EVALUACION ECOLOGICA DEL ANTIGUO BASURAL DE OVEJERIA (OSORNO, CHILE)

Abstract

An ecological evaluation of the plant associations that were developed spontaneously in the old dump of Ovejería (Osorno, Chile), using the ecological indicator values of species was made.For each species,the ecological indicator value of the microclimatic variables light and temperature and of the soil variables pH, nitrogen and humidily, were taken from the literature. the evaluation of the associations of the dump and a comparison with an anthropogenic prairie typical of this region, was made using ecological indicator values averages for each association calculated by presence and by cover of the species. The results confirm that the use of the ecological indicator values is a good tool to evaluate and to compare biotops of dumps and prairies, in its microclimate and soil characteristics. According to the ecological indicators values averages the vegetation of the dump is heliophyllous, termophyllous and nitrophyllous and very diff'erent to the vegetation of the adjacent prairie. It was proven a great variation of the ecological indicator values for the soil humidity factor between the different associations of the dump. The foregoing permits to characterize the flora and the vegetation of the studied dump as azonal.