Andean Mountain Forests

Research programme in Podocarpus National Park, Ecuador, EDIT ATBI+M site and UNESCO MAB biosphere reserve

with the support of:

In the framework of the European Distributed Institute of Taxonomy (EDIT) ATBI+M activities and in close collaboration with DFG research unit 816 , Ministerio del Ambiante (Ecuador), Universidad Tecnica Particular de Loja, we started a 6- year research program (2007-2012) at Estacion Scientifica San Francisco (ECSF), Podocarpus National Park (ATBI site 680), Ecuador.

Cajanuma, 3000m a.s.l., Podocarpus National Park. Picture: J. Schmidl

We focus on various arthropod groups:

- Ants (Leponce, RBINS)

- Bark-dwelling arthropods (Schmidl, Univ. Erlangen-Nuremberg/RBINS)

- Termites (Roisin/Leponce, ULB/RBINS)

- Dolichopodidae (Pollet, IWT/RBINS)

- Orthoptera (Riede, Univ. Bonn)

Study sites:

Study sites are distributed between 1000 and 3000m. So far 7 localities have been sampled.

Videos: approx. 90 sec each: low resolution (1.5MB): ; medium resolution (6MB):

ECSF research station infrastructure: the station is well equipped with a library, computer room (WiFi internet access by satellite), kitchen, patio, rooms, laboratories and meeting rooms which are shown on the video:

Three reference site are located along a 2000m altitudinal gradient on the eastern slope of the Andes:

	Bombuscaro: forest at 1000m a.s.l., average air temp. 19°C: The video shows researchers measuring the leaf area index and other canopy structure attributes with a LAI2000 analyzer and downloading the climatic data recorded at the meteorological station. An experimental area includes a tree nursery. Leaf-cutting ants and termites such as Armitermes are common at this altitude.
	Forest at 2000m a.s.l. near the ECSF research station, average air temp. 15°C. Annual rainfall is ca. 1950mm.The forest is easily accessible from the research station after having crossed a river. An extended network of trails is available and allow an easy location of study plots (e.g. botanical plots). Collectors provide information about the amount of leaves falling from trees and about the water flow along trunks.
	Cajanuma: cloud forest at 3000m a.s.l., average air temp. 9°C. Annual rainfall is ca. 4500mm.

More informartion on the study sites can be found in Leuschner et al. (2007) Basic and Applied Ecology 8:219-230 and on the websites of DFG research units 816 and 402.

Ant communities

P.I.: Maurice Leponce

Ongoing projects:

Diversity and altitudinal distribution at regional scale

Digital collection: in collaboration with the Belgian Biodiversity Platform (under construction).

Effects of atmospheric changes: Belspo-Action 1 project (2009-2012): Thibaut Delsinne & Tania Milena Penna.

Microscale spatio-temporal distribution: phD project, FRIA grant (2008-2011): Justine Jacquemin.

Bark-dwelling arthropods

P.I.: Jürgen Schmidl

In Oct.2007, the arthropod fauna on living bark was sampled from 71 trees of 6 different plots at these 3 altitudes by bark-spraying. This method consists in spraying the tree bark with an insecticide and by collecting the insects knocked down in a plastic sheet placed around the trunk. The results of this study are available in Burkard (2008) bachelor thesis.

Termites

P.I.s: Yves Roisin & Maurice Leponce

Digital collection: in collaboration with the Belgian Biodiversity Platform (under construction).

Dolichopodidae

Project title: Biodiversity and ecology of long-legged flies (Diptera: Dolichopodidae) along an altitudinal gradient in the Neotropical Andes: a contribution to the knowledge of the entomofauna of the Andes (South America).

P.I.: Marc Pollet

A sampling campaign on Dolichopodidae (Diptera) has been conducted between February 13 and March 5, 2009 at 3 sites at 1000m (Bombuscaro), 2000m (San Francisco) and 3000m (Cajanuma). Both Malaise traps, pan traps as well as sweep nets were employed. Environmental variables as light intensity, aerial humidity and temperature were recorded in each sampling site. Next to the assessment of the total dolichopodid species diversity, the combined data sets also allow us to study the impact of altitude and habitat type on the species diversity and community structure. In this respect, pan traps of 4 different colours yielded information on the ecology of the different species whereas information on the vagility of the species shall be retrieved from the comparison of yields from Malaise traps, pan traps and sweep net samples. Finally, the observed biodiversity patterns will be compared with those of similar altitudinal gradient studies in Colombia and Costa Rica. More info...

Publications

Burkard, M. 2008. Räumliche und altitudinale Unterschiede in in der Rindenfauna (Arthropoda) eines Bergregenwaldes Südecuadors. Bachelorarbeit supervised by Prof. Dr. Martin Klingler and Dr. J. Schmidl, Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen Nürnberg, 43 p.

Leponce, M.; Schmidl, J.; Riede, K.; Pollet, M.; Roisin, Y. 2008. Inventory and monitoring programme for arthropods at EDIT ATBI site 680 - Podocarpus National Park, Ecuador: Progress report and proposal to EDIT and DFG RU-816 for the period 2007-2009. RBINS, Brussels, August 2008, 64 p.

Leponce, M.; Wauters, N.; Jacquemin, J.; Delsinne, T. & Roisin, Y. 2009. High elevation ants from the Ecuadorian Andes. Joint Meeting of Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation & Society for Tropical Ecology, July 27 to 30, 2009, Marburg, Germany, p. 486.

Pollet, M. 2009. In search for dolichopodid flies in southern Ecuador: the true story. Fly times 42, pp.36-51. http://www.nadsdiptera.org/News/FlyTimes/Flyhome.htm

Wauters, N. 2009. Distribution altitudinale des communautés de fourmis dans des forêts de haute altitude dans les Andes équatoriennes (Altitudinal distribution of ant communities in high mountain forests in the ecuadorian Andes). Master thesis. Supervisors: Maurice Leponce (RBINS) & Yves Roisin (ULB), 71p. [obtained the Paul Brien prize for the best Master thesis in zoology, year 2009]

Web pages maintained by Maurice Leponce. Last update 28/09/2009.