Preliminary Floristic Inventory gallery forest of Microcuenca "The kites", Jinotega, Nicaragua

Abstract

Preliminary results are presented from the Floristic Inventory of the Gallery Forest in the Las Chichiguas Micro-watershed, Jinotega, Nicaragua. This inventory aims to assess the current conservation status of primary forest species in the gallery forest. Samples were collected from four different land-use zones within the El Salto sub-watershed: El Salto, where the land is used for pasture and cattle; La Colmena, characterized by shade-grown coffee and vegetable cultivation; La Fuente, where staple grains are grown; and Mora Arriba, the flow measurement point. In each zone, a 30-meter buffer strip along the riverbank was sampled. To date, 129 individual plants have been collected, classified into 37 orders, 52 families, 79 genera, and 100 species. Of all the species collected across the zones, 18% are indicators of primary forest. Among the sampled zones, La Fuente had the highest number of species (58), but only 15% of these were primary forest species. In contrast, La Colmena, with 25 species collected, had a higher proportion 28% classified as primary forest species.