Ecosystem services show variable responses to future climate conditions in the Colombian páramos

Mauricio Diazgranados; Carolina Tovar; Thomas R. Etherington; Paula A. Rodríguez-Zorro; Carolina Castellanos-Castro; Manuel Galvis Rueda; Suzette G.A. Flantua

doi:10.7717/peerj.11370

journal article Open Access May 03, 2021

Ecosystem services show variable responses to future climate conditions in the Colombian páramos

Mauricio Diazgranados Carolina Tovar

Thomas R. Etherington

Paula A. Rodríguez-Zorro

Carolina Castellanos-Castro Manuel Galvis Rueda Suzette G.A. Flantua

PeerJ Vol. 9 pp. e11370 · PeerJ

View at Publisher Save 10.7717/peerj.11370

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.

Topics

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Details

Published: May 03, 2021
Vol/Issue: 9
Pages: e11370
License: View

Authors

M

Mauricio Diazgranados

Natural Capital and Plant Health Department, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Ardingly, West Sussex, United Kingdom

C

Carolina Tovar

Biodiversity Informatics and Spatial Analysis, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, United Kingdom

T

Thomas R. Etherington

Biodiversity Informatics and Spatial Analysis, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, United Kingdom; Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research, Lincoln, New Zealand

P

Paula A. Rodríguez-Zorro

Institut des Sciences de l’Évolution Montpellier (ISEM), Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France

C

Carolina Castellanos-Castro

Ciencias Básicas de la Biodiversidad, Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt, Bogotá, Colombia

M

Manuel Galvis Rueda

Departamento de Biología, Grupo de Investigación en Estudios Micro y Macro Ambientales (MICRAM), Universidad Tecnológica y Pedagógica de Colombia, Tunja, Colombia

S

Suzette G.A. Flantua

Natural Capital and Plant Health Department, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Ardingly, West Sussex, United Kingdom; Institute for Biodiversity & Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Department of Biological Sciences, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

Funding

European Research Council

UK Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy

National Royalties’ System

Administrative Department of Science, Technology and Innovation of Colombia

Cite This Article

Mauricio Diazgranados, Carolina Tovar, Thomas R. Etherington, et al. (2021). Ecosystem services show variable responses to future climate conditions in the Colombian páramos. PeerJ, 9, e11370. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.11370

Ecosystem services show variable responses to future climate conditions in the Colombian páramos

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