article · Scientific Reports
Forest landscape restoration through exclosure, which involves protecting land from open grazing, significantly enhances vegetation diversity and carbon storage. An investigation comparing an exclosure site with an adjacent open grazing forest found that the protected area supported a substantially higher number of plant individuals, greater species abundance, and higher Shannon diversity. Total carbon stock in the exclosure reached 43.33 megagrams of carbon, more than double the 17.24 megagrams recorded in the open grazing area. Within the exclosure, species abundance, plant density, biomass carbon, and soil organic carbon were highest at upper elevations, where saplings were particularly numerous compared to mature trees and seedlings. Conversely, species evenness was higher in the open grazing forest. These findings demonstrate that excluding livestock allows degraded lands to accumulate carbon and regenerate plant life, supporting broader ecological recovery across degraded forest landscapes.
Overgrazing drives forest degradation and severely diminishes the ability of ecosystems to store carbon. Demonstrating that simple land exclosure more than doubles total carbon stocks while enhancing plant diversity provides practical evidence for land managers and policymakers. It confirms that passive restoration methods can effectively combat climate change and restore degraded landscapes without the expense of intensive replanting.
This applied ecological research directly informs land management authorities, environmental project developers, and conservation agencies designing forest restoration schemes. The comparative measurements provide valuable baseline data for carbon credit verification and payments for ecosystem services programmes. Currently at the applied field research stage, translating this into practice requires local policy adoption and further investigation into underground ecology, such as soil microbial communities and nutrient cycling.
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Understanding the role of forest landscape restoration (FLR) is vital to estimate its contribution for biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation. The study was conducted to estimate vegetation diversity and carbon stock of restored forest landscape through Exclosure (Ex) versus open grazing forest (OGF). Diameter at the breast height and stump height (DBH, DSH), height (H) and herbaceous biomass were measured. Composite soil sample was taken from three soil depths of 0–10 cm, 10–20 cm and 20–30 cm. Vegetation diversity indices were estimated with various methodologies. Biomass carbon stock (BCS) was calculated with allometric equations. The soil organic carbon stock (SOC) was estimated following Walkley–Black method. An Ex has composed of greater number of individual than OGF. Species abundance (Ab), and Shannon diversity (H’) in the Ex were significantly higher than OGF. Croton macrostachyus Hochst.ex Dlile, Bridelia micrantha (Hochst.) Baill and Terminalia laxiflora Engl. & Diels were the domim = nat specie in the Ex whereas Croton macrostachyus Hochst.ex Dlile, Brucea antidysenterica J. F. Mill. And Vernonia abyssinica Sch.Bip.ex Hochst were the dominant speices in the OPG. Species Evenness (J) (0.47 ± 0.09) in the OGF was and significantly higher than Ex (0.10 ± 0.04 Mg C). The total carbon stock (TCS) in the Ex (43.33 ± 0.93) was significantly higher than the OGF (17.24 ± 1.10 Mg C). The species Ab, density (S) and H’ in the Ex were significantly higher at the upper elevation. The number of saplings in the Ex was greater than the number of seedlings and trees at all elevations. The BCS and SOC at the upper elevation of the Ex were significantly higher than the middle and lower elevations. Overall, FLR with the Ex can help to improve vegetation diversity, carbon accumulation of the study site. As a result, Ex could be implemented to degraded forest landscapes of the district. Further research is needed into the underground ecology of the studied Ex such as soil microbial communities, root dynamics, and nutrient cycling.
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DOI: 10.1038/s41598-026-67935-7
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