Abstract

GAMARRA TORRES, Oscar Andrés et al. Quality of the riparian forest in the Utcubamba river basin, Amazonas, Peru. Arnaldoa [online]. 2018, vol.25, n.2, pp.653-678. ISSN 1815-8242.  http://dx.doi.org/http://doi.org/10.22497/arnaldoa.252.25218.

Riparian forests in tropical areas have great diversity and heterogeneity, because they are made up of trees with an irregular distribution which causes that the tree communities differ along the river. In the present investigation, we studied the riparian vegetation existing along the Utcubamba River basin, located in a tropical inter-Andean valley in the department of Amazonas, northeast of Peru. Floristic inventories were conducted at 43 sampling points along the main riverbed and main tributaries of the river from its source to its mouth. 230 species of vascular plants belonging to 76 families were registered. The most common arboreal formations collected were Alnus acuminata, Salix humboldtiana and Tessaria integrifolia, while the shrubs were Phragmites australis and Gynerium sagittatum. Likewise, the quality of the gallery forest at each sampling point was evaluated by using the QBR-And index, showing a decreasing quality in the basin from the high to the low section, and higher values in the tributaries, in both cases motivated by human activities of agricultural origin mainly.

Keywords : riparian forest; floristic inventory; riparian quality; Utcubamba river; Peru.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )