Vegetation ecology and biomass
On the first look, Kaya Kambe represents a largely intact forest island to date that is a habitat for numerous animal and plant species, some of which are rare and endemic. However, the forest is characterized by serious human disturbances, such as selective logging, charcoal production, and trapping of animals. In this working package vegetation structure (species composition, regeneration, disturbance) was studied based on standardized recording plots. In addition, biomass is also determined for the studied plots, as CO2 storage is a very important component for forest conservation. This working package was conducted by Agere Amilaku Simeneh, Abere Mulusew Ayele (all Bahir Dar University), Linus Mbogo Chomba, Robert Mokua, Francis Masha Gona (all Pwani University), and supervised by Dr. Solomon Addisu Legesse, Dr. Habtamu Assaya Deffersha (both Bahir Dar University) and Prof. Dr. Christine Schmitt (University of Passau). This working package takes place in close cooperation with the botanical expert Kennedy Matheka from National Museums of Kenya (Nairobi).
