Influence of human activities on soil microbial diversity, carbon sequestration, and resilience in Central African Forest Ecosystems

While tropical forests serve as critical carbon sinks with high biodiversity, they face increasing threats from deforestation, agriculture, and oil exploitation. This paper explores the relationships between soil bacterial and fungal community structure and diversity, soil properties, and major environmental challenges-including climate change, land degradation, biodiversity loss, and pollution in the mixed-species plantations featuring nitrogen-fixing species. Increased soil carbon storage observed in acacia and eucalyptus plantations may be influenced by the prevalence of Actinobacteria , which plays a critical role in organic matter decomposition. The dominance of Ascomycota within the fungal community appears to support ecosystem stability after environmental disturbances. High sulphur concentrations or hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) emissions promote Actinobacteria growth but, conversely, reduce Ascomycota prevalence. Both acacia and eucalyptus plantations enhance soil resilience to climate and land-use changes through increased carbon storage and other co-benefits. However, oil exploitation activities releasing H₂S emissions may compromise the ability of these mixed-species plantations to withstand environmental stresses, with potential long-term impacts on soil health and ecosystem function. This article underscores the need for sustainable practices to support soil health and ecosystem stability. It also advocates for further interdisciplinary research to understand the broader impacts of anthropogenic disturbances on forest ecosystem functions and resilience. • Mixed-species plantations impact on environment and soil attributes including soil biota. • They induce swift in bacterial and fungal community structure and diversity. • The link between fungi and soil attributes mainly S is more pronounced than for bacterial communities. • Mixed-species forest benefit to soil health and resilience to climate and land-use change. • Oil exploitation may have a negative impact on soil health and environment in long term.