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Guía de especies de flora y fauna de la Ciénaga de La Virgen: Flora
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La presente Guía de especies de flora y Fauna de la Ciénaga de La Virgen así como la cartilla ¿Cómo propagar 12 especies nativas del bosque seco tropical y del manglar en la Ciénaga de La Virgen?, son publicadas por el Jardín Botánico de Cartagena “Guillermo Piñeres” (JBGP) y la Agencia de Cooperación Alemana para el Desarrollo (GIZ), en el marco del programa estrategias de Adaptación basada en Ecosistemas (EbA). El programa EbA presta asistencia técnica a los gobiernos de Colombia y Ecuador buscando el cumplimiento de 4 metas específicas: 1) Adaptación basada en ecosistemas en la práctica, 2) Desarrollo de capacidades, 3) Transversalización y aplicación en mayor escala de la adaptación basada en los ecosistemas y 4) Comunicación y gestión de conocimientos. Esta guía cuenta con un registro fotográfico y descripciones taxonómicas de las especies presentes en la Ciénaga de la Vírgen.
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El monitoreo es un componente clave en el éxito de los proyectos de restauración ecológica y necesario para evaluar la efectividad de las estrategias de restauración y tomar decisiones de manejo adaptativo. El objetivo de este estudio fue evaluar la utilidad de un programa de monitoreo para el seguimiento de seis estrategias de intervención florística implementadas en un área de bosque seco tropical. Se propusieron fases y objetivos de monitoreo en coherencia con las metas y objetivos de restauración del proyecto, así como se determinaron escalas, parámetros e indicadores, frecuencias de seguimiento y protocolos de toma de datos. La supervivencia, el estado fitosanitario y el crecimiento fueron los parámetros priorizados para el seguimiento de las estrategias durante un año y medio, dentro de otros parámetros de efectividad ecológica pertinentes a plazos más extensos. Se presentan los resultados para tres de las seis estrategias. Se obtuvo una supervivencia promedio de 87 % y el aumento paulatino de la frecuencia de individuos sin afectaciones fitosanitarias aparentes, destacándose especies como Albizia saman, Senna spectabilis, Maclura tinctoria y Celtis iguanaea. Se observaron tasas de incremento de altura >2,9 cm/mes y DAB >1 mm/mes en las tres estrategias, comparativamente superiores durante el periodo de las lluvias. Los resultados indican que la selección de especies y las acciones de manejo fueron adecuadas para lograr el establecimiento de los arreglos florísticos de las estrategias presentadas. Se propone consolidar el programa de monitoreo a largo plazo en el área.
El presente trabajo nos permitió evaluar 1.187 especies de plantas vasculares registradas
en el Caribe colombiano, y determinar que un total de 364 especies (30,66 %) distribuidas
en 85 familias botánicas, proveen productos distintos a la madera, bajo doce subcategorías de uso. Este número puede incrementarse ya que se estima que en los bosques secos existen al menos 2.569 especies de plantas vasculares, por lo que debe continuarse con la documentación de los usos de estas plantas.
Bajo este esquema se documentaron 100 especies de plantas vasculares del Caribe colombiano. Cada descripción incluye el uso actual que se le da a la especie en la región, así como sus usos potenciales.
Tropical dry forests (TDF) have been defined as a single biome occurring mostly in the lowlands where there is a marked period of drought during the year. In the Neotropics, dry forests occur across contrasting biogeographical regions that contain high beta diversity and endemism, but also strong anthropogenic pressures that threatened their biodiversity and ecological integrity. In Colombia, TDF occur across six regions with contrasting soils, climate, and anthropogenic pressures, therefore being ideal for studying how these variables relate to dry forest species composition, successional stage and conservation status. Here we explore the variation in climate and soil conditions, floristic composition, forest fragment size and shape, successional stage and anthropogenic pressures in 571 dry forest fragments across Colombia. We found that TDF should not be classified solely on rainfall seasonality, as high variation in precipitation and temperature were correlated with soil characteristics. In fact, based on environmental factors and floristic composition, dry forests of Colombia clustered in three distinctive groups, with high species turnover across and within regions, as reported for other TDF regions of the Neotropics. Widely distributed TDF species were found to be generalists favored by forest disturbance and the early successional stages of dry forests. On the other hand, TDF fragments were not only small in size, but also highly irregular in shape in all regions, and comprised mostly of early and intermediate successional stages, with very little mature forest left at the national level. At all sites, we detected at least seven anthropogenic disturbances with agriculture, cattle ranching and human infrastructure being the most pressing disturbances throughout the country. Thus, although environmental factors and floristic composition of dry forests vary across regions at the national level, dry forests are equally threatened by deforestation, degradation and anthropogenic pressures all over the country, making TDF a top priority for conservation in Colombia.
Capparaceae Juss. is a widely distributed family in tropical and subtropical regions, particularly in arid and semi-arid areas. The principal objetive of this research was to realize the taxonomic, morphological, etnobotanical and chorological study of the taxa of the family Capparaceae in the Atlántico department (Colombia); the department was crossed and specimens were collected, which were processed according to classical taxonomic techniques. As a result, a synopsis of the Capparaceae family is presented. It includes keys for the separation of the taxa and descriptions of the morphological characters of the species that grow in the department, as well as their synonyms, common nouns and uses. Seven genera (Belencita, Capparidastrum, Crateva, Cynophalla, Monilicarpa, Morisonia and Quadrella) and fourteen species are reported. Cynophalla is the most diverse genus, in addition, Cynophalla polyantha (Triana & Planch.) Cornejo & Iltis is registred for the first time in the Atlántico department.
Tropical dry forests (TDF) are among the most endangered, yet the least studied ecosystems in the world. Colombia is a privileged country to study TDF, as this forest occurs in six different geographic regions in the country: the valley of the Patía river in the Southwest, the Cauca valley, the mid and high valley of Magdalena, Santander and Norte de Santander, the Caribbean coast and the Orinoco region. Thus, although dry forests in these six regions share certain characteristics such as a strong rain seasonality, there´s variation in soils and climate that results in differences in plant, animal, fungal, and microbial community composition. Furthermore, in Colombia there is a mixture of biological elements that have come from the TDFs in North in the Caribbean and Mexico, and the South from Ecuador, Brazil and Bolivia, which results in very interesting biogeographical patterns.
This book arises from the necessity to compile basic information on the biology and ecology of TDFs of Colombia, which is extremely necessary to assure an integral management of these forests, but almost completely lacking. Furthermore, given that more than 90% of TDF in Colombia has been lost and what remains is highly fragmented, spatial analyses and restoration recommendations for dry forests in Colombia were essential.
The first part of the book contains the definition and general characteristics of TDF, in addition to generalities on how organisms have adapted to live in this ecosystem of contrasting wet and dry seasons (chapter 1).
The second part of the book covers the biodiversity of TDFs of Colombia comprising plants (chapter 2), birds (chapter 3), mammals (chapter 4), amphibians (chapter 5), bees (chapter 6), and dung beetles (chapter 7). In general, knowledge on these different organisms is very limited and unbalanced. Compared to plants, mammals, amphibians and birds, for which the taxonomy is relatively well established, lack of basic taxonomic information on insects such as bees and dung beetles has greatly limited the study of these organisms. For example, even though studies from other countries have shown that more than half of dry forest plants are pollinized by bees, no intensive studies have been done on bees of TDF in Colombia. In fact the only comprehensive study on bees done in Colombia was conducted in tropical humid forests of Antioquia. The little that we know of TDF bees from Colombia comes from a revision of the collections of several natural history museums in the United States and a couple of surveys done in the dry forests near Santa Marta. The fact that this minor sampling effort resulted in not only 10 new species, but also a new genus of bees for Colombia reflects our almost complete ignorance with respect to bees from TDF in the country. Similarly, almost half of TDF dung beetles have not been classified to species, and species verifications have revealed that many species already classified are really two or more species. This precarious knowledge on bees and dung beetles of TDFs rises an alarm of an urgent need to increase the studies on insects of these forests where surely species diversity is much higher, and endemism patterns are far more complex than what we currently recognize. For instance, chapter 3 states that most birds in TDF are insectivorous, which suggest a high abundance of insects in this ecosystem. Moreover, there is a complete lack of knowledge on the pollination, pest control, food, and nutrient cycling ecosystem services provided by insects of TDF to surrounding plantations and agricultural areas.
Studies on plants, birds, mammals and amphibians of dry forests of Colombia are at their infancy even though the taxonomy for these organisms is mostly resolved. For example, chapter 2 represents the first study to compile plant species data from TDF from the six different regions where this ecosystem occurs in Colombia. However, it is clear that even this basic information is poor in some regions of dry forests in the country. Regardless of these limitations, analyses on the floristic composition of TDF from different regions in Colombia reveal marked differences in the flora of these forests in three big areas in the country: the Caribbean, the Cauca and Magdalena valleys, and the Llanos. The first two areas shared almost 55% of the plant species, which supports the hypothesis that these two regions have been connected for at least the last 10,000 years. However, these results must be complemented with data on abundances and not just presence of species from TDF, and phylogenetic and functional diversity. Furthermore, there is not information on the ecological processes and ecosystem services such as soil stabilization, nutrient cycling, and water and climate regulation that plants and soil organisms associated with plants from TDF provide in Colombia. Likewise, the few studies previously done on birds from dry forests of Colombia have mostly consisted of species inventories from particular regions of TDF. Chapter 3 represents the first study on whole bird communities from dry forests, with data on presence but also abundance of species across a precipitation gradient in a whole region of TDF in the Magdalena valley. Results from this study show a surprising and strong direct relationship between precipitation and bird species richness, and the presence of bird species from more humid forests in TDF. This suggests that water is a critical resource for birds in lowland forests, and that there are migratory movements of birds to TDFs. Moreover, the low species turnover between the Caribbean and the Cauca and Magdalena valleys coincides with the results from plants, and calls for additional studies on the ecology and population genetics of birds of TDF in all regions where this ecosystem occurs in Colombia.
Water is also a key resource for amphibians and mammals that occur in dry forests. The most extreme case is that of amphibians, which are directly dependent on water for breathing through the skin and maintaining their body temperature. As a consequence, the dispersion of amphibians to new habitat types is generally limited. Even though most amphibians depend on water for their reproduction, those that inhabit TDF have developed a series of strategies that allow them to colonize, survive, and reproduce in dry environments where water availability fluctuates and is limited. Consequently, TDF are mostly characterized by having high amphibian endemism. In Colombia, however, robust data on the geographic distribution of amphibian species is still lacking and badly needed for detecting conservation threats and gaps. The limited knowledge that exists at the moment indicates that there are 58 amphibian species under threat (UICN), and more than 80% of these species occurs in regions where TDF has been lost in more than 50% of the territory. Most worrying is the fact that the geographical locations with the greatest amphibian species richness don´t coincide with TDF protected areas.
Similar to amphibians, some mammals have acquired morphological and physiological adaptations that allow them to survive and reproduce in TDF. Others show behavioral patterns such as temporal migration and seasonal diet changes through which they utilize TDF resources only temporally when available. Studies in other countries have found high mammal endemism in TDFs. In Colombia, where no mammal studies have been done in all dry forest regions, there are only three known endemic species of mammals. However, given that Colombia is the fifth country in mammal diversity in the world, it is possible that this number will go up as more studies are done in TDF. Specially because in Colombia studies on mammals of dry forests have been mostly done in highly degraded small geographic areas, and on specific groups of mammals. For this book, both presence and abundance of all mammal species was recorded in TDF in a big area of the Caribbean region. A total of 60 mammal species were found in dry forests immersed in transformed matrices which represents 12% of all mammal species of Colombia, and 31% of species of the Caribbean region. What is alarming is that 95% of these species are threatened, including two endemic primate subspecies that are critically endangered. Moreover, there are several species that even though were recorded in the study area, live in extremely crowded populations in very small forest fragments where they are highly susceptible to hunting, genetic isolation, and disease.
Al this information indicates that dry forests in Colombia are extremely fragmented and disturbed, therefore their associated biodiversity is under critical danger of vanishing. The spatial analyses done for this publication (Chapter 8) indicate that there´s less than 4% left of the original cover of mature TDF in the country. An additional 5% of TDF remnants are left with some degree of degradation, which means than more than 90% of the national TDF have been deforested. More than 60% of these deforested lands are currently used for livestock or agriculture, and more than 70% are degraded or eroded. Moreover, more than 65% of deforested TDF lands present desertification. This indicates that the recommendation from the National Institute of Geography Agustín Codazzi (IGAC) of using TDF areas for agriculture and livestock production needs to be urgently changed. Furthermore, given the highly fragmented state of TDF in Colombia and its extremely low representation in the national system of protected areas (only 5% of the TDF left in the country), all efforts must be allocated to protect the little dry forest left in private lands. In fact most studies done for this book took plance in private farms where landowners protect dry forests for multiple reasons. Thus, finding incentives that will guarantee the future conservation of TDF by these and other landowners is the only way to assure the survival of this forest, its biodiversity, and the ecosystem services it provides.
On the other hand, there is an unmistakable need of restoring TDF and the ecosystem services it provides in all regions where it occurs in Colombia. In particular, dry forests stabilize soils, stops erosion, and regulate water, preventing land desertification and assuring the productivity of natural, agricultural, and livestock systems. Given the rain seasonality of dry forests, the restoration of dry forests may be more challenging than that of other ecosystems. For this purpose, Chapter 9 gives guidelines on key plant species, tools, and processes that enhance the restoration of tropical dry forests.
This book represents just the beginning of a long way towards the understanding of the distribution, biodiversity, change, restoration and ecosystem services of TDF in Colombia. We hope its publication will enhance scientific research, conservation, and sustainable management of TDF in our country, which are essential if we don´t want TDF to exist only in books such as this one.
La producción de la guía es parte de las estrategias de divulgación de Fundación Danac. La misma incorpora en forma sistemática los conocimientos teóricos y las buenas prácticas desarrolladas como producto del intercambio del personal técnico con comunidades, pequeños y medianos productores agropecuarios en la producción de plantas agrícolas y forestales. Esta guía contempla las distintas etapas para la producción de plantas en vivero, desde la recolección de semillas, instalación de la infraestructura y producción y mantenimiento de plantas de calidad.
Seasonally dry tropical forests are distributed across Latin America and the Caribbean and are highly threatened, with less than 10% of their original extent remaining in many countries. Using 835 inventories covering 4660 species of woody plants, we show marked floristic turnover among inventories and regions, which may be higher than in other neotropical biomes, such as savanna. Such high floristic turnover indicates that numerous conservation areas across many countries will be needed to protect the full diversity of tropical dry forests. Our results provide a scientific framework within which national decision-makers can contextualize the floristic significance of their dry forest at a regional and continental scale.
