Untangling the effect that replacing Ethiopia's natural forests with exotic tree plantations has on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) have a broad distribution and establish symbiotic relationships with vascular plants in tropical regions. They play a crucial role in enhancing plant nutrient absorption, mitigating pathogenic infections, and boosting the resilience of host plants to abiotic stresses, including drought under specific conditions. Many natural forests in Ethiopia are being replaced by monospecific plantations. However, the impact of these actions on AMF is unknown and, despite their ecological functions, AMF communities in various forest systems have not been thoroughly investigated. In this study, we assessed soil AMF communities in natural and plantation forests by DNA metabarcoding of the ITS2 rDNA region and assessed the influence of climate and environmental variables on the AMF community. In total, 193 AMF operational taxonomic units (OTUs), comprising nine families and 15 genera, were recorded. Glomerales was the dominant order (67.9 % of AMF OTUs) and Septoglomus fuscum, Diversispora insculpta, and Funneliformis mosseae were the dominant species. AMF were more abundant in natural forests than in plantation forests and the composition of AMF communities differed significantly from those of plantation forest. In plantation forests, soil pH, organic carbon, total nitrogen, and available phosphorus significantly influenced the composition of AMF communities, whereas in natural forest, electrical conductivity, annual rainfall, and cumulative rainfall before sample collection were significantly correlated with AMF. SIMPER analysis identified the AMF responsible for composition variances among different forest types, with the Glomeraceae family being the most significant contributor, accounting for nearly 60 % of the dissimilarity. Our findings further our understanding of the ecological niche function and the role of AMF in Ethiopia's natural forest systems and highlight the importance of prioritizing the sustainable development of degraded natural forests rather than plantations to ensure the preservation of habitats conducive to maintaining various AMF communities when devising conservation and management strategies.