Department of Plant Biology and Biodiversity Management, College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Department of Biology, College of Natural Sciences, Arba Minch University, Arba Minch, Ethiopia.
PLoS One. 2023 Nov 27;18(11):e0294324. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0294324. eCollection 2023.
Detailed information on plant community types, distribution, and their relationships with various environmental gradients is crucial for understanding forest dynamics and sustainable forest management because plant community types are influenced by various environmental factors. Thus, this study was conducted to investigate plant community types and species diversity in relation to various environmental gradients in Geramo Forest, which is a remnant forest in the western escarpment of the Rift Valley of Ethiopia. Vegetation data were collected in 96 nested plots (20 × 20 m2 and five 1 ×1 m2) laid systematically at a distance of 250 m along 16 line transects, which were laid 300 m apart. Environmental and disturbance variables were also collected from each main plot. Agglomerative hierarchical cluster analysis and Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) with R software were used to identify plant community types and analyze the relationship between plant community types and environmental variables, respectively. The Shannon Wiener diversity index was used to compute species diversity among community types. Five significantly different (p ≤ 0.001) plant community types were identified. The CCA results showed that species diversity and community composition among different community types were significantly influenced by altitude, disturbance, soil organic carbon, slope, soil available phosphorus, and pH, which revealed the compounded effect of various environmental factors on species richness, diversity, and evenness among plant community types. The study also identified a significant level of anthropogenic disturbance and a strong reliance of the local community on the forest in the research area. Therefore, it is recommended that sustainable forest conservation interventions be implemented through awareness creation and the promotion of community-based approaches.
详细的植物群落类型、分布及其与各种环境梯度的关系信息对于理解森林动态和可持续森林管理至关重要，因为植物群落类型受到各种环境因素的影响。因此，本研究旨在调查埃塞俄比亚裂谷西部悬崖残余森林——杰拉莫森林中与各种环境梯度相关的植物群落类型和物种多样性。在 16 条线样带（间距 300 米）上，以 250 米的距离系统布置了 96 个嵌套样方（20×20 m2 和 5 个 1×1 m2），收集植被数据。还从每个主要样方收集环境和干扰变量。使用 R 软件对聚集层次聚类分析和典范对应分析（CCA）进行了分析，以确定植物群落类型，并分别分析植物群落类型与环境变量之间的关系。使用 Shannon Wiener 多样性指数计算群落类型之间的物种多样性。确定了 5 种显著不同（p ≤ 0.001）的植物群落类型。CCA 结果表明，不同群落类型之间的物种多样性和群落组成受到海拔、干扰、土壤有机碳、坡度、土壤有效磷和 pH 的显著影响，这揭示了各种环境因素对植物群落类型丰富度、多样性和均匀度的综合影响。研究还发现，研究区域存在显著的人为干扰水平和当地社区对森林的强烈依赖。因此，建议通过提高认识和促进基于社区的方法来实施可持续森林保护干预措施。
