“…From these early efforts on, vegetation scientists did specific floristic studies and generated enormous data on the diversity, distribution, and conservation status of the existing patches of the area. Some of these studies include the work of Derero ( 1998 ), Kigomo ( 1999 ); Yeshitela and Bekele ( 2002 ), Woldemariam ( 2003 ), Yeshitela and Bekele ( 2003 ), Bekele ( 2003 ), Woldu and Yeshitela ( 2003 ), Berhan and Assefa ( 2004 ), Yeshitela and Shibru ( 2004 ), Ersado and Assefa ( 2004 ), Bekele et al ( 2004 ), Senbeta et al ( 2005 ), Denu ( 2006 ), Senbeta ( 2006 ), Schmitt ( 2006 ), Senbeta et al ( 2007 ), Kelbessa and Soromessa ( 2008 ), Hundera and Deboch ( 2008 ), Hundera and Gadissa ( 2008 ), Woldemariam et al ( 2008 ); Nune ( 2008 ), Gobeze et al( 2009 ), Schmitt et al ( 2010 ), Friis et al ( 2011 ), Assefa et al ( 2013 ), Hylander et al( 2013a , b ), Soromessa and Kelbessa ( 2013 ), Gebrehiwot and Hundera ( 2014 ), Mulugeta et al ( 2015 ), Addi et al ( 2016 ), Siraj et al ( 2017 ), Yasin et al ( 2018 ), Denu ( 2019 ), Addi et al ( 2020 ), Dibaba et al ( 2022 ). Despite these and many other related studies, the area still faces the challenge to conserve its vegetation and is becoming among the highly-threatened ecosystems in Ethiopia.…”