Vegetación del Valle La Invernada (Reserva Privada Don Carmelo) en el centro oeste de la Provincia de San Juan (Argentina)

Abstract

Vegetation of the La Invernada valley (Don Carmelo Private Reserve) in the central-west of San Juan province (Argentina). In this paper, the vegetation of La Invernada valley, located in the Andean Precordillera of San Juan province, was analyzed. A total of 146 floristic releves were made, and environmental variables as slope, geomorphologic unit, altitude, plant cover were recorded, and physic-chemical analyses of soils were carried out. The biologic and chorologic spectra for each community were performed. Obtained data were analyzed using multivariate methods. In total, 143 vascular plant species were recorded, and ten plant communities determined. Dominant life forms were chamaephytes and hemicriptophytes. Chorologically the studied area belongs to the Cuyano District of the phytogeographical province of Puna, while below 2600 m a.s.l. elements of Cardonal and Monte are found.

Los estudios de las comunidades vegetales en el sector andino de la provincia de San Juan (Argentina) son escasos. En la precordillera provincial, el valle La Invernada fue declarado área protegida en 1993 con la denominación de Reserva Privada de Usos Múltiples Don Carmelo. A pesar de ser un área de interés desde el punto de vista fitogeográfico, carece de estudios de su vegetación. El objetivo de este trabajo fue determinar florísticamente las comunidades vegetales, los pisos de vegetación y las unidades fitogeográficas de la reserva.