‘Evolution of high biodiversity and endemicity zones in Ecuador in a scenario of global change’

Jesús Muñoz Fuente, Angel Manuel Felicísimo Pérez, David Alan Neill, Mª Teresa Tellería Jorge, Olga Martha Montiel.

The expected results will provide information on biodiversity and endemic richness starting from radically new premises. The work area is the Republic of Ecuador, and the material of the study will be species drawn from four well-known plant groups on which specialists are working in situ, which will guarantee the quality of baseline data. Some 1,070 species will be considered belonging to three families of vascular plants (Gesneriacieae, Rubiaceae and Lauraceae) and various moss families of the Bryopsida class. The overall aim of the project is to compare zones of maximum diversity and endemicity in their present situation and in a scenario of climate change. This comparison will allow guidelines to be drawn up for different types of intervention.