Diversity and Abundance of Woody Plant Species of Assosa Forest Field Gene Bank, Benishangul Gumuz Regional State, Western Ethiopia

Abstract

The study was carried out to investigate the diversity and abundance of woody plant species of Assosa forest gene bank. An intensive inventory was made to collect the required data. Sample plot of size 20 × 20 m quadrant was used for this particular study. Sixteen quadrats of sample plot were systematically laid down with an interval of 100 m along four transect lines. Shannon-Wiener index was applied to quantify species diversity, richness, and evenness. Total of 44 woody plant species representing 26 families of were identified. Besides, from 44 identified woody plant species 938 number of individual plants were counted and recorded. Most of the woody plant species identified from the gene bank were belongs to Combretaceae family. The current study reveal that Assosa forest field gene bank has more diverse (H=3.49), unevenly distributed (E=0.0037) and unrelated abundance of all individuals of plant species.

Keywords: Woody species, diversity, field gene bank, richness, evenness