I Speak For The Trees

This photo shows the transitional forest above Mera, Pastaza Province; the plateau from which I took it is reached by hiking for an hour and a half uphill on a well-maintained trail into the Bosque Protector Rio Anzu.

The transitional forests of the province of Pastaza, one of Ecuador’s Amazon basin provinces, are located on the eastern slopes of the Andes and their foothills; the forests I’ve been in over the past month are the toes of the Cordillera de los Llanganates.  This type of forest occurs as a buffer between the cloud forests and the tropical rainforests on both slopes of the Andes.  On the east slopes it is the boundary to the Amazon rainforests, and on the west slopes transitional forests are the gateway to the tropical wet forests and mangroves of the coastal basin.  They are characterized by a mixture of cloud forest and rainforest trees, a feature which makes transitional forest one of the most biodiverse forest types in Ecuador, with in excess of 40 species per square kilometer.  This biome is also the home of some of Ecuador’s most prized hardwoods, including Cedro (Cedrella odorata), a fragrant mahogany relative often called “red gold.”  Transitional forest also includes a wide diversity in the palm family, the most common example being the towering Chonta (Bactis gaseapes), and the most delicious the unique Morete (Mauritia flexuosa.)  Transitional forests are also among the richest in aroids, particularly Philodendrons.  The World Wildlife Fund has named the transitional forests between Volcan Sangay and the Llanganates to be part of the Natural Heritage of Humanity on the basis of this biodiversity.