The Goal: Documenting the Biodiversity in Ethiopian Church Forests

The ecosystems of Ethiopia are degrading rapidly due to human activities and WINGS Fellow Meg Lowman wants to figure out how to reverse the trend. As people seek a better standard of living, much of the Ethiopian natural landscape has been cleared for agriculture, fuel, construction and settlement with one notable exception: the sacred landscapes surrounding churches, which have remained a sanctuary for the ecosystems of Ethiopia. Although intended for human worship, these churches have created important conservation reserves protecting the biodiversity of this country with their immense number (over 35,000) and different size distributed across the degraded landscape.

Even though these ecosystems remain vastly understudied, vegetation surveys indicate that “church forests” house a large proportion of the endangered plant species of Ethiopia and have become priceless local, as well as global, “hotspots” or critical conservation areas for a large portion of Ethiopia’s remaining biodiversity.

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Studying Insects, “The Glue of the Ecosystem”

Meg Lowman and her team have set out to study the role of insects, “the glue of the ecosystem”  in the ecology of the Ethiopian church forests.  Insects are critically important components of forest ecosystems, serving as pollinators, herbivores, seed dispersers, and agents for seed germination and nutrient cycling.

In this study, the expedition team will survey the biodiversity of insects in church forests, to create a relatively inexpensive, replicable model that can be utilized in other developing countries with limited budgets to survey their forests. They will also investigate and document the ecosystem services that insects contribute to these remaining fragments of tropical forest ecosystems.

Expedition objectives include:

1. Survey the relative distribution and abundance of insects in Ethiopian church forests;
2. Assess the role of insect-plant interactions, in particular the ecosystem services of herbivory, pollination, and seed dispersal/germination that may benefit adjacent villages;
3. Make recommendations for the future management and conservation of Ethiopian church forests, including critical size/age/structure of church forests that maintain biodiversity, and how insect-plant interactions may affect the health of these remnant forest patches.

The three hypotheses:

1. That the highest insect biodiversity will be found at the largest size of church forests;
2. That the highest insect biodiversity will be found at the church forests of lower altitudes;
3. that the greatest insect abundance of one (or few) species may be highest in church forests dominated by a low diversity of plant species.
 

The Outcome:  A replicable model for other developing countries to conduct forest biodiversity surveys and a conservation management plan for the Church Forests.

By quantifying the biodiversity of insects in church forests and their potential role in providing ecosystem services, the team intends to draw recommendations for conservation and management of these last remnants of dry afro-montane forests of Ethiopia.