The Floristic Composition of Natural Vegetation of Abaya-Hamassa Wolayta, Ethiopia
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Date
2005-06
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Addis Ababa Universty
Abstract
The present study was carried out in the rift valley of southern Ethiopia, which is
generally characterized by arid and semi-arid climatic conditions. Studies in the natural
vegetation of the area were conducted between October 24, 2003 and June 28, 2004. The
vegetation and environmental data were collected from 55 quadrats (400 m ) of eight
selected sites. The purpose of this study was to investigate the floristic diversity of natural
vegetation of Abaya Hamassa in ( he rift valley of southern Ethiopia. In this paper, the
major issues addressed include floristic diversity, vegetation description, community type
identification and study of communities - environment relationships. During the study,
percentage cover abundance of each species was estimated and taken in 55 quadrats.
Later the percent cover values of all recorded plant species was converted into the
modified Braun-Blanquet 1-9 scale. The environmental parameters altitude, slope,
aspect, pH, electrical conductivity, total nitrogen and soil texture (% sand, % clay and %
silt) were measured for all quadrats. A total of 315 plant species representing 198 genera
and 59 families were identified. All the environmental and vegetation data were analized
with TW1NSPAN computer program. Six plant community types were obtained and
described. Community-environment relationship was assessed based on some soil
physical and chemical properties data collected from 55 quadrats. Among the
environment parameters altitude is negatively correlated with sand and clay. There was
significant correlations between total nitrogen with sand.
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Keywords
Abaya -Hamassa