Plant Life Form Classification and Distribution at Suba Sebeta Forest, Ethiopia
Keywords:
Life form, Life form spectrum, Raunkiaer, Suba Sebeta Forest.
Abstract
A study focusing on altitudinal distribution of life forms of vascular plants was conducted in Suba Sebeta Forest, located 40 km west of Addis Ababa in Oromia National Regional State. The objective of the study was to document the life form composition of Suba Sebeta Forest based on life form spectrum. In the study, a systematic sampling method was employed to collect vegetation data from 48 (20 m x 20 m) plots. These entire quadrats included 16 (5 m x 5 m each) subplots to incorporate all life form types. Vegetation classification was done based on Raunkiaer’s major life form groups. R-Software (Version 2.15.1) Package was used to classify the life forms. The data were collected along altitudinal gradients, ranging from 2400 to 2870 m a.s.l. A total of 135 species belonging to 67 families were recorded from the study area; the results showed that Asteraceae was the dominant family accounting for 15.6% of the total record. Analysis of life form spectrum showed Phanerophytes as the dominant life form contributing 48 species (35.6%) followed by Hemicryptophytes (34 species, 25.18%), Chamaeophytes (22 species, 16.30%), Therophytes (20 species, 14.81%) and Geophytes (11 species, 8.15%). Correspondence analysis between life form and environmental gradients showed no significant relationship between life forms and soil pH while altitudinal difference affects the life form distribution. These life form variabilities along altitudinal gradient lay the foundation for further studies for monitoring of changes relating to climate change.
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References
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Verma, B.K. and Shukla, G. (1993). Life forms and biological spectrum of the flora of Jalaun District. J. Indian Bot. Soc. 72: 67–68.
Visalakshi, N. (1995). Vegetation analysis of two tropical dry evergreen forests in southern
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von Breitenbach, F. (1962). National forestry development planning: A feasibility and priority study on the examples of Ethiopia. Ethiop. For. Rev. 3/4: 41–68.
von Breitenbach, F. (1963). Forests and wood lands of Ethiopia, a geobotanical contribution to the knowledge of the principal plant communities of Ethiopia, with special regard to forestry. Ethiop. For. Rev. 1: 5–16.
Westphal, E. (1975). Agricultural Systems in Ethiopia. Center for Agricultural Publishing and Documentation, Wageningen.
Angelova, K. and Tashev, A. (2005). Complex analysis of the life forms of flowering plants in Mount Chepan and their vertical ranges of spread in altitude. Trakia J. Sci. 3(6): 32–35.
Ashton, P.S. and Hall, P. (1992). Comparison of structure among mixed dipterocarp forest of north-western Borneo. J. Ecol. 80: 459–481.
Barry, R.G. (1981). Mountain Weather and Climate. Methuen, London.
Bocher, T.W. (1977). Convergence as an evolutionary process. Bot. J. Linn. Soc.75: 1–19.
Cain, S.A. and Castro, G.M.D. (1959). Manual of Vegetation Analysis. Harper and Brothers Publication, New York.
Chaffey, D.R. (1979). South-west Ethiopia forest inventory project: An inventory of forest at Munesa and Shashemene Project. Report 29, Ministry of Overseas Development Land Resource Division, London.
Chen, W.L. (1995). Subtropical montane deciduous forests in southern China. In: Vegetation Science in Forestry, pp. 317–323 (Peet, R.K., Masuzawa, T., Yamada, I., Fujiwara, K. and Maycock, P.F., eds.). Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordretch.
Cowling, R.M., Esler, K.J., Midgley, G.F. and Honing, M.A. (1994). Plant functional diversity, species diversity and climate in arid and semi-arid southern Africa. J. Arid Environ. 27: 141–158.
Denslow, J.S. and Padoch, C. (1988). People of the Tropical Rain forest. University of California Press, Berkeley, California.
EFAP (1994). The Challenge for Development. Ethiopian Forestry Action Program (EFAP), Addis Ababa.
Friis, I. (1986). The forest vegetation of Ethiopia. Acta Univ. Ups. Symb. Bot. Ups. 26: 31–47.
Friis, I. and Mesfin Tadesse (1990). The evergreen forests of northeast tropical Africa. In: Mitt. Inst. Allg. Bot. Hamburg 23a: 249–263.
Friis, I., Rasmussen, F.N. and Vollesen, K. (1982). Studies in the flora and vegetation of Southwest Ethiopia. Opera Bot. 63: 8–70.
Goldhammer, J.G. (1992). Tropical forests in transition - Ecology of Natural and Anthropogenic Disturbance Processes. Birkhauser Verlag, Basel.
Ineson, P., Taylor, T., Harrison, A.F., Poskitt, J., Benham, D.G., Tipping, E. and Woof, C. (1998). Effects of climate change on nitrogen dynamics in upland soils. 1. A transplant approach. Glob. Chang. Biol. 4: 143–152.
Klimes, L. (2003). Life forms and clonality of vascular plants along an altitudinal gradient in E. Ladakh (NW Himalayas). Basic Appl. Ecol. 4: 317–328.
Legesse Negash (2002). Review of research advances in some selected African trees with special reference to Ethiopia. Ethiop. J. Biol. Sci. 1(1): 81–126.
Logan, W.E.M. (1946). An introduction to the forests of central and southern Ethiopia. Imperial Forestry Insitute, University of Oxford, Oxford.
Montana, C. and Valiente-Banuet, A.C. (1998). Floristic and life-form diversity along an altitudinal gradient in an intertropical semiarid Mexican region. Southwest. Nat. 43(1): 25–39.
Mueller-Dombois, D. and Ellenberg, H. (1974). Aims and Methods of Vegetation Analysis. John Wiley and Sons, New York.
Muhammad, S.A. (2012). Life form and leaf size spectra of vegetation in Kotli Hills, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan. Greener J. Agri. Sci. 2(7): 345–350.
Pavón, P.N., Hernández-Trejo, H. and Rico-Gray, V. (2000). Distribution of plant life forms along an altitudinal gradient in the semi-arid valley of Zapotitlán, Mexico. J. Veg. Sci. 11: 39–42.
Peters, C.M. (1996). The Ecological and Management of Non-Timber Forest Resources. World Bank Technical Paper 322, Washington.
Pharswan, K., Mehta, J.P. and Subodh (2010). Floristic composition and biological spectrum of vegetation in Alpine Meadows of Kedarnath, Gharwal Himalaya. Nature Sci. 8(7): 109–115.
Pichi-Sermolli, R.E.G. (1957). Una carta geobotanica dell’ Africa Orientale (Eritrea, Etiopia, Somalia).Webbia 13: 15–132.
Pignatti, S. (1995). Land use and human influences in the evergreen broad leaved forest regions of East Asia, the Mediterranean and Australia. In: Vegetation Science in Forestry, pp. 199–210 (Peet, R.K., Masuzawa, T., Yamada, I., Fujiwara, K. and Maycock, P.F., eds.). Kluwer Academic Publisher, Dordrecht.
Raunkiaer, C. (1934). The Life Forms of Plants and Statistical Plant Geography. Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Reddy, K.N., Jadhav, S.N., Reddy, C.S. and Raju, V.S. (2002). Life forms and biological spectrum of Marriguda Reserve Forest, Khammam district, Andhra Pradesh. Ind. For. 128(7): 751–756.
Sahunalu, P. and Dhanmanonda, P. (1995). Structure and dynamics of dry dipterocarp forest, Sakaerat. In: Vegetation Science in Forestry, pp. 465–494 (Peet, R.K., Masuzawa, T., Yamada, I., Fujiwara, K. and Maycock, P.F., eds.). Kluwer Academic Publisher, Dordrecht.
Shen, C., Xiong, J., Zhang, H., Feng, Y., Lin, X., Li, X., Liang, W. and Chu, H. (2013). Soil pH drives the spatial distribution of bacterial communities along elevation on Changbai Mountain. Soil Biol. Biochem. 57: 204–211.
Shimwell, D.W. (1971). Description and Classification of Vegetation. Sidgewick and Jackson, London.
Solbrig, O.T. (1993). Plant traits and adaptive strategies: their role in ecosystem function. In: Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function, pp. 97–116 (Schulze, E.D. and Mooney, H.A., eds). Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
Teshome Soromessa and Sebsebe Demissew (2002). Some uses of plants by the Benna, Tsemay and Zeyise people, southern Ethiopia. Ethiop. J. Nat. Res. 4 (1): 107–122.
Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher (1988). Vegetation and environment of the mountains of Ethiopia: Implications for utilization and conservation. Mt. Res. Dev. 8: 211–216.
Unwin, G.L. (1989). Structure and composition of the abrupt rainforest boundary in the
Herberton highland, North Queensland. Aust. J. Bot. 37: 413–428.
Verma, B.K. and Shukla, G. (1993). Life forms and biological spectrum of the flora of Jalaun District. J. Indian Bot. Soc. 72: 67–68.
Visalakshi, N. (1995). Vegetation analysis of two tropical dry evergreen forests in southern
India. Trop. Ecol. 36: 117–127.
von Breitenbach, F. (1962). National forestry development planning: A feasibility and priority study on the examples of Ethiopia. Ethiop. For. Rev. 3/4: 41–68.
von Breitenbach, F. (1963). Forests and wood lands of Ethiopia, a geobotanical contribution to the knowledge of the principal plant communities of Ethiopia, with special regard to forestry. Ethiop. For. Rev. 1: 5–16.
Westphal, E. (1975). Agricultural Systems in Ethiopia. Center for Agricultural Publishing and Documentation, Wageningen.
Published
2015-05-19
Section
Articles