Floristic composition and structure of the Kibate Forest along environmental gradients in Wonchi, Southwestern Ethiopia

Data Records

The data in this occurrence resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 125 records.

This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.

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How to cite

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

Misganaw M (2025). Floristic composition and structure of the Kibate Forest along environmental gradients in Wonchi, Southwestern Ethiopia. Version 1.2. No organization. Occurrence dataset. https://test.gbif.se/ipt/resource?r=floristic_composition&v=1.2

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The publisher and rights holder of this work is Addis Ababa University. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License.

GBIF Registration

This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: c264a8fd-3704-40ae-ada7-b39649886cd5.  Addis Ababa University publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by Participant Node Managers Committee.

Keywords

Occurrence; Endemic species · Environmental gradient; Floristic composition; Kibate Forest; Population structure; Wonchi; Observation

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Contacts

Geographic Coverage

The study was conducted in the Kibate Forest 155 km southwest of Addis Ababa in Wonchi District, characterized by the Wonchi Crater Lake. Wonchi is found in the southwest Shewa Zone of Oromia Regional State. Kibate Forest is a small forest patch that covers 450.2 ha, situated in the Gibe watershed of the Shewa floristic region at 8° 46′ 30.1908′’‒8° 47′ 36.7584′’ N and 37° 51′ 53.8524′’‒37° 54′ 19.0152′’ E. Altitudes range between 2800 and 3387 m a.s.l. The vegetation type is dry evergreen montane forest, widely intersected by areas of cultivation (Friis et al. 2010).

Temporal Coverage

Project Data

Biodiversity is crucial for maintaining a healthy environment, ensuring food security, and building resilience, especially in developing countries such as Ethiopia. Rich in biodiversity and traditional farming systems, Ethiopia hosts the Eastern Afromontane biodiversity hotspot as well as the Horn of Africa biodiversity hotspot, which are critical for the Arabica coffee wild gene pool, but one of the least developed globally. Conserving biodiversity in Ethiopia requires robust evidence, skills, and policies, and quality data production and effective mobilization to data aggregators like GBIF are essential. The biodiversity data in Ethiopia is available in fragmented forms across various institutions, limiting access, especially for policymakers and practitioners. This bottleneck is largely due to the need for skills in developing and managing databases and making data available in an integrated manner at national, regional, and global scales. In addition, there is a shortage of analytical skills in producing quality scientific data and knowledge. This project aims to extend the work initiated in 2017 by the EU-funded GBIF Biodiversity Information for Development project BIDERSE and to address challenges by providing capacity-building training and knowledge transfer, enabling stakeholders to mobilize, manage, and use data according to global best practices. The key stakeholders identified for establishing a national biodiversity platform will act as a basis for this initiative.

The personnel involved in the project:

Sampling Methods

A reconnaissance survey was carried out in the Kibate Forest from December 2017 to January 2018 to collect information on the accessibility of sites and to determine sampling methods. Following the reconnaissance survey, five transect lines were laid out systematically along the edges of Wonchi Crater Lake, forest track/road, two small forest valleys with streams, and along the Walga stream. For the systematic sample of the five transects, the altitudinal ranges (2800‒3100 m a.s.l.) were divided into three classes with a 100 m a.s.l. interval, point position recorded using Gramin GPS 72 with an accuracy of 5 to 10 m under normal conditions, extending within 15 m under the dense forest canopy. Similarly, slopes (20‒70%) of each plot were recorded using a clinometer (percent scale). Vegetation and environmental data collection began at the lower edge of the forest and continued to the heights along the altitudinal gradient in all transects to include the representative floristic composition in each elevation class. Sixty-six 30 m × 30 m plots were established every 100 m. The number of plots in each elevation class was determined by the length of transect and varied from nine plots, (following the small stream in the middle of the forest), to 18 (along the bank of the Walga stream). In each plot, cover-abundance percentages were estimated for all vascular plant species following the Braun-Blanquet scale and then converted by van der Maarel ordinal transformation (van der Maarel 1979). For population structure analysis, diameter at breast height (DBH) of each woody species with DBH ≥ 2.5 cm and height ≥ 2.5 m were recorded (Woldu et al. 1999) using a diameter tape and Suunto clinometers, respectively. Woody species with DBH ≤ 2.5 cm were counted. Vascular plant specimens were collected with the help of local guides, pressed, dried, and brought to the National Herbarium of Ethiopia (ETH) at Addis Ababa University. They were then identified as per herbarium procedures, confirmed by a taxonomic expert, and deposited at the ETH. In addition, the status of endemic species and their distribution in the flora were cross-checked with previous research (Vivero et al. 2006; Hedberg et al. 2009; Meragiaw et al. 2016; IUCN 2019). Altitude and geographic coordinates were recorded for each of the 66 plots using GPS. In addition, ecological disturbances such as grazing intensity and human disturbances (felling of trees for firewood, charcoal production, and burning of vegetation for expansion of agricultural land) were noted, based on visual inspection. The status of human interference was estimated through the etic or crosscultural approach following Hadera (2000), and subjective scales were designated as 0 = nil; 1 = low; 2 = moderate, and 3 = heavy. Similarly, intensity of livestock grazing was estimated following Woldu and Backeus (1991) as 0 = nil, 1 = slight, 2 = moderate, 3 = heavy, and 4 = destructive.

Method step description:

1. A total of Sixty-six (30 m × 30 m) plots were established every 100 m interval along altitudinal gradients (2811‒3073 m a.s.l.) in five transect lines for vegetation and environmental data collection.

Bibliographic Citations

1. Friis I, Demissew S, Breugel VP (2010) Atlas of the potential vegetation of Ethiopia Copenhagen. Biol Skr 58:1–307
2. Hedberg I, Friis I, Person E (2009) General part and index to Vol 1–7. Flora of Ethiopia and Eritrea Vol 8. ETH, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Sweden.
3. IUCN (2019) The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2019-2. http:// www. iucnr edlist. org. [Downloaded on 18 July 2019].
4. Meragiaw M, Asfaw Z, Argaw M (2016) The status of ethnobotanical knowledge of medicinal plants and the impacts of resettlement in Delanta, northwestern Wello, northern Ethiopia. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2016:1–24. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1155/2016/ 50602 47
5. van der Maarel E (1979) Transformation of cover abundance values in phytosociology and its effect on community. Vegetation 39:47–114
6. Vivero JL, Kelbessa E, Demessew S (2006) Taxonomyand ecology of African plants, their conservation and sustainable use. In: Ghazanfar SA, Beentje HJ (eds) Progress on the red list of Ethiopia and Eritrea conservation and biogeography of endemic of taxa. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, pp 761–778
7. Woldu Z, Fetene M, Abate A (1999) Vegetation under different tree species in Acacia woodland in the rift valley of Ethiopia. SINET: Ethiop J Sci 22(2):235–252

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