Community structure and drivers of wet miombo woodlands in the Eastern Afromontane biodiversity hotspot

Despite their ecological and socio-economic importance, wet miombo woodlands in Eastern Afromontane biodiversity hotspots are increasingly threatened by anthropogenic disturbances and changes in natural environmental conditions affecting their ecosystem services provisioning and environmental sustainability. Understanding of key factors driving wet miombo community structure in village forests is vital for restoring ecosystem’s functions and integrity. The study used standard ecological methods to examine important human disturbance and environmental variables that determine wet miombo woody plant species total abundance, richness, evenness and diversity using 24 (10 m × 10 m) plots and 72 (1 m × 1 m) subplots in Intake village land forest reserve Southern Tanzania. The forest scored Shannon-Wiener diversity index (H´) of 2.3 (± 0.4 SD) and Pielou’s species evenness index (J´) of 0.7 (± 0.14). Species total abundance was positively (P < 0.05) related to soil pH and soil sand content but negatively (P < 0.05) related to elevation. Of all the human disturbance and environmental variables assessed, only canopy cover was associated positively (P < 0.05) with J´ and H´ of woody plants. None of the tested human disturbance variables could explain significantly (P > 0.05) the spatial variation in total abundance, richness, evenness and diversity, suggesting that environmental variables have relatively more influence on the study woodlands. Maintenance of present soil pH, soil sand content and canopy cover facilitates the restoration of plant diversity in wet miombo woodlands of Eastern Afromontane biodiversity hotspots for biodiversity protection, environmental sustainability and broad reach enhanced socio-economic benefits.