Relict high-Andean ecosystems challenge our concepts of naturalness and human impact
Abstract What would current ecosystems be like without the impact of mankind? This question, which is critical for ecosystem management, has long remained unanswered due to a lack of present-day data from truly undisturbed ecosystems. Using mountaineering techniques, we accessed pristine relict ecos...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2017-06-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-03500-7 |
| _version_ | 1818343729737498624 |
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| author | Steven P. Sylvester Felix Heitkamp Mitsy D. P. V. Sylvester Hermann F. Jungkunst Harrie J. M. Sipman Johanna M. Toivonen Carlos A. Gonzales Inca Juan C. Ospina Michael Kessler |
| author_facet | Steven P. Sylvester Felix Heitkamp Mitsy D. P. V. Sylvester Hermann F. Jungkunst Harrie J. M. Sipman Johanna M. Toivonen Carlos A. Gonzales Inca Juan C. Ospina Michael Kessler |
| author_sort | Steven P. Sylvester |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract What would current ecosystems be like without the impact of mankind? This question, which is critical for ecosystem management, has long remained unanswered due to a lack of present-day data from truly undisturbed ecosystems. Using mountaineering techniques, we accessed pristine relict ecosystems in the Peruvian Andes to provide this baseline data and compared it with the surrounding accessible and disturbed landscape. We show that natural ecosystems and human impact in the high Andes are radically different from preconceived ideas. Vegetation of these ‘lost worlds’ was dominated by plant species previously unknown to science that have become extinct in nearby human-affected ecosystems. Furthermore, natural vegetation had greater plant biomass with potentially as much as ten times more forest, but lower plant diversity. Contrary to our expectations, soils showed relatively little degradation when compared within a vegetation type, but differed mainly between forest and grassland ecosystems. At the landscape level, a presumed large-scale forest reduction resulted in a nowadays more acidic soilscape with higher carbon storage, partly ameliorating carbon loss through deforestation. Human impact in the high Andes, thus, had mixed effects on biodiversity, while soils and carbon stocks would have been mainly indirectly affected through a suggested large-scale vegetation change. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T16:35:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d0d6a51d35c64955a7ab10e55eee013d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T16:35:13Z |
| publishDate | 2017-06-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-d0d6a51d35c64955a7ab10e55eee013d2022-12-21T23:38:25ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222017-06-017111310.1038/s41598-017-03500-7Relict high-Andean ecosystems challenge our concepts of naturalness and human impactSteven P. Sylvester0Felix Heitkamp1Mitsy D. P. V. Sylvester2Hermann F. Jungkunst3Harrie J. M. Sipman4Johanna M. Toivonen5Carlos A. Gonzales Inca6Juan C. Ospina7Michael Kessler8Institute of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, University of ZurichSection of Physical Geography, Faculty of Geoscience and Geography, Georg-August-Universität GöttingenInstitute of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, University of ZurichInstitute of Environmental Sciences, Geoecology & Physical Geography, Universität Koblenz-LandauBotanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum Berlin-Dahlem, Freie Universität BerlinDepartment of Biology, University of TurkuDepartment of Geography and Geology, University of TurkuInstituto de Botánica Darwinion (ANCEFN-CONICET)Institute of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, University of ZurichAbstract What would current ecosystems be like without the impact of mankind? This question, which is critical for ecosystem management, has long remained unanswered due to a lack of present-day data from truly undisturbed ecosystems. Using mountaineering techniques, we accessed pristine relict ecosystems in the Peruvian Andes to provide this baseline data and compared it with the surrounding accessible and disturbed landscape. We show that natural ecosystems and human impact in the high Andes are radically different from preconceived ideas. Vegetation of these ‘lost worlds’ was dominated by plant species previously unknown to science that have become extinct in nearby human-affected ecosystems. Furthermore, natural vegetation had greater plant biomass with potentially as much as ten times more forest, but lower plant diversity. Contrary to our expectations, soils showed relatively little degradation when compared within a vegetation type, but differed mainly between forest and grassland ecosystems. At the landscape level, a presumed large-scale forest reduction resulted in a nowadays more acidic soilscape with higher carbon storage, partly ameliorating carbon loss through deforestation. Human impact in the high Andes, thus, had mixed effects on biodiversity, while soils and carbon stocks would have been mainly indirectly affected through a suggested large-scale vegetation change.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-03500-7 |
| spellingShingle | Steven P. Sylvester Felix Heitkamp Mitsy D. P. V. Sylvester Hermann F. Jungkunst Harrie J. M. Sipman Johanna M. Toivonen Carlos A. Gonzales Inca Juan C. Ospina Michael Kessler Relict high-Andean ecosystems challenge our concepts of naturalness and human impact Scientific Reports |
| title | Relict high-Andean ecosystems challenge our concepts of naturalness and human impact |
| title_full | Relict high-Andean ecosystems challenge our concepts of naturalness and human impact |
| title_fullStr | Relict high-Andean ecosystems challenge our concepts of naturalness and human impact |
| title_full_unstemmed | Relict high-Andean ecosystems challenge our concepts of naturalness and human impact |
| title_short | Relict high-Andean ecosystems challenge our concepts of naturalness and human impact |
| title_sort | relict high andean ecosystems challenge our concepts of naturalness and human impact |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-03500-7 |
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