Trends in plant ecology research in Ethiopia (1969-2019): Systematic analysis

Abstract

The objective of this paper was to systematically analyze the trend of plant ecological research in Ethiopia. The inclusion and exclusion of the articles for analysis were performed using Reporting Standards for Systematic Evidence Syntheses (ROSES) flow diagram developed for systematic review/meta-analysis. The number of articles published, authors, and collaboration has increased dramatically since the 1960s. Most of the research largely focused on the Dry evergreen Afromontane Forest and grassland complex (DAF) and Moist evergreen Afromontane Forest (MAF) vegetation types, comprising of about 52.6%. Of the remaining vegetation types, the woodlands (14.3%) i.e. Acacia-Commiphora woodland and bushland proper (ACW), and Combretum-Terminalia woodland and wooded grassland (CTW), desert and semi-desert scrubland (DSS) (2.3%), and the Afroalpine (AA) and Ericaceous Belt (EB) (1.5%) received little attention. A descriptive study on plant community ecology revolving on floristic composition and community structure is the dominant research theme, which revealed a narrow theme in contrast to the global trend. Other plant ecological studies such as reproductive and dispersal ecology of invasive plant species, and pollination ecology seems largely a neglected topic by the academia. Furthermore, the recommendations forwarded are not result-based. As a future direction, the Ethiopian government should develop a project database both for completed and ongoing projects.