FLORISTIC COMPOSITION AND DIVERSITY OF WOODY PLANT SPECIES OF WOTAGISHOFOREST, BOLOSO SORE WOREDA, WOLAITA ZONE, SNNPR, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

The study was conducted on Wotagisho forest in Boloso Sore Woreda, Wolaita Zone, southern nation nationalities people region and Ethiopia, to determine the floristic composition, vegetation structure, community type, and regeneration and conservation status of woody species. Systematic sampling method was used to collect data from 50 quadrats (20m x 20m) established along transects. All woody plants in the quadrats were recorded and cover abundance data were estimated for each species in each quadrate which was later converted to modified 1-9 Braun-Blanquette scale. In addition, structural variables such as DBH and height were measured. Five 2 m x 2 m sub plots, one at each corner and one at the centre of the main plot were laid to collect seedling and sapling data Seedling and sapling were counted. Environmental factors (altitude, slope and aspect) and level of disturbances were recorded in each plot. Vegetation classification (hierarchical clustering) was performed using Xlstatus (version 2015) and three distinct plant communities were identified and described. Shannon Wiener diversity index and Sorensen’s similarity coefficient were used to compute species diversity and to detect similarities among communities and between the plant communities, respectively. A total of 51 species representing 47 genera and 31 families of woody plant species were recorded from the forest. The three top dominant families were Solanaceae, Euphorbiaceae and Moraceae; Families with the highest floristic composition contribution were Myrtaceae followed by Flacourtiaceae. Analysis on the structure of the forest indicated that the forest is under good regeneration status.