Floristic structure and composition of Guadua forests in the Colombian coffee region1

Fernando Ramírez-Díaz,Juan Carlos Camargo-García

doi:10.1590/1983-40632019v4955425

Fernando Ramírez-Díaz, Juan Carlos Camargo-García

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/1983-40632019v4955425

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Abstract

ABSTRACT In the coffee region (900-2,000 m a.s.l.) of the Colombian Andes, the forest remnants correspond mainly to fragments dominated by the bamboo species Guadua angustifolia Kunth (Guadua). These highly fragmented forests are found in landscapes with a high degree of transformation due to the agricultural activity and urban expansion. With the purpose of contributing to the knowledge of the ecological characteristics of these forests, the floristic structure and composition (alpha, beta and gamma diversity) of seven forest fragments located in the middle (Quindío) and lower basins of the La Vieja river (Risaralda) were studied. A total of 70,961 individuals and 172 species belonging to 54 families were found. Fifty percent of the families were represented by only one species, and the families Araceae and Leguminosae showed the highest taxonomic richness, respectively with 21 and 14 species. The diversity indices for these forests revealed values comparable to those of tropical forest ecosystems (Shannon-Weiner values between 3,167 and 3,798). Likewise, the cluster analysis (based on Euclidean distances) showed that the stands present a similarity below 0.65 (65 %), associated with the 35 species reported, in seven fragments that characterize a varied floristic composition. This finding implies that these fragments should not be seen as isolated units, but as sites embedded in a diverse regional landscape. This represents important habitats for these species, which are capable of maintaining significant levels of diversity, even under management conditions.

Highlights

Biodiversity protection, which includes conservation, information generation and ecological risk evaluation, is one of the six global environmental challenges (McBratney et al 2014)
Considering the high degree of fragmentation of these forests, which generates structural conditions at the landscape level that are unique to these ecosystems, with elongated shapes and sizes that usually do not surpass 5 ha (Camargo & Cardona 2005), a sampling design was established in completely random parcels, which allows an adequate approximation of these forests at the inventory level (Camargo et al 2007b)
A total of 70,961 individuals, with 172 species belonging to 54 families, were found in the 89 plots, which were distributed in the seven stands located in the two evaluated zones

Summary

Introduction

Biodiversity protection, which includes conservation, information generation and ecological risk evaluation, is one of the six global environmental challenges (McBratney et al 2014). In Colombia, with approximately 25,163 plant species, it is important to consider the knowledge gap that still exists regarding these plants (Moreno et al 2017). The transformation of natural ecosystems for land use defines landscapes with diverse natural and anthropogenic spaces, in terms of their shape, size and disposition (Forman & Godron 1986, Krummel et al 1987).

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