Plant Diversity of Forests

Abstract

Forest Ecosystems-More than Just Trees 4 1.2 Structural diversity "Structural diversity refers to the physical organisation or pattern of a system, including the spatial patchwork of different physical conditions in a landscape, habitat mosaics, species assemblages of different plant and animal communities, and genetic composition of subpopulations" (Stokland et al., 2003). The main structural indicators that are used to describe the conditions for forest biodiversity include stand vertical structure, age class distribution and the amount of dead wood (Christensen et al., 2004). They represent an indirect approach "as they show, typically on a rather gross scale, how the house is built, but give no information on whether the inhabitants have moved in" (Christensen et al., 2004). 1.3 Functional diversity According to Noss (1990), function involves all ecological and evolutionary processes, including gene flow, disturbances, and nutrient cycling. "Functional diversity involves processes of temporal change, including disturbance events and subsequent succession, nutrient recycling, population dynamics within species, various forms of species interactions, and gene flow" (Stokland et al., 2003).

Spatial distribution of above ground carbon density in Harana Forest, Ethiopia

“…Identification of possible predictor variables was conducted based on an extensive review of relevant literature. The literature describes plant biomass and ACD could be mainly influenced by elevation, slope, aspect, soil texture, temperature, and precipitation (Merganič et al 2012;Vayreda et al 2012;Fibich et al 2016;Sahragard et al 2018;Hofhans et al 2020). The ACD can be additionally influenced by biotic factors such as tree species richness and diversity including natural and human disturbances (Vayreda et al 2012).…”

“…A value of Shannon index ranges between 1.5 and 4.5. The increasing index shows the presence of high biodiversity (Gaines et al 1999;Merganič et al 2012).…”