Floristic composition and affinities of the Ethiopian coffee forest vegetation

The Afromontane rainforests of Ethiopia have global importance because they are the centre of genetic diversity of Coffea arabica and still harbour wild populations of this species. Furthermore, they are part of the Eastern Afromontane Biodiversity Hotspot due to their high species diversity and the increasing threats from human land-use pressure.

View of the wild coffee forests South of Bonga (© Schmitt 2005)

The Center for Development Research ( ZEF) facilitated three doctoral theses within the project “Conservation and use of wild populations of Coffea arabica in the montane rainforests of Ethiopia” ( CoCE) that carried out comprehensive vegetation studies in the coffee forest regions of southwestern and southeastern Ethiopia ( TADESSE WOLDEMARIAM 2003, FEYERA SENBETA 2006, SCHMITT 2006). The aim was to gain new insights into the floristic composition of these forest regions in relation to variations in climate and altitude. The theses suggest different vegetation groups, forest types or community types; however, an integration of these classification approaches is lacking because none of the studies considered all forest regions.

This project will combine the species and environmental data that were collected for the three doctoral theses. This is possible because the studies used similar data collection methods. Together, these data constitute the largest quantitative data set that currently exists for the Afromontane forests of Ethiopia.

Mutivariate methods will be used to analyse the floristic composition of the coffee forest vegetation in relation to different environmental factors and geographic location. This joint data analysis offers the opportunity to integrate the results of the previous studies and to evaluate them in a larger context. The results of the project are considered as important contribution to the refinement of the Ethiopian forest classification and as a basis for conservation planning for the highly threatened wild coffee forests.

Ethiopian coffee ceremony (© Schmitt 2003)


Funding:	Center for Development Research ( ZEF) / Federal Ministry of Education and Research ( BMBF)
Researcher:	Dr. Christine Schmitt
Project partners:	Dr. Manfred Denich ( ZEF)
	Dr. Feyera Senbeta ( ECFF )
	Dr. Tadesse Woldemariam ( ECFF )