Species composition, structure and regeneration status of woody plant species in a dry Afromontane forest, Northwestern Ethiopia

Dry evergreen Afromontane forests are the most threatened in Ethiopia due to agricultural land expansion as they are exposed to high population pressure and thus, conservation measures should be based on scientific evidence since resources for nature conservation are limited. We evaluated the species composition, structure and regeneration status of woody plant species at Gelawoldie community forest. This was analyzed from 32 quadrats laid down in belt transect, each with 400 m(2)and 25 m(2)for trees and shrubs, and seedlings and saplings, respectively using systematic sampling method. Diversity was analysed using Shannon-Wiener diversity index. A total of 59 woody plant species in 49 genera and 38 families were identified. Of these, 35.5%, 50.8% and 13.5% were trees, shrubs and climbers, respectively. The diversity and evenness of the forest were 3.8 and 0.9, respectively. Moreover, the forest had total mean stand density of 2016 stems ha(-1)and basal area of 93.8 m(2)ha(-1). More than 61% of the woody plant species had lower than 5% importance value index (IVI), while the remaining 39% had >= 5%. The overall results of the present study revealed higher number of individuals at the lowest diameter (2.5-10 cm) and height classes and progressively declined numbers in higher classes yielding reverse J-shaped distribution pattern. This shows that the forest had healthy regeneration. However, analysis from individual woody plant structure, and count of seedlings and saplings showed that about 17.7% and 5.3% of the species including the endemic have fair and poor regeneration, respectively. Thus, there is a strong need for conservation measures that have to start by identifying the major drivers of low regeneration and the subsequent loss.