XVI International Botanical Congess
We conducted a botanical survey of the northwestern Ecuador coastal range during 1994-1998, making herbarium collections as well as quantitative studies of primary forest composition and structure in three 1-ha permanent plots. The range extends up to 800 m. The central portion is very wet with considerable fog-associated precipitation. Epiphytes and hemi-epiphytes are abundant and diverse, especially Araceae, Gesneriaceae, and ferns. In the southern portion the climate is drier, lowland moist and dry forest prevails. A number of locally endemic species occur, some with very small populations, and additional new, endemic taxa are being described. The forest plots document up to 120 tree species per hectare. Deforestation is occurring, but protection is afforded by the Mache-Chindul Ecological Reserve, Bilsa Biological Station, and Cerro Pata de Pájaro Protection Forest.L