Pathways of Litter Decomposition, Nutrient Dynamics and Carbon Stock Mapping in Asabot Dry Afromontane Forest: Implications for Sustainable Management of Ecosystem Functions and Services rnTulu Tolla Tura rnAddis Ababa University, 2018 rnThis study was aimed at assessing and understanding the dry Afromontane forest ecosystem functioning by analyzing the pathways of biomass decomposition, plant community formations and nutrient dynamics in the mountainous landscape of the Asabot forest in the eastern highlands of Ethiopia. The plant community groups were studied using a systematic sampling method. For the biomass decomposition study, litter bag experimental plots were established along the altitudinal gradient of the upper, middle and lower elevations of the landscape. A total of 660 litterbags were buried in ten experimental plots (66 in each plot) in the top soil of the forest floor. Every five of the bags were collected in each month in order to examine the weight loss, decay rate, decay constant and the nutrient dynamics. The microbial communities in the litter bag experimental plots were studied by collecting soil samples from each plot during the wet seasons. The soil microbial community biomass was estimated using ester linked fatty acid methyl ester (EL-FAME) and the respiration rate was estimated by trapping the carbon released with the CO2 and the soil microbial activity was estimated by measuring the Î²-glucosidase enzyme activity in the soil samples. The study identified about 97 plant species distributed among 90 genera and 52 families in the Asabot dry Afromontane forest. Three plant community groups were identified according to hierarchical dendrogram analysis. Moreover, eight specific and three general trends of population structure are observed along with trees and shrub dominance. The microbial analysis identified 57 EL-FAMEs biomarkers associated with soil microbial community. The identified biomarkers biomass abundance (nmole g-1 soil) related with hydrocarbons in descending order are saturated (278.37)>unsaturated (187.77)> cyclic and OH (20.82)>branched (14.69), respectively. The microbial community biomass abundance was negatively correlated with altitude gradients; as altitude increases microbial community biomass abundance decreases. The biotic and abiotic environmental factors correlation with soil microbial community abundance is found to be significant (p