August 25, 2015

New field book features CTFS - ForestGEO plot in Yasuni, Ecuador

CTFS – ForestGEO, Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Ecuador (PUCE), and Dinamica del bosque de Yasuni present a new book, Árboles emblemáticos de Yasuní: 337 especies (Yasuni emblematic trees: 337 species), written by Alvaro J. Perez, Consuelo Hernandez, Hugo Romero-Saltos, and Renato Valencia, published by Herbario QCA.

The book is a field guide that displays morphological descriptions, uses, distribution, phenology, demographics, and accumulated carbon for 337 of the species in Yasuni National Park (314 species of trees, 22 species of palms, and one tree fern). 

In 1995, CTFS – ForestGEO helped establish the Yasuni Forest Dynamics Plot in Yasuni National Park, Ecuador in association with PUCE and the University of Aarhus in Denmark. This region is one of the greatest biodiversity hotspots on the planet with nearly 300,000 individual trees and 1100 species tagged in the plot. 
From left to right: Milton Pabón, Gabriel Grefa, Renato Valencia, and Álvaro Pérez conducting field research in the Yasuni Forest Dynamics Plot
Principal Investigator of the Yasuni plot, Renato Valencia, led a data-collection team for two decades to develop and research the ecology of 337 of the species at Yasuni. The book includes color photographs of leaves, flowers, fruits, and trees to encourage the development of future research and conservation strategies in one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems in the world. See below for examples of the photography taken in Yasuni. 
Mayna odorata, an understory tree that is used for crossbars in residential structure in the area as well as oil in the fruit (pp.28 from Árboles emblemáticos de Yasuní: 337 especies)

Solanum grandiflorum; Photo taken by Renato Valencia