Composition and floral diversity in Andean grasslands in natural post-harvest restoration with Lepidium meyenii Walpers

Abstract

The Andean grassland ecosystems undergo natural and anthropogenic degradation processes. The change of land use for agricultural use is the greatest threat, with a great loss of biodiversity followed by a very slow process of revegetalization. The objective was to assess the richness, abundance and diversity, alpha and beta, in areas of two-, three-, five-, six- and eight years of post-harvest abandonment of Lepidium meyenni Walpers. Ten affected areas were selected for agrostological evaluation, through four linear transects of interception points with 100 records each, applied on the edge and inside the affected area, inside and outside the affected areas, as well as samples composed of soils for each area. Composite soil samples were collected from each transect and study area to analyze their physical and chemical properties. The data were analyzed using the generalized linear mixed model with Rstudio v 5.3.2, and the multivariate analysis of canonical correspondence between biological and environmental variables, using CANOCO v.1.4 software. A significant difference was found between floral composition and alpha diversity according to abandonment time and seasonal periods. The greatest richness and abundance was observed between five- and eight years of abandonment, due to the greater presence of perennial species. Linear correspondence of alpha richness and diversity with organic matter, nitrogen, soil phosphorus and abandonment time was observed.