Plant Diversity of an Andean Cloud Forest : Inventory of the Vascular Flora of Maquipucuna, Ecuador

Based on work spanning a decade, this study of the Maquipucuna area on the western slopes of the Andes discusses the climate, vegetation, ecological relationships, and flora, and emphasizes the importance of the Maquipucuna area as a biological reserve. In addition to the checklist of the flora, which enumerates 1,650 species (including 228 species of pteridophytes and over 200 species of orchids), appendices give information on floristic composition of communities, distribution of epiphytes, and elevational ranges of families and genera. The illustrations include a map, landscapes, and characteristic species. Contents Illustrations Tables Acknowledgments Abstract Resumen Introduction Climate and topography Vegetation Floristics of ecuadorian cloud forests Analysis of the vascular flora of maquipucuna Relationships with other floras Conservational status of the maquipucuna cloud forests Circumscription of the region covered by the inventory Enumeration of taxa Appendix A. Dominant or conspicuous taxa of secondary and roadside vegetation in the Maquipucuna region, between 11 50 and 1500 m Appendix B. Dominant or abundant taxa of primary cloud forest (lower montane forest), 1700-2000 m Appendix C. Dominant or abundant taxa of upper montane forest, 21 00-2750 m Appendix D. Dominant and conspicuous taxa in riparian vegetation, 1 125-2000 m Appendix E. Distribution of epiphytes in the Maquipucuna vascular flora Literature Cited Plates