Editing Cecropia (section)

==Habitat and distribution==
Between 40 and 50% of the 61 species of ''Cecropia'' are montane or submontane Andean, with the majority of species in the northern part of the Andes, in Colombia and Ecuador.<ref name="BRD"/> The Andean region is regarded as the center of species richness and speciation because of the additional 25% of lowland taxa that reach the eastern or western foothills of the Andes. Therefore, only about 25% of the species occur outside of the Andean region. A map of the distribution of ''Cecropia'' can be found in the article written by Berg and Rosselli, 2005.<ref name="BRD"/> Most species of ''Cecropia'' are lowland humid/rainforest species occurring from sea level to 1,300 m in altitude, while submontane species occupy an altitudinal range from 1,300-2,000 m, and montane species are found in cloud forest from 2,000-2,600 m.<ref name= "Lok">Lok et al (2010)</ref> Many species have a narrow altitudinal and ecological niche, with certain species specializing in specific habitats, such as seasonally inundated habitats, rocky slopes, swamps, natural or man-made clearings, etc.

Species in the genus ''Cecropia'' are some of the most abundant pioneer tree species in natural tree-fall gaps inside primary forests. Its geographic distribution extends along the Pacific and Atlantic Mexican coasts and in Central and South American forests, and are found over an elevation range of 0 to 2,600 m. ''Cecropia'' species are among the most abundant pioneers of other neotropical forests.<ref name="ABet">Alvarez-Buylia et al. (1994)</ref> It is native to the Neotropics and occurs as an introduced exotic plant elsewhere. In most low-elevation, wet regions of the Neotropics, ''Cecropia'' trees are ubiquitous and important invaders of man-made clearings.

The species ''C. pachystachya'' and ''C. peltata'' are invasive species in Old World localities including Singapore, Cameroon, Java, Malaysia, Ivory Coast, French Polynesia, and Hawaii. ''C. peltata'' has been nominated as one of the “100 of the World’s Worst Invasive Alien Species” by the Global Invasive Species Database.<ref name= "Lok"/> ''C. peltata'' was introduced to the Singapore Botanic Gardens in 1902 and has spread widely throughout Singapore along with ''C. pachystachya'', which was introduced in the 1960s.<ref name= "Lok"/> The species is successful as an invasive species because of its ability to pollinate without the need for pollinators, the possible preferential liking for its fruits by frugivorous birds, and its lack of natural predators.