Title
Ecosystem services show variable responses to future climate conditions in the Colombian páramos
Date Issued
01 May 2021
Access level
open access
Resource Type
research article
Author(s)
Diazgranados M.
Etherington T.R.
Rodríguez-Zorro P.A.
Castellanos-Castro C.
Rueda M.G.
Flantua S.G.A.
Royal Botanic Gardens
Abstract
Background: The páramos, the high-elevation ecosystems of the northern Andes, are well-known for their high species richness and provide a variety of ecosystem services to local subsistence-based communities and regional urbanizations. Climate change is expected to negatively affect the provision of these services, but the level of this impact is still unclear. Here we assess future climate change impact on the ecosystem services provided by the critically important páramos of the department of Boyacá in Colombia, of which over 25% of its territory is páramo. Methods: We first performed an extensive literature review to identify useful species of Boyacá, and selected 103 key plant species that, based on their uses, support the provision of ecosystem services in the páramos. We collated occurrence information for each key species and using a Mahalanobis distance approach we applied climate niche modelling for current and future conditions. Results: We show an overall tendency of reduction in area for all ecosystem services under future climate conditions (mostly a loss of 10% but reaching up to a loss of 40%), but we observe also increases, and responses differ in intensity loss. Services such as Food for animals, Material and Medicinal, show a high range of changes that includes both positive and negative outcomes, while for Food for humans the responses are mostly substantially negative. Responses are less extreme than those projected for individual species but are often complex because a given ecosystem service is provided by several species. As the level of functional or ecological redundancy between species is not yet known, there is an urgency to expand our knowledge on páramos ecosystem services for more species. Our results are crucial for decision-makers, social and conservation organizations to support sustainable strategies to monitor and mitigate the potential consequences of climate change for human livelihoods in mountainous settings.
Volume
9
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Ecología
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85105590850
Source
PeerJ
Sponsor(s)
This work was supported by the UK Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Funds for this project were received from BEIS as part of a binational collaboration between the UK and Colombia, where Colombian partners are being funded by regional governments through the national royalties’ system (Sistema General de Regalías, SGR) and by the Administrative Department of Science, Technology and Innovation of Colombia (Colciencias). SGAF was additionally supported by the European Research Council under the EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (grant 741413 HOPE) Humans on Planet Earth– Long-term impacts on biosphere dynamics. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus