Underground Explorers

Mycorrhiza networks are fundamental to forest organization because they create favorable conditions for tree growth and establishment. The study sites are located in the Western Highlands of Cameroon on a surface area of 13.890 km at an altitude of 2000 masl. The sacred forests are found in the department of Bambouto. Batcham district harbors Mbing Mekoup forest while Bamendjinda and Bamendjo forests are situated at Mbouda district. Mbing Mekoup is an independent sacred forest away from the chief residence established on slope and valleys with rocky levelling in some places and relief marked by interfluves to steep slopes, plateaus and plains. It has an area of 27.7 ha. Bamendjinda forest with an area of 4.2 ha is marked by a flat slope partly surrounded Eucalyptus. Bamendjo sacred forest is located on a gentle slope with a relatively closed canopy measuring a surface area of about 1.8 ha with a cool and humid climate. This is a mountain climate “Cameroonian” characterized by a short dry season of 4 months (mid-November to mid-March) and a long rainy season of 8 months (mid-March to mid-November characterized by low and constant temperatures due to the high altitude. The sacred forests protected at all times, are considered as the only witnesses of the forest element in the zones where agricultural exploitation is growing. Nevertheless, they are subjected to intense human pressure which can pave way to complete disappearance. The vegetation types comprise of closed canopy wet and dry forests and open woodlands with variety of soil types. The sacred forest conservation groups own tree nurseries for agroforestry, restoration, and business with very little success rate. Using SPUN protocol, the members of the team will collect 30 soil samples evenly across the sacred forest from distinct points and 30 fruiting bodies according to its availability in each site. The ITS region of the DNA and high-throughput sequencing technique of the Illumina MiSeq metabarcoding on nuclear ribosomal ITS2 region will be done. Data from this study will help nursery managers to reduce seedling loss and will guide them to produce healthy seedlings for better survival at establishment. Awareness creation will be done with community nursery groups on the role of mycorrhiza in ecosystem functions and semi-structured questionnaires will be used to evaluate management of seedlings from seedling managers. At the end, the mycorrhizal status of seedlings from four nurseries will be inoculated and planted near the sacred forest degraded landscape to improve rate of survival of seedlings.