Ana Astudillo

Globally, ecosystem services face significant degradation due to land use and land cover change (LULC) driven by human development. Despite numerous habitat quality assessments, comprehensive studies in high-mountain equatorial region basins remain scarce. This research addresses assessing habitat quality in Ecuador’s sub-basins of the Aguilán and Tabacay Rivers, with projections extending to 2050. This study considered anthropogenic threats and examined two land use change scenarios. The “Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs” (InVEST) model was used for the evaluation. A habitat quality index (HQI) was developed and categorized into five classes. The results showed that in 2018, over 50% of the study area had medium, high, and very high habitat quality levels, partly due to implementing policies, such as Reciprocal Water Agreements, developed by local initiatives. However, future projections suggest a declining trend, particularly in urban and cropland areas, highlighting the need to reinforce proactive policies. The findings of this study contribute to addressing existing gaps in habitat quality research in high-mountain regions, providing key scientific evidence to support conservation strategies, land use planning, and watershed management.

Ecosystem services contribute significantly to human development, with water production being a crucial component. Climate and land use changes can impact water availability within a basin. In this context, researching water-related areas is essential for formulating policies to protect and manage hydrological services. The objective of this study was to estimate water yield in the sub-basins of the Tabacay and Aguilán rivers under climate change scenarios in 2030, 2040, and 2050, combined with scenarios of changes in land cover and land use. The InVEST model was employed to analyze water yield. The results show that crop areas were identified as the lowest water yield in future scenarios, and forested areas, particularly the region where the Cubilán Protected Forest is located, contribute the most to water yield in the subbasin. Besides, water yield has increased in the historic period (2016–2018) due to the conservation and reforestation initiatives carried out by the Municipal Public Service Company for Drinking Water, Sewerage, and Environmental Sanitation of the city of Azogues in 2018, the so-called Reciprocal Agreements for Water. Additionally, an increase in water yield is projected for future scenarios. This study can serve as a basis for decision-makers to identify areas that should prioritize protection and conservation.

The atmospheric pollutants cause adverse effects on plants, although the effect of PM10 on them is not known for sure, the present investigation aims to determine the phytotoxic effect of aqueous extracts of PM10 particulate material, coming from three sites of the urban area of the Cuenca- Ecuador canton, using the method described in the National regulations (Unified Text of Secondary Environmental Legislation of the Ministry of the Environment), on the growth of the root and hypocotyl of seeds of Lactuca sativa, Brassica oleracea italica, Raphanus sativus. For the characterization of the particulate material in heavy metals (cadmium, manganese, nickel and lead), the EPA 3005a atomic absorption spectroscopy method was used, then the aqueous extracts were obtained with ultra pure water by ultrasonication for 30 minutes, the seeds were exposed to four dilutions of the aqueous fraction of PM10 (100%, 10%, 1% and 0.1%) during a short exposure time, the data were analyzed in the IBM SPSS Statistics 22 and GraphPad Prism programs and through the Kruskal Wallis’s statistician. The results show that the phytotoxic effect of PM10 could be attributed to the species reported in the aqueous extract (Mn, Ni, Pb and Cd). It was also shown that the hypocotyl growth inhibition was superior to that of the root.