The impact of land uses on the diversity and farmers' preferences for woody species in the selected highlands of Ethiopia

Abstract

Various woody species are growing in diverse landscapes and form a prominent component of farmland in Ethiopia. Farmers' preferences for woody species also vary in different parts of the country. The diversity and farmers' preferences for woody species have been described earlier. However, a simultaneous analysis of land use diversity and farmers’ preferences for woody species is scarcely available. Therefore, to fill the gap, this study was conducted in three selected highlands of Ethiopia to assess the land use diversity and farmers' preferences for woody species. A total of 320 households were randomly selected, and out of these, 105 households were purposely selected for species inventory. Overall, 525 plots were made using a 30 m × 30 m plot size for different land uses. Focus group discussion and key informant interviews were used for farmers’ preferences. The results imply that 32 woody species belonging to 16 families were recognized. Fabaceae was the leading family with 25% of species, followed by Rosaceae with 12.5% of species. In terms of species diversity, home garden (2.39) was more diverse than grazing land (1.94), crop land (1.50), boundary (0.92), and woodlot (0.54) in all areas. Among the preferred species, Eucalyptus globulus, Cuppressus lusitanica, Malus domestica, Cytisus proliferus, and Acacia decurrens were the most preferred and planted woody species by farmers. Generally, farmland maintains various tree and shrub species according to landscape practices. Farmers preferred and planted different woody species based on their benefits. Woody species must be maintained on farmland to overcome socio-economic and environmental problems.

Appendices

Appendix

Appendix 1: List of trees and shrubs species found in the study areas

No	Scientific name	Family name	Origin	Type
1	Acacia abyssinica	Fabaceae	Indigenous	Tree
2	Acacia decurrens	Fabaceae	Exotic	Tree
3	Acacia melanoxylon	Fabaceae	Exotic	Tree
4	Azadirachta indica	Meliaceae	Exotic	Tree
5	Cytisus proliferous	Fabaceae	Exotic	Shrub
6	Cordia africana	Boraginaceae	Indigenous	Tree
7	Croton macrostachyus	Euphorbiaceae	Indigenous	Tree
8	Cuppressus lusitanica	Cupressaceae	Exotic	Tree
9	Dombeya torrida	Sterculiaceae	Indigenous	Tree
10	Ekebergia capensis	Meliaceae	Indigenous	Tree
11	Erythrina abyssinica	Fabaceae	Indigenous	Tree
12	Erythrina brucei	Fabaceae	Indigenous	Tree
13	Eucalyptus globulus	Myrtaceae	Exotic	Tree
14	Eucalyptus camaldulensis	Myrtaceae	Exotic	Tree
15	Ficus sur	Moraceae	Indigenous	Tree
16	Grevillea robusta	Proteaceae	Exotic	Tree
17	Hagenia abyssinica	Rosaceae	Indigenous	Tree
18	Juniperus procera	Cupressaceae	Indigenous	Tree
19	Malus domestica	Rosaceae	Exotic	Tree
20	Millettia ferruginea	Fabaceae	Indigenous	Tree
21	Morus alba	Moraceae	Exotic	Tree
22	Olea europaea	Olacaceae	Indigenous	Tree
23	Persea americana	Lauraceae	Exotic	Tree
24	Podocarpus falcatus	Podocarpaceae	Indigenous	Tree
25	Prunus domestica	Rosaceae	Exotic	Tree
26	Rhus glutinosa	Anacardiaceae	Indigenous	Shrub
27	Rhus natalensis	Anacardiaceae	Indigenous	Shrub
28	Ricinus communis	Euphorbiaceae	Indigenous	Shrub
29	Rosa abyssinica	Rosaceae	Indigenous	Shrub
30	Sesbania sesban	Fabaceae	Indigenous	Shrub
31	Vernonia amygdalina	Asteraceae	Indigenous	Shrub
32	Yushania alpina	Poaceae	Indigenous	Woody grass

Appendix 2: Importance value index of woody species in five land use types

Important value index of species
No	Species name	Land use categories					Average IVI
		HG	BD	WL	CL	GL
1	Eucalyptus globulus	47.03	146.7	197.5	–	–	78.26
2	Cytisus proliferous	–	6.86	4.15	118.0	35.94	32.99
3	Cuppressus lusitanica	63.50	59.11	35.45	4.52	–	32.51
4	Acacia decurrens	20.41	8.47	5.98	56.54	46.52	27.59
5	Juniperus procera	8.07	21.99	–	3.46	73.18	21.34
6	Yushania alpina	13.64	15.97	48.77	–	–	15.68
7	Erythrina brucei	4.30	3.98	–	33.48	27.35	13.82
8	Vernonia amygdalina	12.55	4.31	–	24.51	18.81	12.04
9	Ficus sur	2.78	2.18	–	14.84	26.64	9.29
10	Acacia abyssinica	–	2.18	–	9.39	32.32	8.78
11	Malus domestica	28.51	–	–	8.55	–	7.41
12	Eucalyptus camaldulensis	1.02	13.63	8.11	–	–	4.55
13	Prunus domestica	22.12	–	–	–	–	4.42
14	Persea americana	18.69	–	–	–	–	3.74
15	Erythrina abyssinica	1.02	3.73	–	–	13.05	3.56
16	Grevillea robusta	15.16	2.18	–	–	–	3.47
17	Cordia africana	1.72	–	–	10.43	3.86	3.20
18	Ekebergia capensis	–	–	–	5.87	8.45	2.86
19	Croton macrostachyus	3.97	–	–	3.46	3.86	2.26
20	Hagenia abyssinica	1.02	2.88	–	–	6.16	2.01
21	Olea europaea	2.11	–	–	3.46	3.86	1.89
22	Sesbania sesban	7.66	–	–	–	–	1.53
23	Rhus glutinosa	7.33	–	–	–	–	1.47
24	Acacia melanoxylon	6.51	–	–	–	–	1.30
25	Millettia ferruginea	–	–	–	3.46	–	0.69
26	Dombeya torrida	–	3.34	–	–	–	0.67
27	Podocarpus falcatus	3.29	–	–	–	–	0.66
28	Azadirachta indica	–	2.49	–	–	–	0.50
29	Ricinus communis	2.48	–	–	–	–	0.50
30	Rhus natalensis	2.11	–	–	–	–	0.42
31	Morus alba	1.99	–	–	–	–	0.40
32	Rosa abyssinica	1.02	–	–	–	–	0.20
	Total	300	300	300	300	300	300

HG-Homegarden BD-Boundary planting WL-Woodlot CL-Crop land GL-Grazing land.

Appendix 3: The lists of recorded species in decreasing order of basal area

Basal area of species in (m2/ha)
No	Species name	Land use categories					Total BA
		HG	BD	WL	CL	GL
1	Eucalyptus globulus	4.17	33.72	14.02	–	–	51.91
2	Cuppressus lusitanica	1.25	8.21	16.29	0.05	–	25.81
3	Eucalyptus camaldulensis	0.03	12.61	3.89	–	–	16.54
4	Ficus sur	1.67	5.34	–	0.67	1.49	9.17
5	Yushania alpina	0.60	1.97	5.32	–	–	7.88
6	Juniperus procera	0.39	3.68	–	0.06	2.33	6.46
7	Acacia decurrens	0.28	2.31	0.85	0.32	0.61	4.37
8	Croton macrostachyus	2.15	–	–	0.31	1.07	3.53
9	Erythrina abyssinica	0.15	1.71	–	–	1.26	3.12
10	Cordia africana	1.09	–	–	0.83	1.07	2.99
11	Acacia abyssinica	–	0.98	–	0.50	0.91	2.40
12	Dombeya torrida	–	2.05	–	–	–	2.05
13	Grevillea robusta	0.39	1.41	–	–	–	1.80
14	Erythrina brucei	0.36	0.89	–	0.14	0.31	1.70
15	Vernonia amygdalina	0.28	0.41	–	0.27	0.33	1.29
16	Acacia melanoxylon	0.80	–	–	–	–	0.80
17	Cytisus proliferous -		0.31	0.19	0.17	0.09	0.75
18	Olea europaea	0.47	–	–	0.11	0.09	0.67
19	Azadirachta indica	–	0.63	–	–	–	0.63
20	Persea americana	0.63	–	–	–	–	0.63
21	Hagenia abyssinica	0.06	0.32	–	–	0.17	0.55
22	Malus domestica	0.27	–	–	0.13	–	0.40
23	Ekebergia capensis	–	–	–	0.13	0.25	0.38
24	Podocarpus falcatus	0.37	–	–	–	–	0.37
25	Sesbania sesban	0.14	–	–	–	–	0.14
26	Rhus glutinosa	0.14	–	–	–	–	0.14
27	Prunus domestica	0.08	–	–	–	–	0.08
28	Ricinus communis	0.07	–	–	–	–	0.07
29	Millettia ferruginea	–	–	–	0.06	–	0.06
30	Rosa abyssinica	0.04	–	–	–	–	0.04
31	Rhus natalensis	0.04	–	–	–	–	0.04
32	Morus alba	0.03	–	–	–	–	0.03
	Total	15.95	76.56	40.57	3.74	9.99	146.80