Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Forestales Vol. 9 (47)

Mayo-Junio (2018)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.29298/rmcf.v9i47.154

Article

Estructura y diversidad de la vegetación arbórea de un bosque de galería en el estado de Puebla

Structure and diversity of the tree vegetation of a gallery forest in Puebla State

Jesús Mao Estanislao Aguilar Luna1*

Fecha de recepción/Reception date: 12 de diciembre de 2017

Fecha de aceptación/Acceptance date: 7 de marzo de 2018

_______________________________

1Complejo Regional Norte. Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla.

*Autor por correspondencia, correo-e: mao.aguilar@correo.buap.mx

Resumen

Los bosques de galería ocupan franjas transversales a lo largo de las corrientes fluviales, con una estructura y función ecosistémica particular. Un ejemplo de ellos se ubica en la ribera del río Xaltatempa, en Puebla, al que se le analizaron las variables de la vegetación arbórea y su relación con la calidad del agua. Se establecieron seis unidades de muestreo de 1 000 m2, distanciadas entre sí por 2 km, en las que se midieron e identificaron todos los árboles y arbustos con DAP≥1 cm; con ello se calculó su índice de valor forestal (IVF), índice de valor de importancia (IVI), índice de heterogeneidad de Shannon-Weaver (H') e índice de similitud de Sørensen (ISS); adicionalmente, se tomaron muestras de agua del río para determinar sus principales características químicas. Los resultados indican diferencia estadística entre sitios (α≤0.05), en la que la especie más importante por su diámetro, altura y cobertura fue Platanus mexicana (ÍVF=300.00), como por su dominancia, densidad y frecuencia (ÍVI=182.71). La riqueza específica (H'=0.54) se concentró solo en seis especies: Alnus acuminata, Ligustrum lucidum, Parathesis serrulata, Pinus patula, Platanus mexicana y Quercus rugosa; en cuanto al ISS la combinación pareada de los sitios 4 (1 586 msnm) y 5 (1 536 msnm) hizo coincidir a Alnus acuminata, Ligustrum lucidum y Platanus mexicana (ÍSS=1.00). La estructura (fragmentada) y la diversidad (muy baja) de la vegetación arbórea del bosque de galería, hacen evidente un efecto antrópico, sin que se manifiesten cambios en la calidad del agua del río Xaltatempa.

Palabras clave: Bosque de galería, índice de heterogeneidad de Shannon-Weaver, índice de similitud de Sørensen, índice de valor de importancia, valor forestal, vegetación ribereña.

Abstract

The gallery forests occupy transversal strips along the fluvial currents, with a particular ecosystemic structure and function. An example of them is located on the banks of the Xaltatempa river, in Puebla, which was analyzed the variables of the tree vegetation and its relationship with water quality. Six sampling units of 1 000 m2, separated from each other by 2 km, were established, in which all trees and shrubs with DBH≥1 cm were measured and identified; with this, their forest value index (FVI), importance value index (IVI), Shannon-Weaver heterogeneity index (H ') and Sørensen similarity index (SSI) were calculated; In addition, water samples were taken from the river to determine its main chemical characteristics. The results indicate statistical difference between sites (α≤0.05), in which the most important species by diameter, height and coverage was Platanus mexicana (FVI = 300.00), as by its dominance, density and frequency (IVI = 182.71). The species richness (H '= 0.54) was concentrated in only six species: Alnus acuminata, Ligustrum lucidum, Parathesis serrulata, Pinus patula, Platanus mexicana and Quercus rugosa; as for the SSI, the paired combination of sites 4 (1 586 masl) and 5 (1 536 masl), coincided with Alnus acuminata, Ligustrum lucidum and Platanus mexicana (SSI = 1.00). The structure (fragmented) and diversity (very low) of the tree vegetation of the gallery forest make evident an anthropic effect, without having changes in the water quality of the Xaltatempa River.

Keywords: Gallery forest, Shannon-Weaver heterogeneity index, Sørensen’s similarity index, importance value index, forestry value, riparian vegetation.

Introduction

The gallery forest is a plant formation characterized by its connection to the bank of a river or equivalent hydrological entity (Santiago et al., 2014); it is a complex and fragile forest community, which plays a fundamental role in ecological, hydrological and biodiversity terms for the conservation of rivers (Meli et al., 2017).

From a physical and structural point of view, they can rarely form pure masses of a single species, so there is an alternation, which, as Sánchez (1986) pointed out, can change at a short distance or appear in combinations of plant associations. In the rivers, the distribution patterns of the species are related to microtopography and edaphic variables (Cortés and Islebe, 2005); while altitudinal gradients are associated with changes in the characteristics of riparian vegetation, including its diversity, its structural and functional properties (Ward et al., 2002; Acosta et al., 2008).

In the riparian zones, the tree diversity has a well- defined vertical component, from the surface of the water to the canopy, where distinctive strata of vegetation are found (Granados et al., 2006); such diversity can be assessed from the number of tree species in a particular site (Meli et al., 2017). The tree structure is an axis of environmental organization of vital importance for the ecosystem balance of the gallery forests (Romero et al., 2014).

It can be defined by the type, number, spatial arrangement and temporal ordering of the elements that constitute it; in this context, the most important are the structures of species, the spatial and dimensional disposition of the ecosystem (Aguirre, 2002). The vertical structure is the way in which the arboreal component is distributed on the vertical axis, that is, the height above the ground. A first tendency assumes that the nature of the canopy is changing, since the forest is growing in patches all the time; according to this, three phases are recognized: clear phase, reconstruction phase and mature phase or equilibrium state (Román et al., 2012; Meli et al., 2014).

The vertical layout of the arboreal vegetation of the gallery forest is essential to maintain water quality, buffer the sedimentation processes of the riverbeds (Granados et al., 2006), provide protection against soil erosion and provide a habitat for aquatic and terrestrial organisms (Camacho et al., 2006). The horizontal structure refers to the way in which the components of the community are distributed in the land they occupy, this distribution is given mainly by the heights of the trees (Román et al., 2012; Meli et al., 2014).

At present, the assessment of the structure and condition of gallery forests requires detailed information regarding their richness, abundance and ecological diversity, in order to generate management strategies that guarantee the provision of environmental services (Méndez et al., 2014; Meli et al., 2017). However, rivers and plant communities that develop on their banks have been subjected to intense historical pressure by the various human activities, which has led to its transformation since ancient times (Richardson et al., 2007).

Thus, the objective of this research was to describe the structure and diversity of the arboreal vegetation of the gallery forest, and its relationship with the water quality of the Xaltatempa River.

Materials and Methods

Study area

The Xaltatempa River is located in the Tetela de Ocampo municipality in the state of Puebla, between 19º43'00 "- 19º57'06" N, and 97º38'42 "- 97º54'06" W; Its altitudinal range is from 1 680 to 1 451 m. It is part of the zone of temperate climates of the Sierra Norte, within which, as it moves from south to north, humidity increases (García, 2004). The Sierra is made up of hills, mountainous areas and intermontane valleys, and on the northern hydrographic slope of the state of Puebla, which is made up of the different partial basins of the rivers that flow into the Gulf of Mexico.

The average annual temperature is 13.9 °C and the average annual rainfall is 1 260 mm (García, 2004). Most of the territory is covered with temperate forests and fog, in which the following species stand out: Abies religiosa (Kunth) Schltdl. et Cham., Alnus acuminata Kunth, Pinus ayacahuite Ehren. ex Schltdl., Pinus patula Schiede ex Schltdl. et Cham., Pinus teocote Schiede ex Schltdl. et Cham., Platanus mexicana Moric., Quercus oleoides Schltdl. et Cham. and Quercus rugosa Née.

Sampling sites

The criteria for the selection of the sampling sites in the river, which has a length of approximately 12 km, were based on their location in the altitudinal elevation between 1 680 and 1 451 m to represent the conditions of the gallery forest. On the riverbank six rectangular plots of 20 × 50 m (1 000 m²) were established, with 10 m wide at each edge of the normal channel of the water flow, which were separated from each other by 2 km. To locate the coordinates of the plots, a receiver of the South S750-G2® global positioning system was used.

Within each one of them, botanical identifications and measurements were made to the trees and bushes: for heights with the Nikon® Laser telephometer /hypsometer; for diameters and sites with Stanley® diametric tape. The identification of species was supported by specialized bibliography (Pennington and Sarukhán, 2005). In order to measure the water quality, two samples of the river water (250 mL) were taken for each sampling site, which were sent to the Laboratorio Agroindustrial, Suelos, Plantas y Agua, Colegio de Postgraduados (Agroindustrial Laboratory, Soils, Plants and Water, Postgraduate School) (Colpos) to determine its main chemical characteristics: pH, electrical conductivity (EC, μS cm- 1), chlorine (Cl, mmolc L-1), sulfates (SO42-, mmolc L-1), calcium (Ca2+, mmolc L-1) and sodium (Na+, mmolc L-1).

Response variables

In order to evaluate the two-dimensional structure of tree vegetation, the forest value index (FVI) was applied, which was calculated as follows (Corella et al., 2001):

FVI = Relative diameter + Relative height + Relative cover

To classify the stages of development of the trees, the following diametric categories were considered: sapling (<5 cm), thicket (6-12 cm), vardascal (12-30 cm), high pole (31-50 cm) and fustal (> 50 cm).

For tree diversity, the importance value index (IVI) was used, which served to rank the importance of each species in the riparian vegetation, based on the variables of dominance (AR), density (DR) and relative frequency (FR). (Smith and Smith, 2007):

The Shannon-Weaver heterogeneity index (H ') was also calculated, which allowed to know the degree of uncertainty, to predict the species to which an individual taken at random in any site belongs; that is, the diversity that exists in the gallery forest (Somarriba, 1999):

Where:

s = Number of species

Pi = Proportion of individuals of the i species

Sørensen similitude index (SSI) was determined too in order to establish the floristic similitude among the sampling sites, based upon the species presence-absence relation; the assumption is 1 when there is a maximum similitude and 0 when it is minimum (Chao et al., 2005):

Where:

A = Number of species in site 1

B = Number of species in site 2

C = Number of common species in sites 1 and 2

Statistical analysis

One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used, with means comparison tests by the Tukey method (α ≤0.05), independent for each sampling site. Excel was used, as well as the multiple response surface optimization model (Montgomery, 2006) with the Minitab® 17 software (Minitab, 2017).

Results and Discussion

Structure of the tree vegetation

In the gallery forest of the Xaltatempa River 0.6 ha-1 were inventoried, which brought a density of 820 trees ha-1 which belong to the following species: Alnus acuminata Kunth (aile), Platanus mexicana Moric. (papalote), Ligustrum lucidum Ait. (trueno), Pinus patula Schiede ex Shltdl. & Cham., (pino llorón), Quercus rugosa Née (encino) and Parathesis serrulata Sw. (naranjillo).

With respect to the FVI, the species that obtained the highest values in all the sites was Platanus mexicana (papalote or kite), with an average value for the six sampling sites of 244.92. As it can be observed in Table 1, the species with the highest value per site were: Platanus mexicana, Alnus acuminata and Pinus patula (site 1); Platanus mexicana, Alnus acuminata, Pinus patula and Parathesis serrulata (site 2); Platanus mexicana (site 3); Platanus mexicana, Ligustrum lucidum and Alnus acuminata (site 4); Platanus mexicana, Alnus acuminata and Ligustrum lucidum (site 5); Platanus mexicana, Quercus rugosa, Alnus acuminata and Parathesis serrulata (site 6). Therefore, the structural importance of the gallery forest of the Xaltatempa River for its FVI is concentrated in two main species: Platanus mexicana (150.65 to 300) and Alnus acuminata (12.39 to 145.23).

Table 1. Species with the greatest forest value index (FVI) for the gallery forest of Xaltatempa River, Puebla.

Site

Species

Dir

Alr

Cor

FVI

1

Alnus acuminata

21.21

21.73

07.50

0050.45

Pinus patula

04.43

03.70

00.33

008.46

Platanus mexicana

74.36

74.57

92.17

241.09

2

Alnus acuminata

07.15

009.15

00.71

017.01

Parathesis serrulata

03.51

5.14

00.17

008.83

Pinus patula

05.28

004.12

00.39

009.78

Platanus mexicana

84.06

81.59

98.72

264.38

3

Platanus mexicana

100.00

100.00

100.00

300.00

4

Alnus acuminata

007.34

009.21

000.80

017.34

Ligustrum lucidum

011.54

021.46

001.97

034.97

Platanus mexicana

081.12

069.33

097.24

247.69

5

Alnus acuminata

048.21

048.40

048.62

145.23

Ligustrum lucidum

02.29

001.72

000.11

004.12

Platanus mexicana

049.51

049.88

051.27

150.65

6

Alnus acuminata

002.28

009.86

000.06

012.19

Parathesis serrulata

001.14

004.23

000.01

005.38

Platanus mexicana

092.96

072.77

099.77

265.50

Quercus rugosa

003.63

013.15

000.15

016.93

Dir = Relative diameter; Alr = Relative height; Cor = Relative cover

Platanus mexicana was also the species with the highest FVI (244.92), considered high, when compared to the study conducted by Zarco et al. (2010), who when studying the structure and diversity of the arboreal vegetation of the Agua Blanca state park in Tabasco State, recorded the highest FVI of 79.09 for Rinorea guatemalensis S. Watson.

In the studied area was observed a colonization behavior that was manifested in greater proportion by Platanus mexicana that, like Alnus acuminata and Pinus patula, disperse their seeds by wind. According to Sánchez (1986) there is a constant succession caused by the effects of water floods that act as a control factor from their return period and considers that the species are subject to a process of constant colonization.

This is corroborated by the information in Table 2, which shows that the stages of development corresponding to young trees predominate; for Alnus acuminata, 35.02 % of vardascal; for Ligustrum lucidum 51.13 % of vardascal; for Parathesis serrulata, 56.25% of thicket; for Pinus patula 48.95 % of thicket; for Platanus mexicana 29.36% of fustal and for Quercus rugosa 43.35% of thicket.

Species

Sapling

(%)

Thicket

(%)

Vardascal

(%)

High pole

(%)

Fustal

(%)

Total

(%)

Alnus acuminata

5.00

19.82

35.02

26.15

14.01

100

Ligustrum lucidum

0.00

29.03

51.13

16.62

03.22

100

Parathesis serrulata

0.00

56.25

43.75

00.00

00.00

100

Pinus patula

0.00

48.95

22.52

28.53

00.00

100

Platanus mexicana

6.66

17.62

18.51

27.85

29.36

100

Quercus rugosa

0.00

43.35

25.64

31.01

00.00

100

Table 2. Stages of development of tree species in the gallery forest of the Xaltatempa River, Puebla.

As reported by Sanchez (1986) for the Pilón River, in this research, pure or codominant conglomerates of Platanus mexicana, Quercus rugosa, Pinus patula, Ligustrum lucidum and Alnus acuminata were recorded; however, the most common thing throughout the gallery forests is that there is no strict dominance for any species.

Bock and Bock (1989) pointed out that some species of gallery forests act in many cases as pioneers, such as Platanus wrightii S. Watson, which, despite producing a large number of seedlings, has a high percentage of mortality due to desiccation, together with the loss of shoots during the increasing flow of rivers. This could explain why in the vegetation of the Xaltatempa River the percentages of individuals in stages of high latizal and fustal have not been high, without ceasing to consider that the riparian ecosystem is dynamic and successional. In this sense, Treviño et al. (2001) highlighted a strong human influence on this type of forests, where the distribution of their vegetation in favorable areas and their high productivity cause them to be used for harvesting wood. However, Canizales et al. (2010) showed that human activities do not always affect the richness, diversity and distribution of the species of a gallery forest.

Diversity of the arboreal vegetation

The diversity of tree species in the Xaltatempa River gallery forest is only concentrated in six: Alnus acuminata (aile), Ligustrum lucidum (trueno, thunder), Platanus mexicana (papalote, kite), Quercus rugosa (oak), Pinus patula (weeping pine) and Parathesis serrulata (naranjillo); the latter, with a very low density per hectare, is little known in the area and is a shrub less than 7 m high with little or none forest use.

As noted in Table 3, Platanus mexicana (182.71) was the most prominent species, by its IVI while Parathesis serrulata recorded the lowest value (7.82), which may be due to the fact that it is an introduced species and is currently not dominant in this vegetation and its presence as well as that of Ligustrum lucidum.in the gallery forest has not been clarified at all.

Table 3. Descriptive values for the horizontal structure of tree species in the Xaltatempa River gallery forest, Puebla.

Species

AR

(%)

DR

(%)

FR

(%)

IVI

(%)

Alnus acuminata

07.80

15.03

33.75

056.58

Ligustrum lucidum

01.04

06.70

05.40

013.14

Parathesis serrulata

00.40

02.02

05.40

007.82

Pinus patula

00.43

03.85

05.50

009.78

Platanus mexicana

62.39

71.72

48.60

182.71

Quercus rugosa

27.94

00.68

01.35

029.97

Total

100

100

100

300

AR = Relative dominance; DR = Relative density; FR = Relativa frecuency; IVI = Importance value index

Platanus mexicana was the only one found along the banks of the Xaltatempa River, where the soils are sandy clay and humid all year round. Although in this river diversity is very low, this single species adds a value of high importance, when compared to that obtained in the research made by Díaz et al. (2012), who identified 110 species in the riparian forests of the Kakada River in Venezuela, with an importance value of 163.7 for the 10 most outstanding.

However, in the work carried out by Treviño et al. (2001) in two rivers in south central Nuevo León, Mexico, 25 tree species were recorded, but only four of them were considered dominant according to their importance value (Taxodium mucronatum Ten., Platanus occidentalis L., Populus wislizeni S. Watson and Salix nigra Marshall).

This is an important coincidence with the present study for the Platanus genus, which is predominant in riparian zones; the values reached for the IVI in the rivers of Nuevo León, Cabezones River and Ramos River with 0.37 and 1.27, respectively, were extremely low with respect to P. mexicana (182.71) only, in the Xaltatempa River, Puebla.

Regarding the values of diversity per site, number 6 was dominated by Alnus acuminata, Platanus mexicana, Quercus rugosa and Parathesis serrulata, and recorded the highest H', of 0.73; such site was located in the lowest part of the river at 1 451 masl, while the number 3 located in the middle of the river at 1 617 masl and with a unique predominance of P. mexicana, was the one that had the lowest H', equal to zero (Table 4). Despite the value of H 'at site 6, it had the lowest density with 180 ind ha-1; 100 % of them corresponded to P. mexicana in the fustal stage and Quercus rugosa with 33.33 % in thicket. It was site 2 that presented the highest density with 1 350 ind ha-1 with mostly young trees (thicket and vardascal stages).

Table 4. Values of species richness using the Shannon-Weaver index (H') for the gallery forest of the Xaltatempa River, Puebla.

Site

Number of species

Density

(ind ha-1)

Basimetric area

(m2 ha-1)

H'

1

3

1 300

143.64

0.59

2

4

1 350

241.74

0.66

3

1

0530

158.41

0.00

4

3

0790

352.39

0.67

5

3

0770

230.30

0.62

6

4

0180

144.98

0.73

Mean

3

0820

235.72

0.54

DE (σ)

1.61

0255

071.48

0.04

CV (%)

12.00

18.83

021.71

20.11

DE = Standard deviation; CV = Coefficient of variation.

The isolated amount corresponded to site 3, located at 1 617 meters above sea level, with only Platanus mexicana, a species that was found in all the sites sampled. Thus, the average of different species for the arboreal vegetation proximal to the Xaltatempa River was three, with an average density of 820 ind ha-1, which was distributed in the five stages of development sapling, thicket, vardascal, high pole and fustal (Table 2). In terms of structural composition and diversity, the dominant species for their highest values in H' were Alnus acuminata (0.28) and Platanus mexicana (0.23). Ligustrum lucidum, Pinus patula, Quercus rugosa and Parathesis serrulata recorded low H' and population values.

There are few studies carried out in Mexico on the structure and diversity of the gallery forest, in addition to the complication involved in the comparison of the results with other investigations due to the differences in sampling methods. The average value obtained (0.54) for diversity H 'was very low for the arboreal vegetation of the gallery forest of the Xaltatempa River, if the index for tropical forests is taken as a reference, between 3.85 and 5.85 (Knight, 1975). In this context, the study conducted by Santiago et al. (2014) obtained a Shannon diversity index of 1.8 to 2.6 in the gallery forest of Sierra de Quila, Jalisco, with only six dominant species, as in the present study, being Alnus acuminata a species in common.

The low diversity H 'of the present study, could also be due to the fact that the vegetation of the Xaltatempa River is discontinuous (due to its orographic and topographic position in the Sierra Norte de Puebla). In this regard, Camacho et al. (2006) when addressing the riparian vegetation of the Tembembe River canyon, found that in the upper-middle portion of the river (1 110 to 1 700 masl) the dominant species were Alnus acuminata, Trema micrantha L. and Daphnopsis salicifolia Kunth, with an average H 'of 1.69; which explains that large discontinuities also influence species diversity.

The low diversity of species was also recorded by Canizales et al. (2010) who, when studying the diversity and structure of the arboreal stratum of the gallery forest of the Ramos River in the state of Nuevo León, detected seven species, but only two of them, Taxodium mucronatum and Platanus occidentalis. Díaz et al. (2012) found in the riverbank forest of the Kakada River, Caura River basin in Venezuela, 110 species represented by ferns, shrubs, trees, lianas, epiphytes and herbs, whose highest H' value was 3.11 in seasonally flooded forests in banks and dykes, with an average density of 738 ind ha-1 and an average basal area of 29.4 m2 ha-1. The latter are lower results than those of a temperate forest, like the one of the present investigation, with average density of 820 ind ha-1 and basal area of 235.72 m2 ha-1 (Table 4).

Finally, Fernández et al. (2012) recorded a 0.42 H 'index with 53 species in the understory of the gallery forest in the Eastern Plains region of Colombia; they argued a high beta diversity for a value lower than that of the actual study (H'= 0.54). In the sampling sites, the paired combinations show that the combination of sites 4 and 5 was where the highest value was obtained (1.00), which indicates that Alnus acuminata, Ligustrum lucidum and Platanus mexicana were found in both sites (Table 5). The next value was 0.86 and corresponds to the combinations of the paired sites 1 and 2, where the common species were Alnus acuminata, Pinus patula and Platanus mexicana.

Table 5. Paired combinations through Sørensen’s similitude index (SSI) for the gallery forest of the Xaltatempa River, Puebla.

Num.

Combination

A

B

A+B

C

SSI

1

Site 1 × site 2

3

4

7

3

0.86

2

Site 1 × site 3

3

1

4

1

0.50

3

Site 1 × site 4

3

3

6

2

0.67

4

Site 1 × site 5

3

3

6

2

0.67

5

Site 1 × site 6

3

4

7

3

0.86

6

Site 2 × site 3

4

1

5

1

0.40

7

Sitio 2 × site 4

4

3

7

2

0.57

8

Site 2 × site 5

4

3

7

2

0.57

9

Site 2 × site 6

4

4

8

3

0.75

10

Site 3 × site 4

1

3

4

1

0.50

11

Site 3 × site 5

1

3

4

1

0.50

12

Site 3 × site 6

1

4

5

1

0.40

13

Site 4 × site 5

3

3

6

3

1.00

14

Site 4 × site 6

3

4

7

2

0.57

15

Site 5 × site 6

3

4

7

3

0.86

In sites 1 and 6 with the same value, the coincident species were Alnus acuminata and Platanus mexicana; also, in sites 5 and 6, Alnus acuminata and Platanus mexicana coexisted. In contrast, the lowest index (0.40) was concentrated in two paired combinations between sites 2 and 3, and 3 and 6 with the same species, Platanus mexicana.

When applying the SSI in the gallery forest of the Xaltatempa River, the average for the six sampling sites was 0.64, which indicates that Alnus acuminata, Ligustrum lucidum, Platanus mexicana, Quercus rugosa, Pinus patula and Parathesis serrulata were present at least in one site; for this reason, the ISS has a relation of dependence on the total of species in the studied ecosystem and on the number of shared species (Chao et al., 2005).

In the paired combinations, sites 4 (1 586 m) and 5 (1 536 m) recorded the highest SSI (1.00). In this regard, Treviño et al. (2001) recognized a great similarity between arboreal populations dominated by Platanus occidentalis, Populus wislizenii, Salix nigra and Taxodium mucronatum located in the Cabezones and Ramos rivers, with an SSI = 0.649 that is high for 25 registered tree species, but only with four dominant ones. In the case of the Xaltatempa River, there were six species and two dominant ones: Platanus mexicana and Alnus acuminata.

Fernández et al. (2012), when studying the biodiversity associated with forest plantations of Pinus caribaea Morelet and Eucalyptus pellita F. Muell. calculated a high beta diversity (84.1 %). However, the Sørensen quantitative coefficient was low (0.16) for the paired pine vs eucalyptus combination. This suggests that, despite sharing a high percentage of species, the abundances were distributed unequally, which makes them structurally different in dissimilar communities, according to the set of conditions and factors that regulate succession.

Camacho et al. (2006) obtained a maximum coefficient of similarity of Sørensen (75 %) in sites with a density of 3 200 to 3 300 ind ha-1 although these were not the sites that shared the largest number of species (seven) of riparian vegetation of the Tembembe River. This situation is similar to that recorded in the present study in which the sites with most coincidences (combination 4 and 5) were not necessarily the ones with the highest density of trees, since the maximum was located at site 2 with 1 350 ind. -1 (Table 4), in the upper part of the river, at 1 656 masl.

Water quality

Regarding the chemical results of the water samples of the Xaltatempa River, the pH remained within the neutrality with a slight tendency towards alkalinity (7.64 to 7.75), as a result of the transport of various carbonate materials and the tributaries from springs (Table 6). The electrical conductivity increased towards the lower parts of the river and reached up to 695.11 μS cm-1; therefore, the concentration of chlorides, sulfates, carbonates and sodium, also presented a slight increase in direct relation to the EC, which was higher towards the lowest site (1 451 m).

Table 6. Chemical composition of water in six sampling sites in the gallery forest of Xaltatempa River, Puebla.

Chemical characteristic

Site 1

(1 680 m)

Site 2

(1 656 m)

Site 3

(1 617 m)

Site 4

(1 586 m)

Site 5

(1 536 m)

Site 6

(1 451 m)

pH

7.64

7.68

7.70

7.71

7.73

7.75

EC (µS cm-1)

384.50

391.28

440.00

493.77

555.10

695.11

Cl (mmolcL-1)

0.29

0.29

0.31

0.31

0.33

0.33

SO42- (mmolcL-1)

0.15

0.24

0.37

0.45

0.50

0.57

Ca2+ (mmolcL-1)

0.18

0.18

0.20

0.22

0.23

0.27

Na+ (mmolcL-1)

0.92

0.99

1.15

1.18

1.20

1.20

The neighboring vegetation of the Xaltatempa River was mostly of the evergreen shrub type, with a very low herbaceous species predominance, due to the fact that in the season of greatest rainfall (June to October), the river flow increases at flooding the lower parts of its edges, which favors the anaerobial condition which prevents the development of herbs all year round. Five vertical strata are found, from the presence of individuals at different life stages, but only Platanus mexicana and Alnus acuminata had commercial size.

In this regard, Colonnello (1990) and Granados et al. (2006) stated that only those species adapted to a low oxygen condition in the soil, tolerance to short flood periods and deep root systems can adapt and become successful in a river environment; in the actual study, Platanus mexicana and Alnus acuminata were the best adapted species.

In the six sampling sites, located between 1 451 and 1 680 masl, the analysis of the water quality of the Xaltatempa River did not reveal anthropogenic effects that caused pollution; which suggests that the arboreal vegetation of the gallery forest fulfills its stabilizing function, reduces the threats of erosion and landslides that could result in sedimentation of bodies of water, and thus endanger the conservation of the habitat.

The EC slightly increased towards the lower parts of the river; however, the water samples indicated that the concentration of electrolytes is adequate for human consumption, as well as for agricultural and forestry activity, since drinking water has an EC of 5-50 mS m-1, according to the quality indexes of water (Torres et al., 2009). For this reason, the accumulation of chlorides, sulphates, carbonates and sodium also showed a slight increase in direct relation to the EC (Table 6), towards the lower parts of the river, as a result of the dragging of the various minerals along its 12 km.

Conclusions

The structure of the arboreal vegetation of the gallery forest of the Xaltatempa River, measured through diameters, heights and relative coverage, as well as by the stages of development, indicated that the most important species was Platanus mexicana, whose presence was recorded throughout the river edge and with higher values than the rest of the species.

The diversity of the arboreal vegetation shows a low specific richness, with only six species, Alnus acuminata, Ligustrum lucidum, Parathesis serrulata, Pinus patula, Platanus mexicana and Quercus rugosa. By paired combinations, Alnus acuminata, Ligustrum lucidum and Platanus mexicana were always found in the middle part of the river.

The water quality of the Xaltatempa River, measured through various chemical parameters, had a tendency of higher concentration of chlorides, sulphates, carbonates and sodium, towards the lower part of the river as a consequence of the dragging of these minerals, where the vegetation is more diverse, without quality demerit for its use and consumption.

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to express his appreciation to the Complejo Regional Norte of the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (Northern Regional Complex of the Meritorious Autonomous University of Puebla) for all the facilities granted for the development of the research. The study described here was funded by the PRODEP project 511-6 / 17-8017.

Conflict of interests

The author declares no conflict of interests.

Contribution by author

Jesús Mao Estanislao Aguilar Luna is responsible for the whole study described in this paper.

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