The demography of Oritrophium peruvianum (LAM.) Cuatr. and the impacts of harvesting on its populations in the Venezuelan Andes
type: CreativeWork
description: Oritrophium peruvianum (Lam.) Cuatr. is a perennial species, endemic to the Páramos of the Cordillera of Los Andes. In Venezuela, where it is known as Frailejón morado, it is harvested for its widely acclaimed medicinal properties in treating asthma, bronchitis, and influenza. This study aimed to investigate the biology and ecology of O. peruvianum and the impacts of harvesting on its populations. Undisturbed populations of O. peruvianum were dominated by adult vegetative individuals, with middle-sized plants prevailing and with low densities of large adults, whilst densities of small plants were variable. The population structure changed slightly after one year and annual plant growth was shown to be extremely slow. Flowering started at the beginning of the rainfall period and overlapped with fruiting throughout the wet season (April to November), with only a few scattered individuals reproducing during the dry season. Seed production was very variable and germination under experimental conditions was successful (51 to 88%). The population dynamics of two populations were analyzed using a five stages time-invariant linear matrix model with field data collected over two years. The growth rate of the first population was higher (?1 =1.32) than that of the second population (?1 = 1.13). Sensitivity analysis showed that their growth rates were more sensitive to a change in the survival of individuals than to reproduction, due to the low survival rate of newly emerged seedlings. Plants were contributing more to the growth rate if they remained in the same stage class than if they grew to the following stage class. The most significant transition was the survival of stage class 3 (small adults) whilst stage class 5 (large adults) contributed little to the population growth rate. A uniform harvesting of the adult stages each year up to 21% and 43% respectively in each of the two populations could be applied without threatening their survivals. The harvesting of small adul…
abstract: Oritrophium peruvianum (Lam.) Cuatr. is a perennial species, endemic to the Páramos of the Cordillera of Los Andes. In Venezuela, where it is known as Frailejón morado, it is harvested for its widely acclaimed medicinal properties in treating asthma, bronchitis, and influenza. This study aimed to investigate the biology and ecology of O. peruvianum and the impacts of harvesting on its populations. Undisturbed populations of O. peruvianum were dominated by adult vegetative individuals, with middle-sized plants prevailing and with low densities of large adults, whilst densities of small plants were variable. The population structure changed slightly after one year and annual plant growth was shown to be extremely slow. Flowering started at the beginning of the rainfall period and overlapped with fruiting throughout the wet season (April to November), with only a few scattered individuals reproducing during the dry season. Seed production was very variable and germination under experimental conditions was successful (51 to 88%). The population dynamics of two populations were analyzed using a five stages time-invariant linear matrix model with field data collected over two years. The growth rate of the first population was higher (?1 =1.32) than that of the second population (?1 = 1.13). Sensitivity analysis showed that their growth rates were more sensitive to a change in the survival of individuals than to reproduction, due to the low survival rate of newly emerged seedlings. Plants were contributing more to the growth rate if they remained in the same stage class than if they grew to the following stage class. The most significant transition was the survival of stage class 3 (small adults) whilst stage class 5 (large adults) contributed little to the population growth rate. A uniform harvesting of the adult stages each year up to 21% and 43% respectively in each of the two populations could be applied without threatening their survivals. The harvesting of small adul…
author: Ulian, Tiziana
keywords: SB Plant culture
date published: 2004
date modified: 2026-07-24T02:25:36Z
provider: University of Greenwich
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Greenwich