Bamboo regeneration and succession in Echuya

Abstract

Echuya was gazetted in 1939 as 'a Forest Reserve. At that time, the forest vegetation consisted of dense evergreen stands of Arundinaria alpina (bamboo) (Howard 1991). .Kingston (1968) report that in 1947the bamboo stems in Echuya were big tall and dense, and hardwood trees and shrubs were scattered in a few places. Botanical field trips conducted by Eggeling (1934), Watt (1956). Kingston (1968) and Davenport. Howard & Mathews (1996) recorded Arundinaria alpina as the dominant grass. Other conspicuous plants in the vegetation included Cassipourea malosana. Afircania volkenii, Dombeya spp. Hagenia abyssinia, Hypericum species, Nuxia congesta. Myrica salicifolia and Faurea salign. However, the present concern by forest ecologists, environmentalists and the local community is that the bamboo shrubs are losing ground to other vegetation types (Banana et a1. 1993). No previous studies have documented this ecological change and the major question answered by this study was, what are the factors leading to the current ecological changes in Echuya Forest Reserve?