Inventory of the main plants in the green areas of the Universidad del Pacífico, El Triunfo Campus, Buenaventura, Colombia.

Abstract

To know the richness and abundance of the existing plants in the main green areas of the Universidad del Pacífico, campus El Triunfo, an inventory was carried out in approximately 2 ha of all the trees, shrubs and herbs planted or left from the natural vegetation between the buildings. The taxonomic determination was made in the field, and through the use of taxonomic keys and comparison of images of virtual herbaria with images and herbarium collections made. The origin of the species was defined based on literature review, especially the Catálogo de plantas y líquenes de Colombia. The organization of the species by families was done following the APG IV system. A total of 756 individuals grouped into 42 families, 81 genera and 91 species were recorded; the families with the highest number of genera and species were Arecaceae with 12 in each category and Fabaceae with 10 genera and 11 species, followed by Malvaceae with 7 genera and species, Araceae with 4 genera and 6 species, and Rubiaceae with equal number of genera and species (4). The genera Annona, Inga, Vismia, Ficus, Citrus and Zamia comprise 2 species each. The species with the highest abundance were Ixora coccinea (176 individuals, 24%), Alternanthera brasiliana (173, 24%), Duranta erecta (64, 9%), Euterpe oleracea (49, 7%) and Dieffenbachia seguine (47 individuals, 7%). 62% of the species were Eudicots, 31% Monocots, 4% Magnolids, and 3% Gymnosperms; regarding the habit, 56% were trees, 24% shrubs and 20% terrestrial herbs. 59% of the species are native to Colombia and 41% introduced; of those introduced, 22% are from Asia, 9% from the Neotropics, 6% from Africa and 4% from Oceania. Of the native species, 5 are endemic to Colombia: Mauritiella macroclada, Jacaranda hesperia, Vismia rufa, Alibertia patinoi, and Tachigali colombiana. Three Endangered species (EN, Mora oleifera, Cedrela odorata, and Zamia chigua), and one Vulnerable species (VU, Zamia roezlii), were found. The results of the study show that the proportion of native species is higher than the introduced ones, but that the latter are not the most abundant; it was also found that the typical species of the Valle del Cauca Pacific are poorly represented on the university campus, except for Euterpe oleraceae.