Abstract
Environmental conditions determine woody plant life such as species diversity, structure and regeneration status. This research aimed to assess the impact of environmental conditions on woody plant species diversity, structure and regeneration in forest patches of Guna Mountain: the case of Este District, South Gondar Zone, north-west Ethiopia. A total of 71 square sample plots (400 m2 each) were established at 10 transects laid in five forest patches of the study area to collect vegetation data including the abundance of species, height and diameter at breast height (DBH). Environmental data including available potassium, available phosphorus, cation exchange capacity, soil texture, electrical conductivity, soil acidity, total nitrogen, organic matter, organic carbon, sodium adsorption ratio, exchangeable sodium percentage, bulk density, aspect, elevation, slope, latitude and longitude data were collected in the same plots. A correlation analysis between vegetation and environmental data was performed using rcorr (x) function in package Hmisc in R Programming Language. The most pronounced impacts were observed in altitude, grazing and pH, positively and silt, sand, electrical conductivity and cation exchange capacity, negatively. In addition, strong and significant impacts on plant structure were also observed due to the variation in soil texture and pH. The difference in aspect, sand and slope also impacted plant regeneration. The study showed that environmental parameters influence the diversity, structure and regeneration of woody plants. These parameters can be considered in the rehabilitation of the vegetation cover and conservation efforts of the rare woody species. Conservation measures that can minimalize the negative influences of environmental conditions can be applied through collaboration with communities around the forest patches.
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Data Availability: The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author.
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Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Addis Ababa University and Debre Tabor University, both in Ethiopia, for their sponsorship of the study. We also like to thank the Este District community for their hospitality. Finally, we thank the reviewers and editor for their insightful comments that helped us create the final version of the paper.
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Conceptualization, D.G., Z.W., S.N., and E.A.; Validation, Z.W., S.N., and E.A.; Formal analysis, D.G.; Investigation, D.G.; Data curation, D.G.; writing—original draft, D.G.; Writing—review and editing, D.G., Z.W., S.N., and E.A.; Supervision, Z.W., S.N., and E.A.; and Project administration, Z.W., S.N., and E.A.
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Dilnessa, G., Zerihun, W., Sileshi, N. et al. Impacts of environmental conditions on woody plant diversity, structure and regeneration in forest patches of Guna Mountain: Este District, South Gondar Zone, Ethiopia. J. Mt. Sci. 20, 1940–1953 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-022-7356-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-022-7356-z