Forestry Commission

Ethiopia’s diverse topography and associated climate enabled the country to support a wide range of forest ecosystems, making it a global biodiversity hotspot. These forests provide enormous ecological, economic, and social services, including carbon sequestration, water regulation, soil protection, and livelihood support at both local and global scales. However, climate change, manifesting as rising temperatures, altered rainfall patterns and increased frequency of extreme events, is driving substantial shifts in forest species distributions, abundance, and diversity. This synthesis review examines empirical and modelling studies conducted in Ethiopia from 2000 to 2025, focusing on the climate-induced range shifts, altitudinal migrations, and habitat contraction or expansion across major vegetation types, including Afroalpine and Ericaceous belts, Moist and Dry Evergreen Afromontane forests, Acacia–Commiphora woodlands, and dry lowland bushlands. The findings indicate that cold and moisture-dependent montane species are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. These effects are manifested by upslope range shifts, habitat fragmentation, and reduced abundance in most species, while some drought-tolerant and generalist species expand their ranges. Such changes alter species richness, evenness, and forest community composition, threatening endemic taxa, ecosystem resilience, and the provision of essential ecosystem services. The review further revealed that the effects of climate change are spatially heterogeneous and species-specific, emphasising the need for species-specific climate-smart conservation strategies. Overall, the evidence underlines the urgency of taking action to protect Ethiopia’s forest biodiversity and to sustain ecosystem services under ongoing and future climate change.

Camellia longistyla is an endemic species to Guizhou Province, possessing significant ornamental value and potential economic value for oil production.To elucidate its genetic background and guide scientific conservation and sustainable utilization, this study employed whole-genome resequencing for the first time on 98 individuals from three natural populations in Chishui City and Leishan County. Through high-quality SNP markers, we systematically analyzed its genomic variation characteristics, population genetic structure, and genetic diversity levels.A total of 61,370,270 high-quality SNPs were identified, which were uniformly distributed across chromosomes but with distinct variation hotspot regions. Population structure analysis clearly divided all samples into two main subpopulations (Pop60 and Pop38), perfectly corresponding to their geographical origins, indicating that geographical isolation is the key factor driving population differentiation. Genetic diversity assessment indicated moderately low overall genetic diversity, with significant imbalance between the two subpopulations: the larger Chishui population (Pop60) exhibited lower genetic diversity than the Leishan population (Pop38), suggesting a higher risk of genetic diversity loss in the former. This study provides the first genome-level insights into the genetic structure and diversity status of C.longistyla, offering crucial scientific evidence for formulating differentiated conservation strategies, identifying priority conservation units, and future germplasm innovation and breeding research.

Pine wood nematode disease (PWD) is one of the most devastating forest diseases worldwide, often described as the “cancer” of pine trees due to its rapid and large-scale lethality. Early and accurate detection of infected trees is essential for interrupting the transmission cycle and mitigating the risk of further spread. However, current monitoring methods suffer from limited efficiency and insufficient precision. To address these challenges, this study introduces PWD-YOLO-D, an intelligent detection model for PWD based on unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) remote sensing imagery and the YOLOv8 deep learning framework. The proposed model integrates an Efficient Multi-scale Cross-Attention (EMCA) mechanism to enhance feature representation across multiple scales and heterogeneous backgrounds; incorporates a Self-Ensemble Attention Module (SEAM) as the detection head to improve robustness in identifying occluded and overlapping diseased crowns; and adopts the Focaler-IoU loss function to refine localization accuracy and improve discrimination of complex samples. Experimental results indicate that the improved PWD-YOLO-D model outperforms the original YOLOv8 by 4.0% points in AP@0.5 and 7.3% points in AP@0.5:0.95, while reducing the Parameters by 0.48 MB. These enhancements provide strong technical support and data-driven evidence for the timely detection and precise management of infected pine trees.

Grazing and plateau zokor ( Eospalax baileyi) activities constitute critical biotic disturbances influencing soil carbon pool dynamics in the alpine meadows of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. However, their synergistic mechanisms remain poorly understood.

Research on young trees’ adaptation to shade has predominantly focused on leaf-level responses, overlooking critical structural and functional adaptations in branch systems. In this study, we address this gap by investigating hierarchical branch morphology–physiology integration in 20-year-old Pinus koraiensis specimens across four distinct light conditions classified by photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD): three in the understory (low light, LL: 0–25 μmol/m2/s; moderate light, ML: 25–50 μmol/m2/s; and high levels of light, HL: 50–100 μmol/m2/s) and one under full light as a control (FL: 1300–1700 μmol/m2/s). We measured branch base diameter, length, and angle as well as chlorophyll and NSCs content in branches and needles. Branch base diameter and length were more than 1.5-fold higher in the FL Korean pine trees compared to the understory-grown ones, while the branching angle and ratio in the LL Korean pine trees were more than two times greater than those in the FL trees. As light levels increased, Chlorophyll a and b and total chlorophyll (Chla, Chlb, and Chl) concentrations in the needles all significantly decreased. Starch, glucose, and NSC (Starch + Soluble Sugars) concentrations in both needles and branches were the highest in the trees under FL and lowest under ML (except for soluble sugars in branches). Understory young P. koraiensis trees morphologically and physiologically adapt to limited light conditions, growing to be more horizontal, synthesizing more chlorophyll in needles, and attempting to increase their light-foraging ability. We recommend gradually expanding growing spaces to increase light availability for 20-year-old Korean pine trees grown under canopy level.

The review article, "Forest Ecosystems and Climate Change in Ethiopia: Challenges and Adaptive Solutions," explores the critical interrelations between Ethiopia's forest ecosystems and climate change. The primary objective is to assess the effectiveness of adaptive strategies, particularly community-based forest management and agroforestry, within climate resilience. A systematic literature review was conducted, encompassing 69 studies published since 2020, to evaluate the multifaceted impacts of climate change on forest health, deforestation drivers, and existing policy frameworks. The results reveal that Ethiopia's forests face severe threats from climate change, including shifts in biodiversity and an increase in deforestation driven by agricultural expansion and illegal logging. Despite initiatives like the Climate Resilient Green Economy (CRGE) strategy and the Green Legacy Initiative, challenges persist, including inadequate policy enforcement, land tenure issues, and socio-economic pressures that hinder effective conservation. The conclusion emphasises the necessity for integrated, community-focused strategies and enhanced policy coherence to address these barriers. The findings suggest that strengthening local governance, securing land rights, and exploring alternative livelihood options are essential for sustainable forest management in Ethiopia. Overall, this review provides insights that are vital for policymakers and stakeholders aiming to bolster forest resilience and contribute to global climate change mitigation efforts.

Climate change, a widespread and increasing global hazard, has a substantial influence on ecosystems and biodiversity. It has a significant impact on plant productivity, mainly through reduced water use efficiency, increased soil salinity, increased heat stress and altered soil health. In addition, by modifying the behaviour, morphology and phenological patterns of species, climate change has a negative impact on biodiversity. This leads to changes in distribution, a decrease in species abundance with an overall loss of biodiversity. Changes in biodiversity caused by climate variations are closely linked to changes in ecosystem services and how this affects human well-being. Both climate change and human activity contribute to the degradation of ecosystem services, which are essential for maintaining the balance of natural systems and fostering socio-economic growth. These ecosystems support livelihoods, sustainability and health, providing vital products and services with high economic and ecological value. Preserving and repairing ecosystems is now more important than ever due to the persistent threat of global climate change, which not only threatens environmental integrity but also poses major challenges to food security.

Apalochrini is a tribe of the family Melyridae characterised by the shortened pedicel, with 13 genera recorded in China at present. Dicranolaius Champion and Intybia Pascoe of Apalochrini are distributed in Asia and Southeast Asia, with the former genus extending to Australia, but not being found in China. In a recent expedition in the mangrove forests of Zhangzhou City (Fujian Province), eastern China, specimens of D.mangalicola Asano ＆ Kawashima, 2010 and I.swatowensis (Wittmer, 1956) were collected. Dicranolaius Champion is recorded from China for the first time and I.swatowensis is newly recorded for Fujian Province. Diagnostic characters of D.mangalicola is provided and I.swatowensis is re-described in details. An updated key to genera of the Chinese Apalochrini, based on male characters, is given.