The rising of deforestation and habitat fragmentation due to the conversion of forests tornother land use/ land cover types and the increasing human population are major environmentalrnconcerns in the northwestern dry Afromontane forest of Ethiopia. Understanding floristicrndiversity along environmental factors is essential in the management of the forest patches. Thernobjective of the study is to investigate the Ecology of the vegetation and to study Land use/ Landrncover change in Dega Damot district forest patches of Northwestern Ethiopia. Vegetation andrnenvironmental data were collected from 86 plots (30 m Ã— 30 m). A total of 46 plots were used forrnthe collection of the soil seed bank and aboveground vegetation. Soil samples were collected forrnthe soil bank study from within the small plots measuring 10 cm Ã— 10 cm from four soil layers.rnShannon Weiner index and evenness were used to assess the species diversity and richness of thernforest. The similarities between forest patches and between plant communities of the study arearnwere computed using Sorensonâ€™s similarity index. Density, Diameter at Breast Height ( DBH),rnbasal area, frequency, and importance value indices (IVI) of woody species were computed torncharacterize the vegetation structure of the forest. Hierarchical cluster analysis and redundancyrnanalysis (RDA) were used to identify plant communities and analyze the relationship betweenrnplant community types and environmental variables. This study used Landsat TM, Landsat ETMrn+ and OLI data from 1986, 2003 and 2017 to map land use/land cover (LU/LC) in a study area.rnLU/LC maps were created using supervised classification, and LU/LC change the mapping forrnthe 1986-2003 and the 2003-2017 period determined using post-classification comparisons.rnResults indicate the presence of 176 plant species belonging to 80 families. Asteraceae andrnFabaceae were the dominant families, and herbs and shrubs were predominant growth forms.rnThe Shannon diversity index and evenness values of the study area were 2.79 and 0.95rnrespectively. The total basal area and density of woody species were 51 m2 ha-1 and 2679rnindividual-1, respectively. The most dominant species as indicated by their important value indexrn(lVI) were prunes africana(17), Schefflera abyssinica (15) and Ficus sur (14). Five plantrncommunity types were identified: Erica arborea - Osyris quadripartita, Discopodiumrnpenninervium - Echinops pappii, Olea europaeasubsp.cuspidata-Scolopia theifolia, Euphorbiarnabyssinica-Prunus africana, Dodonaea anguistifolia-Acokanthera schimperi. The RDArnresult showed that the variation of species distribution and plant community formation werernsignificantly related to altitude, organic matter, moisture content, slope, pH, EC, clay andrnphosphorus. A total of 2133 seedlings belonging to 44 species and 27 families were identifiedrnfrom the soil seed bank, with a viable seed density of 4636 seeds/m2. The species composition ofrnthe seed bank was dominated by 29 herb species (66%) compared to 2 tree species whichrnaccounted for only 5 percent of the total number of species. The similarity between soil seedrnbank species composition and aboveground vegetation was low and conclude that thernregeneration potential of the forest from seed bank was limited. The results of the study showedrnthat agricultural land increased from 85% of the total area in 1986 to 93% in 2017. Thisrnincrease coincided with a 4% decrease in a forested area, a 2% decrease in grazing land and arn2% decrease in shrubland. LU/LC was changed significantly due to rapid human populationsrnand expanding agricultural activities in the study area. Therefore, this study provides baselinerninformation for the conservation of forest in the study area.