Gradients in a Tropical Mountain Ecosystem — a Synthesis

Abstract

As a result of high deforestation and non-sustainable land use there exists a substantial and increasing amount of unproductive land in Ecuador, especially concerning over-used, degraded or abandoned pastures (see Chapter 4 in this volume). The loss of productive land is particularly disastrous because forestal and agricultural land use is one of the main generators of income in rural areas. It is interesting to see that 90% of the area annually afforested in Ecuador (3500ha) are realized in the Andean region, where the socio-economic and ecological functions of the forests are of prominent importance (FAO 2006). However, despite the exorbitant number of 2736 native tree species in Ecuador (Jørgensen and León-Yánez 1999), forestation activities are almost exclusively based on exotic species, mainly pines and eucalypts.