Lorena Endara's Projects > Endemic Orchids of Ecuador > Endemic orchids and the Natural System of Protected Areas
Endemic orchids and the Natural System of Protected Areas (SNAP)
The following figure shows that a high proportion of the endemic orchid collections have been conducted along Ecuador's road system, a pattern also shared by other groups of plants. It is also evident that there is a low proportion of endemic species within the natural areas, although many species have been registered on the roads that surround them. Therefore, is too early to know how well is the SNAP protecting the endemic orchids of Ecuador.
The tendency of the endemic orchids of Ecuador to occupy restricted distributions and narrow altitudinal ranges is dominant along the dataset. These analyses are based on the herbaria specimens available. For better and precise information of the degree of protection that the SNAP provides to the endemic orchids, niche modeling techniques accompanied by field work will greatly help our understanding.
Conservation strategies in a megadiverse country like Ecuador are a big challenge. Fortunately, we have some important tools, for example, Ecuador has been botanically a well explored country; it has a preliminary list of threatened plants that is constantly been updated; it has active herbaria and research. Moreover, Ecuador has an active network of private reserves that play an important role in conservation and exploration.
Our data is one of the first contributions to support conservation initiatives since we present basic information that is essential for research and conservation proposals.