Morning Seminar with Dr. Lou Jost - Islands in the clouds: A biodiversity generator on the edge of the Amazon basin in central Ecuador

Dr. Lou Jost, EcoMinga Foundation

Islands in the clouds: A biodiversity generator on the edge of the Amazon basin in central Ecuador

The dramatic interplay of climate, topography, and geology in the upper Rio Pastaza watershed has generated an unexpected amount of diversity and endemism in a very small area. More locally-endemic species of plants have evolved here than in the much larger and more isolated Galapagos Islands. In contrast with the Galapagos, some of the endemic species here belong to local evolutionary radiations that are difficult to understand in terms of geographic isolation. The most extreme case is the orchid genus Teagueia, previously known from only six species worldwide, but here with about thirty new species my students and I have recently discovered. All these new Teagueia species had a local common ancestor 2.5 Mya. Sixteen of these new Teagueia species live on a single mountain, with many species growing intermixed in exactly the same habitat. Apparently-sympatric speciation events have also taken place in other orchid genera. The area is also rich in species of other groups, and we are discovering many new species of herbs, trees, and frogs. We formed a foundation, EcoMinga, to protect this natural evolutionary laboratory, and currently own about 12000 acres in seven strategically-located reserves in the area. We invite interested Carnegie and Stanford scientists to use these reserves.