Floristic Composition and Community Analysis of f Komto Afromontane Moist Forest, East Wollega Zone, West Ethiopia
Keywords:
Species richness, Plant community, East Wollega Zone, Moist mountain forest, Komto forestAbstract
This study was conducted on Komto Forest in East Wollega Zone, Oromia National Regional State, west Ethiopia with the objective of determining the floristic composition and community type of the forest. Systematic sampling method was used to collect vegetation data. Accordingly, 53 quadrats each with 400 m2 (20 m X 20 m) for woody species and subplots of 1 m X 1 m within the main plots for herbaceous plants were laid along line transects radiating from the peak of Komto Mountain in 8 directions. All plots (quadrats) were laid at a distance of 200 m along the transect lines. In each of these quadrats, all vascular plant species were collected and brought to ETH for identification. Vegetation classification was performed using PC-ORD software packages. Sorensens’s similarity coefficient and Shannon-Wiener diversity index were also used to detect similarities among communities and to compute species richness and evenness between the plant communities respectively. A total of 180 species in 151 genera and 66 families were identified from the forest out of which 31 were new records from Wollega (WG) floristic region for the flora of Ethiopia and Eritrea. Fabaceae and Asteraceae are the dominant families in terms of species richness. Furthermore, 18 endemic species some of which are under the Red Data List of IUCN were also identified. In this study, four plant communities were identified and described. Phytogeographical comparison of Komto Forest revealed the highest similarity with moist mountain forests which asserts that Komto Forest is one of the moist mountain Forests in Ethiopia. Therefore, based on the results of this study, detailed ecological studies in relation to various environmental factors such as soil type and properties, ethnobotanical studies to explore indigenous knowledge on the diverse uses of plants, and sound management and monitoring as well as maintenance of biodiversity that promote sustainable use of the forest and its products are recommended.
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