Foto-guía de semillas del bosque seco: Una herramienta para la gestión y manejo de la diversidad vegetal

Abstract

Abstract: The diversity of shapes, sizes and colors presented by the seeds of different species of dry forests is impressive, being necessary its dissemination, so that the scientific community, students and general population know about the external seed morphology. For this reason, the present work aims to identify through photographs, the seeds diversity of the most representative species of the dry forest of southern Ecuador. For this purpose, seeds stored in the seed bank of the UTPL were used and photographed in the laboratory of the same university. The best photos of each species were selected and was taken a photo-guide called "Photo-guide of Seeds of the Dry Forest of Southern Ecuador", which includes morphological information of each species. The photo-guide, in addition to being a document for the dissemination of seed diversity, could be a tool for the management and handling of plant diversity, as well as for future studies on the biology and ecology of dry forest seeds.