Vascular flora of Monteleon: The last urban relict of the Andean tropical forest in Manizales

2021-PRESENT

Monteleon forest is the only ecosystem of the Andean Forest that Manizales has in its urban area, and since 1970 it has been exposed to an evident fragmentation of the landscape and loss of habitat due to urban expansion, lack of public intervention, pollution, the exploitation of resources and the ignorance of its biological richness. It is intended to determine the richness, diversity, composition and structure of the vascular flora of Monteleon forest through a field phase where will carry out the collection of vascular plants, a herbarium phase where taxonomic identification will be carried out and a data analysis phase where diversity will be evaluated. Monteleon is a forest with historical importance for the city of Manizales and with representative characteristics of the biodiversity of the tropics, therefore, this project intends to present a floristic inventory and provide relevant information that evidences the state of this relict and finally motivates future conservation actions in the area.