A ‘miracle’ in miniature – a rare new plant opposes deforestation in Ecuador

“Very exciting!” exclaims botanist John L. Clark in an Instagram video posted in the summer of 2022. He and his team had just spotted a tiny, new-to-science plant species in a rare patch of forest in northwestern Ecuador.

This scene marks a discovery The Miracle of Amalophilonan undescribed plant just 5 centimeters (2 inches) tall found clinging to a large boulder in a forest patch near the city of Santo Domingo. The find, scientists say, underscores the importance of protecting even small fragments of threatened ecosystems.

Clark, a research botanist at the Marie Selby Botanical Garden in Florida, and his team were driving beyond Santo Domingo on the western slopes of the Andes when they spotted a rare tree and stopped. The landowner came to see what all the fuss was about and let them explore a patch of forest on his land.

“We immediately knew it was something special,” Clark told Mongabay. The Miracle of Amalophilon has distinctive features, including green leaves with purple undersides and tiny white flowers. The new species, just described in the journal Phyto Keys.

The area where the plant was found, known as Centinela, was once a vast, lush tropical forest but is now largely cleared for agriculture. Experts estimate that 70 to 97 percent of western Ecuador’s original forest has been destroyed since the mid-20th century. The remaining fragments of Centinela forest resemble islands of biodiversity amidst a sea of ​​farmland.

“When I mention howler monkeys, most people think of the Amazon, but there was a time when you knew you were moving away from Quito (the capital) and getting closer to Guayaquil (west of the Andes) because you heard the monkeys howling,” Clark said. “It’s amazing how much the landscape has changed. Now you have massive deforestation.”

Currently, only two populations are known, both in small protected areas. This restricted distribution has led to the initial assessment of the species as critically endangered. Name The Miracle of Amalophilon, Clark, reflects the “miracle” of finding this plant in these unexpected sections of protected forests.

This discovery also highlights the potential for new finds, even in altered landscapes. “A lot of things that we thought were gone are still there,” Clark said.

“The description of this species represents a relic of what remains of the forest,” Andrea Fernandez, co-author of the study from the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador (PUCE), told Mongabay. “It really tells a story of hope, where the forests hold many things that have yet to be discovered, even when they are so small.”

Although the cause of deforestation in this part of Ecuador is largely agricultural, the history of the phenomenon is closely linked to government policy. In the 1960s, the Ecuadorian government declared forested areas uninhabited by humans “unproductive” and open to land grabbers. Landowners were forced to clear at least half of their land to prove that it was in use.

Agricultural regulations led to a wave of deforestation that continued into the 1990s, with experts estimating that less than 10% of all forests in northwestern Ecuador remained intact.

“The heroic efforts of local landowners who maintained small patches of forest, typically surrounding waterfalls, were instrumental in protecting these forest remnants,” Clark said.

Conservation initiatives by organizations such as Ecuador’s Jocotoco Foundation and the Padre Julio Marrero Botanical Garden in PUCE work with local landowners to protect these areas and cultivate other rare species from the region in botanical collections.

“Every plant is worth saving. “This plant may not be a cure for cancer, but it represents an ecosystem that brings many benefits to the people who live there,” Clark said. “These ecosystems are a haven not only for plants, but also for people.”

Banner image from Amalophyllon miraculum Courtesy of John L. Clark

Liz Kimbrough is a staff writer at Mongabay and holds a Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology from Tulane University, where she studied tree microbiomes. See more of her reporting Here.

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Quote:

Clark, J. L., Fernández, A., Zapata, J. N., Restrepo-Villarroel, C., White, D. M., & Pitman, N. C. A. (2024). Amalophyllon cudulum (Gesneriaceae), an exceptionally small, lithophilous new species from the western Andean slopes of Ecuador. FitoKlucze, 242, 307-316. doi:10.3897/phytokeys.242.118069

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