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Research Article | Open Access

Tree-based ecosystem services supply and multifunctionality of church forests and their agricultural matrix near Lake Tana, Ethiopia

Department of Wildlife and Ecotourism Management, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia
Terrestrial Ecology Unit, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
Division Forest, Nature, and Landscape, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Alliance Biodiversity International – CIAT, Lima, Peru
Organization for Rehabilitation and Development in Amhara, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia
Department of Natural Resource Management, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia
Department of Geography, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
INRAE, AMAP, IRD, CIRAD, CNRS, University Montpellier, Bld de La Lironde, 34398, Montpellier Cedex 5, France
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Abstract

Ecosystem services (ES) are the connection between nature and society, and are essential for the well-being of local communities that depend on them. In Ethiopia, church forests and the surrounding agricultural matrix supply numerous ES. However, the ES delivered by both land use types have not yet been assessed simultaneously. Here we surveyed both church forests and their agricultural matrices, aiming to quantify, compare and unravel the drivers underlying tree-based ES supply, density and multifunctionality. We found that almost all church forests and half of the agricultural matrices provided high ES densities. ES multifunctionality was higher in the agricultural matrices, suggesting that people deliberately conserve or plant multifunctional tree species. Furthermore, the supply of all categories of ES was positively correlated with church forest age (p-value < 0.001) in the agricultural matrix, while the extent of church forest was positively correlated with the density of all categories ecosystem services score in the church forests (p-value < 0.001). Our results can be used to prioritize conservation efforts at sites that provide high levels of ES supply, ES density and ES multifunctionality, and to prioritize restoration efforts at sites with low levels thereof.

Keywords

MultifunctionalityRemnant forestChurch forestProvisioning serviceRegulating serviceCultural serviceKey informant interviewAgricultural matrix

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Forest Ecosystems
Volume 10 Issue 6,
December 2023
Article number: 100145
DOI: 10.1016/j.fecs.2023.100145
Cite this article:
Mequanint F, Fremout T, Strubbe D, et al. Tree-based ecosystem services supply and multifunctionality of church forests and their agricultural matrix near Lake Tana, Ethiopia. Forest Ecosystems, 2023, 10(6): 100145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fecs.2023.100145

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Received: 29 September 2022
Revised: 13 October 2023
Accepted: 16 October 2023
Published: 26 October 2023
© 2023 The Authors.

This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
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