Mapping palm extractivism in Ecuador using pair-wise comparisons and bioclimatic modeling

The native palm flora of Ecuador consists of 129 taxa, including at least 6 9 species used by rural people, 19 of which are exploited commercially. Thi s paper integrates bioclimatic modeling of palm distribution and quantitati ve ranking through pair-wise comparisons of species as a tool to evaluate a nd map the importance of 14 taxa of commercially exploited palms in Ecuador based on criteria of harvest values, sustainability, vegetation cover and population density. The ranking procedure could find broad application with in ethnobotany and economic botany. Results show that extraction of palm pr oducts, economically speaking, is most important in the heavily deforested and populated coastal lowland.