Forest Vegetation Sampling at Buena Vista and Santa Fe, Bolivia
These data were collected as part of an ethnobotanical study. They were originally published in this article:
DeWalt, S. J., G. Bourdy, L. R. Chávez de Michel, and C. Quenevo. 1999. Ethnobotany of the Tacana: quantitative inventories of two permanent plots of northwestern Bolivia. Economic Botany 53:237-260.
Please cite this article when referring to the data.
Sites:
We sampled the vegetation plots in late-secondary or old-growth forest that were located within a reasonable (< 40-minute) walk from the communities. We studied the ethnobotany of the Tacana living in several communities in the Iturralde Province, Department of La Paz, at the foothills of the Cordillera Oriental of the Andes Mountains, Bolivia. The meteorological station at Rurrenabaque, which is close to Buena Vista, records mean annual temperatures of 25.9ºC and mean annual precipitation of 2550 mm (check these data with new reports). There is a distinct dry season from May to August. This area is a transitional zone between the high forests of the Department of Pando and the Llanos de Mojos in the Department of Beni. We selected the communities of Buena Vista and Santa Fe as the sites of permanent 1-ha plots and 0.1 ha Gentry transects. No ethnobotanical information was collected along the Gentry transects. See DeWalt et al. (1999) for a map of the sites.
The community of Buena Vista (14o22'S 67o33'W, 180 m) lies on the western bank of the Beni River. Sixty-three families were living in Buena Vista including approximately 355 men, women, and children. The Buena Vista plot (BV) was located in seasonally flooded, late secondary growth forest (approximately 100 years old; T. Killeen, personal observation) and was surrounded on three sides by young secondary vegetation dominated by Cecropia spp.
Santa Fe (13o40'S 68o12'W, 250 m) is located 3 km NW of the town of Ixiamas. At the time of the study, fewer than five families were living in Santa Fe. The Santa Fe plot (SF) was located in primary, non-inundated forest.
Following the descriptions in Killeen, García E. and Beck (1993), the forests of BV and SF are classified as Amazonian Forest (Bosque Amazónico). The vegetation was sampled in April and May 1995 at Buena Vista and July and August 1995 at Santa Fe.
One-hectare plots
Each plot was sampled with two adjacent parallel transects (240 and 260 m long) of contiguous 20 x 20 m quadrats. All living trees, lianas, and palms ³ 10 cm diameter at breast height (1.4m) were measured at 1.4 m above the ground or above adventitious roots or buttresses (as much as possible – we only had a ladder of about 3 m, so some large trees may have been measured over buttresses), tagged 10 cm below the point of measurement, and identified in the two 1-ha plots. Voucher specimens were collected in triplicate, deposited in the Herbario Nacional de Bolivia (LPB) and the Missouri Botanical Garden (MO), and sent to specialists for identification. Unidentifiable species were grouped into morphospecies. When species could be identified unambiguously in the field as one that had already been collected, we did not collect a new voucher. Palm vouchers were collected outside of the plot.
I’m not sure where we measured lianas. I think we may have measured them at 137 cm from the ground (regardless of where they were rooted). We measured apparent genets only once.
Gentry transects
Within each plot, we sampled all plants ³ 2.5 cm diameter at breast height within 2 m transects on the outer sides of the two parallel transects of the 1-ha plots. In each plot, we therefore sampled 0.1 ha for woody plants ³ 2.5 cm diameter. We included trees, lianas, hemi-epiphytes, and graminoids in these Gentry-style transects.
Additional notes about the data sets
Herbarium specimen numbers followed by a star signify that a specimen was not collected from that tree. The tree was identified in the field as being the same as a previous collection (the number before the star).
The heights of trees in the plots were taken by measuring the distance (m) from the observer (usually Saara DeWalt) to the tree, the angle to the base of the tree, and the angle to the top of the tree, first branch, or top of the commercially valuable part of the tree. Many of these heights are subject to rather significant error and should be used cautiously.
There’s a discrepancy in my data about whether some trees identified as Protium rhynchophyllum should be that species or P. sagotianum. These are highlighted in yellow. Species determinations highlighted in blue were updated in November 2003 based on identifications made between 1998 and 2003.
Astrocaryum murumuru was published as Astrocaryum gratum in DeWalt et al. (1999). Oeconarpus bataua was published as Jessenia bataua.
Questions? Contact Saara DeWalt, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Rice University, MS 170, Houston, TX 77005; ; Phone: 713-348-6276; Fax: 713-348-5232