Plant communities and their species diversity in the semi-arid rangelands of Borana lowlands, southern Oromia, Ethiopia
2005
Dalle, G. | Maas, B.L. | Isselstein, J.
Plant community types and botanical composition of herbaceous and woody plants in the Borana lowlands were investigated by multivariate methods (TWINSPAN and DCA) based on 125 plots of size 20 m × 20 m sampled from three districts across different functional land use units. By TWINSPAN, eight plant communities were identified: (i) <i>Acacia drepanolobium-Pennisetum mezianum, </i>(ii) <i>Bidens hildebrandtii</i>-<i>Chrysopogon aucheri, </i>(iii) <i>Chrysopogon aucheri-Commiphora africana, </i>(iv) <i>Cenchrus ciliaris-Chrysopogon aucheri, </i>(v) <i>Acacia bussei-Pennisetum mezianum, </i>(vi) <i>Commiphora erythraea-Sansevieria ehrenbergii, </i>(vii) <i>Acacia melliphera-Setaria verticillata, </i>and (viii) <i>Heterpogon contortus-Hildebrandtia obcordata. </i>Characteristic species at the different levels of TWINSPAN divisions were identified. The <i>Chrysopogon aucheri-Commiphora africana </i>community had the highest beta (3.37) and gamma (131) diversity, whereas the <i>Heterpogon contortus-Hldebrandtia obcordata </i>community had the smallest beta (0.35) and gamma (23) diversity. The frequency of plant communities was positively and strongly correlated with beta and gamma diversity.
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