Monitoring Global Change impacts on High Andean Ecosystems in Ecuador, as part of the Andean Environmental Monitoring and Information System

The Ecuadorian High Andes are a priority region for conservation and sustainable management national policies, due to their sensitivity and vulnerability to environmental changes. However, there are still severe knowledge gaps, and scientific information derived from quantitative experiments and long-term biodiversity monitoring processes is essential to reinforce the development of adaptation guidelines for High Andean ecosystems in face of global changes. In order to contribute to the understanding and documentation of climate change impacts on paramo plant communities, and to determine specific climate warming effects on physiological adaptations present on their plant species, two integral sites, the Pichincha Volcanic Complex and the Antisana Ecological Reserve have been established in the Ecuadorian High Andes in 2012 and 2013, respectively. In these, short and long-term changes on paramo diversity and community structure will be studied through the establishment of vegetation monitoring regions following the protocol of the Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments (GLORIA), each associated with a complementary research site based on an experimental design that supports the future incorporation of other modules, if new research questions arise.