Abstract

WHITE-OLASCOAGA, Laura; CHAVEZ-MEJIA, Cristina  and  GARCIA-MONDRAGON, David. Analysis of trees in agroecosystems in an area of ecological transition. Ecosistemas y recur. agropecuarios [online]. 2017, vol.4, n.11, pp.255-264. ISSN 2007-901X.  https://doi.org/10.19136/era.a4n11.882.

Home gardens are heterogeneous agroecosystems in structure and management, in which in-situ biodiversity conservation processes are maintained. The flora in the gardens is varied; their study contributes to understanding the species that coexist and are conserved, in addition to understanding the structure, importance, and functions for families in rural communities. The study focused on the tree stratum of the home garden agroecosystem (HGA) in San Nicolás, Malinalco, Mexico, because it has key species in the structure of agroecosystems and because of its social, cultural and economic importance. Fourteen agroecosystems located in the ecological transition area of the State of Mexico were studied. The study was conducted from March 2011 to April 2012, through unstructured interviews with garden owners. The objective was to conduct an analysis of the tree stratum in terms of diversity, structure, function and biogeography. The agroecosystems have a diversity of 36 species, 26 genera and 18 plant families. The most common species was Persea americana Mill. var. hass present in 100 % of the agroecosystems. Of the species found, 52.7 % have a natural distribution in Mexico, and the others are introduced. The tree stratum is used for purposes of self-consumption, mainly as fruit. The floristic diversity of the tree species is high, which allows categorizing these agroecosystems as important in-situ germplasm conservation sites.

Keywords : biogeography; traditional knowledge; floristic diversity; home gardens; traditional medicine.

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