Comparación florística de especies epifitas entre bosque húmedo tropical y bosque intervenido en cantones Piñas y Marcabelí Provincia El Oro

Abstract

Epiphytes are an important component of tropical humid forests or montane cloud forest whose acronym BMM, also plays a crucial role for the survival of epiphytes as they are plants that adapt to the type of humid climate, however, it is one of the ecosystems that are at risk due to a decrease in the habitat in which they live due to the use of land in anthropogenic activities such as plots within the forest dedicated to monoculture and pig farming. Epiphytes are species of plants that are clinging to host trees without losing their nutrients since these, through their phorophytes, absorb and store nutrients and water, very different from the parasitic plants that inhabit and are maintained thanks to their host. Epiphytes are also highly coveted by economic activity due to the beauty of the specimens, they are coveted for their variable bright colors, size, where they are used in some part of Mexico for ceremonial rites and marriage proposals. This research is based on the study of the floristic comparison of vascular epiphytic plants between two ecosystems of a tropical humid forest or cloud forest of BMM mountain and a forest intervened by anthropogenic actions with similar bioclimatic characteristics, what is intended is to find out the amount abundance of epiphyte species that exists between the two ecosystems comparing the data obtained through field work. The field work was carried out in two ecosystems of the Moromoro and Marcabeli cantons with plots of 20x20 (400m2) in diameter, in each of the sampled sites 5 plots were made, obtaining a total of 10 plots for the two sites, which were chosen for their easy availability of access, using the measuring implements (flexometer) and GPS, vascular epiphytic plants were sampled, with the Bromeliaceae and Gesneriaceae families standing out and the least outstanding being the Pteridaceae, Laskaceae and Fabroniaceae with a total of 135 species identified in the tropical humid forest and 1028 species in secondary forest, Within it, two species of the genus Columnea were found in critical danger and a host species in a vulnerable state. Using the Sorencen calculation, the comparison and abundance between the two was obtained, resulting in the intervened forest being a vulnerable ecosystem due to the continuous agricultural and pig expansion, together with urban expansion, causing the extinction and slow rejuvenation of the secondary forest. Based on the research, a conservation plan for the natural forest has been proposed, with four conservation programs, both for the endemic species of the place and the species in a vulnerable and critical state according to the red list, and also an environmental education and awareness and information program for the conservation of the natural forest. One of the plans includes planning to manage the pertinent procedures for the creation of a community conservation area. This procedure can be processed and managed by the owners of plots that are around the forest to be conserved, which must be submitted by official letter to the national subsystem of protected areas, following the relevant procedures.