Fungal Communities from Forest Systems in Ethiopia Comunidades Fúngicas Procedentes De Sistemas Forestales En Etiopía
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ESCUELA TÉCNICA SUPERIOR DE INGENIERÍAS AGRARIAS SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT RESEARCH INSTITUTE DOCTORAL DISSERTATION/ TESIS DOCTORAL Fungal communities from forest systems in Ethiopia Comunidades fúngicas procedentes de sistemas forestales en Etiopía Presentada por Tatek Dejene Bekele para optar al grado de doctor por la Universidad de Valladolid Dirigida por: Dr. Pablo Martín-Pinto Dr. Juan Andrés Oria-de-Rueda Acknowledgement Acknowledgement “In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight”. Proverbs 3: 6. I owe my deepest respect and humble gratitude to the almighty God, for making things possible in my life. I would like to thank my supervisor Professor Dr. Pablo Martín Pinto who guided and channeled me towards the most important theme of my research topics. This thesis also would not have been possible without him. His excellent advice, support and friendship have been invaluable on both an academic and a personal level, for which I am extremely grateful. Equally thanked is Professor Dr. Juan Andrés Oria-de-Rueda for his valuable advice, repeated guidance and encouragement to aspire more and high in all the work for this thesis. The Erasmus Mundus-Dream project has kindly granted me the PhD scholarship for which I am humbly most indebted. I am also highly indebted to the University of Valladolid for hosting me, for the academic and technical supports which have been very indispensable. I also express my gratitude to the Sustainable Forest Management Research Institute for all sorts of assistance and hospitality during my study. All support that I received from the Ethiopian Environment and Forestry Research Institute (EEFRI) and Central Ethiopia Forestry Research Center (CEFRC) is sincerely acknowledged. Especially my sincere thanks go to Dr. Wubalem Tadesse and Dr. Abeje Eshete who were a constant source of inspiration and support. I also wish to express my gratitude to Ethiopian Water Works and Design soil laboratory, Addis Ababa. They kindly provided me the necessary support for soil analysis of my research. I am highly grateful for Carlos Rojo de Blas (IDForest) for the support during species identification in the laboratory and Dr. Luis Santos del Blanco (IDForest) for reviewing and improving the manuscripts. Special thanks to Jaime Olaizola Suárez, María Hernández Rodríguez, Olaya Mediavilla, Abdullah Ibne and Eyasu lemma for their valuable support in every aspect of my need. My dears, you were great! May God bless your soul! I have been also fortunate to have good people in my life such as Almaze Bekele, Tamirat Tilahun and Wolansa Tilahun, for whom I would like to extend my wholeheartedly thanks for their i Tatek Dejene 2017. Fungal communities from forest systems in Ethiopia. unconditional support and encouragement since my school time. I would like to express my profound gratefulness to my younger brothers and sisters for their encouragement during my study. I am also very grateful to Addis Lemma for her daily prayer and concern. I am lucky to have such understanding and support from her. Last, but not least, I wish to dedicate this thesis to my mother (Sinkenesh Gurmu) and my father (Dejene Bekele) who are unfortunate to see my academic success, but live on ever in the loving memory of mine. ii Table of contents Contents Acknowledgement ......................................................................................................................... i Abstract………. .............................................................................................................................. v Resumen……… ........................................................................................................................... vii List of original articles ................................................................................................................. ix Outline of the thesis .................................................................................................................... xi 1. Introduction…............................................................................................................................ 1 1.1. General ecology and vegetation in Ethiopia ..................................................................... 1 1.2. Ethiopian highland natural forests and plantations ........................................................... 1 1.3. Fungi in forest ecosystems ............................................................................................... 4 1.4. Context of mycology in Ethiopia ....................................................................................... 5 1.5. Why this study? ................................................................................................................ 6 1.6. Scope of the study.......................................................................................................... 10 2. Objectives of the thesis .......................................................................................................... 11 3. Material and methods ............................................................................................................. 13 3.1. Data sources .................................................................................................................. 13 3.2. The study area ............................................................................................................... 13 3.3. Field plots establishments (Studies III, IV & V) ............................................................... 15 3.3.1. Plot establishment in Dry Afromontane forests to study fungal community succession and sporocarp production after fire occurrence (Study III) .......................................... 15 3.3.2. Plot establishment in Pinus patula and Eucalyptus grandis stands to study fungal diversity and succession following stand development (Studies IV & V) ...................... 16 3.4. Sampling ........................................................................................................................ 16 3.4.1. Sporocarp sampling (Studies III, IV & V) ................................................................... 16 3.4.2. Soil sampling for edaphic analysis (Studies III & IV) ................................................... 16 3.5. Taxa identification and classification (Studies III, IV & V) ............................................... 17 3.6. Statistical analysis .......................................................................................................... 18 4. Results……… .......................................................................................................................... 21 4.1. The context of wild mushrooms in Ethiopia (Studies I & II) ............................................ 21 4.2. The effect of fire (Study III) and stand age (Studies IV & V) on fungal richness, diversity and production ................................................................................................................. 22 4.3. Taxa composition (Studies III, IV & V) ............................................................................ 24 5. Discussion……. ....................................................................................................................... 25 iii Tatek Dejene 2017. Fungal communities from forest systems in Ethiopia. 5.1. The context of wild mushrooms in Ethiopia (Studies I & II) ............................................ 25 5.2. The effect of fire (Study III) and stand age (Studies IV & V) on fungal richness, diversity and production ................................................................................................................. 26 5.3. Taxa composition (Studies III, IV & V) ............................................................................ 28 6. Conclusions… ......................................................................................................................... 31 5. Conclusiones .......................................................................................................................... 33 6. References…. .......................................................................................................................... 35 Original article I ........................................................................................................................... 43 Original article II .......................................................................................................................... 53 Original article III ......................................................................................................................... 67 Original article IV ........................................................................................................................ 81 Original article V ......................................................................................................................... 93 iv Abstract Abstract Afromontane forests originally dominated the highland parts of Ethiopia, delivering a wide range of social, economic and environmental benefits including key components of biodiversity. However, anthropogenic disturbances are causing a dramatic decline of these forests and gradually changed the scene. Among the factors, forest fires are increasingly contributing to the loss to these forests systems in the country. On the other hand, plantations of exotic trees are also another form of forests in the highland parts of Ethiopia. They