Floristic Composition and Structure of Mount Furi Forest, South West Oromia, Ethiopia

Abstract

Ethiopia is a significant center for biological diversity due to its wide range of altitudes and topographic features though dearth of empirical evidences. Therefore, the main purpose of this study was to determine the floristic composition and vegetation structure of Mount Furi Forest. Floristic data were  collected from a total of 50 sample plots of 20 m x 20 m. Frequency, Diameter at Breast Height, density, basal area, and Important Value Index were  computed for the floristic composition. In addition, the Shannon Diversity index and Jaccard’s similarity index were also computed. Data were analyzed by  descriptive statistics using Microsoft excel (2010) and SPSS version 23. A total of 93 species were represented in 62 genera and 48 families were  collected of which Asteraceae and Poaceae took the leading class having 7 species each. Lamiaceae and Rosaceae have 5 species each and other 13 have  2 each and 26 have got one species each. Out of the total species, 27 species were identified to be indigenous to Ethiopia of which 8 species are endemic.  Plant specimens were collected and identified in the National Herbarium of Ethiopia. The research revealed that though the forest is in good  reproduction but low regeneration due to commercial cutting, overgrazing, and land conversion. The forest has a normal invented J-shape indicates the  vegetation has good reproduction but low recruitment due to selective cutting of large tree for commercial purposes. Thus, conservation strategies need  to be developed to minimize the threats noticed before losing valuable plant species.