Diversity and value of importance of vegetation for their conservation. Parque Nacional Lihué Calel (Argentina)

Abstract

The vegetation is a natural resource for the balance of the ecosystem so it is necessary to have quantitative information on their characteristics and distribution. The purpose of this was to determine the diversity and value of importance of natural vegetation in the Parque Nacional Lihué Calel through quantitative indices in order to contribute to their conservation. Quantitative parameters were calculated such as frequency, dominance and density. Their relative values allowed to know the importance value index of each species. Also obtained the index of Margalef species richness, the Simpson dominance index and equity index Shannon-Wiener and Pielou for to know the diversity of vegetation. As a result there werw identified 33 species belonging mainly to shrub and herbaceous. The representative families were Larrea and Poaceae. The values of the indices showed that there is a lot of species in the area, the community has no dominant species and therefore diversity is greater, the formation is equitable and all species are abundant. These conclusions allowed us to understand the need to preserve the natural vegetation of the area.