Vegetative Structure, Floristic Composition and Natural Regeneration of A Species In Ylat Forest in Meket Woreda, North Eastern Ethiopia
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2016-09
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The natural forest of Ylat in Meket Woreda, North Eastern Ethiopia was studied to determine the vegetative structure, floristic composition and natural regeneration of forest species and provide information on sustainable management of the woody plants in particular and the forest resources in general. Systematic sampling design was employed for this study to collect vegetation data. For each of the sampling sites, five transect lines each having fifty-four main plots with 400 m2 (20m × 20m) were laid out to collect the data on woody species along 200m line transects.
A total of 60 vascular plant species belonging to 41 families and 56 genera were identified of which 13 (21.67%) were trees, 31 (51.67% shrubs, 6 (10%) climbers 10 species (16.66) and herbs each. Of all the families, Lamiaceae (8.33%) and Fabaceae, Rosaceae, Solanaceae and Euphorbiaceae 3 species (5%) were the most dominant woody plant species followed by Sapindaceae, Aloaceae, Ranunclaceae, Poaceae, Oleaceae, Polygonaceae and Cucurbitaceae contains 2 species each (3.33%). A total of 2652 woody plant species individuals (1227.77 individual/ha) were encountered of which 405 in number were Myrsine africana and Millettia ferruoginea 19 in number of individuals and Dombeya torrida 20 in number of individuals were the highest the lowest woody plant species respectively. The Density of woody species with DBH ≥ 2.5cm (1227.77 individual/ha), basal area (1 m2 /ha), frequency of woody species (258) the overall Shannon diversity and evenness of woody species was 2.94 and 0.84 respectively, indicating that the diversity and evenness of woody species in the forest is relatively high. The woody plant species that have the highest importance value index (IVI) were Erica arborea (36.31) followed by Allophylus abyssinicus (28.65) while Hagenia abyssinica, Myrica salicifolia, Euphorbia tirucalli, Calpurnia aurea were the lowest IVI should be given conservation priority. Finally, this study indicated that the population structure of the most woody plant species in Ylat forest is in a good state of regeneration recruitment level.
Key words: Floristic composition, vegetation structure, regeneration status, Ylat forest
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Keywords
Floristic composition, vegetation structure, regeneration status, Ylat forest