Abstract
ABSTRACT Opportunities to track environmental changes over more than a century are rare in tropical mountains. Edward Whymper’s survey of flora and fauna on the summit of Mt. Corazón (Ecuador, 4788 m a.s.l.) in 1880 provides a unique opportunity to compare historical observations with the current composition of plant and insect communities on a tropical alpine mountain top. We studied Whymper’s archives and historic specimens in London and Paris, and performed a resurvey of vascular plants and ground beetles (Coleoptera Carabidae) in January 2020. Currently, a large part of the summit area of Corazón is heavily damaged by trampling and stone removal due to mountain tourism, and no vascular plants are present in the deteriorated area on the top of the ridge. However, more species were collected in 2020 than in 1880: 22 of vascular plants vs. 7, and 4 of ground beetles vs. 1. Upslope shifts over 140 years may partly explain this increase in species richness, although the low numbers of Whymper’s sampling may also be due to less skilled collectors and to the presence of permanent snow beds on the summit. The current faunistic and floristic data presented in this contribution can be used as a baseline for future resurveys of Corazón, in order to monitor changes in the species distribution and community composition of its summit area. Owing to the very small area of its superpáramo and to the soil deterioration by trampling along the summit ridge, Corazón is especially exposed to the effects of climate change and to the risk of extirpation of endemic cold-adapted specialists.
Highlights
Climate change affects species distribution and com munity composition in montane habitats worldwide [1,2,3,4]
A highly diverse alpine habi tat unique to the tropical high Andes, are vulnerable to human-induced changes that are expected to have significant consequences on the species richness and ecosystem function [5]
A common response of cold-adapted alpine species to climate change is migration towards higher eleva tions. Such upward shift has been reported for páramo ground beetles [6] and vascular plants [7], the rate of the elevational shift has been debated [8,9]
Summary
Climate change affects species distribution and com munity composition in montane habitats worldwide [1,2,3,4]. A common response of cold-adapted alpine species to climate change is migration towards higher eleva tions. Such upward shift has been reported for páramo ground beetles [6] and vascular plants [7], the rate of the elevational shift has been debated [8,9]. The small-range and cold-adapted components of these mountaintop communities are threatened by climate change, as warming increases with elevation [17] and they have nowhere else to go to find a suitable habitat
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