Population genetics of an African acacia, Acacia albida. I, Genetic diversity of populations from West Africa

Acacia albida (Faidherbia albida) is an important species for agroforestry and widely distributed in Africa. This paper proposes a genetic control for 14 enzymatic systems. The eight more reliable ones, involving 10 loci, have been used to study the genetic diversity of 22 populations, mostly from west Africa. A. albida exhibits a high level of genetic diversity (H = 0.45) compared with that found in Australian acacias studied so far. Most populations exhibited a deficit in heterozygotes (FIS = 0.21). All analyses showed large differences between western and eastern populations. (Résumé d'auteur

Criteria and indicators for sustainability forest management: assessment and monitoring of genetic variation

The paper contains proposals for genetic criteria and indicators wich can form part of a more general set of, economic, environmental and social criteria and indicators for the monitoring of forest sustainability at the scale of forest management units. It proposes one criterion for conservation of forest genetic resources and four indicators related to processes that maintain genetic diversity. For each indicator, sets of verifiers are suggested which differ in the biologically relevant features they measure, in their precision, and in technical facilities they require. Finally, the need for rapid assessment and precision under difficult conditions requires research and development of efficient direct surrogate measures of the genetic resource. We therefore include recommendations for short- and medium term research that would improve the scientific value, cost effectiveness, ease of use, and further development of genetic criteria and indicators