Woody Species Diversity and Cover Change Detection of Assabila Community Forest, South Achefer District, West Gojjam, Ethiopia
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DSpace Institution DSpace Repository http://dspace.org Environment and climate change Thesis and Dissertations 2020-12-12 WOODY SPECIES DIVERSITY AND COVER CHANGE DETECTION OF ASSABILA COMMUNITY FOREST, SOUTH ACHEFER DISTRICT, WEST GOJJAM, ETHIOPIA Mengistu Agegnehu http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/11804 Downloaded from DSpace Repository, DSpace Institution's institutional repository ` BAHIR DAR UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES GIRATUAT PROGRAM WOODY SPECIES DIVERSITY AND COVER CHANGE DETECTION OF ASSABILA COMMUNITY FOREST, SOUTH ACHEFER DISTRICT, WEST GOJJAM, ETHIOPIA M. Sc. Thesis BY Mengistu Agegnehu Chekol October 2020 Bahir Dar, Ethiopia BAHIR DAR UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES POST GIRATUAT PROGRAM WOODY SPECIES DIVERSITY AND COVER CHANGE DETECTION OF ASSABILA COMMUNITY FOREST, SOUTH ACHEFER DISTRICT, WEST GOJJAM, ETHIOPIA M. Sc. Thesis By Mengistu Agegnehu ATHESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE (M.Sc.) In ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE CHANGE October 2020 Bahir Dar, Ethiopia i THESIS APPROVAL SHEET As member of the Board of Examiners of the Master of Sciences (M. Sc.) thesis open defiance examination, we have read and evaluated this thesis prepared by Mr Mengistu Agegnehu Chekol entitled “Woody Species Diversity and Cover change detection of Assabila Community Forest in South Achefer District, West Gojjam, Ethiopia” and examined the candidate. We hereby certify that the thesis is accepted as fulfilling the requirement for the award of the degree of Master of Sciences (M. Sc.) in Environment and Climate Change. Board of Examiners 1. Beyene Belay (PhD) _______________ ______________ Name of External Examiner Signature Date 2. Eyayu Molla (PhD) ____________ ____________ Name of Internal Examiner Signature Date 3. Solomon Addisu ____________ ___________ Name of Chairman Signature Date ii DECLARATION This is to certify that this thesis entitled “WOODY SPECIES DIVERSITY AND COVER CHANGE DETECTION OF ASSABILA COMMUNITY FOREST, WEST GOJJAM, ETHIOPIA”. This thesis has been submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Master of Science in Environment and Climate Change to the Graduate Program of College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Bahir Dar University by Mengistu Agegnehu Chekol (ID. No. BDU 1100805R) is an authentic work carried out by him under our guidance. The matter embodied in this project work has not been submitted earlier for the award of any degree or diploma to the best of our knowledge and belief. Name of the Student Mengistu Agegnehu Chekol Signature _________________ Date ___________ Name of the supervisors 1. Dessie Assefa (PhD) Signature _________________ Date ____________ Main supervisor 2. Mulatie Mekonnen (PhD) Signature _________________ Date ____________ Co-supervisor iii ACKNOWLEDGMENT First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest commend, endless praises and thanks to the Almighty God and his Mother Saint Virgin Mary for giving me full health, strength, chance, patience, wisdom, love and protection throughout my life. I am very grateful to my main advisor, Dr Dessie Assefa, for his unreserved scholastic guidance, friendly treatment, and continuous encouragement at all stages of my work. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Dr Mulatie Mekonnen for his scientific guidance, encouragement, and support especially on the forest cover change detection part of my study. I am also very thankful to former Amhara National Regional State REDD+ Regional Coordinator Mr Sintayehu Deresse, who provides financial support during data collection and encourages until the end of this work. I would like to thank also Mr Alelign Gardew and Mr Mulugeta Anley for their technical support on Geographical information system (GIS) tools and analysis. I am very much indebted to my beloved girlfriend Mulluye Melese for her financial support, encouragements, wonderful advice and endless supports; without her, this research would not be complete. I would like to express my deepest thanks and respect to all my beloved family for their well- wishers for the countless blessings, spiritual and moral support, and constant encouragement not only during this thesis work but also throughout my life. Finally, I wish to express my heartfelt appreciations to my best friends for their unreserved cooperation in sharing their idea and unreserved assistance during data collection and data analysis. iv DEDICATION I dedicated this thesis manuscript to my beloved girlfriend (Mulluye Melese), who gave me total financial support and full encouragement when I was working on this program. v LIST OF ACRONYMS/ABBREVIATIONS EFAP Ethiopian forest Action program UNEP United Nation Development program FAO Food and Agriculture program NGOs None governmental organizations CBD Convention on Biological Diversity CSE Conservation Strategy of Ethiopia IBC Institute of biodiversity conservation NDVI Normalized difference vegetation index NIR Near Infra-red GPS Global positioning system GIS Geographical information system TM Thematic mapper TIRS Thermal Infrared sensor DBH Diameter at breast height IVI Important value index MSS Multispectral Scanner OLI Operational Land Imager GCPs Ground control points MARFCC Mean annual rates of forest cover change Sc Similarity coefficient Ds Dissimilarity BA Basal area PFM Participatory forest management H’ Diversity index EH Evenness REDD+ Reduced Emission from Deforestation, Forest Degradation and enhancement of forest production vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents Page THESIS APPROVAL SHEET ................................................................................................ ii DECLARATION ..................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGMENT ......................................................................................................... iv DEDICATION ..........................................................................................................................v LIST OF ACRONYMS/ABBREVIATION ............................................................................ vi LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................x LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................ xi LIST OF APPENDICES TABLES ........................................................................................ xii ABSTRACT........................................................................................................................... xiii Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................1 1.1 Background and justification .......................................................................................................... 1 1.2. Statement of the Problem .............................................................................................................. 3 1.3. Objectives of the Study ................................................................................................................. 4 1.3.1. General objectives .................................................................................................................. 4 1.3.2. Specific objectives ................................................................................................................. 4 1.4. Research Questions ....................................................................................................................... 4 1.5. Significance of the Study .............................................................................................................. 4 Chapter 2. LITERATURE REVIEW.......................................................................................6 2.1. Concept of Biodiversity ................................................................................................................ 6 2.1.1. Values of biodiversity ............................................................................................................ 7 2.1.2. The value of plant diversity .................................................................................................... 8 2.2. Vegetation Type of Ethiopia ...................................................................................................... 9 2.2.1. Trends and rate of deforestations in Ethiopian vegetation ..................................................... 10 2.2.2. The threats to the conservation of Ethiopian vegetation ........................................................ 11 2.3. Regeneration of Woody Species .................................................................................................. 11 2.4. Contribution of Area Enclosures to Regeneration ........................................................................ 12 2.5. Diversity Indices ......................................................................................................................... 12 2.5.1. Simpson's diversity indices ................................................................................................... 13 2.5.2. Shannon - Wiener Index of Diversity .................................................................................... 14 2.6. Forest Covers Change Detection by using Remote Sensing. .......................................................