Andes. These findings should be taken into consideration when aimed at the conservation and protection of plant species.
planning reserves
Less than 10% of the land area for each of the montane zones (2000–4500 m) where the highest density of endemics occurs is protected, compared to 13.5–29.9% in the lower elevations (0–1000 m) (Table 5; Figure 1). Clearly, the zones with the highest density of endemic species are greatly underrepresented in the protected areas. When considering the conservation of endemic plant species, decision ma- kers should place a greater emphasis on establishing protected areas along the Andean slopes than on enlarging protected areas in the Amazon lowlands. It is not likely that large protected areas can be established on the Andean slopes, because this region is relatively densely populated and because much of the primary ve- getation has been destroyed. Still, we believe that a series of smaller protected areas will offer protection for a large proportion of the endemic plant species of the region. We also recommend that protection efforts be aimed at the conservation of areas with undisturbed vegetation and not at the protection of individual species; the large number of endemic species and our poor knowledge of the distribution of plants in Peru makes this last approach not feasible. Finally, we recommend that a greater effort be made towards fieldwork and collecting on the Andean slopes as well as a greater effort to study collections from this area.