Relación de la composición florística con la biomasa en el páramo Igualata, Chimborazo, Ecuador

Abstract

The current research was conducted with the program "Building and Resilient Future for the Andean Páramo Ecosystem of Ecuador" (GIDAC), belonging to the project: "Livelihood as a strategy for PACHA Ecosystem-based management and adaptation”, which aimed to relate the floristic composition and total organic carbon content in the biomass of Igualata paramo grassland located in the Chimborazo province, through a simple randomized sampling, fifteen monitoring points were identified; for the underground biomass (rootlets) at a depth of 0. 25m and for the aerial biomass, vegetative material was taken in a (0.5 x 0.5) m. square using MAE (2012) methodology for its further analysis in the Laboratory of the Faculty of Sciences. GLORIA method was used to evaluate the floristic component. Regarding the results of floristic diversity, a cumulative ecological importance of 69.05% was determined. The three representative species of the paramo grassland were; Valeriana plantaginea (22.92%), Calamagrostis intermedia (21.48%) and Gunnera magellanica (13.01%); the Simpson and Shannon diversity indexes reveal values of 0.56 and 0.73 (average diversity). The amount of organic carbon determined in natural regeneration is: 1.13 Mg C/ Ha in the aerial biomass and 0.08 Mg C /Ha in the underground biomass. The total carbon content of the aerial biomass is higher (69.32 Mg/Ha) with regard to the underground biomass (4.80 Mg/Ha). It is important to socialize the results of the research for the elaboration of public policies in cooperation with the corresponding GADs (municipalities); so that, it will be possible to preserve the paramo not only as a water source, but also as a carbon sink.