Researchers

Mariasole Calbi, Thomas Borsch, Robert Lücking, Grischa Brokamp, Britta Tietjen

Abstract

A large part of Colombia´s outstanding biodiversity can be found in the Andean region, which hosts a complex mosaic of heavily endangered tropical mountain ecosystems, including the emblematic “Bosque altoandino” or “high andean forest”. The expanding metropolis of Bogotá rely almost entirely on goods and resources coming from the surrounding Andean mountains and the demand of ecosystem services is expected to increase in the next years as a result of a constantly growing population.

The aim of this project is to characterize ecosystem condition, in terms of degradation or regeneration stadia, ecosystem services provision and associated biotic and abiotic drivers of differently impacted Bosques altoandinos, combining plot based surveys, environmental data and remote sensing and to develop models of different conditions of high Andean forest response under different future scenarios, in order to provide useful tools for conservation strategies in the area of Bogotá.

Funding

ColBioDiv German-Colombian project (BMBF funded)