CLASSIFICATION, COMPOSITION AND FLORISTIC DIVERSITY IN NATURAL GRASSLANDS TO DIFFERENT STRATA IN THE PROTECTED AREA ICHUBAMBA YASEPAN, THROUGH GEOSTATISTICAL ANALYSIS.

The ecosystems of the páramos are home to a high number of endemic species that are the result of extraordinary events of radiation, diversification and geographical isolation, the presence or absence of some plant species of the páramo are due to the adaptation to physical or environmental variables, the natural grasslands enjoy characteristics that make them unique and of great ethnobotanical importance, since they provide very appreciable ecosystem services, therefore, the floristic diversity to different strata in the natural grasslands of the Ichubamba Yasepan protected area was analyzed. For this two different altitudes ranging from 3440 m.a.s.l. to 3840masl were taken. To collect data from the floristic inventory, part of the proposed methodology of the GLORIA Research Project was applied, in which 5x5 m quadrants were implanted randomly at every 400 m of altitude and subquadrants of 1x1 m. In each quadrant, samples of the plant species that were found in the study area were collected, which were taken to the ESPOC herbariumfor the respective taxonomic identification and quantification of floristic diversity. A database was elaborated and the analysis of principal components was applied and it was carried out by the estimation method thatc entraliza the variables by subtracting from each value the mean of the variable to which it belongs, the Biplot type was also used: Normalized main row (RMP- Biplot) and Cluster K-means. Therefore, we worked with the free software Multbiplot. The results obtained showed at the height of 3840 m.s.n.m 16 families and 23 species were registered, the species that presents the highest numerical value with respect to DR%, FR% and IVI is Calamagrotis intermedia. At the height of 3440 m.a.s.l. they registered 11 families and 19 species, the species that presents the highest numerical value in DR%, FR% and IVI is Lachemilla orbiculata, with greater dominance. According to the Simpson dominance index at 3840 m.a.s.l. it has a high diversity and the Shannon index showed that there is a medium diversity. It is concluded according to the Simpson dominance index at the height of 3440 m.a.s.l. has a high diversity and the Shannon index indicates that there is a medium diversity. According to Sorensen shows that the two altitudinal ranges studied is similar and finally for the analysis of the main components plant species of stratum 3840 m.a.s.l. They have high values in terms of coverage which indicates that the vegetation cover of the stratum with a height of 3840 meters above sea level is more abundant and more diverse for axis 1 represents 61.13% of the analysis and axis 2 represents 28.63%.