Woody Species diversity of Zegie Peninsula and neighbouring islands

This comprehensive ecological survey of the Zegie Peninsula and its neighboring islands in Lake Tana, Ethiopia, reveals a landscape deeply shaped by the interplay of human activity and natural geography. The story is told through detailed data collected from 165 large plots and over a thousand smaller subplots, which record not only the identity, size, and structure of every tree and shrub but also the environmental context they grow in. You can see the footprints of human interaction clearly in the numbers: tree stumps hint at wood collection, roads cut through the terrain, and the presence of exotic species often follows human pathways, while the widespread regrowth from old stumps (coppicing) shows a forest resiliently adapting to use. Yet the land itself has a strong voice, with plots spanning steep slopes to gentle plains, each with a unique aspect to the sun and remarkably varied soil, from moist, carbon-rich earth to compact, rocky ground. The geography adds a final, critical layer, contrasting the accessible, human-influenced gradient of the Zegie Peninsula with the isolated ecosystems of islands like Daga Estifanos, which already hint at their uniqueness through notably different, less acidic soils. Together, this rich dataset provides a powerful foundation for understanding forest composition, biodiversity, and the enduring ecological impact of people within this unique ecosystem.