Floristic composition, structure and regeneration Status of mountain ambaricho natural forest in Kachabira district, kembata tembaro zone south Nation nationality and people regional state, southern Ethiopia

This study was conducted on Ambaricho Natural forest in Kachabira District; Kambata Tambaro Zone of SNNPRS .Objective of this study was to investigate the floristic composition, structure and regeneration status of plant species. Systematic sampling method was applied to collect floristic data from (35) (20 m x 20 m) sample quadrants which were established at 50 m interval elevation along the transect line, which are laid 400m apart. Within the main plots, five (four at the corner and one at the center) 1 m x 1 m sub- plots were laid to collect herbaceous, 5m x 5m sub plots were laid to collect saplings and seedlings data. A total of 61 plant species belonging to 61 genera and 42 families were recorded. Out of the collected plant species, 34(55.7%) were trees 20(32.8%) were herbs and 7(11.5%) were shrubs. The families with the highest number of species were Asteraceae, represented by 6 species (9.83%), followed by Rubeaceae 5 species (8.19%), Lamiaceae 4 species (6.55%), and Solanaceae 3 species (4.91%). Shannon -Wiener diversity index values of plant species encountered in the study sites were 3.69 while their corresponding evenness values were 0.8. Analysis of regeneration status of all plant species in study forest showed that seedling >sapling> mature trees implying the forest is at good regeneration status. But large size trees in the forest were under threat due to anthropogenic activities such as cutting of trees for fire wood, house construction and cutting of trees for preparation of charcoal all of which were negatively influenced the vegetation dynamic and tree density of the forest. To reduce this threat and to use the forest sustainably, participatory forest management is required