Evaluación de la composición florística del bosque siempre verde como indicador del estado de intervención, en la zona de protección hídrica Quinllunga, provincia de Bolivar

Abstract

The present research was carried out in the Quinllunga Water Protection Area (APHQ), province of Bolívar, Guaranda canton, in order to analyze the floristic composition and propose strategies for the conservation of the ecosystem. For this study, stratified sampling was used, dividing into upper stratum (trees, shrubs and subshrubs) and lower stratum (herbaceous), for which 4 transects of 50m * 20m were carried out for the upper stratum and 15 plots of 2m * 2m were installed for the lower stratum, in each one the coverage was recorded and samples were collected, for the transects the Diameter at Breast Height (DBH), abundance, height was recorded and samples were collected, which were identified in the herbarium of the ESPOCH. A total of 48 species were determined, distributed in 29 families, being the most representative families: Asteraceae with 19.45% and Poaceae with 12.76%, likewise the most abundant species were: Calamagrostis intermedia (J. Presl) with 11.96%, Calceolaria sp 7.18%, Salvia corrugata Vahl 5.42%, the least abundant species was Monnina sp. The species with the highest importance value index (IVI) in the upper stratum were: Columellia oblonga Ruiz with an IVI of 58.309, Oreopanax ecuadorensis Seem with 28.559, while for the lower stratum the species with a higher IVI were: Calamagrostis intermedia ( J. Presl) Steud with 40,981, Calceolaria sp with 24,588. Finally, the Shannon index registered 3.533, which indicates that the forest contains a high diversity, these results suggest applying actions to the conservation of the evergreen forest, since this ecosystem is in a state of regeneration, such as the implementation of monitoring that allows guaranteeing the conservation and diversity of species, promoting community agreements that encourage the joint definition of limits for agricultural activity.