Browsing by Author "Kelbessa, Ensermu (PhD)"

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    Floristic Composition and Structure Of the Vegetation of Magada Forest, Borana Zone, Oromia National Regional State
    (Addis Ababa Universty, 2005-06) Bekele, Genene; Kelbessa, Ensermu (PhD)
    The plant communities of the Magada Forest were described based onfloristic and structural analysis of the data collected between December 20004 and January 2005. Releves of 30 m x 3 m were taken for the woody species and 2 m x 2 mfor field layers. A total of 66 releves were analysed at altitudes between 1750 and 2100 m a.s.l Data on the species list, cover-abundance, and diameter at breast height, density and height were collected. A total of 197species of vascular plants belonging to 61 families were identified. Out of these 53.5 %are woody species and 46.5 %are field layers. 84.3%of the families are dicots while 12.5 % are monocots, andgymnosperm andpteridophytes comprise 1.6 %each. Asieraceae is found to be the largest family with 18species followed by Acanthaceae with 16 species. The species and releves were classified using a FORTRAN computer program TWINSPAN and seven major plant communities were described. The structural analysis of the forest showed that there was a high density of small sized trees. The forest was well represented by individuals in all height classes. There were high proportion individuals in low height class (i.e. 6 - 1 2 m) that is similar to the trend in DBH measurement. Podocarpus falcatus is the main species and constituted 76 stemsha of trees >_10 cm DBH. Other well-represented species were Celtis africana (103 stems/ha), Cassipourea malosana (67 stemsha) and Olea europaea (47stems /ha). Analysis of species population structure showed six patterns. Phytogeographically, the Magada Forest is more related to the dry, undifferentiated afromontaneforests than the moist afromontaneforests. Most of the sampled plots revealed more evidence ofpast exploitation (stumps and pit sawing). The vegetation of (he Magada Forest is disturbed through grazing and browsing by domestic livestock; cultivation and other human uses. This further retard regeneration processes of the trees and shrubs. Pressure on (he resources from human populations could intensify and impose more rapid and more degenerative changes. Recognizing these issues as possible future scenario underlines the need for management intervention to increase quality1 of regeneration being recruited and to accelerate the growth of the young plants already present.