Church Forests Diversity and Biomass Carbon Stock Along Urbanization Continuum in Dangila District, Awi-Zone, Ethiopia

doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-2253924/v1

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Church Forests Diversity and Biomass Carbon Stock Along Urbanization Continuum in Dangila District, Awi-Zone, Ethiopia

https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2253924/v1

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Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Churches plays a significant role for native species conservation, carbon sequestration and climate change mitigation. The study was conducted to determine woody species diversity and biomass carbon stock of church forests along urbanization continuum in Dangila Woreda, Awi-zone, Ethiopia. After a preliminary survey, the churches were grouped into urban, peri-urban and rural continuums. Then one church was purposively selected from each urbanization continuum based on age gradient for making up a total of nine sample churches. Tree height and DBH data was recorded from a 2m width systematically laid down Gentry transect lines; whereas, seedlings was counted from three plots of 2m×2m size at each transect line. The similarities along urbanization were computed using Sorenson’s similarity index. Further ANOVA were used to test differences among the continuum. Finally, a total of 91 woody species were identified in the church forest. The mean Shannon diversity in urban, peri-urban and rural church forests was 2.38, 2.67 and 2.90 respectively. The general pattern of woody species community structure along urbanization continuum shows an inverted J-shape. The biomass carbon stock along urban, peri-urban and rural continuum was 24.96, 77.38and 46.13 metric tons respectively. Therefore, church forests are playing an indispensable role for woody species conservation, carbon sequestration and climate change mitigation at each urbanization continuum.

Forestry

Biomass carbon stock

Church forest

Ethiopia Orthodox Tewahido Church

Woody Species Diversity

Urbanization continuum

Recently environmental problems are a widespread concern because they threats to global weather patterns, global warming, natural disaster, and the loss of biodiversity (Yilma & Derero 2020). According to IPCC (2014) report pointed out the Earth’s surface successively warmer than any preceding decade since 1850. The period from 1983 to 2012 was very likely the warmest 30-year period of the last 800 years in the Northern Hemisphere (IPCC 2014). The problem particularly affects developing countries like Ethiopia because their forest resource has been facing intense degradation and deforestation through agricultural expansion, overgrazing and urbanization that results significant loss of forest diversity and ecosystem services (Gebeyehu et al. 2019; Tsegaye 2015). Woody species diversity and biomass carbon stock was directly influenced by deforestation and forest degradation (Hairiah et al. 2010) and indirectly influenced by rapid urbanization (Tsegaye 2015).

The rapid urbanization in Ethiopia, which has expected to increase from 15% in 2000 to 30% in 2030 (UN Population Division 2004), have expanded its territory into the immediate hinterlands such as forest, wetlands and other ecosystem (Mulatu 2019). It leads to biotic homogenization through the replacement of specialists (native) with generalist (exotic) species (Concepción et al. 2015), and attributes to local extinction rates and eliminates majority of native species (Mckinney 2002; Mooney 2011). These causes lead to left only small isolated patch Afromontane forests as remnant area around churches and monasteries in the highlands of Ethiopia (Gobena 2018; Healey 2016).

EOTC is one of the oldest Churches in the world and founding member of the World Council of Churches (Tura et al. 2017). It was built in all agro ecological zones of urban, peri-urban and rural places (Mosissa & Abraha, 2018; Sahle et al. 2021). The church forests are administered by the EOTC (Alebachew et al. 2022). Besides, church forests in Ethiopia have encountered various problems such as encroachment, illegal cuttings, low legal enforcement and improper tree selection (Mulatu, 2019) as well as most dominant tree species do not accumulate seeds in the soil due to removal of mature individuals for church building in the standing vegetation (Wassie and Tekelay 2006). However, they covered with densely forests (Tura et al. 2017) that are sanctuaries for different species which have almost disappeared in most parts of northern Ethiopia (Wassie & Tekelay 2006). Therefore, they serve as a conservation site and hot spots of biodiversity, mainly indigenous, endemic, rare and threatened trees and shrubs of Ethiopia, (Healey 2016; Tilahun et al. 2015; Wassie 2002). The remnant forests survived as a result of the traditional conservation effort of the church (Tilahun et al. 2015) such as spiritual, social and cultural taboos, rules and customs in the church yard (Bayrak & Marafa 2017). In the church believe, forests are considered as shelter of the earth crust which provides enormous scenery to the world (Tura et al. 2017). Due to this, EOTC has a long history of planting, protecting and preserving old-aged trees in its premises (Yilma & Derero 2020) that provides shelter for priests, monks, nuns, and other church followers to pray in isolation and attend mass celebrations (Sahle et al., 2021). It was also important in urban greening, climate regulation (Tura et al. 2016), carbon balancing and ecosystem function and stability (Tilahun et al. 2015).

Forest ecosystems could sequester and stored a huge proportion of terrestrial carbon in the world (Beyene et al. 2018). Ethiopia has one of the highest forest resources in the horn of Africa (Mokennen & Tolera 2019) that could store about 2.76 billion ton of biomass carbon stock (Moges et al. 2010). The maximum amount of the biomass carbon was stored in Dry Afromontane forests compared to other terrestrial ecosystems (Mekonnen & Tolera 2019). Now a day, remnant dry Afromontane forest patches are common around churchyards, monasteries, church compounds and other religious burial grounds in central and northern Ethiopia (Aerts et al. 2016; Cardelus et al. 2019; Ferii et al. 2010; Hordofa et al. 2020). Church forests are the major above- and below-ground carbon stocks in the Northern part of Ethiopia (Alebachew et al.2022) that play a significant role for climate change mitigation (Kindu et al. 2022). The old grown tree rings used in church construction are useful for readily available proxy data sources of past hydro-climate information of various sites in Ethiopia (Kindu et al. 2022). Church forests in Dangila district, one of the dry Afromontane forest in Awi-Zone North-Western Ethiopia, had a considerable role for woody species conservation, carbon sequestration and climate change regulation. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to estimate woody species diversity and biomass carbon stock of church forests along urbanization continuum.

Site description

Dangila district was located between 11^o04'48''-11^o24'36”N latitude and 36^o34'48”-37^o00'37”E longitude. It has an area of 918.4 km² with an elevation ranging from 1858 and 2298m above sea level in the northwest highlands of Ethiopia. Plain land area is the most dominant followed by rugged lands. The mean annual temperature and rainfall records were 17^oC and 1578 mm respectively (Belay 2018). The total population of the district was 199,197 in mid-2017 of which 98,282 were females and 100,814 males (CSA 2013). Among these 23.64% people were residing in towns (Belay 2018). According to the characteristic species identified, the forest was categorized as dry evergreen Afromontane forest and grassland complex vegetation.

Determination of forest area

After each church forest was delineated by using GPS track with the accuracy of about 3m, the total sample area was measured and summed up for each urbanization continuum. The delineation of the forest area enhances accurate measurement and accounting of biomass carbon stock along urbanization continuum.

Sampling techniques and data collection

After a list of churches was taken from parish council and tourism office, a preliminary survey was made and categorized into urban, peri-urban and rural continuum based on infrastructure, income source housing, and socio-cultural characteristics of the community in consultation with district experts. Then, a reconnaissance survey was made and three churches were purposively selected from each urbanization continuum based on age gradient. The surface area of the church forests was ranged from 1.34–6.01 ha. Finally, modified Gentry transect lines were laid down systematically in three cardinal directions with 120⁰ interval from the church center to the edge of the forest. Each modified Gentry transect line were laid down away from the transitional area (Cardelus et al. 2019 & Sewagegn et al. 2022), that was traditionally extends 40arm ≈ 20m length of radius to a surrounding wall or fence. Because it was clear (sometimes scattered trees are retained) and serve for attending the mass every Sunday, or for celebrating annual rituals (Sahle et al. 2021). Mostly, the church forests envelope the church building and they were more or less circular so that Modified Gentry transect line method was more appropriate. The first transect line were laid down purposively at 2m width and the length depends on the size of the forest (Cardelus et al. 2019 & Sewagegn et al. 2022).

Finally, woody species inventory was made from a 2m width modified Gentry transect line following the approaches of Cardelus et al. (2019) & Sewagegn et al. (2022). Tree height was measured by using clinometer in a position which was possible to observe the tips and bottom of the trees/shrub (Sewagegn et al. 2022; Cardelus et al. 2019 & Woods et al. 2016). Woody species having a DBH/DSH ≥ 5cm were measured and recorded by using caliper for biomass estimation (Sewagegn et al. 2022; Yilma & Derero 2020; Gedefaw et al.,2014; Gebeyehu et al. 2019). The species with DBH/DSH < 5cm were recorded as sapling and the undergrowth (height less than 1m) were seedlings (Sewagegn et al. 2022; Abunie & Dalle 2018). Seedlings were counted and recorded in 2m×2m width of three quadrates along the Gentry transect lines of the church forest (Cardelus et al. 2019 & Sewagegn et al. 2022). The data was collected from January- February 2021 after the main rainy season in the locality.

As much as possible, each woody species in the sample area was recorded and code with local and vernacular names. The identification was done by using Bekele (2007); and published Flora of Ethiopia and Eritrea guidelines, Edwards et al. (1995); Hedberg & Edwards (1989).

Analysis of woody species diversity, similarity and structure

Woody species diversity was determined by using Shannon diversity index (H'), evenness index (𝐸), density (D) and species richness (R). They provide important information about the church forests. The similarity in woody species composition of church forests among urbanization continuum was computed by using Sorensen’s similarity coefficient (𝑆𝑠) (Molla & Kewessa 2015; Tegene et al. 2018; Sewagegn et al. 2022).

Woody species community structure was computed by using species frequency (homogeneity and heterogeneity), density (number of individual woody species within a given area) and dominance (crowdedness of the forest). After computing the relative frequency, density and dominance of each species using Eqs. (1, 2 & 3) respectively (Abunie & Dalle 2018; Sewagegn et al. 2022; Tegene et al. 2018), each woody species IVI value was computed by Eq. (4) as follows: IVI value used to determine the overall importance of each species in the community.

$$\text{R}\text{e}\text{l}\text{a}\text{t}\text{i}\text{v} \text{d}\text{e}\text{n}\text{s}\text{i}\text{t}\text{y} \left(\text{R}\text{d}\right)= \frac{\text{D}\text{e}\text{n}\text{s}\text{i}\text{t}\text{y} \text{o}\text{f} \text{s}\text{p}\text{e}\text{c}\text{i}\text{e}\text{s} \text{A}}{\text{T}\text{o}\text{t}\text{a}\text{l} \text{d}\text{e}\text{n}\text{s}\text{i}\text{t}\text{y} \text{o}\text{f} \text{a}\text{l}\text{l} \text{s}\text{p}\text{e}\text{c}\text{i}\text{e}\text{s} }\times 100$$

.......……..…

$$\text{R}\text{e}\text{l}\text{a}\text{t}\text{i}\text{v}\text{e} \text{F}\text{r}\text{e}\text{q}\text{u}\text{e}\text{n}\text{c}\text{y}\left(\text{R}\text{F}\right)=\frac{\text{F}\text{r}\text{e}\text{q}\text{u}\text{e}\text{n}\text{c}\text{y} \text{o}\text{f} \text{a} \text{s}\text{p}\text{e}\text{c}\text{i}\text{e}\text{s}}{\text{S}\text{u}\text{m} \text{o}\text{f} \text{f}\text{r}\text{e}\text{q}\text{u}\text{e}\text{n}\text{c}\text{i}\text{e}\text{s} \text{o}\text{f} \text{a}\text{l}\text{l} \text{s}\text{p}\text{e}\text{c}\text{i}\text{e}\text{s}}\times 100$$

………...…..……..

$$\text{R}\text{e}\text{l}\text{a}\text{t}\text{i}\text{v}\text{e} \text{d}\text{o}\text{m}\text{i}\text{n}\text{a}\text{n}\text{c}\text{e} \left(\text{R}\text{D}\right)= \frac{\text{B}\text{a}\text{s}\text{a}\text{l} \text{a}\text{r}\text{e}\text{a} \text{o}\text{f} \text{s}\text{p}\text{e}\text{c}\text{i}\text{e}\text{s} \text{A}}{\text{T}\text{o}\text{t}\text{a}\text{l} \text{b}\text{a}\text{s}\text{a}\text{l} \text{a}\text{r}\text{e}\text{a} \text{o}\text{f} \text{a}\text{l}\text{l} \text{s}\text{p}\text{e}\text{c}\text{i}\text{e}\text{s} }\times 100$$

.....................

(IVI) = Relative density + Relative frequency + Relative dominance……………….…….... (4)

The DBH and DSH data of all individuals were categorized into ten classes, i.e., 5-10cm (A), 10.1-15cm (B), 15.1-20cm (C), 20.1-25cm (D), 25.1-30cm (E), 30.1-35cm (F), 35.1-40cm (G), 40.1-45cm (H), 45.1-50cm (I) & >50cm (J) as well as the height data was also grouped into ten classes i.e., <5m (A), 5.1–10(B), 10.1–15(C), 15.1–20(D), 20.1–25(E), 25.1–30(F), 30.1–35(J), 35.1–40(H), 40.1–45(I), > 45m (J) by using Microsoft Excel (Sewagegn et al. 2022). It is important to identify the current condition of the forest for conservation and management planning. The data was presented by histogram (Beyene et al. 2011)

Estimation of above and below ground biomass carbon

The biomass carbon stock of each woody species having a DBH/DSH ≥ 5 cm was estimated through a nondestructive approach by using Chave et al. (2014) general allometric equations. Because many species didn’t have a developed species-specific allometric equation (Cardelus et al. 2019), and it consumes time and cost (Sewagegn et al. 2022). The biomass carbon stock was computed by Eq. (5) as shown below:-

𝐴𝐺𝐵 = 0.0673 × (𝜌D²𝐻t) ^^0.976……………………………………………………….………... (5)

Where, AGB = aboveground biomass (kg), Ht = Height of tree (m), D = Diameter (cm) at breast height (1.3m), and 𝜌 = Wood density (0.58 ton/m³ (Zanne et al., 2009).

Below ground biomass was estimated by taking 25% of aboveground biomass following Cairns et al. (1997). The biomass carbon stock was also converted into carbon (C) and CO₂ equivalence by multiplying 0.5 (Brown 2002) and 3.67 (Pearson et al. 2007) respectively.

Statistical Analysis

The level of significance among parameters was analyzed by ANOVA and multiple comparison test (LSD) along urbanization continuum. The relationship among parameters was also analyzed by using Pearson’s correlation (Esubalew et al. 2019; Sewagegn et al. 2022). The analysis was done by Microsoft Excel 2010, SPSS version 20 software and Sigma Plot 14.0

Floristic composition of church forests

A total of 62, 57 & 73 woody species that belongs to 34, 32 & 40 families were identified along urban, peri-urban & rural church forests respectively. The most diverse family was Fabaceae followed by Asteraceae and Rutaceae. It was similarly dominated in Debrelibanos Monastery (Koricho et al. 2020), Yemrehane Kirstos Church Forest (Abunie & Dalle 2018), selected church forests of Dangila (Birhanu et al. 2021), and Kuandisha forest (Berhanu et al. 2016).

Woody species diversity, evenness & Similarity along urbanization

The mean Shannon diversity (Hˈ), 2.65 (Table 1), was greater than Gra-Kahsu natural vegetation (Atsbha et al. 2019) and church forests of Addis Ababa (Yilma & Derero 2020). However, it was lower than Debre Libanos (Koricho et al. 2020), Tara Gedam (Zegeye et al. 2011) and Yemrehane Kirstos church forests (Abunie and Dalle 2018). The mean woody species evenness of the present study, 0.42, indicates unbalanced distribution of individual woody species in the forest. For example, Ficus thonningii, Apodytes dimidiate and Ficus vasta were represented by a very small population number; on the other hand Eucalyptus camaldulensis were occurred in excess in the church forests. The variation in diversity and evenness among the studies might be agro ecology, management strategy and objective.

The variation in woody species richness, evenness and Shannon diversity was statistically insignificant along urbanization continuum (Table 1). It was different from a study conducted in USA (McKinney 2002); Kumasi (Nero et al. 2017); Ethiopian highland forests (Mekonnen et al. 2019). The reason might be plantation forests in Amhara region mainly found in Awi zones including the present study (Mekonnen et al. 2016) that could reduce the pressure on remnant urban, peri-urban and rural church forests. In addition, EOTC has well organized administration hierarchy (Figure 2). Therefore, the communities surrounding the churches do not even remove dead branches from the church forest due to religious sanctions (Gizit) and legal protections (Mosissa & Abraha 2019). This powerful social norm allowed church forests to play its significant role for woody species diversity and biomass carbon sequestration over time (Tura et al. 2016; Sahle et al. 2021) in urban, peri-urban and rural continuums through sustained forest management. Therefore, Social institutions in general and church forests in particular have playing an important greening role in urban and rural parts of the country (Tura et al. 2016).

Table 1 List of nine church forest area, basal area, diversity, evenness, richness, density, percent of exotic species, and biomass carbon stock along urbanization continuum.

No-	Church name	Urbanization	Area (ha)	R	E	H'	D (ha)	Ex (%)	Exotic species				Indigenous species			BA (m2)	AGC (ha)	BGC (ha)	TBC (ha)	ISC (ha)
No-	Church name	Urbanization	Area (ha)	R	E	H'	D (ha)	Ex (%)	D (ha)	R	E	H'	R	E	H	BA (m2)	AGC (ha)	BGC (ha)	TBC (ha)	ISC (ha)
1	Agunta Maryam	A	3.63	43	0.32	2.61	17112	9.3	1622	4	0.47	0.63	39	0.31	2.48	54.86	29.91	7.48	37.39	34.88
2	Gragrie T/haymanot	A	3.45	33	0.42	2.64	11136	18.18	2618	6	0.37	0.79	27	0.6	2.78	38.61	21.78	5.44	27.22	22.86
3	Debre Tiguhan Kidus Urael	A	2.24	31	0.22	1.9	14921	22.58	9174	7	0.26	0.61	24	0.68	2.79	22.23	8.22	2.05	10.27	3.9
4	Abadra medhanialem	B	3.43	34	0.57	2.97	12315	5.88	2025	3	0.93	0.62	31	0.59	2.9	51.25	63.26	15.82	79.08	77.71
5	Gult T/haymanot	B	2.61	33	0.45	2.69	14588	6.06	1129	2	0.7	0.34	31	0.43	2.6	116.33	110.8	27.7	138.5	136.88
6	Wondayita Bata	B	2.63	34	0.3	2.34	15970	5.88	5216	2	0.51	0.02	33	0.61	3	26.37	11.64	2.91	14.55	6.77
7	Chiwagi Mikael	C	6.01	42	0.46	2.96	16023	2.38	477	1	1	0	41	0.44	2.9	153.51	61.86	15.46	77.32	77.32
8	Abla Maryam	C	4.22	34	0.53	2.88	11007	8.82	963	3	0.75	0.82	31	0.51	2.77	38.78	23.96	5.99	29.95	29.23
9	Gisa Balegziabher	C	1.34	31	0.57	2.87	12713	29.03	3942	9	0.51	1.52	22	0.61	2.6	50.88	24.9	6.23	31.13	25.66
Sum			29.56	315	3.84	23.86	125784	108.13	27166	37	5.5	5.35	279	4.78	24.82	552.82	356.33	89.08	445.41	415.21
Mean			3.28	35	0.42	2.65	13976	12.01	3018	4.11	0.61	0.59	31	0.53	2.76	61.42	39.59	9.9	49.49	46.13
F			0.365	0.162	2.904	2.198	0.189	1.142	.660	1.267	3.529	0.749	0.045	0.022	0.522	2.904	1.142	1.315	1.315	1.204
P			0.708	0.854	0.131	0.192	0.832	0.38	.551	0.348	0.097	0.513	0.956	0.978	0.618	0.131	0.38	0.336	0.336	0.363

A = Urban, B = peri-urban, C = Rural, BA = basal area, H'= Shannon diversity, E = evenness, R = richness, D = density, %ex = percent of exotic species, AGC = above ground biomass carbon, BGC = below ground biomass carbon, TBC = total biomass carbon stock, ISC = indigenous species biomass carbon.

The overall Sorensen’s similarity index (Ss’) was high (> 0.5) at each urbanization continuum (Table 2). Therefore, urban, peri-urban and rural church forests were interconnected with each other in the study area. The occurrence of such links was also highly critical for the sustainability of different fauna and flora as well as urban green infrastructure development (Feyisa et al. 2022).

Table 2 Sorensen’s similarity index value along urbanization continuum

	Urban	Peri-urban	Rural
Urban	1	0.71	0.79
Peri-urban		1	0.70
Rural			1

Trends of indigenous and exotic species

The maximum and minimum indigenous woody species richness was recorded at Chiwagi Mikael and Gisa Balegziabher church forests respectively. Indigenous woody species richness was higher than exotics in all sampled church forests (Table 1). The result confirm a similar study conducted in church forests of Addis Ababa (Tura et al. 2016); North Gondar (Wassie et al., 2010); Tara Gedam (Zegeye et al. 2011), Abune Teklehayimanot Church Forest (Alebachew et al. 2022) and North-West Ethiopia (Mequanint et al. 2020). Because churches have a long history of planting native species around their premises for live fencing, shelter (Wassie, 2007; Woldemedhin & Tekelay 2016; Mosissa & Abraha 2018; Feyisa et al. 2022) as well as at burial grounds as memorizing their dead person.

The variation of exotic and indigenous species richness, density, Shannon diversity and evenness was insignificant along urbanization continuum (Table 1). However, Pearson’s correlation reveals that indigenous and exotic woody species richness showed a statistically significant negative correlation (Table 2). Therefore, urban churches gave more concern on planting exotics rather than indigenous species for its fast growing habit, aesthetic values, income source and fencing (Cardelus et al. 2017 & Mekonnen et al. 2019). It might also aggravate the influence of native woody species in urban church forests in the near future.

Woody species community structure

Frequency: The overall frequent tree species were Eucalyptus camaldulensis and Croton macrostachyus; whereas Celtis africana, Ekebergia capensis, Eriobotrya japonica and Galiniera saxifrage were the least frequent tree species (Sewagegn et al. 2022). The highest frequent woody species along urban, peri-urban and rural continuum were Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Eucalyptus camaldulensis & Justicia schimperiana respectively (Table 4).

Density: The highest woody species density along urban, peri-urban & rural continuum was Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Eucalyptus camaldulensis & Justicia schimperiana respectively (Table 4). The density of Exotic species in general and Eucalyptus camaldulensis in particular was quantitatively decreased from urban to rural church forests; however, the variation is not statistically significant (Table 1). The result was different from the study conducted by Wassie (2002), Cardelus et al. (2017), Mekonnen. (2019), Mulatu (2019). However, the observable trends showed that there might be a significant variation among urban, peri-urban and rural exotic and indigenous woody species density in the near future (Sewagegn et al. 2022). The Pearson’s correlation also confirms that exotic and indigenous woody species showed a negative relationship along urbanization continuum. Because the church community has been planting fast growing exotic species to satisfy their income for church building, maintenance, fencing, demarcation and other expenditures (Sahle et al. 2021), particularly in urban churches. It might also create competition, resource depletion, predation and allopathic effects for native species (Mulatu 2019).

Dominance: woody species dominance was expressed by basal area. The basal area ranges from 22.23-153.51 m² at Debre Tiguhan Kidus Urael and Chiwagi Mikael church forests respectively (Table 1). Eucalyptus camaldulensis contributes the highest basal area followed by Croton macrostachyus and Albizia gummifera. The mean basal area in the present study, 61.42 ± 44.09 m² (Table 1), was greater than a similar study reported in church forests of Addis Ababa (Yilma & Derero. 2020) and Shawo Sacred Forest (Agidew & Mezgebe 2019); however, it was lower than Yemrehane Kirstos (Abunie & Dalle., 2018) and Tara Gedam church forests (Zegeye et al. 2011). The species that contribute the largest dominance/basal area along urban, peri-urban & rural continuum were Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Eucalyptus camaldulensis & Croton macrostachyus repectively (Table 4).

Importance Value Index (IVI): The highest and the lowest IVI value trees were Eucalyptus camaldulensis and Celtis africana respectively (Sewagegn et al. 2022). Therefore, Celtis africana need the first priority for conservation and vice versa. The species with the highest IVI value along urban, peri-urban and rural church forests were Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Eucalyptus camaldulensis & Croton macrostachyus respectively (Table 4).

Table 4 list of top fifty IVI value species in the district along urbanization continuum

	Urban church forest					Peri-urban church forest					Rural church forest
No	Species Name	RF	RD	Rdo	IVI	Species Name	RF	RD	RDo	IVI	Species Name	RF	RD	Rdo	IVI
1	Eucalyptus camaldulensis	29.33	28.88	76.68	134.9	Eucalyptus camaldulensis	23.64	27.52	56.11	107.28	Croton macrostachyus	6.51	4.41	28.26	39.18
2	Justicia schimperiana	3.95	17.84	0	21.78	Croton macrostachyus	4.066	1.96	15.4	21.43	Justicia schimperiana	7.81	17.84	0	25.66
3	Croton macrostachyus	5.66	3.955	9.472	19.09	Justicia schimperiana	4.819	9.47	0	14.29	Dracaena steudneri	3.62	2.06	19.53	25.21
4	Vernonia auriculifera	5.32	6.642	0.057	12.02	Albizia gummifera	4.217	3.92	5.77	13.9	Bersama abyssinica	6.37	4.92	6.44	17.73
5	Maytenus arbutifolia	5.49	6.269	0.008	11.77	Podocarpus falcatus	1.054	0.47	10.97	12.5	Euphorbia abyssinica	3.04	1.62	11.61	16.26
6	Cupressus lusitanica	4.8	2.239	4.121	11.16	Grevillea robusta	5.572	2.57	3.67	11.81	Millettia ferruginea	4.78	3.16	6.65	14.58
7	Carissa spinarum	2.4	3.06	0.377	5.838	Clausena anisata	4.367	5.68	0.01	10.06	Maytenus arbutifolia	5.93	6.75	0	12.69
8	Brucea antidyssenterica	3.43	2.313	0	5.744	Maytenus arbutifolia	4.066	4.33	0	8.39	Eucalyptus camaldulensis	3.04	7.27	0.56	10.87
9	Pavonia urens	2.06	3.657	0	5.715	Vernonia auriculifera	3.464	3.85	0	7.32	Albizia gummifera	3.76	2.28	4.76	10.8
10	Albizia gummifera	2.57	1.343	1.268	5.185	Millettia ferruginea	2.56	1.56	3.18	7.3	Clausena anisata	4.34	5.43	0.04	9.81
11	Euphorbia abyssinica	1.03	0.448	3.04	4.517	Carissa spinarum	3.313	3.52	0.21	7.04	Vernonia auriculifera	3.33	4.55	0	7.88
12	Vepris nobilis	2.74	1.418	0.127	4.289	Juniperus procera	2.108	1.28	1.24	4.63	Maesa lanceolata	3.91	3.01	0.86	7.78
13	Clausena anisata	1.89	2.015	0	3.902	Grewia ferruginea	2.56	1.89	0.11	4.56	Acacia abyssinica	1.16	0.59	5.72	7.47
14	Grevillea robusta	2.23	1.269	0.31	3.808	Vepris nobilis	2.711	1.62	0.2	4.53	Ritchiea albersii	4.05	3.3	0.04	7.39
15	Vernonia amygdalina	2.06	1.493	0.02	3.571	Capparis tomentosa	2.108	2.23	0.04	4.38	Berchemia discolor	3.18	1.98	1.39	6.56

RF = Relative Frequency, RD = Relative Density, RDo = Relative Dominance and IVI = Important Value Index

Diameter at breast height (DBH) and Height Distribution:

There were a high number of individuals in the first and second DBH and height classes with gradual decrease towards the middle and higher classes in the study area. Hence, the DBH and height class of church forests in the study area showed a general inverse J-shaped distribution (Figure 3A & B). The result confirms a similar study conducted in Tara Gedam (Zegeye et al. 2011), Debre Libanos (Koricho et al. 2020), South Gondar (Mekonnen 2019) and Kuandisha Mikael church forest (Berhanu et al. 2016). In addition, the DBH class distributions of urban, per-urban and rural church forests were also showed an inverted J-shape (Figure 4A - C). Generally, the community structure of church forests in the present study was healthy. However, it doesn’t mean that all woody species were healthy. For example: - the population structure of Ehretia cymosa, Podocarpus falcatus and Acacia abyssinica were not healthy (Figure 5A -C). It confirms that assessment of church forest composition and structure is crucial to identify the presence of rare or threatened species for effective conservation and management planning (Zegeye et al. 2011). Therefore, each species differed widely in structural features (Wassie et al. 2010) and it needs an attention for better management and conservation.

Woody biomass carbon stock (living above and below) of church forests.

The highest and lowest biomass carbon stock was recorded in Gult Teklehaymanot and Debre Tiguhan Kidus Urael church forests respectively. The mean above and below ground biomass carbon stock, 39.59 and 9.90 ton/ha, could capture 145.30 and 36.33 metric ton of co₂equivalence respectively. In addition, the mean biomass carbon stock of the church forest, 49.49 ton/ha (Table 1), could also generate 762.64$ carbon credit; assuming the price of carbon credits per ton is about 15.41$ (Siraj 2019). The result was comparable with Sekele-Mariam church forest (Mekonnen & Tolera 2019) and lower than Gurage Zone church forests (Sahle et al. 2021), Zequala Monastery forest (Girma et al. 2014), Addis Ababa church forests (Yilma & Derero 2020), Abune Teklehayimanot Church Forest (Alebachew et al. 2022) and selected church forests (Tura et al., 2013). The variation of biomass carbon stock among the studies might be agro ecology, allometric equation used (Mekonnen & Tolera 2019), management objective, DBH ranges and selective cutting for church construction. The mean total biomass carbon stock along urban, peri-urban and rural continuums was 24.96±13.70, 77.38±61.99 and 46.13±27.01ton/ha respectively (Table 1). According to the result the highest biomass carbon stock was recorded at peri-urban church forests; because urban church areas were covered by huge church buildings, burial grounds and mahiber houses. In addition, peri-urban church forests were relatively covered by regularly planted tree species compared to rural church forests.

Relationship between the different church and tree parameters

The Pearson’s correlation reveals that biomass carbon stock and basal area had statistically significant positive relationship at 95% confidence interval. Hence, the reduction of basal area through different factors might reduce the biomass carbon stock (Sewagegn et al. 2022), carbon credits and co₂ equivalence of church forests. The biomass carbon stock and Shannon diversity had also a quantitative positive relationship in the present study (Table 3). It implies that biomass carbon stock increases with diversity in highly diverse natural forests and high productivity areas i.e. church forests (Mensah et al. 2016).

Table 3Pearson correlation of indigenous and exotic species richness, Shannon diversity, and evenness (N = 9)

	Area	BA	TBC	ISC	D	H'	E	R	%ex	ESR	ESE	ESH	ISR	ISE	ISH
Area	1
BA	0.573	1
TBC	0.212	.763*	1
ISC	0.249	.773*	.999**	1
D	0.122	0.324	0.083	0.071	1
H'	0.439	0.496	0.471	0.497	-0.362	1
E	0.132	0.284	0.403	0.421	-0.629	.902**	1
R	.730*	0.51	0.15	0.176	0.601	0.3	-0.118	1
%ex	-.682*	-0.493	-0.51	-0.525	-0.327	-0.324	-0.043	-0.575	1
ESR	-.672*	-0.531	-0.516	-0.528	-0.331	-0.285	-0.021	-0.52	.988**	1
ESE	0.643	.669*	0.624	0.647	-0.057	.775*	0.653	0.379	-.692*	-.681*	1
ESH	-0.535	-0.425	-0.296	-0.293	-0.583	0.182	0.433	-0.443	.804**	.840**	-0.333	1
ISR	.791*	0.57	0.309	0.331	0.582	0.315	-0.095	.922**	-.839**	-.808**	0.549	-.695*	1
ISE	-0.492	-0.569	-0.47	-0.49	-0.46	-0.395	-0.047	-.811**	0.543	0.502	-0.349	0.259	-.772*	1
ISH	0.305	-0.068	-0.181	-0.183	-0.099	-0.079	-0.046	-0.143	-0.349	-0.388	0.303	-0.528	0.093	0.539	1
* Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).
** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). BA = basal area, TBC = total biomass carbon stock, ISC = indigenous species biomass carbon, D = density, H'= Shannon diversity, E = evenness, R = richness, %ex = percent of exotic species, ESR = exotic species richness, ESE = exotic species evenness, ESH = exotic species Shannon diversity, ISR = indigenous species richness, ISE= indigenous species evenness, ISH = indigenous species Shannon diversity

Conclusion

The study was conducted on woody species diversity and carbon stock of selected church forests in Dangila Woreda, Awi-zone, Ethiopia. According to the major identified species, the church forests were categorized as dry evergreen Afromontane forest and grassland complex vegetation. The study identified a total of 91 woody species among these 86.81% was indigenous species.

The church forests had a medium Shannon diversity and lower evenness index. The mean Shannon diversity and evenness of church forests were quantitatively increased towards urban, peri-urban and rural continuum respectively. Indigenous woody species contribute the highest Shannon diversity (≥ 77.94%) at each urbanization continuum. Indigenous and exotic species richness had a strong negative relationship. The density of exotic species was also quantitatively increased from rural to urban continuums. It indicates that urban churches give more concern for planting exotic species particularly E. camaldulensis in urbanized churches for income generation, area demarcation and live fencing. Due to this, Eucalyptus camaldulensis were the highest IVI value tree species. The general community structure along urbanization continuum was healthy (inverse J-shape) because churches had a better level of forests protection.

The mean total biomass carbon stock along urban, peri-urban and rural continuums was 24.96, 77.38 and 46.13 ton/ha respectively. Among this, indigenous species biomass carbon stock contribution was ≥ 82.33% of exotic species in all urbanization continuums. The highest exotic species biomass carbon stock (4.41 ton/ha) was recorded in urban churches. It implies that church forests in the present study provide a sound conservation of indigenous woody species in their periphery and play its role for climate change mitigation.

Recommendation

According to the present study, church forests should be scaled up and supported by policy; conserved through a collaboration work of governmental institutions and the community; the government should encourage and acknowledge churches for its contribution to ecosystem service; church followers should be aware about the impact of burial ground, huge buildings and mahiber houses particularly around urban churches.

Author contribution statement

Geremew Bitew: Participated in conceptualization and setting objectives of the study, carried out the species identification, delineation of forest areas, data collection and analysis, drafted the original draft and participated in correcting the manuscript after comments by the anonymous reviewers and the Editor.

Dagm Fikr: Conceptualized the study, carried out part of the data analysis, supervised the study, improved the original draft and handled the corrections of the manuscript after comments by the anonymous reviewers and the Editor and enriched the paper.

Funding

Ethiopia biodiversity institute covered the data collection expense.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this manuscript are available from the corresponding author upon request.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this paper.

Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to Asmamaw Alemu (PhD) and Yohannis Gebremariam for their advice and comments from proposal up to the manuscript. We are very grateful to Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute for funding. We glad Mr.Tilahun Azene and Mulugeta Aschale for their support during data collection and identification as well as Mr. Agumassie Genet for his support in site map preparation. We are also thankful to Dangila Woreda Parish council office and cultural and tourism office for their support for providing the necessary information.

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Church Forests Diversity and Biomass Carbon Stock Along Urbanization Continuum in Dangila District, Awi-Zone, Ethiopia

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Abstract

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Introduction

Materials And Methods

Site description

Determination of forest area

Sampling techniques and data collection

Analysis of woody species diversity, similarity and structure

Estimation of above and below ground biomass carbon

Statistical Analysis

Result And Discussion

Floristic composition of church forests

Woody species diversity, evenness & Similarity along urbanization

Trends of indigenous and exotic species

Woody species community structure

Woody biomass carbon stock (living above and below) of church forests.

Relationship between the different church and tree parameters

Conclusion And Recommendation

Conclusion

Recommendation

Declarations

References

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