Abstract:
Wetlands are one of the most valuable component of watershed, for many years some of them were degraded mostly due to human activities such as agriculture, mining, industrial activities, etc. in their restauration plants should be used being native or exotic species.
The present study aimed at documenting and identifying native and exotic tree species; to evaluate growth rates using DBH and height measurements and examine the leaf temperature of native versus exotic tree species. Data were collected in the short wet season of the year 2022, namely mid-September path to path with GPS, book of flora identification key, tape, and infra-red thermometer.
A total of 50 tree species were identified of which 80% of them were native whereas 20% were exotic. The identified species were classified into 27 families, and the family of Fabaceae was the most dominant, with 22% of tree species with 10 native species and 1 exotic species, while the other families comprised between 1 species to 5 species. The native tree species are more frequent in Nyandungu wetland than exotic tree species which is result of restoration effort.
DBH values were measured for 16 tree species, including nine native species, and seven exotic species. The tree DBH was measured for trees of the aged six years and ranged from 5.7 to 25.8 cm, the DBH was found to be higher in native species than in exotics. Leaf temperature ranged between 19.7 to 27oC. The leaf temperature results showed no variation in species being native or exotic. These findings on the growth performance of native tree species serve as a baseline for further functional studies on wetlands conservation. However, our results did not show a significant difference in leaf temperature between native and exotic tree species in Nyandungu wetland eco-tourism park hence both exotic and native tree species in wetlands restauration and conservation both species should be used regarding their adaptation
