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Volume 7, Issue 1 (Suppl)

J Ecosyst Ecogr

ISSN: 2157-7625 JEE, an open access journal

Biodiversity Congress 2017

April 27-28, 2017

April 27-28, 2017 Dubai, UAE

International Conference on

Biodiversity and Conservation

Plant diversity and ecosystem services in Amazonian homegardens of Ecuador

Juan Carlos Carrasco

and Verónica Caballero-Serrano

Polytechnic School of Chimborazo, Ecuador

Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Spain

omegardens (HG) play a key role in the conservation of plant diversity and at the same time provide ecosystem services that

have a direct and positive impact on human welfare. The relationships among plant diversity, ecosystem services and the factors

that influence them formed the subject of study in tropical HG in Sangay, Ecuador. We compiled information from 138 HG in 11

localities and found 484 plant species associated with 20 ecosystem services; the most important of which, according to interviews

with the gardeners, is that they provide food, medicine and ornamentation. Influential physical factors on plant diversity in the HG

were altitude, precipitation and temperature, while socioeconomic factors, including ethnicity, gender, income and education, were

perhapsmore important determinants of HGdiversity.Three groups of HGwere identified byHierarchical Ascendant Correspondence

Analysis: “small HG of recent origin,”- having the fewest species and ecosystem services, “large, transitional HG,”- having a wide range

of services, and “medium, established HG,” -mainly supplying food, medicine, ornamentation, shade and fencing. Ethnicity may be a

stronger determinant of differences in HG composition: For Shuar people, HG were a main source of food, critical to their subsistence

in rural areas; in total, Shuar gardeners cultivated on the whole more plant species. On the other hand, HG belonging to mestizos

were more diverse, have more exotic plant species and provide mainly cultural and regulatory services. HG in more urban settings

mainly provided ornamentation, fencing and shade. This information can be applied by policy makers to the design of strategies for

biodiversity conservation and food security.

Juan Carlos Carrasco et al., J Ecosyst Ecogr 2017, 7:1(Suppl)