Análisis y caracterización botánica del Arboretum Krall de la Estación Experimental Bernardo Rosengurtt

The IABG considers arboreta as places open to the public where plants are labeled and highlights those that universities maintain for teaching and research. In 1956 the Agr. Engineer. José Krall began what would be called “the Arboretum” in the EEBR with the introduction of forest species from different parts of the world as the first step in the beginning of the first forest genetic improvement programs in the country, as well as practice areas for the training of the students of that time. The objective of this work was to analyze the botanical composition, diversity and behavior of the species that currently make up the Arboretum, by carrying out a total georeferenced inventory. With the data obtained, richness and abundance were analyzed for different taxonomic levels, the silvicultural regime and the natural geographical distribution. In addition, diameter growth parameters were calculated and sampling was carried out to measure the total height of some species in order to obtain hypsometric models for height analysis. Between 2021 and 2022, 51 species distributed in 23 genders were recorded, as well as seven non-cultivated native species. Regarding the growth of the species, the DAP and H_tUsing hypsometric models, they showed similarity with the bibliography consulted. The most abundant species come from geographical regions with climatic conditions similar to those of our country, mainly some regions of Oceania, North America and South America. Currently, the Arboretum represents part of the forestry history of Uruguay, although although it does not have a program to monitor the potential of the materials grown there, it continues to be used for educational purposes for numerous generations of forestry students from the Faculty of Agronomy. This work attempts to make known the value of the Arboretum, both in a botanical, educational, historical, environmental, social and economic sense.