Biologiske skrifter Atlas of the potential vegetation of Ethiopia

A new map of the potentional vegetation types of Ethiopia has been produced at the scale of 1:2,000,000. It is published here as an atlas with 29 map plates. The map shows the distribution of twelve potential vegetation types that can be mapped using environmental parameters and GIS methodology. In the accompanying text these vegetation types have been described and further divided into a nember of subtypes.

The taxonomic revision of the Ethiopian flora for the Flora of Ethiopia and Eritrea has been completed, and intensive field studies have been carried out over nearly the entire country, after the publicaton of two previous detailed vegetation maps of Ethiopia, by Pichi Sermolli in 1957 and by Frank White in 1983 - both at the scale of 1:5,000,000; this new information has been incorporated in the present map. New ideas about the classification of Ethiopian vegetation have also been put forward on maps produced on smaller scale. Here, the vegetation types used for the last two vegetation maps in 1:5,000,000 and the later maps on smaller scales are reviewed and discussed, and the definitions of most previously accepted vegetation types have been revised. Definition of a characteristic forest type, Tranitional rain forest, in south-western Ethiopia has been completely reworked, and, for the first time, it has been attempted to classify saline vegetation on a vegetation map of Ethiopia. The vegetation atlas has been produced using a digital elevation model with a resolution of 90 x 90 metres in connection with GIS technology; it is based on information from previous literature, field experience of the authors, as well as on an analysis of information about approximately 1300 species of woody plants in the completed Flora of Ethiopia and Eritrea.