Resumen

HAILU, Belay Debela; TENSAY, Teshome; URGE, Cheru  y  ABEJE, Eshete. Diversity of Tree Species Regeneration in Natural Gaps of Kafa Moist Afromontane Forest, South West Ethiopia Peoples` Region, Ethiopia. J. Selva Andina Biosph. [online]. 2023, vol.11, n.2, pp.131-141.  Epub 01-Nov-2023. ISSN 2308-3867.  https://doi.org/10.36610/j.jsab.2023.110200131.

Forest canopies are in a dynamic condition and changing continually. The formation of gaps result in changes microclimatic conditions of forests. The tree regeneration triggered by gaps are a fundamental process of forest dynamics and plays a key role in maintaining forest structure, composition, and diversity of forest ecosystems. Thus, understanding of the gaps dynamics in natural forests is principal for forest restoration, sustainable management and conservation of forests. This study was conducted at Kafa Afromontane forest, located in Gimbo and Gawata Districts of Kafa Zone at 450 km west of the capital Addis Ababa. For the purpose of this study, three plots with an area of four hectares, (200 x 200 m) were selected systematically inside the main forest area in each of the three sites (Yeyibto, Achewa and Saja) from 15 March 2019 to 30 May 2019. Inside these plots, four transacts laid 50 m apart from each other. For each gaps encountered along these transects the longest distance between any two-canopy and the largest distance perpendicular to the length was measured and fitted using an ellipse formula. Distances from the centre of the gap to the edges of the gaps was measured in eight compass directions, namely 0, 45, 90, 135, 180, 225, 270 and 315 and a sketch map of the gap was drawn. The result showed that the mean gap size of the study area is 223.31 m2 with standard deviation of 152.14 m2. Most of the gaps were caused by snapping of (43 %), that followed by broken branches that accounts for 29 % of the gap former trees. About 57 % of the gaps were categorized as smaller gaps. Within these gaps 36 seedling of woody species belonging to 21 families were recorded. Among these Rubiaceae family is the most dominant family, which constitutes six seedlings woody species. The population structure of the seedlings showed an inverted J-shape.

Palabras clave : Canopy gaps; forest structure; gap dynamics; diversity; afromontane.

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