2.1 | Description of the study area
The study was conducted in AmoroForest, located in Dega Damot District, Amhara Regional State, Northwestern Ethiopia (Figure 1). It is located between 10°50’06.53” latitude 37°35’51.94” longitudes. The major town nearby is Feresbet and is far from 3 km from the forest. The district is also characterized by good climate for most of the year with annual rainfall between 900 and 1200 ml. Topographically it consists of 35% mountainous, 30% ups and downs, 20% valleys and 15% plains (Dega Damot Woreda Agricultural Office (DWAO), 2017).
Fndika River cross the forest from the north side and goes to the south east of the area. The area also has many small rivers that follows from eastern and northern parts and enters in the main river. The area is divided into six land use types such as farm land, grazing land, shrub land, settlement, forest and bare land. Different types of crops cultivate in the study area, including barley (Hordeumvulgare ), wheat (Triticum spp .), faba bean (Vicia faba ), teff (Eragrostis teff ), maize (Zea mays ) and potato (Solanumtuberosum ) (DWAO, 2017).Juniperusprocera,Oleaeuropaeasubsp. cuspidata, Allophylusabyssincus, are the dominate tree, while Carissa spinarum, Discopodiumpenninervium, Dombeyatorrida, Lobelia giberroa, Myrsineafricana and Pittosporumviridiflorum are the dominate shrub and short trees (Liyewet al ., 2018).