Distribución geográfica y potencial de Gynoxys verrucosa (Wedd.) Guangalo en la provincia de Loja y Zamora Chinchipe

Abstract

The geographical and potential distribution of Gynoxys verrucosa (Wedd.), commonly known as “Guangalo”, in the provinces of Zamora and Loja were analyzed during this research.

For every visited area, plots of 〖400m〗^2 were made, where individuals of Gynoxys verrucosa and associated species were collected and registered. Ecological parameters were employed to evaluate the diversity of the associated species. All the statistical analysis was carried out in Estimates R. The geographic information system (GIS) was used to build the geographical distribution models. The MaxEnt modelling method was used in order to generate the distribution models and the potential distribution map of G. verrucosa.

The physico-chemical variables that contributed the most to the model were the seasonal temperature (26.9%), the mean annual temperature (18.9%), the precipitation of the driest quarter (8%) and the mean temperature of the driest quarter (8%). The value of the AUC (Area Under the Curve) was 0.996, which showed a high statistical significance.

Because of the presence of physico-chemical conditions, according to the distribution model, the species is mostly distributed geographically in the province of Loja. The possible distribution zones for this species in all the country were also generated by this model.

Keywords: Potencial distribution, MaxEnt