Date:5/29/2008

s introduction, the soils microbial characteristics had completely changed. This quick-growing species had effectively selected certain species of mycorrhizal fungi and bacteria of the genus Rhizobium, ending in a reduction in the species diversity of these symbiotic communities. The soil sampled from areas surrounding the A. holosericea plantation had a balanced distribution of mycorrhizal fungi species, whereas the breakdown of the fungal spore content in soil from the plantation showed a predominance of one species and therefore a strong imbalance in the composition of the mycorrhizal fungi community. In the knowledge that a plant ecosystems productivity is closely dependent on a soils mycorrhizal diversity, there is a risk that the Australian acacia might create a new ecosystem whose physical, chemical and biological characteristics will not necessarily be favourable to a recolonization of the habitat by native species. The research also demonstrated that the environments generated by this species were less resistant to water and heat stress. In a context of global climate change, such habitats could therefore experience a drastic fall in their microbial activity and thus lose their ability to be the basis of proper development of the plant cover.

The conclusions of the study conducted in Senegal in a precisely defined environment cannot, however, be generalized to tropical soils as a whole. Indeed, investigations on another A. holosericea plantation, in Burkina Faso, yielded the observation of an increase in microbial functional diversity. The contradictions between these sets of results should prompt the organizations involved in natural resources management to plan for possible introductions of exotic species case by case, taking account not only of potential impacts of the plant species under consideration for introduction, but also of the nature of the soils they are to colonize. For although this practice can yield highly satisfactory results, suc
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Contact: Gregory Flechet fichesactu@paris.ird.fr 33-014-803-7607 Institut de Recherche Pour le Dveloppement Source:Eurekalert

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