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Actinorhizal trees and shrubs from Africa: distribution, conservation and uses

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Abstract

Actinorhizal plants are a group of perennial dicotyledonous angiosperms, comprised of more than 200 species, most of which can establish root-nodule symbiosis with the nitrogen fixing actinobacteria of the genus Frankia. They are key providers of fundamental goods and services and can give a major contribution to mitigate the combined effects of climate changes, human population growth and loss of biodiversity. This aspect is particularly relevant for the developing economies of many African countries, which are highly exposed to climate and anthropogenic disturbances. In this work we have analyzed the distribution, conservation and uses of actinorhizal species native to or introduced in Africa. A total of 42 taxa distributed over six botanical families (Betulaceae, Casuarinaceae, Myricaceae, Elaeagnaceae, Rhamnaceae and Coriariaceae) were identified. The vast majority is able to thrive under a range of diverse environments and has multiple ecological and economic potential. More than half of the identified species belong to the genus Morella (Myricaceae), most of them native to Middle, Eastern and Southern Africa. Although the information about the conservation status and uses of Morella spp. is largely incomplete, the available data is indicative of their potential in e.g. forestry and agroforestry, food and medicine. Therefore, efforts should be made to upgrade actinorhizal research in Africa towards the sustainable use of biodiversity at the service of local (bio)economies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Plant-Environment Interactions and Biodiversity Lab (PlantStress&Biodiversity), Linking Landscape, Environment, Agriculture and Food (LEAF), Instituto Superior de Agronomia (ISA), Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

    Ana I. Ribeiro-Barros, Sílvia Catarino, Isabel Moura, José C. Ramalho & Maria M. Romeiras

  2. GeoBioTec, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia (FCT), Universidade NOVA de Lisboa (UNL), Monte de Caparica, Portugal

    Ana I. Ribeiro-Barros & José C. Ramalho

  3. Laboratoire Microorganismes et Biomolécules Actives, Faculté des Sciences de Tunis, Université Tunis El Manar, 2092, Tunis, Tunisia

    Faten Ghodhbane-Gtari

  4. ISBST, Université La Manouba, Manouba, Tunisia

    Faten Ghodhbane-Gtari

Authors
  1. Ana I. Ribeiro-Barros
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  2. Sílvia Catarino
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  3. Isabel Moura
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  4. José C. Ramalho
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  5. Maria M. Romeiras
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  6. Faten Ghodhbane-Gtari
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Correspondence to Ana I. Ribeiro-Barros.

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The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Authors contribution

AIR-B and MMR conceived the idea. SC and IM performed data retrieval and prepared the database. AIR-B, JCR, MMR, and FG-G analyzed data. AIR-B wrote the paper and all the other authors revised the MS thoroughly.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Funding

This work was supported by national funds from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia through the research units UID/AGR/04129/2013 (LEAF) and UID/GEO/04035/2013 (GeoBioTec).

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Ribeiro-Barros, A.I., Catarino, S., Moura, I. et al. Actinorhizal trees and shrubs from Africa: distribution, conservation and uses. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 112, 31–46 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10482-018-1174-x

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