PONE-D-23-20697Wetland Vegetation Composition and Ecology of Lake Abaya in Southern EthiopiaPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Gojamme,

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Godwin Upoki Anywar, BSc, Msc, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Partly

Reviewer #2: Partly

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: No

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: No

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: No

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: 1. The manuscript is generally well written with adequate statistical analysis. However, the discussion section is thin with some results not discussed at all.

2. The author needs to state how sampling effort was measured.

3. The citation of references is good but majority are quite old considering the dynamism in wetlands loss/degradation.

4. The recommendations and conclusions do not clearly originate from the results perhaps due to the thin discussion. In fact some appear to be from general knowledge.

5. Most of the comments are included in the manuscript as comments

Reviewer #2: To the Editor and the author

Introduction: The often overlooked functions of wetlands, such as their role in purification and carbon sequestration, can diminish the perceived significance of these ecosystems and consequently reduce the motivation to conserve them, particularly within the perspective of policy makers.

Study Area: The graphical representation of the study area depicted in Figure 1 raises concerns due to its poor quality. The aspect ratio of latitude and longitude coordinates is not accurately represented, necessitating a revision of the map to ensure an appropriate scale and resolution. Moreover, the climadiagram's horizontal axis exhibits an exaggeration that may distort its true representation.

Data Collection: The explanation provided for the methods employed in data collection lacks comprehensive detail. A more in-depth description could draw insights from the approach employed in measuring drainage and slope, aiding in establishing a clearer understanding of the study's data gathering procedures.

Data Analysis: The utilization of an outdated version of R during the data analysis, when compared to the more recent version 4.3.1, raises concerns. Employing an outdated version has the potential to influence the outcomes of data analysis, as is evident in the substandard quality of the dendrogram presented in Figure 4. Enhancements such as the incorporation of colored leaves (branches) and labels associated with the required number of clusters can considerably improve the dendrogram's effectiveness. While the dendrogram demonstrates differences in clusters, the rationale behind selecting cluster identification heights spanning the dendrogram's various levels is provided, even when the dissimilarity between the clusters is significant. A decision to recognize just four distinct clusters arises when the cutoff height falls between 2 and 2.5.

The application of NMDS (Non-Metric Multidimensional Scaling) facilitates the correlation of environmental factors with the clusters that have been identified. In cases where NMDS has already produced satisfactory outcomes, the relevance of employing CCA (Canonical Correspondence Analysis) in establishing the relationship between sample plots and environmental factors requires a compelling justification.

What is the significance of the red cross symbols within Figure 6, representing the Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) involving species and environmental factors? Can these symbols be eliminated if needed?

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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Attachments

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Submitted filename: PONE-D-23-20697_Review.pdf

Attachment

Submitted filename: To the Editor and the author.pdf

PONE-D-23-20697R1Wetland vegetation composition and ecology of Lake Abaya in southern Ethiopia.PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Gojamme,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

Please submit your revised manuscript by Mar 23 2024 11:59PM. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at plosone@plos.org. When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.

Please include the following items when submitting your revised manuscript:

• A rebuttal letter that responds to each point raised by the academic editor and reviewer(s). You should upload this letter as a separate file labeled 'Response to Reviewers'.
• A marked-up copy of your manuscript that highlights changes made to the original version. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Revised Manuscript with Track Changes'.
• An unmarked version of your revised paper without tracked changes. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Manuscript'.

If you would like to make changes to your financial disclosure, please include your updated statement in your cover letter. Guidelines for resubmitting your figure files are available below the reviewer comments at the end of this letter.

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We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Dharmendra Kumar Meena

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments:

article is recommended for major revisions

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #2: All comments have been addressed

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #2: The manuscript has improved significantly, but the dendrogram and the CCA figures are a bit blur. Saving the output of the analyses in publication quality could help in improving the clarity of the figures. The identification of the clusters could be done in a much presentable manner than identifying them surrounding them with rectangles. learning how to do that could be useful for future works as well.

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Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #2: Yes: Zerihun Woldu Tesema

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While revising your submission, please upload your figure files to the Preflight Analysis and Conversion Engine (PACE) digital diagnostic tool, https://pacev2.apexcovantage.com/. PACE helps ensure that figures meet PLOS requirements. To use PACE, you must first register as a user. Registration is free. Then, login and navigate to the UPLOAD tab, where you will find detailed instructions on how to use the tool. If you encounter any issues or have any questions when using PACE, please email PLOS at figures@plos.org. Please note that Supporting Information files do not need this step.

PONE-D-23-20697R2Wetland vegetation composition and ecology of Lake Abaya in southern Ethiopia.PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Gojamme,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

Please submit your revised manuscript by Apr 12 2024 11:59PM. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at plosone@plos.org. When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.

Please include the following items when submitting your revised manuscript:

• A rebuttal letter that responds to each point raised by the academic editor and reviewer(s). You should upload this letter as a separate file labeled 'Response to Reviewers'.
• A marked-up copy of your manuscript that highlights changes made to the original version. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Revised Manuscript with Track Changes'.
• An unmarked version of your revised paper without tracked changes. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Manuscript'.

If you would like to make changes to your financial disclosure, please include your updated statement in your cover letter. Guidelines for resubmitting your figure files are available below the reviewer comments at the end of this letter.

If applicable, we recommend that you deposit your laboratory protocols in protocols.io to enhance the reproducibility of your results. Protocols.io assigns your protocol its own identifier (DOI) so that it can be cited independently in the future. For instructions see: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/submission-guidelines#loc-laboratory-protocols. Additionally, PLOS ONE offers an option for publishing peer-reviewed Lab Protocol articles, which describe protocols hosted on protocols.io. Read more information on sharing protocols at https://plos.org/protocols?utm_medium=editorial-email&utm_source=authorletters&utm_campaign=protocols.

We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Dharmendra Kumar Meena

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Journal Requirements:

Please review your reference list to ensure that it is complete and correct. If you have cited papers that have been retracted, please include the rationale for doing so in the manuscript text, or remove these references and replace them with relevant current references. Any changes to the reference list should be mentioned in the rebuttal letter that accompanies your revised manuscript. If you need to cite a retracted article, indicate the article’s retracted status in the References list and also include a citation and full reference for the retraction notice.

Additional Editor Comments:

Minor revision is suggested

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Wetland vegetation composition and ecology of Lake Abaya in southern Ethiopia.

PONE-D-23-20697R3

Dear Dr. Gojamme

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

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Kind regards,

Dharmendra Kumar Meena

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

The article can be accepted now.

Reviewers' comments: