Characterization of the pine forest on quartz sands of the Ecological Reserve "Los Pretiles", Pinar del Rio, Cuba

Abstract

In Pinar del Rio, «Los Pretiles» is an area that is included within the ecosystems that demand a rapid conservation action. There is a strong degradation of the pine groves, as well as the disappearance of many typical species of these ecosystems. This fact becomes more important when we consider that this area is considered of great scientific-conservationist interest, given the high endemism of its flora and physiognomic features that characterize the vegetation. This paper shows the floristic characterization of the natural pine groves communities of Pinus tropicalis present in the Ecological Reserve «Los Pretiles», Mantua municipality, Pinar del Río. This area presents a great floristic diversity represented by 274 species, of these 97 are endemic to Cuba. In the same way, threatened species were also listed, with a total of 39 threatened species for 14.2%, with 27 of these endemic species (84.4%). The chorological study for Cuba shows that the greatest floristic relationships are manifested significantly in a high number of widely distributed species in the national territory. In the case of corology outside Cuba, the existing relationship with the Neotropics is remarkable, which is explained by the migrations of the ancestors of the flora of the Antilles during the Middle Eocene, through marine promontories of the Caribbean Sea. The analysis of the biological spectrum of the pine forest vegetation showed the existence of species of scarce biomass, accusing the extreme conditions of the substratum of the place, which do not allow the development of species of greater biomass, which explains the scarce representation of phanerophytes. The floristic characterization of this plant formation within the area constitutes a step towards the reworking of the management measures with a view to the reconstruction of the natural landscape