Six forests in one: Tree species diversity in the Bosque Protector Chongón Colonche, a lowland mountain range in coastal Ecuadorian

Tropical mountain ranges shape the structure of tree communities and promote highly diverse natural habitats. The “Bosque Protector Chongón-Colonche” (BPCC), an 86,000-ha mountain formation situated on the coast of Ecuador, is biogeographically important for the region by connecting floristic elements of the wet Choco and the dry Tumbesian forests. Our understanding of the factors that model tree and palm diversity and distribution in this mountain range are limited. We measured and identified all trees and palms (DBH ≥10 ​cm) in 289 plots of 0.2 ​ha, distributed throughout BPCC. We used generalized linear models to explain the relationship between forest diversity and structure and climatic variables (temperature, rain, aridity), and altitude. We then used cluster and non-metric multidimensional scale (NMDS) analyses to search for distinct forest communities within the BPCC. Variance partition (varpart) was used to determine which predictor variables best explained these distinct forest communities. A species indicator analysis identified the species most likely to define these distinct forest communities. Finally, we carried out a niche modeling approach to identify the potential distribution of these forest communities within BPCC. In total, we identified 220 tree and palm species in our survey. The average number of species per plot was 17.8 ​± ​5.8, ranging from 3 to 40 species. Classification methods sorted the 289 study plots into six different forest communities, three communities in the dry forest and three in the semi-humid Garúa forest. Precipitation and temperature, but not altitude or aridity, explained floristic composition. These results emphasize the high but little cataloged diversity in the lowland mountain rainforests of coastal Ecuador.