MASHPI

For my free-topic report, I wanted to share with you my experience getting to know a mega-biodiverse reserve in my country (Ecuador)

I am talking about the reserve called Mashpi, located in the province of Pichincha, 2 hours from Quito (the capital of Ecuador).

The Mashpi reserve is one of the most biodiverse places in the world, an impressive nest of life, where the equator crosses the imposing Andes mountains. The Mashpi reserve is also one of the wettest places on the planet despite the frequent baths of tropical sunlight. Unsurprisingly, this potent combination of water and sun brings together an incredible number of plant and animal species.

The Mashpi forests are found between 550 and 1,400 meters (1,800 and 4,600 feet) above sea level on the western flank of the rugged Andes. Located right between the tropical Chocó bioregion and the Andean cloud forest ecosystem, this place is key to its uniqueness, a transition zone between coastal tropical forests and montane evergreen forests.

The geography of the Mashpi reserve is particularly accidental. From its northwestern tip to its southeastern corner, there is a height variation of more than 800 meters (2,600 ft), interrupted by steep gorges, jagged slopes, and deep ravines. The highest part of the reserve is a true cloud forest, and this is evident by the presence of the almost omnipresent blanket of fog that covers it, significantly reducing its exposure to sunlight. As altitude drops toward the southeastern part of the reserve, the low cloud cover slowly dissipates, magically transforming into the tropical forest. The Mashpi reserve is not only a cloud forest or a tropical forest, it is both!

WATER: THE ESSENCE OF LIFE

The Mashpi reserve is special for another reason: it is the source of the rain and rivers that run through northwestern Ecuador. The inevitable force of gravity pushes each drop of water that condenses in the reserve to form tiny streams that meander to form estuaries, natural pools, and cool ponds that are home to countless species of animals, insects, and macroinvertebrates. There are so many estuaries and small bodies of water in the Mashpi reserve that many remain unnamed. Finally, far down in the lowland tropical forests, they all come together, eventually forming torrential rivers like the Mashpi River and the Pachijal River. From the moment the water condenses in the cloud forests of the highest parts of Mashpi until it flows into rivers far below, it comes into contact with thousands of species of plants, amphibians, reptiles, birds, insects, fungi, mammals, and fish, each one incredibly different from the next.

-paola:)