Phytosociological Study, Diversity and Conservation Status of the Cloud Forest in the Dominican Republic

Abstract

The study of the forest in rainy environments of the Dominican Republic reveals the presence of four types of vegetation formations, clearly differentiated from each other in terms of their floristic and biogeographical composition, and also significantly different from the rainforests of Cuba. This leads us to propose two new alliances and four plant associations located in northern mountain areas exposed to moisture-laden winds from the Atlantic: All. Rondeletio ochraceae-Clusion roseae (Ass. Cyatheo furfuracei-Prestoetum motanae; Ass. Ormosio krugii-Prestoetum montanae); and All. Rondeletio ochraceae-Didymopanion tremuli (Ass. Hyeronimo montanae-Magnolietum pallescentis; Hyeronimo dominguensis-Magnolietum hamorii). We pay special attention to the description of cloud forest types, since they have a high rate of endemic species, and therefore there are endemic habitats, which need special protective actions. Therefore, we apply the Shannon diversity index to characteristic, companion, non-endemic, and endemic species. As result, the association Ormosio krugii-Prestoetum montanae has a Shannon_T = 2.4 and a value of Shannon_E = 0, whereas the other 3 associations have a better conservation status with Shannon values in all cases > 0: This is due to a worse conservation status of the Eastern Cordillera, in comparison with the Central Cordillera and Sierra de Bhaoruco. Due to human activity, some areas are very poorly conserved, as evidenced by the diversity index and the presence of endemic tree and plant elements. The worst conserved in terms of the relationship between characteristic plants vegetation (cloud forest) in areas with high rainfall are in the Dominican Republic, along with its floristic diversity and state of conservation. This study has made it possible to significantly increase the botanical knowledge of this important habitat.

Exploring Plant-Based Ethnomedicine and Quantitative Ethnopharmacology: Medicinal Plants Utilized by the Population of Jasrota Hill in Western Himalaya

“…Lying between 32 • 27 and 32 • 31 N latitude and 75 • 22 and 75 • 26 E longitude, Jasrota hill or Jasrota Wildlife Sanctuary (JWS) is located on the banks of the river Ujh in the Kathua district in the Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory (UT) within the Himalayas of the Indo-Malayan biogeographical realm (Figure 1). This sanctuary and the adjoining area are recognized as compact masses of natural forest ecosystems, with a total area of 10.04 km 2 for the core JWS where the core belt area is virgin and undisturbed. The elevation of the JWS ranges from 356 to 650 m above the mean sea level (AMSL).…”

“…Plants are an integral part of life, as they produce secondary metabolites to fight disease [1,2], and humans have rationalized medicinal plants and their chemical components in various forms for therapeutic use [3,4]. Usually, conventional medicines are effective in curing many common of J&K for future generations and to provide baseline information for pharmacological studies on the discovery of new drugs and molecules.…”

Documentation of medicinal plants used by Aneuk Jamee tribe in Kota Bahagia Sub-district, South Aceh, Indonesia

“…Indonesia comprises more than 40,000 species of plants, of which approximately 6,000 have been used in traditional healing processes (Elfahmi et al 2014). These plants are considered for their richness in biologically active secondary metabolites and essential oils for disease prevention (Ngbolua et al 2018;Suwardi et al 2018;Ortiz et al 2020), and human beings have refined medicinal plants and their chemical properties in varying ways for therapeutic usages (Colalto 2018;Kumar et al 2018). Traditional medicine has been focused on meeting the objectives of wider coverage of primary healthcare provision across all countries of the world (Bekalo et al 2009).…”

Contribution to the Knowledge of Rocky Plant Communities of the Southwest Iberian Peninsula

“…Habitats are very important natural or semi-natural places that need to be continuously studied to preserve them and their inhabitants, especially the plant endemic species that characterize them [ 1 , 2 ]. In fact, different habitats in the world are threatened by different types of pressures and threats [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ]. Among the wide spectrum of habitats, we focus on plant communities that develop on rocky habitats, which are often associated with crests, cliffs, lithosols, rocky soils or rock outcrops.…”