ORIGINAL PAPER Anthropogenic effects on floristic composition, diversity and regeneration potential of the Debrelibanos Monastery forest patch, central Ethiopia Wakshum Shiferaw 1 • Tamrat Bekele 1 • Sebsebe Demissew 1 Received: 28 November 2017 / Accepted: 23 May 2018 Ó Northeast Forestry University and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2018 Abstract This study assesses the effects of human distur- bance on: (1) floristic composition, diversity, and plant community types; and, (2) the regeneration potential of woody species in the Debrelibanos Monastery forest patch in the North Showa zone of Oromia National Regional State, Ethiopia. Fifty sample quadrats were placed on parallel transect lines along altitudes in the forest using a systematic sampling design. Quadrats of 1 m 2 , 100 m 2 and 400 m 2 were used for recording herbaceous/seedling, sap- ling and tree species, respectively, with symptoms of dif- ferent human disturbance effects. One hundred and thirteen species belonging to 52 families were recorded in the forest patch. The results show 459.5 stems ha -1 of tree/shrub species present. Four community types, namely Juniperus procera–Acacia lahai, Carissa spinarum–Acacia abyssi- nica, Olea europaea subsp. cuspidata–Euphorbia abyssi- nica and Ficus sur–Allophylus abyssinicus were identified. The overall Shannon–Wiener diversity index was 3.3. The regeneration patterns of some species were poor. Slope, altitude and human activities had significant effects on vegetation patterns and imply that current management practices are not satisfactory to sustain the forest. Unless improved management interventions are made, the sus- tainability of forest services will be at stake. Keywords Anthropogenic impacts Á Composition Á Community Á Debrelibanos Á Diversity Introduction Forests are among the most important ecosystems and cover about one-third of the earth’s land surface (Thies et al. 2011). Tropical forests are habitats of numerous species, constituting biological diversity through many Webs of Life. They support various life forms, including humans who dwell in settlements in and around forests (Mukhopadhyay et al. 2007). Between 1990 and 2000, 1410 km 2 forests of Ethiopia were lost each year, equaling an average annual deforestation of 0.9%. However, between 2000 and 2005, deforestation increased by 1.0% to 10.4% per year, i.e., 21,140 km 2 lost in 15 years between 1990 and 2005. Estimates by Shiferaw et al. (2018) showed that the area of closed forest declined to about 3.0–4.0% of the country. A recent report (FAO 2007) showed that 124,990 km 2 (11.4%) of the total land area of Ethiopia (1,096,310 km 2 ) was covered by forests. Forest resources, particularly in central and northern Ethiopia, have been denuded in the last several decades and are shrinking mainly towards the south (Dessie and Kleman 2007) and southwestern parts of the country (Aynekulu 2011). In the northern and central highlands, only a few isolated patches can be found in inaccessible areas and around the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido churches (Was- sie 2007; Bekele 1994). Despite declining vegetation Project funding The work was supported by Arba Minch and Addis Ababa Universities. The online version is available at http://www.springerlink.com Corresponding editor: Zhu Hong. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-018-0782-7) contains supple- mentary material, which is available to authorized users. & Wakshum Shiferaw waaqsh@yahoo.com 1 College of Natural Sciences, Plant Biology and Biodiversity Management, Addis Ababa University, P.O. Box 3434, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 123 J. For. Res. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-018-0782-7