Research and Monitoring Program of the Eco-Region Lachuá

Abstract

The Lachuá Ecoregion Research and Monitoring Program (PIMEL) is a research and extension program of the School of Biology of the Faculty of Chemical Sciences and Pharmacy of the University of San Carlos de Guatemala, with a physical presence in the community from Sta. Lucía Lachuá, Cobán, Alta Verapaz.

PIMEL is currently developing a biodiversity monitoring program for the Lachuá Eco-region. which responds to the commitments of mutual cooperation between the administration of the Laguna de Lachuá National Park (PNLL), in charge of the National Institute of Forests (INAB), the Community of Sta. Lucía Lachuá and the Faculty of CC. QQ. and Pharmacy of the University of San Carlos of Guatemala that has the status of a Second Level Development Council integrated to 33 communities in the region.

The research accumulated by the School of Biology in recent years, in the so-called Lachuá Eco-region (Laguna de Lachuá National Park, -PNLL and its area of ​​influence), in the distribution of some species of fauna and flora, suggest a link of the PNLL with the Sierra de Chamá and the wooded spaces parallel to the transverse strip of the North, such as Salinas Nueves Cerros, the Chajumpec Farm and the wooded remnants of the plots. This forest cover has suffered in the last 50 years a progressive process of fragmentation, which has led to the fact that only some fragments of the original system are preserved, among which the PNLL stands out.