Comparative studies on Microfungi in Tropical Ecosystems. Further mycological studies in South Western Ivory Coast forest. Report N. 2

In four permanent plots of the Tai National Park in Ivory Coast the fungal populations of the litter and of the soil, the mycorrhizae and the chemical characteristics of the soil, during the recovery of the forest, are examined. The lists of the species in each one of the natural and cultivated plots, the coefficients of similarity according to Sorensen and the indices of diversity according to Shannon, allow us to verify interesting phenomena. In fact, in cultivated plots, the fungal community, because of the reappearance of characteristic species of the natural forest, is evolving towards conditions similar to those previous to the cultivations. Considering the Tai forest as a climax community, the fungal microflora seems to belong to a climax association that, if disturbed, has the ability to recover fast through a regular succession. In a more general way the ability to recover of the environment is pointed out and this let us hope for the possibility to prolong the period of the shifting cultivation, without compromising the conservation of the forest.