Department of biology, DebreMarkos Universiry

In landscape ecology, plants have traditionally been the focus of so much research because plants are producers and the knowledge on them influences the detailed components of watershed. The status of the vegetation in a watershed had largely been studied by using satellite images. Such kinds of works did not indicate the type of plants that exist in the area hence inventory-based approach is critically important. Nested quadrants were used to collect all vascular plant species encountered in each quadrat. Accordingly, 20 m X 20 m size quadrats established for tree and shrub inventory. For seedlings, saplings and herbaceous layers, 3m x 3 m sub quadrats one at each corner and one at the center of each 400 m 2 quadrats were established within the main quadrats. We used Shannon Wiener diversity index, Shannon's evenness index and species turnover (β-diversity) for measuring the diversity and similarity of plants in separate communities and catchment. Frequency, dominance and density measurements were used to identify ecologically important plants in TW.The study resulted a total of 220 vascular plants showed the potential of the remnant patches of forest for future plant based management. The community and catchment classification are helpful to manage the plants based on species distribution and location specific approach in the watershed.

Keywords: patches of forest; plant community; catchment vegetation; Temcha Watershed;