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Plant community types and species compositional variations of the forest patches in Wolaita zone, Southwest Ethiopia

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Abstract

Forests in Ethiopia are of high ecological value, but their area is declining at an alarming rate due to various anthropogenic pressures. We identified and characterized plant communities, species diversity, and their determinants in forest patches in Wolaita, Southwest Ethiopia. We recorded the number of individuals of plants, species cover-abundance, and environmental factors in 126 (20 m × 20 m) quadrats. We sampled soils from three layers of 10 cm depth each and took air-dried composite samples to soil laboratory of Arba Minch University for analyses. The plant community–environment relationship was determined using canonical correspondence analysis. We used various diversity indices to compute species diversity. Species composition resemblance between the plant communities was determined using Sorensen’s similarity coefficient. We identified five distinct plant communities using hierarchical agglomerative clustering. Diospyros abyssinica—Combretum collinum community was rich, while Combretum molle—Ficus vasta community was poor in species. Juniperus procera—Olea europaea community and Cordia africana—Prunus africana community showed the highest species similarity. D. abyssinica—C. collinum community had the maximum Shannon entropy (H = 4.19), while C. molle—F. vasta community had the minimum (H = 3.17). Shannon entropy was high in the study area (H = 3.75; Evenness = 0.86; Number of effective species = 41.7). J. procera—O. europaea community was dense (1014 individuals’ ha−1), whereas C. molle—F. vasta community was sparse (762 individuals ha−1). Altitude, pH, EC, total nitrogen, sand, and clay explained most of the variations among community types. In general, low level of disturbance was detected in the study areas. Anthropogenic pressures, such as livestock grazing, and browsing, tree cutting for construction material and fuelwood, and mowing of grasses for livestock feed and roof cover may expose the soil to erosion and can alter the composition and structure of the forest patches in the study area. The low disturbance value, the high Shannon entropy, and other metrics show that these communities are of high natural value; thus, their preservation is of utmost importance. Monitoring and conservation intervention are necessary to sustain the importance of forest ecosystems.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the Publications. Any more if necessary can be provided upon request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Arba Minch University for funding. We thank informants and village administrators for their hospitality and willingness to share information during the data collection.

Funding

This research was funded by Arba Minch University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biology Department, Arba Minch University, P.O. Box 21, Arba Minch (South), Ethiopia

    Eyasu Chama, Simon Shibru & Tizazu Gebre

  2. Department of Plant Biology and Plant Biodiversity Management, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    Sebsebe Demissew & Zerihun Woldu

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  1. Eyasu Chama
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  2. Simon Shibru
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  3. Tizazu Gebre
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  4. Sebsebe Demissew
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by EC, SS, TG, SD, and ZW. The first draft of the manuscript was written by EC, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Simon Shibru.

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Authors declare no financial and non-financial interests.

Ethical approval

The study was approved by the Institutional Ethical Approval Board of Arba Minch University, Ethiopia. Permissions were also obtained from the Wolaita Zone administrative office. Verbal consent was obtained from household heads prior to the interview.

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Chama, E., Shibru, S., Gebre, T. et al. Plant community types and species compositional variations of the forest patches in Wolaita zone, Southwest Ethiopia. COMMUNITY ECOLOGY 24, 317–331 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42974-023-00159-1

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