1 Plant Community Types, Vegetation Structure and Regeneration Status of Remnant Dry Afromontane Natural Forest Patch within Debrelibanos Monastery, Ethiopia Getachew Demie 1 , Mulugeta Lemenih 2 , Satishkumar Belliethanthan 3 Getachew Demie Hawassa University Wondo Genet College of Forestry and Natural Resource Email: ge.demie1990@gmail.com Mulugeta Lemenih International Livestock Research Institute; Addis Ababa Email.com: elerohi@yahoo.com Satishkumar Belliethathan Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia Email: satishbellie@gmail.com Abstract: The remnant forest patch within Debrelibanos monastery, a sacred isolated site, was studied to determine plant community types, vegetation structure and regeneration status of woody species and to provide information for sustainable management of the forest. Data was collected using a nested plot design (51quadrat of 20 x 20m size with five sub-quadrats of 3x3m within each major quadrat) was systematically laid across the forest. Diameter at Breast Height (DBH) and height was measured for all trees, shrubs and climbers with dbh and height greater than or equal to 2.5cm and 2m, respectively. Three community types and vertical structures (upper storey (>23.67m), middle storey (11.83 – 23.67m) and lower storey (<11.83 m)) were identified within the forest patch. In terms of population structure, most of the tree species showed a bell shaped with density of mature trees less than that of sapling and the saplings greater than seedling population. This implies that, the forest has poor regeneration and it requires urgent conservation and management actions as reiterated by nearly 73.34% of the respondent. Keywords: Population structure, Community type, Natural forest, DBH class, regeneration Introduction Ethiopia is a biodiversity rich country located in the Horn of Africa, stretching from 3° to 15° N latitude and 33° to 48° E longitude. The country covers a total area of 1.13 million km 2 (EMA, 1988). Its flora and fauna diversity comprises about 6500 to 7000 plant species, 240 species of mammals, and 845 species of birds. About 12% of flora diversity, 22 species of mammals, 24 species of birds, 6 reptile and 30 amphibian species are known to be endemic to the country (Teketay, 2001; Lemenih and Teketay, 2004). This makes Ethiopia the fifth known among African countries for endemism of plant and animal species (Gebere Egziabher, 1991; Edwards and Ensermu, 1999; Demissew and Nordal, 2010). These are the result of suitable climatic condition, geographic location of the country (i.e. being tropical country) and