Girma Shumi, Jannik Schultner, Jan Hanspach, Patricia Rodrigues, IneDorresteijn, Kristoffer Hylander, Feyera Senbeta and Joern Fischer

Woody plant diversity and composition in

rural landscapes of SW Ethiopia

Email: dugo@leuphana.de 19/13/2016

3rd African Congress for Conservation Biology, El Jadida, Morocco, September 2016

Outline of presentation

Background and aim of the project

Study area

Methodology

Preliminary findings

Conclusion and recommendations

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Background

Land sharing vs land sparing

Adapted from Loos et al. 2016

However, both discourse ignore social and ecological complexities

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Aim of the project

• To contribute to better understanding of biodiversity conservation and food security co-benefits of cultural landscape.

Specifically,

Quantify and examine woody plant species richness and composition; and

Identify drivers of species richness in rural landscapes.

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• Low forest cover, coffee & agriculture

• Low forest cover and agriculture

• High forest cover, coffee and agriculture

• Afromontane rainforest

• Eastern Afromontane Biodiversity Hotspot

Study area

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150 randomly selected sample points

20*20m plot in forest & homegarden , and

1ha circular site/plot for farm and grazing land

Methodology

Sampling:-

Data collected/field work

Recorded all trees and shrubs species with height ≥ 1.5m;

Measured DBH of trees & shrub species with DBH ≥ 5 cm;

Collected specimen for species identification;

15-Maize, 25- Teff and 13- others

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• Rapid eye image 2015 Current distance of sample points from forest (dist15) Cost distance Proportion woody vegetation cover in 1ha site

(PropFC56m) and in context (PropFC200m & PropFC300)

Analysis of satellite image:

Methodology

Data analysis1. Multivariate analysis (NMDS)2. Regression analysis

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Preliminary findings

96

12- Close forest

3-middle forest

1- far forest

6- Extreme forest

Farmland-39

Grazing-6Home-garden

21

542

Forest land useArable mosaic land use

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• Forest -species composition and distribution

Preliminary findings

Stress: 0.2214659

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Preliminary findings

• Farmland -species composition and distribution

Stress: 0.2462757

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Preliminary findings

CharacteristicsClose

forestMiddle forest

Far forest

Extreme forest

Total plots 18 11 12 26

Mean species Richness 13 18 19 20

Total abundance 4958 3600 2941 5196

Mean abundance 275 327 245 209

Mean species richness and abundance by forest class

Characteristics Grazing Maize Teff Others

Total plots 19 15 25 13

Mean species richness 15 18 16 19

Total abundance 9832 11206 11392 7664

Mean abundance 517 747 456 590

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Mean species richness and abundance by land use in farmland and grazing lands

Preliminary findings

Characteristics Grazing Maize Teff Others

Total plots 19 15 25 13

Mean species richness 15 18 16 19

Total abundance 9832 11206 11392 7664

Mean abundance 517 747 456 590

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Mean species richness and abundance by land use in farmland and grazing lands

Preliminary findings

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Conclusion and recommendations

1. In forest, woody plant species richness and composition differed from edge

to interior of forest:-

Coffee management

Cost distance- easy access and forest utilization or the reverse

- Edge effect

2. In farmland, species richness was similarly high and did not differ within the arable mosaic (farmland, grazing land and home-gardens) land use:-

The proportion of conserved woody vegetation within arable land and its context

3. From these results, considering land use management practice but not only land use type in entire landscape mosaic – should be of paramount importance in future conservation initiatives.

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ERC- granting project fund to Joern Fischer

Field workers and guards for data collection

Acknowledgement

Thank you for your attention!

Girma Shumi DugoFaculty of Sustainability Science,Leuphana Universität LüneburgScharnhorststraße 121335 LüneburgEmail:- dugo@leuphana.deTel: +49 4131 677 7662Mobile: +49 152 10471044

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