A Comparative Study of Woody Plant Species Diversity at Adey Amba Enclosed Forest and Nearby Open Site in West Belessa District, Northwestern Ethiopia

Abstract

The study was carried out to evaluate woody species diversity comparatively on enclosed forest and open site in North Western highlands of Ethiopia. Systematic sampling method was used to collect vegetation data from 36 quadrants. Each quadrant has 20 m x 20 m size with an interval of 100 m which was laid along four transect lines. Within each quadrant, vegetation data such as seedlings, saplings and tree species were directly counted from both open and enclosed sites. The counted and recorded trees, saplings and seedlings of each species were marked with dyes to avoid confusion. Shannon-Wiener and Simpson’s diversity index were applied to quantify species diversity, richness and evenness. The result showed that sapling and seedling diversity was very high from enclosure site. These imply the enclosure was at high rate of regeneration.

Keywords:, Woody species, diversity, enclosure, open site