Deforestation caused by gold mining in the Ecuadorian Amazon has increased by 300% in the last decade, leading to severe environmental degradation of water and land resources. Effective remediation and revegetation technologies are still needed to address this issue. This study aimed to foster revegetation on 0.5 hectares of degraded land in Naranjalito, a mining site in the Ecuadorian Amazon, by applying plant-based biocompost and biochar and planting Ochroma pyramidale and Arachis pintoi, two pioneer species. The project’s objective was to evaluate the impact of these treatments on vegetation cover recovery through physicochemical and microbiological improvements in the soil. Four blocks and sixteen experimental plots were established: eight plots received treatments with varying doses of biocompost+biol (BIOC), four plots included plantations without biocompost (Not-BIOC), and four served as control plots (bare land). Over six months, dasometric characteristics of O. pyramidale and the expansion of A. pintoi were recorded. The data were analyzed using multivariate methods. The results revealed significant differences between treatments, with BIOC plots T4 and T1 showing greater improvements in vegetation development compared to Not-BIOC plots T3 and T2, confirming the positive influence of biocompost+biol. The BIOC treatment favored not only the planted species but also the secondary successional plant communities including certain grasses, leguminous plants, and other shrub and tree species, thus accelerating the revegetation process. This study demonstrates that biocompost application is an effective strategy to enhance plant recolonization on land severely degraded by gold mining in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

The study locates in Ibarra canton, Ecuador; Its object was to diagnosticate of the current state of irrigation system La Victoria, Yahuarcocha, Socapamba, which analyzed flow availability and its losses. The methodology for the analysis of the irrigation system was the measurement of the amount of liquid and analysis in field to identify the problems of infiltration. The results were that the irrigation system loses flow due to infiltration and improper handling by users.

The neotropical genus Inga (Fabaceae) is a fast-growing tree component of tropical forests which plays crucial ecological and functional roles. However, its diversity patterns and the specific environmental drivers that structure its distribution in Andean landscapes remain insufficiently documented. This study aimed to quantify the diversity and distribution of Inga species in the province of Imbabura (4785 km²), northern Ecuador, while evaluating the influence of key environmental determinants. By integrating 52 field records along 321 km of exploration and 22 herbarium records (QCNE, MO, AAU, F, HUTN), the study analyzes the role of topographic variables (12.5 m resolution) and climate data (1 km² resolution). Seventeen species were recorded, almost tripling previous regional findings. The results demonstrate that species richness and occurrence are strongly structured by altitude, temperature, and soil properties as primary environmental drivers. Ten species showed narrow altitudinal ranges and limited thermal tolerance (<2 °C), indicating high habitat specialization, while I. densiflora and I. insignis exhibited broader niches. Edaphically, most species were associated with sandy loam soils, particularly Mollisols and Inceptisols developed from volcanic material. These findings indicate that climatic gradients and edaphic conditions act as the main environmental filters shaping Inga assemblages in heterogeneous montane landscapes. The observed high level of specialization suggests significant vulnerability to land-use change and highlights the need for habitat-specific conservation strategies in Andean forests.

The genus Inga Mill. (Fabaceae: Mimosoideae) comprises approximately 300 species distributed across the American tropics, playing key ecological roles in Andean forest ecosystems. In this study, occurrence data for 17 Inga species in Imbabura Province, Ecuador, were compiled through the review of five national and international herbaria (HUTN, QCNE, MO, AAU, F) and field expeditions conducted during 2024–2026, yielding a total of 181 georeferenced records. Potential distribution models were generated using the Maximum Entropy algorithm (MaxEnt v.3.4.4) for 10 species with sufficient records (≥ 6 presence points), integrating bioclimatic (WorldClim 2.1), edaphic (SoilGrids 2.0), and land-cover variables, pre-selected after multicollinearity screening (Pearson |r| < 0.75). Model validation was performed using the Area Under the ROC Curve (AUC), True Skill Statistic (TSS), and Jackknife tests. Training AUC values ranged from 0.9519 (I. cocleensis) to 0.9968 (I. punctata); TSS values ranged from 0.72 (I. striata) to 0.98 (I. feuillei), confirming high discriminative capacity. Seven species were classified as habitat specialists restricted to altitudinal ranges ≤ 400 m, and three as generalists spanning > 600 m of elevation. Productive land-use systems, water vapor pressure, geopedological units, and bioclimatic temperature and precipitation variables were the most influential predictors. Areas of high suitability for multiple species simultaneously (≥ 40% overlap) were concentrated in the cantons of Cotacachi, Otavalo, and Ibarra, identifying priority zones for conservation and sustainable agroforestry management in the Ecuadorian Andes.