Evaluation of species-climate relationships in the Ethiopian moist montane forests
The Ethiopian moist montane forests support a very high species diversity that is likely to be affected by global climate change. It is currently not possible to estimate how these changes will influence forest distribution and diversity due to limited knowledge regarding the ecological requirements of the respective plant species. This project aims at identifying the critical climatic factors for the distribution of selected forest species as a basis for modelling their current distributional ranges in Ethiopia.
The project will build on species and environmental data collected previously in the Ethiopian moist montane forests – see “Floristic composition and affinities of the Ethiopian coffee forest vegetation”. Specifically, it is envisaged to relate altitude and bioclimatic factors to the distribution of selected plant species in order to model their potential distributional ranges in Ethiopia. Species will be selected considering the robustness of the statistical results and ecological and socioeconomic criteria, such as threat, role in ecosystem functioning, importance for human uses and wider distribution in eastern Africa. For model evaluation, the potential species ranges will be compared to published records of species occurrences and ecological requirements.
The project is a pilot study for the preparation of a DFG project proposal which will aim at evaluating the impacts of climate change on the Ethiopian moist montane forests and similar forests in East Africa. The results are envisaged to contribute to the development of forest management strategies in view of climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Duration:
2013-2014
Funding:
Innovationsfonds Forschung 1/2013
Researcher:
Dr. Cristabel Durán Rangel, Dr. Christine Schmitt
Project Partners:
Prof. Carsten Dormann(Biometrie), Dr. Feyera Senbeta (AAU), Dr. Tadesse Woldemariam(ECFF)
