Using epiphytes and soil temperatures for eco-climatic interpretations in southern Ecuador

Abstract

During the last twenty years the author used various operations of phytoindication to differentiate moisture regimes in neotropical mountain areas showing essential deficits on knowledge of regional climate. In this paper hygric estimations by similarity analyses based on epiphytism are combined with singular measurements of temperatures 60 cm below ground to establish an accurate map of hygro-thermal patterns within a complex relief. The article presents methodical working steps as well as partial results. Supplemented maps demonstrate final outcomes such as derived possibilities of interpretation to reconstruct the former natural vegetation and to explain regional circulation patterns.