Introduction to special issue on agricultural biodiversity, ecosystems and environment linkages in Africa

This paper introduces the contents of a special issue of Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment dedicated to “Agrobiodiversity & Africa”. Placed within the context of the scientific literature on agricultural biodiversity, its contribution to sustainable production and its importance in Africa, this special issue starts off with background articles which reviewed major agroecosystems in Africa, descriptions of their biodiversity resources, management, limitations and concerns. The follow-up scientific papers covered major components of biodiversity for agriculture namely soil biota, species diversity and germplasm diversity. The soil biota papers report research and findings on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in the rhizosphere, termite and bacterial communities and evidence on the influence of their diversity on crop production. The crop species diversity papers provide evidence on the role of the diversity in influencing soil microbial properties as well as managing pest and diseases in crop production. Scientific evidence on the role and interactions of germplasm diversity and provenance with the environment are also presented.