Composition and Succession of the Woody Flora of South Nandi Forest, Kenya

Njunge, Joseph; Mugo, J.M.

doi:10.3923/rjb.2011.112.121

Cited by 7 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Other studies focused on the ecology, species distribution and composition, as well as the management of these forests by different stakeholders (Njunge and Mugo 2011;Mbuvi et al 2015;Tanui 2015;Koros et al 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An annotated checklist of the vascular flora of South and North Nandi Forests, Kenya

Melly¹,

Kipkoech²,

Watuma³

et al. 2020

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We compiled a checklist of the flora of South and North Nandi forests based on literature, online databases, herbarium collections and floristic field surveys. A combination of general walk-over surveys and plotless landscape sampling for plant collection and sight observation was used. We recorded 628 plant species representing 118 families and 392 genera, which almost double the latest results of the previous most recent survey. We found 61 species of ferns and fern allies and 567 species of seed plants, representing 9.98% of the total plant species in Kenya. Herbs were the majority (50.2%) of life forms followed by shrubs (16.5%). We report unique populations of three species out of 19 species that are widespread in Africa, but restricted to Nandi and Kakamega Forests in Kenya. Four of the recorded species are threatened globally and 16 exotic plant species were found. The recent description of one new species and two new records for Kenya from these forests, together with the comprehensive checklist is of crucial importance to the conservation of these unique ecosystems. Our results are essential to forest managers, community forest associations, conservationists, students and research scientists in Kenya and globally for implementing critical decisions for the conservation of this vital biodiversity resource.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An annotated checklist of the vascular flora of South and North Nandi Forests, Kenya

Melly¹,

Kipkoech²,

Watuma³

et al. 2020

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“…Of the current stand of South Nandi forest trees, at most 13,000 ha is closed-canopy forest, the rest being shrubs, grassland or cultivated area. Its altitude ranges from 1,700 -2,000 m with a mean annual rainfall ranging from 1,600 -2,000 mm per year (Njunge and Mugo, 2011).…”

Section: Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

Determining the potential for introducing and sustaining participatory forest management: A case study of South Nandi Forest of Western Kenya

Mbuvi¹,

Musyoki²,

Ayiemba³

et al. 2015

Int. J. Biodivers. Conserv.

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The South Nandi Forest is the most important site for the conservation of the globally threatened Eremomela turneri. The growing human population is the main threat to its biodiversity and the forests provision of ecosystem services. In order to address the above threat, Kenya Forest Service and partners perceived that the introduction of participatory forest management would mitigate the challenge. This study was conducted to provide socioeconomic baseline information about the forest adjacent community members and other forest stakeholders who are the key blocks upon which the joint management strategies and programmes would be anchored. Information was gathered using participatory rural appraisal tools such as mapping, transect walks, focused group discussions, respondents recall and the livelihood framework analysis. Firewood was the most accessed forest product with the others being poles and posts. Even the very presence of the forest in the midst of the community presented several livelihood improvement opportunities within the settlement areas such as on-farm tree growing, fish farming, grazing and microclimate for high agricultural production. It was noted that the community were highly interested in participating in forest management (93.7%). The key challenge was that the forest adjacent community perceived South Nandi forest resources to be on the decline. This shall have to be converted into an opportunity that would be utilized to introduce and implement PFM in South Nandi.

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“…Several studies have shown that lower altitudes are home to taller trees than higher altitudes (Ashton and Hall, 1992;Siebert, 2005;Richter et al, 2009), even in small elevation gradients (Gonmadje et al, 2017). In the same way the lower altitude forests differ from the higher ones in their floristic composition (Schmitt et al, 2010;Gonmadje, 2012;Admassu et al, 2016;Imani et al, 2016), with a decrease of species diversity with increasing altitude (Doumenge, 1998;Lomolino, 2001 Some studies in the montane forests focused on their dynamic patterns through space and time (Fine et al, 2005;Zhang and Zhang, 2007;Njunge and Mugo, 2011). However, the study of vegetation dynamics requires observations through relatively long time scales.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Taking into account both the abundance and the occurrence of species in the considered forest layers can spread some light on the vegetation dynamics (Hall and Swaine, 1976;McEwan et al, 2005;Amani and Lejoly, 2014). Such studies were performed in various lowland forests (Letouzey, 1957;Woods and Whittaker, 1981;Swaine and Hall, 1988;Connell and Lowman, 1989) but in a limited number of highland forests (Njunge and Mugo, 2011;Shiels and Walker, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In other words, forests which have experienced some disturbance In a case of non-disturbance or equal disturbance between lower and higher altitudes, lower altitudes develop more stable forests than higher ones. Due to the sensibility of higher altitudes to global change, they are liable for instability (Pierlot, 1966;Njunge and Mugo, 2011). These forests thus tend to be dominated by many pioneer species (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Does the Altitude Affect the Stability of Montane Forests? A Study in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park (Democratic Republic of the Congo)

Cirimwami¹

2017

Appl. Ecol. Env. Res.

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To understand the functioning of montane forests, this study was conducted in the highlands of the Kahuzi-Biega National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The relationship between the altitude and the floristic stability of woody layers and regeneration capability of canopy species after many years of disturbance was studied. Ten 1-ha plots were established from 1935m to 2760m a.s.l. In each plot we inventoried the trees ≥10cm of diameter at breast height (DBH), separating a canopy layer (10% of the tallest trees) and an understorey layer (all the other trees). In each plot, we nested a 0.1 ha subplot to inventory the saplings between 1 and 10 cm DBH. We found that the Jaccard index of dissimilarity between the understorey layer and the canopy layer decreases with the altitude. The proportion of species which are well represented in the three layers increases with the altitude. The number of pioneer species decreases with the altitude while that of non-pioneer and shade tolerant species increases. These findings suggest that altitude influences the stability of highland forests, higher altitude being more stable than lower ones in the case of this study.

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Composition and Succession of the Woody Flora of South Nandi Forest, Kenya

Cited by 7 publications

References 6 publications

An annotated checklist of the vascular flora of South and North Nandi Forests, Kenya

An annotated checklist of the vascular flora of South and North Nandi Forests, Kenya

Determining the potential for introducing and sustaining participatory forest management: A case study of South Nandi Forest of Western Kenya

Does the Altitude Affect the Stability of Montane Forests? A Study in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park (Democratic Republic of the Congo)

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