Monitoring forest

There is a need to understand the dynamics of these forests and their biodiversity under a changing climate context as they are one of the most vulnerable forests in the Andean region.

• 4 permanent plots (60x60m) were installed in 2016 for scientific environmental monitoring under the Programa Bosques Andinos. As part of the monitoring activities, the diversity and arboreal aerial biomass was assessed.

• 1920 individuals of woody plants with diameter at breastheight (DBH) ≥ 5 cm were recorded, belonging to 35 species, 27 genera and 20 families.

• The most abundant species were Podocarpus glomeratus, Hesperomeles gayana and Verbesina sp.2, which accounted for more than 56% of the total.

• The forest structure shows that trees with thin stems (5 to 15 cm DBH) are dominant.

• The total aerial biomass was of 135.40 / 141.49 (t/ha), of these the plot 3 registered greater biomass with 52.14 / 52.54 (t/ha)

• Podocarpus glomeratus had greater contribution of biomass with 100.28 / 104.90 (t/ha), followed by Vallea stipularis with 8.35 / 8.97 (t/ha) and Hesperomeles gayana with 3.40 / 3.78 (t/ha).