Evaluation of biodiversity in five Kichwa communities in the colonization zone of the Ecuadorian upper Amazon

Abstract

This work is a contribution to the legalization process of indigenous territories from the Pueblo Originario Kichwa del Cantón Santa Clara. Its main goal is to evaluate the status of biodiversity conservation in natural relicts of the Upper Amazonian rainforest in five Kichwa communities from Santa Clara, Mera, Pastaza and Arosemena Tola counties, Pastaza and Napo provinces, Ecuador. The study area is part of the buffer zone of Llanganates National Park. We applied a participative process with local people by georeferencing the limits of ancestral indigenous territories, the points of cultural interest and the sampling sites of flora and fauna (mammals and birds), which allowed us to generate maps by Geographic Information Systems (GIS) that will be used for the legalization process of communal territories. The results of flora and fauna inventories showed a healthy status of conservation in the five communities when compared with data from a Kichwa community in the Amazonian lowlands (control community). Chontayaku community showed the higher concentration of mammals with 38 species, 34 genera, 18 families and 7 orders. Regarding birds, Kushillu Urku registered 62 species, 58 genera, 27 families and 14 orders. Concerning the flora inventories, Rey del Oriente community registered 508 species, 304 genera and 109 families, including an endemic species: Burmeistera refracta. All these results were complemented with socio economic and participative diagnostics, establishing a community zonification and regulations for an adequate use and management of the indigenous territory.