Tropical forest ecosystems harbor high biodiversity, but they have suffered from ongoing human-induced degradation. We investigated the conservation value of moist evergreen Afromontane forest sites across gradients of site-level disturbance, landscape context and forest history in southwestern Ethiopia. We surveyed woody plants at 108 randomly selected sites and grouped them into forest specialist, pioneer, and generalist species. First, we investigated if coffee dominance, current distance from the forest edge, forest history, heat load and altitude structured the variation in species composition using constrained correspondence analysis. Second, we modelled species richness in response to the same explanatory variables. Our findings show that woody plant community composition was significantly structured by altitude, forest history, coffee dominance and current distance from forest edge. Specifically, (1) total species richness and forest specialist species richness were affected by coffee management intensity; (2) forest specialist species richness increased, while pioneer species decreased with increasing distance from the forest edge; and (3) forest specialist species richness was lower in secondary forest compared to in primary forest. These findings show that coffee management intensity, landscape context and forest history in combination influence local and landscape level biodiversity. We suggest conservation strategies that foster the maintenance of large undisturbed forest sites and that prioritize local species in managed and regenerating forests. Creation of a biosphere reserve and shade coffee certification could be useful to benefit both effective conservation and people's livelihoods.

中文翻译：

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埃塞俄比亚西南部不同管理和历史的潮湿常绿非洲山地林地保护价值

热带森林生态系统拥有丰富的生物多样性，但它们遭受了持续的人为退化。我们调查了埃塞俄比亚西南部潮湿的常绿非洲山地森林遗址在场地水平干扰、景观背景和森林历史的梯度上的保护价值。我们在 108 个随机选择的地点调查了木本植物，并将它们分为森林专家、先驱和通才物种。首先，我们使用约束对应分析研究了咖啡优势、当前与森林边缘的距离、森林历史、热负荷和海拔是否构成了物种组成的变化。其次，我们模拟了物种丰富度以响应相同的解释变量。我们的研究结果表明，木本植物群落组成受海拔高度、森林历史、咖啡优势和当前与森林边缘的距离。具体而言，（1）总物种丰富度和森林专业物种丰富度受咖啡经营强度的影响；(2)森林特种丰富度增加，先锋种随着距林缘距离的增加而减少；(3) 次生林森林专业物种丰富度低于原始林。这些发现表明，咖啡管理强度、景观背景和森林历史的结合会影响当地和景观层面的生物多样性。我们建议保护策略，以促进大型未受干扰的森林遗址的维护，并在管理和再生森林中优先考虑当地物种。