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. But these areas are under pressure from increasing human population and consumption.There is international concern about the threat to natural habitats in the Nile river watershed and the consequential loss of important biodiversity. However, aspects of microbial biogeography and influence of forest conversion in Uganda's Nile river watershed is largely unknown.

Dr. Peter O. Alele and his colleagues of Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) conducted a study to examine how conversion of natural forest affects soil bacterial and fungal communities. Their objective was to establish how forest conversion and soil factors affect soil bacterial and fungal diversity and community composition in the tropical rain-forests in the Nile river watershed of Uganda. They chose four forest sites found within protected areas, with paired treatments within each forest; (1) natural and (2) converted ecosystem sites.

In each matched set of natural and converted sites, they compared soil physical and chemical properties and microbial community diversity and composition using standard PCR-based genotyping techniques. They then calculated community similarity indices between sites. The approach would allow them to examine both environmental and biotic changes in the soil community associated with conversion.

The study showed that there was substantial contribution of β-diversity to total ecosystem diversity (γ) which included taxa at the between-plot, site and ecosystem scales and unique taxa, highlighting the necessity to conserve marginal habitats and ecotones. Soil microbial communities in Uganda's Nile river watershed exhibited considerable resilience to forest conversion even though SOC, N, Ca and pH were all significantly altered.

Their results suggested that soil microbial communities were 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 study entitled “How Does Conversion of Natural Tropical Rainforest Ecosystems Affect Soil Bacterial and Fungal Communities in the Nile River Watershed of Uganda?” has been published in PLoS ONE.