It is expected that by 2100 the temperature will increase up to 6° in the temperate zones and 3° in the tropical region. Although a smaller increase is expected in the tropical region, species in this region have lower tolerance ranges. And why is this relevant? Because more than half of the species on the planet are in the tropics. In other words, in the region that is most vulnerable and least tolerant of climate change on the planet, most of the biodiversity is found.
An article from the Universidad de Los Andes points out that this biodiversity is found mainly in tropical forests, which are highly threatened. Tropical forests occupy around 10% of the earth’s surface. Despite the fact that there are tropical forests in Africa and Asia, the tropical forests of the Neotropics correspond to more than 50% of the global tropical forests.
The geological history of these American ecosystems is different from that of other tropical forests. The isolation of North and South America, and their subsequent union approximately thirteen million years ago with the formation of the Isthmus of Panama during the Pliocene. Added to the rise of the Andes that generated the variety of thermal floors in South America, resulted in the diversity of these ecosystems and their biodiversity being notoriously greater than that of other continents.
The tropical Andes are considered the first biodiversity hotspot in the world, due to its richness and high levels of endemism. In second place is Mesoamerica, which spans from southern Mexico to northern Colombia. Something important to mention is that the zones considered as hotspots are areas where the diversity and endemism of fauna, but also of flora, are very high. Plants are essential agents in the water and carbon cycle.
They are also critical to ecosystem dynamics. The plant richness that makes up these forests contributes to the variety of ecosystem services they provide. However, there is a diversity of tropical forests, upland forests, which tend to have higher rates of loss than lowland forests. It is likely that 90% of cloud forests have already been lost. Cloud forests, cloud forests or cloud forests, are located in the Andes Mountains at elevations between 2,000 and 3,000 masl, although in subtropical regions, it is possible to find them at lower elevations.
The tropical cloud forest is characterized by the permanent presence of clouds and mist. In addition to a very low evapotranspiration rate, which defines its high biodiversity and allows it to act as a water collector. It is estimated that only 2.5% of tropical forests are cloud forests and these are highly threatened. In Colombia, tropical forests covered about 58,633,631 hectares in 2018, according to the WWF.
To give an idea, cloud forests represent 5% of the surface of the Amazon jungles, however, they are home to a similar amount of plants. Now, regarding liverworts and mosses, cloud forests are home to around 80-90% of these plants in Colombia, while the Colombian Amazon rainforest is home to 10% of them. Epiphytic plants (eg mosses, bromeliads and orchids, etc.) need a very high relative humidity, therefore these cloud forests present the ideal conditions for their presence and abundance.
A loss of at least 30% of epiphytic plants in tropical ecosystems is projected in the tropical region. The loss of these plants translates into a decrease in the efficiency of water capture in tropical ecosystems, since these plants have a sponge effect that capture water in the wet season, reducing the probability of soil erosion, while in the dry season release water, mitigating the impact of drought for the organisms associated with these plants.
Catalina Orejuela, manager of Academic Projects at the Department of Biological Sciences Universidad de Los Andes, points out that “when talking about climate change, one generally thinks of future and distant scenarios where temperatures are projected to be higher and floods more frequent, especially in temperate zones of the planet [1]. There is not much discussion about the difference in impacts between the temperate zones and the tropical zone, nor about the high vulnerability of tropical ecosystems”.
He adds that “although climate change is considered the main threat to the permanence of ecosystems, it is a threat that is far from being a daily concern. It is a latent problem with various causes and drivers that, in the eyes of the population, the solution is not in their hands but in the scientists. Hopefully, science is expected to develop an antidote to climate change and global warming and somehow, almost magically, the threats are struck down.”
THE CLOUD FORESTS, cloud forests or cloud forests, are located in the Andes Mountains at elevations between 2000 and 3000 masl, although in subtropical regions, it is possible to find them at lower elevations.