Comparison of Woody Species Diversity and Carbon Stock along Natural Forest to Farmland Conversion Gradient in the Gura-Ferda District of Southwestern Ethiopia

ABSTRACT Gura-Ferda forest is part of the moist evergreen Afromontane forest in southwestern Ethiopia. Despite the fact that large sections of this forest have become increasingly disturbed and fragmented since 1984, there is no scientific data on the dynamics of woody species diversity and forest carbon pools. As a result, the research was carried out to assess and compare the diversity of woody species and carbon stock along natural forest to farmland conversion gradient. Data were collected from natural forest, forest-farm interface, and farmland that were previously forest land. For the inventory of woody species, 90 nested plots (20 m*20 m for natural forest and forest-farm interface; 50 m*100 m for farmland) were established. To collect litter and soil samples, three 1 m*1 m subplots were established. Shannon-Wiener diversity index is significantly higher (p < .05) in natural forests (H’ = 2.72 ± 0.31) than in forest-farm interface (H’ = 1.42 ± 0.49) and farmland (H’ = 1.08 ± 0.57). Natural forest total carbon stocks were approximately 1.55 and 2.64 times higher than forest-farm interface and farmland, respectively. This study revealed that there was a substantial reduction in species diversity and carbon stocks along the conversion gradient of natural forest to farmland. The Natural Resource Management sector of the district should use management approaches to reduce the pressure on natural forest, which has resulted in a substantial decrease in species richness and carbon stocks along the natural forest to farmland conversion gradient.