Composition, Diversity, and Tree Structure of a Tropical Moist Forest in Gamboa, Colon, Panama

This study focuses on the floristic diversity of the forest trees found at Cerro Pelado Tropical Hydrology Observatory in Gamboa, Colon, Panama. Field work for the quantitative inventory was carried out in November 2012. Data were collected by assessing the status of the forest in terms of tree spec...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Jiménez, José Ulises, Fábrega, José, Mora, Dafni, Tejedor, Nathalia, Sánchez, Marilyn
Formato: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2016
País:Panamá
Recursos:Universidad Tecnológica de Panamá
Repositorio:Repositorio Institucional de documento digitales de acceso abierto de la UTP
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ridda2.utp.ac.pa:123456789/4451
Acesso em linha:http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.4137/ASWR.S33960
http://ridda2.utp.ac.pa/handle/123456789/4451
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:tropical moist forest
biodiversity
ecological weight
tree inventory
Panama
Descrição
Resumo:This study focuses on the floristic diversity of the forest trees found at Cerro Pelado Tropical Hydrology Observatory in Gamboa, Colon, Panama. Field work for the quantitative inventory was carried out in November 2012. Data were collected by assessing the status of the forest in terms of tree species diversity and structure from one-hectare plot divided into twenty-five 20 m × 20 m quadrats. All tree species were identified, and their diameters at breast height (dbh) were measured. A total of 384 individuals with (dbh ≥ 10 cm) were counted, corresponding to 28 families, 41 genera, and 43 species of which Pera arborea, Oenocarpus mapora, Amaioua corymbosa, Vantanea depleta, and Matayba apetala were the species with the highest ecological weight, achieving 57.99% of the importance value index. Results were compared with plots from other forests of the Panama Canal watershed in terms of diversity and number of species per area and number of individuals. It was found that the habitat studied has low diversity, with very few species in the study area, even though some of them were very abundant.