽  
Ricardo L. Berbara

Botany ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 93 (7) ◽  
pp. 389-396 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janusz Błaszkowski ◽  
Gerard Chwat ◽  
Sarah Symanczik ◽  
Anna Góralska

Two new species of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) of the recently erected genus Dominikia (Glomeromycota) are described based on their morphology and phylogenetic analyses of SSU–ITS–LSU sequences. The distinctive morphological characters of the first species, Dominikia duoreactiva sp. nov., is the formation of loose clusters with yellow-coloured, 30–70 μm diameter spores having a three-layered spore wall, of which layers 1 and 3 stain in Melzer’s reagent. The second species, Dominikia difficilevidera sp. nov., is distinguished by its hyaline, 31–45 μm diameter spores, which arise mainly singly and have a three-layered spore wall, of which layer 1 is thicker than the structural laminate layer 2, and layer 3 is flexible to semi-flexible. Both species were originally associated with maritime dune plants; D. duoreactiva comes from the Giftun Island, Egypt, Africa, and D. difficilevidera from the Słowiński National Park, Poland. Based on available data, we suggest D. duoreactiva occurs rarely in the world, and D. difficilevidera has a worldwide distribution, but it either occurs infrequently or has been overlooked or lost during spore extraction from soils of many sites because of its extremely small and hyaline spores. A method allowing the extraction of even the smallest spores of AMF, but observable under a dissecting microscope, is described.


2017 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. 793-802 ◽  
Author(s):  
PIL U. RASMUSSEN ◽  
TARIQUE AMIN ◽  
ALISON E. BENNETT ◽  
KRISTINA KARLSSON GREEN ◽  
SARI TIMONEN ◽  
...  

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