An Ecological Study Of The Lowland Vegetation Of Key Afer-shala Luqa And Southwest Of Lake Chamo Southern Ethiopia

Studies in the vegetation of Key Afer-Shala Luqa ailG SouthWest of take Chaino SouthernrnEthiopia were conducted from Nov. 21, 1996 to February 27, 1997. The data onrnaboveground herbaceous phytomass was collected using 1m2 quadrat from 13 selected sites.rnTo determine the different plant communities, data from 71 quadrats (400 m2) wasrncollected following a 1-9 modified Braun Blanquet scale (van der Maarel, 1979). Thernenvironmental data collected consists of soil, altitude, slope and aspect.rnThe average aboveground herbaceous phytomass ranged between 35.9 gm-2 in Shala plainrnto 1016.8 gm-2 in Southwest of Lake Chamo. Multivariate methods were employed tornsummarise the vegetation data. Seven community types and an outliers were identified.rnStatistical test (post-hoc comparison of means) among the community types showedrnsignificant variation in altitude indicating that altitude is the most important factor.rnAnalysis of diversity among community types showed that the Hyparrhenia jilipendula-rnCombretl/Ill moUe dominated community is richer in species than others, while thernCommiplwra cyclophylla-Actilliopteris radiata-Sallsevieria ehrenbergii dominatedrncommunity is the least species rich community.rnThe low aboveground herbaceous phytomass in sites like Shala might be attributed tornecological incompatibility with prevailing stocking rate. To ameliorate the interrelatedrncauses of resource degradation, destocking should be taken into consideration.

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