WOODY SPECIES COMPOSITION AND CARBON STOCK POTENTIAL OF AWASH NATIONAL PARK, ETHIOPIA

Abstract:

This study was conducted in Awash National Park, Ethiopia, to analyse woody species composition and estimate carbon stock potential of woody species in different vegetation types. A total of 80 quadrats of 20m x 20 m, 5m x 5m and 1m x 1m with 16 horizontal transect lines were used to collect information on tree, shrub, and litters and soil respectively in the four vegetation types. A total of 52 woody species belonging into 23 families with stem number of 1369 individual/ha were recorded in the study area. The overall species richness, Shannon- Wiener Diversity Index (H`) and evenness values for the entire study area were 8.38, 1.78 and 0.87, respectively. Woody plant species diversity, richness and evenness significantly varied among the vegetation types (p