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Floristic Composition and Herbaceous Aboveground Dry Weight Biomass of Afroalpine Vegetation in Guassa Community Conservation Area, North Shewa, Ethiopia

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Author Affiliations

  • 1Department of Science and Mathematics Education, Addis Ababa University, ETHIOPIA

Int. Res. J. Biological Sci., Volume 5, Issue (1), Pages 26-36, January,10 (2016)

Abstract

In this research, the floristic composition and aboveground dry weight biomass of the vegetation of Guassa Community Conservation Area was described. The sample plots were 3 m x 3 m for shrubs and 1 m x 1 m for herbaceous plants species. Herbaceous plant species for aboveground biomass estimation was clipped from three 25 cm x 25 cm quadrat of the main quadrat. The result of this study showed that a total of 82 species in 60 genera and 27 plant families were recorded. Eleven of them are endemic and three of them are nearly endemic to Ethiopia. Of the 27 plant families, the family Asteraceae has the highest number of species (20) followed by Poaceae with nine species, Cyperaceae and Scrophulariaceae with six species each. Of the total species, nine (11%) were shrubs, 71 (86.5%) were herbs and two (2.4%) were ferns. Six community types were identified and described from the area. The net aboveground biomass of the area is 480.38 g m-2. More than 52% of the biomass was contributed by six species. The most frequently occurring species are Alchemilla abyssinica and Thymus schimperi with relative frequency of 11.2% and 9.2% respectively.

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