Title
Composition, structure and plant diversity of the Loma Alta Communal Ecological Reserve, Santa Elena, Ecuador
Other title
[Composición, estructura y diversidad vegetal de la Reserva Ecológica Comunal Loma Alta, Santa Elena, Ecuador]
Date Issued
01 January 2019
Access level
open access
Resource Type
review
Author(s)
Astudillo-Sánchez E.
Pérez J.
Troccoli L.
Publisher(s)
Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
Abstract
The objective was to analyze the composition, structure and floristic diversity of Loma Alta at three altitudes (164, 300, and 466 m asl) following the Gentry method. We registered 283 species, with Fabaceae (26 spp.) being the most specious family; of these, 101 spp. (36%) are endemic and 87 spp. (31%) belong to some conservation status (including Oreanthes ecuadorensis as Critically Endangered). The structure was composed of 6 diametric classes, concentrating 81% of the individuals, and 7 altimetric classes, grouping 62%, both in the first category. Three types of vegetation were determined: a) dry forest with Xylosma benthamii; b) transitional forest with Gustavia serrata, and c) Garua forest with Rhodostemonodaphne kunthiana as the ecologically representative species. The diversity measured from the richness species was higher (37 spp.) for the transitional forest, the average heterogeneity was higher (H’ = 2.40 nats/ind) for the garua forest, and the average dominance was higher (D = 0.25) for the dry forest. The results provide evidence that can be used to strengthen the environmental management of the protected area at the local and regional level, considering that each forest was highlighted by a characteristic, such as richness, heterogeneity and dominance.
Volume
90
Issue
3
Number
e902871
Language
Spanish
OCDE Knowledge area
Ecología Ciencias del medio ambiente
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85075999357
Source
Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad
ISSN of the container
18703453
Sponsor(s)
La identificación de especies botánicas fue basada en el “Catálogo de las plantas vasculares del Ecuador” (Jørgensen y León-Yánez, 1999), así como trabajos efectuados en el área (Astudillo et al., 2015; Bonifaz y Cornejo, 2004) y otras publicaciones de la región costera (Dodson y Gentry 1978, 1991; Dodson et al., 1985; Valverde y Pérez, 2012; Valverde et al., 1979, 1991). El ordenamiento de especies angiospermas se basó en el Sistema de Clasificación del APG III (Bremer et al., 2009) y la base de datos Tropicos (2019; http://www.tropicos. org). La identificación de especies endémicas y su estatus de conservación se basó en el “Libro rojo de las plantas endémicas del Ecuador” (León-Yánez et al., 2011) y los listados de la Unión Internacional para la Conservación de
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus