Ecosystem services show variable responses to future climate conditions in the Colombian páramos
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...
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| Format: | Article |
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PeerJ Inc.
2021-05-01
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| Online Access: | https://peerj.com/articles/11370.pdf |
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| author | Mauricio Diazgranados Carolina Tovar Thomas R. Etherington Paula A. Rodríguez-Zorro Carolina Castellanos-Castro Manuel Galvis Rueda Suzette G.A. Flantua |
| author_facet | Mauricio Diazgranados Carolina Tovar Thomas R. Etherington Paula A. Rodríguez-Zorro Carolina Castellanos-Castro Manuel Galvis Rueda Suzette G.A. Flantua |
| author_sort | Mauricio Diazgranados |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | 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. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T07:07:37Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b15d88bb3e7a457db0a6d452e691f062 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2167-8359 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T07:07:37Z |
| publishDate | 2021-05-01 |
| publisher | PeerJ Inc. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PeerJ |
| spelling | doaj.art-b15d88bb3e7a457db0a6d452e691f0622023-12-03T09:28:53ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592021-05-019e1137010.7717/peerj.11370Ecosystem services show variable responses to future climate conditions in the Colombian páramosMauricio Diazgranados0Carolina Tovar1Thomas R. Etherington2Paula A. Rodríguez-Zorro3Carolina Castellanos-Castro4Manuel Galvis Rueda5Suzette G.A. Flantua6Natural Capital and Plant Health Department, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Ardingly, West Sussex, United KingdomBiodiversity Informatics and Spatial Analysis, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, United KingdomBiodiversity Informatics and Spatial Analysis, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, United KingdomInstitut des Sciences de l’Évolution Montpellier (ISEM), Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, FranceCiencias Básicas de la Biodiversidad, Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt, Bogotá, ColombiaDepartamento de Biología, Grupo de Investigación en Estudios Micro y Macro Ambientales (MICRAM), Universidad Tecnológica y Pedagógica de Colombia, Tunja, ColombiaNatural Capital and Plant Health Department, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Ardingly, West Sussex, United KingdomBackground 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.https://peerj.com/articles/11370.pdfBoyacáClimate changeColombiaMahalanobis distanceNiche modellingPáramo |
| spellingShingle | Mauricio Diazgranados Carolina Tovar Thomas R. Etherington Paula A. Rodríguez-Zorro Carolina Castellanos-Castro Manuel Galvis Rueda Suzette G.A. Flantua Ecosystem services show variable responses to future climate conditions in the Colombian páramos PeerJ Boyacá Climate change Colombia Mahalanobis distance Niche modelling Páramo |
| title | Ecosystem services show variable responses to future climate conditions in the Colombian páramos |
| title_full | Ecosystem services show variable responses to future climate conditions in the Colombian páramos |
| title_fullStr | Ecosystem services show variable responses to future climate conditions in the Colombian páramos |
| title_full_unstemmed | Ecosystem services show variable responses to future climate conditions in the Colombian páramos |
| title_short | Ecosystem services show variable responses to future climate conditions in the Colombian páramos |
| title_sort | ecosystem services show variable responses to future climate conditions in the colombian paramos |
| topic | Boyacá Climate change Colombia Mahalanobis distance Niche modelling Páramo |
| url | https://peerj.com/articles/11370.pdf |
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