Sample collection
The study site was located in the Chuchucán forest, a mountain area in Cañar-Ecuador. In July 2019, 100 soil samples were collected at three altitudes (Table 1, Figure 1. ), where the vegetation was composed by dense closed forest called the cerrado biome, where the most representative species are: Oreopanax ecuadorensis, Prumnopitys philippi, Myrcianthes rhopaloides , belonging to the Araliaceae, Podocarpaceae and Myrtaceae families respectively. These species form a dense tree canopy 2-4 m tall, without understory shrubs and grass layer.
Table 1. Soil sampling locations, altitude and geographic coordinates of the closed biome forest Chuchucán.