{"id":57846,"date":"2021-05-13T08:26:21","date_gmt":"2021-05-13T13:26:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=57846"},"modified":"2021-05-13T08:26:21","modified_gmt":"2021-05-13T13:26:21","slug":"paramos-at-risk-the-interconnected-threats-to-a-biodiversity-hotspot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=57846","title":{"rendered":"P\u00e1ramos at Risk: The Interconnected Threats to a Biodiversity Hotspot"},"content":{"rendered":"
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P\u00e1ramos at Risk: The Interconnected Threats to a Biodiversity Hotspot<\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n
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The pressures of climate change and human land use could lead to the disappearance of unique biodiversity and vital ecological services.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n

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On a recent, pre-pandemic journey to the High Andes of Colombia, I found myself surrounded by one of the region\u2019s emblematic species, the flowering shrubs known locally as\u00a0frailejones<\/em>\u00a0or \u201cbig monks.\u201d These giant plants, relatives of sunflowers from the\u00a0Espeletia<\/em>\u00a0genus, mesmerized me, their yellow buds and silvery hairs glistening in the intense, ephemeral sunlight.<\/p>\n

Looking out over the vast, rolling landscape, I wondered how such a stunning, incomparable ecosystem can be taken for granted.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d accompanied National University of Colombia agricultural scientist\u00a0Jairo Cuervo<\/a>, that day, to Sumapaz \u2014 about 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Bogot\u00e1 \u2014 to better understand the impacts of an expanding agricultural frontier on rich p\u00e1ramo soils.<\/p>\n

Sumapaz is the world\u2019s largest p\u00e1ramo \u2014 a type of high-altitude moorland ecosystem found in the South and Central American neotropics that functions as a sort of sponge, efficiently absorbing and storing rainwater and moisture into its vegetation and rich soils. The water is then released slowly and steadily, which is particularly important in dry seasons. Sumapaz and the nearby Chingaza p\u00e1ramo, for example, provide\u00a0most of the water<\/a>\u00a0for the entire Bogot\u00e1 savanna.<\/p>\n

P\u00e1ramos, experts say, may also serve as a sort of buffer against climate-change-induced\u00a0recession of tropical mountain glaciers<\/a>\u00a0and extended droughts \u2014 if we can protect them.<\/p>\n

Cuervo pointed to a potato farm and some grazing cows in the distance, where they\u2019d taken over from the native vegetation. \u201cDespite the p\u00e1ramo providing us with water to live, they are largely forgotten, neglected and at terrible risk,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Agriculture is just one of many interconnected pressures threatening these unique ecosystems and the people and wildlife who depend on them.<\/p>\n

\u2026click on the above link to read the rest of the article\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

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P\u00e1ramos at Risk: The Interconnected Threats to a Biodiversity Hotspot The pressures of climate change and human land use could lead to the disappearance of unique biodiversity and vital ecological services. On a recent, pre-pandemic journey to the High Andes of Colombia, I found myself surrounded by one of the region\u2019s emblematic species, the flowering […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[72,31228,31229,18491],"class_list":["post-57846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment","tag-biodiversity","tag-daniel-henryk-rasolt","tag-paramos","tag-the-revelator"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57846"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57847,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57846\/revisions\/57847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}