Climate Monitoring and Adaptation in the South American Andes, Integrated Across Regions and Disciplines

HALLOY, STEPHAN; YAGER, KARINA; GARCÍA, CAROLINA; BECK, STEPHAN; SEIMON, ANTON; CARILLA, JULIETA; TUPAYACHI, ALFREDO; JÁCOME, JORGE

Leipzig

Congreso; EURECO - GFÖ. Biodiversity in an Ecosystem Context; 2008

EEF - GFO

ALARM supported the set up of the first network for monitoring the impact of climate change in the Andes, following GLORIA (Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments) methodology (www.gloria.ac.at). In addition to establishing GLORIA sites, we initiated interdisciplinary research on a variety of interdependent themes including: mammals, reptiles, amphibians, soil bacteria, glacial retreat, agriculture and animal husbandry.There are now six GLORIA sites established in the Andes (four of them with ALARM support), and seventeen more have been identified for development pending new funding. The four ALARM sites are in Perú, Bolivia and Argentina. To these we add comparisons to the highest studied autotrophic plant communities on Volcán Socompa, Argentina. We report on broad geographic, vegetation and climatic patterns for the five research sites while highlighting some of the multidisciplinary branches being explored.The highest vascular plant richness was found in the geologically oldest mountain range, Cumbres Calchaquíes, Argentina, whereas the highest lichen richness was found in the Cordillera Apolobamba, Bolivia, and the highest bryophyte richness was found on the recent fumaroles of the Socompa volcano.Vascular plant species richness is locally determined through geology, grazing, rainfall and other landscape heterogeneity. Thus numbers do not necessarily decline with altitude, creating much richer and complex patterns than in temperate mountains. Lichen species numbers have a tendency to increase with altitude at several sites, again contrary to general assumptions. In contrast to species numbers, cover (or total biomass) decreases dramatically at the highest sites (Orko Q’ocha (Vilcanota), Moraroni (Apolobamba) and Isabel (Cumbres Calchaquíes). Thus, highest sites are characterized by relatively high species numbers, but represented by only a small number of colonizing individuals. Each of these higher sites has been covered in persistent ice or snow in relatively recent times (estimated at a few decades to a hundred years). There are clear indications of upward mobility in plants, vertebrates, cultivation and livestock. Disease organisms are advancing as well, sometimes wiping out the gains in range expansion (amphibians followed by chytrids). Declining water availability and variability has dried lakes and wetlands (Andean peat bogs) in some areas, with significant changes in species composition and livestock carrying capacity.