TY - JOUR

T1 - Species diversity and vegetation structure of woody plants in regenerating Juniperus forest replacing Eucalyptus in the conservation area of Gullele Botanic Garden, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

AU - Atinafe, Ergua

AU - Weber, Odile

AU - Friis, Ib

AU - Seta, Talemos

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - The Gullele Botanic Garden (GBG), on the slope of the Entoto hills, adjoins the north-western limit of the city of Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. The forested area of GBG is home to a mixture of semi-natural forest and Eucalyptus plantations with Eucalyptus having been removed in the recent past. The floristic composition, species diversity and vegetative structure of the woody plant species in the forested area are here presented from 81 plots (20 × 20 m). A total of 104 woody plant species (90% native, the rest planted or naturalised) of 83 genera and 47 families are recorded; a species richness higher than what researchers have found in nearby natural forests, though the definitions of woody species have varied between studies. The number of individuals of the dominant species, Juniperus procera, decreases with increasing DBH and height class, which indicates a healthy regeneration inside the GBG; the appearance of seedlings and young plants of Juniperus after the removal of Eucalyptus is comparable to the regeneration of Juniperus forests described from East Africa after forest fires or clear-felling. Clustering analyses on the floristic data result in four partly overlapping clusters, but the distribution of the plots on clusters changes notably if data on Eucalyptus is in- or excluded. Many woody species in nearby natural or semi-natural forests, where Juniperus procera is dominant, occur also in GBG but plant communities defined for those forests are not identified in the plot data from GBG. The findings in this paper can serve as a baseline dataset to follow the regeneration of the conservation area towards natural forest, useful for future anagement and sustainable utilization of Ethiopian forest species at local and national levels.

AB - The Gullele Botanic Garden (GBG), on the slope of the Entoto hills, adjoins the north-western limit of the city of Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. The forested area of GBG is home to a mixture of semi-natural forest and Eucalyptus plantations with Eucalyptus having been removed in the recent past. The floristic composition, species diversity and vegetative structure of the woody plant species in the forested area are here presented from 81 plots (20 × 20 m). A total of 104 woody plant species (90% native, the rest planted or naturalised) of 83 genera and 47 families are recorded; a species richness higher than what researchers have found in nearby natural forests, though the definitions of woody species have varied between studies. The number of individuals of the dominant species, Juniperus procera, decreases with increasing DBH and height class, which indicates a healthy regeneration inside the GBG; the appearance of seedlings and young plants of Juniperus after the removal of Eucalyptus is comparable to the regeneration of Juniperus forests described from East Africa after forest fires or clear-felling. Clustering analyses on the floristic data result in four partly overlapping clusters, but the distribution of the plots on clusters changes notably if data on Eucalyptus is in- or excluded. Many woody species in nearby natural or semi-natural forests, where Juniperus procera is dominant, occur also in GBG but plant communities defined for those forests are not identified in the plot data from GBG. The findings in this paper can serve as a baseline dataset to follow the regeneration of the conservation area towards natural forest, useful for future anagement and sustainable utilization of Ethiopian forest species at local and national levels.

KW - Faculty of Science

KW - baseline ecological study

KW - Central Etiopian Plateau

KW - conservation of Biodiversity

KW - conservation of vegetation

KW - Dry Afromontane Forest

KW - frequency

KW - Juniperus procera

KW - Eucaluptus

KW - plant community analysis

KW - population structure

U2 - 10.36253/jopt-14656

DO - 10.36253/jopt-14656

M3 - Journal article

VL - 78

SP - 49

EP - 71

JO - Webbia

JF - Webbia

SN - 0083-7792

IS - 2

ER -