Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39823466›Full record

ArticlePloS one2025

Woody species diversity, structure and community distribution along environmental gradients of Seqela Dry Afromontane forest in Northwestern Ethiopia.

Liyew Birhanu, Getaneh Moges, Nigussie Amsalu, Heiko Balzter

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Article in PloS one, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Liyew BirhanuDepartment of Biology, Debre Markos University, Debre Markos, Ethiopia.ORCID 0000-0003-0291-3666
Getaneh MogesDepartment of Biology, Debre Markos University, Debre Markos, Ethiopia.
Nigussie AmsaluDepartment of Biology, Debre Markos University, Debre Markos, Ethiopia.
Heiko BalzterSchool of Geography, Geology and the Environment, Institute for Environmental Futures, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Dry evergreen Afromontane forests are severely threatened due to the expansion of agriculture and overgrazing by livestock. The objective of this study was to investigate the composition of woody species, structure, regeneration status and plant communities in Seqela forest, as well as the relationship between plant community types and environmental variables. Systematic sampling was used to collect vegetation and environmental data from 52 (20 m x 20 m) (400 m2) plots. Density, Diameter at Breast Height (DBH), basal area, frequency, and importance value index (IVI) of woody species were computed to characterize the vegetation structure of the forest. Agglomerative hierarchical cluster analysis and Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) with R software were used to identify plant communities and analyse the relationship between plant community types and environmental variables, respectively. A total of 68 woody plant species belonging to 63 genera and 44 families were identified. The Shannon diversity index and evenness values of the study area were 2.12 and 0.92, respectively. The total basal area and density of woody species were 27.4 m2 ha-1 and 1079.3 individual ha-1, respectively. The most frequent woody species in the Seqela forest included Albizia gummifera (51.92%), Croton macrostachyus (44.23%), Olinia rochetiana and Teclea nobilis (36.54%). Additionally, the most dominant species, as indicated by their importance value index (IVI), were Erythrina brucei (IVI = 11.24), Prunus africana (IVI=8.68), and Croton macrostachyus (IVI=7.38). Four plant community types were identified: Albizia gummifera - Ekebergia capensis, Prunus africana - Croton macrostachyus, Vachellia abyssinica - Dombeya torrida and Schefflera abyssinica - Teclea nobilis. The CCA results showed that the variation of species distribution and plant community formation were significantly (P < 0.05) related to altitude, organic matter, aspect, slope and soil available phosphorus. The regeneration status assessment of the forest revealed a good regeneration status, which was linked to diverse and abundant seed bank in the soil can ensure a continuous supply of seeds for regeneration; therefore, it is recommended to implement periodic soil seed bank assessments to monitor seed diversity and abundance and inform targeted conservation actions.

Indexed as

BiodiversityForestsTreesWoodEcosystemEthiopia

Identifiers

PMID39823466
PMCPMC11741620

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