Líquenes a lo largo de un gradiente altitudinal en la Vereda Vergel Alto - Reserva Natural Las Palmeras, Cubarral - Meta

Abstract

The lichens is a group of organisms that do not possess vascular structures, it arises from the symbiotic association between a mycobiont and photobiont; they are important in the primary process of successional and collaborating in the transformation of soil, biomass, contribution and regulation of water in the ecosystem, they also provide microhabitats for the growth and development of other species of (fauna and flora) environment. The distribution and diversity is given according to the elevation gradient in which they are found; in spite of this, in the Meta department, some studies have not been conducted on elevation gradients in lichens and in Colombia, there have been few. In this research, there were seventeen orders distributed in thirty-eight families and these in turn distributed in seventy-four genera with three hundred twenty one species. It was found that the diversity and richness of lichens were lower in 2000 masl and 1800 masl due to changes in physical factors such as: temperature, absolute humidity, luminosity and the level of precipitation of the study area; the greater diversity and richness of lichens were found in the altitude of 1600 masl and 1400 masl, in this way there is a low dominance of species in the natural reserve. In addition, according to multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) lichens do not have a specific factor of association so they can be associated with factors such as luminosity (low, medium and high) and the type of substrate where they grow (corticolous, saxicolous or Foliicolous) and altitude also determines this distribution of species since the composition in the communities changes as the elevation gradient changes; in dimorphic and fruticose lichens, a main association was presented by the substrate (corticolous) and the luminosity (high). Thirty-one new records were reported for the Meta department, seven new records for the country and six new species for science, of the genera Cora (5) and Pyrenula (1) that are being described.