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Abstract Detail

Biogeography

Madriñán, Santiago [1], Navas, Alfredo [1].

Páramo Plants Online.

Páramos are tropical high elevation ecosystems located above the forest line in the northern region of the Andes. They have a characteristic and unique biota that is the result of complex evolutionary processes, not well understood yet. This has produced a high number of endemic plant and animal species, distributed in an archipelago-like environment highly threatened by global warming. Páramo flora is well studied but not really known in the sense that it has been widely collected and identified, but the “biological” map of the páramo archipelago has not been drawn. Although distributed biodiversity informatics databases have facilitated access to information regarding species occurrence, ecosystem based datasets are wanting. Knowledge of species representation in the páramos can be used to establish a baseline for the study of the evolutionary patterns and processes of the páramo biota, understand their ecological interactions, and aid in conservation efforts. This project has the general objective of gathering and constructing an online accessible relational database of the flora of the Páramos including georeferenced specimen data, synonymy of scientific names, maps, references to protected areas and references to related published works. By means of geographical information systems and with the map of the páramos it is possible to graphically represent the species distribution, and, from it, to perform detailed analysis about their biogeography as well as the implications of global warming, invasive species in their future distribution. The data available includes ca. 30,000 georeferenced páramo plant specimen occurrence records; 4,000 hierarchically arranged vascular plant species names records; a georeferenced gazetteer with at least 10,000 hierarchically arranged toponyms of páramo localities. Goals: -Integrate available páramo flora information from several published and online sources, curate this information and compile it in a database that will be available through a web server -Produce a list of páramo plant species with valid names, common synonyms, and organized in a consistent taxonomic structure -Georeference available páramo plant species occurrence records to individual páramo islands with the use of a standardized gazetteer of páramo collection localities Conservation outcomes of this project include: -Standardized list of páramo plant species and their localities -Individual lists of plant species representation in páramo islands -Altitudinal ranges of plant species from georeferenced species occurrence records -Estimation of species endemism at varying geographical scales -Identify páramo islands with low species representation where collecting efforts must be increased -Describe basic biogeographical patterns of páramo plant species distribution

Broader Impacts:

1 - Universidad de los Andes, Laboratorio de Botánica y Sistemática, Apartado Aéreo 4976, Bogotá, DC, 00001, Colombia

Keywords:
biogeography
paramo
Colombia
Neotropics
Biodiversity Informatics
Citizen Science.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for Topics
Session: 50
Location: Magnolia/Riverside Hilton
Date: Wednesday, July 31st, 2013
Time: 4:30 PM
Number: 50012
Abstract ID:724
Candidate for Awards:None