Landscape In Colombia Research Articles

Forest cover is more important than its integrity or landscape configuration in determining habitat use by mammals in a human-modified landscape in Colombia

Human activities shape the structure of landscapes in different ways and hence modify animal communities depending on the type and intensity of these activities. The Montes de Maria subregion of Colombia has experienced a heavy transformation of most areas despite covering one of the last remnants of dry forest, a critically endangered ecosystem. However, the effects of this transformation have been little explored. Here, we used a multispecies occupancy model (MSOM) to understand the relative influence of three components of land-use change – deforestation (remaining forest amount), degradation of forest integrity (forest quality) and fragmentation (landscape configuration) on mammalian habitat use across a mosaic of tropical dry forest in Colombia. Our data suggest that the percentage of forest cover was substantially important for herbivores, and consistently showed a moderate effect on the entire community and some individual species. High variability in species-specific responses to the examined variables hindered broad taxonomic generalizations, nevertheless, we detected a moderate positive effect of forest cover in both diet specialists and generalists species, as well as in species with small home ranges. Although omnivores responses, tended to use less complex landscapes (mosaics of land uses), there was high uncertainty in this response. The lack of substantial effects on most species, and the absence of threatened species across this anthropogenic landscape, suggests that the current community is composed of species tolerant to habitat modifications, but not only diet generalist species. This is most likely the result of a long filtering process caused by land use transformation and hunting which could have caused non-sensitive species to distribute relatively homogenously across this landscape. Our results suggest that conservation strategies in the study area should focus on conserving and expanding as much forest as possible rather than only improving the quality of already existing forest patches.

Combating climate change through sustainable cattle ranching in the global south: The role of societal corporatism

The contours of the collective action necessary to limit climate change remain difficult to discern. In this context, societal corporatist political processes, fueled by crisis narratives, have shown some promise as political devices for mobilizing people. Corporatist processes have, historically, brought political competitors like employers and labor unions together to negotiate compacts that have advanced collective goods during times of crisis. In response to the climate crisis in the Global South, affluent donor groups, state officials, some farmers, and indigenous peoples have begun to assemble corporatist-like coalitions to pursue climate stabilization. A comparative case study of efforts to promote sustainable cattle ranching through the spread of silvopastoral landscapes in Colombia and Ecuador illustrates this political dynamic, its shortcomings, and its accomplishments.

Recovering connectivity through restoration corridors in a fragmented landscape in the magdalena river’s valley in Colombia

Forest fragmentation is one of the main drivers of global biodiversity loss leading to the isolation of wildlife populations. This study focuses on understanding the role of restoration corridors as a strategy promoting resilience and viability of mammal and bird populations in a fragmented landscape in Colombia. We installed 98 camera-trap stations − 8497 camera-trap days - in four different land cover categories: (1) forest fragments, (2) natural corridors, (3) stablished corridors and (4) pastures. We evaluated if restoration corridors do promote connectivity for large vertebrates and recover species richness and functional diversity lost in anthropogenically transformed pastures. We used indices of taxonomic and functional diversity and a non-metric multidimensional scaling to evaluate the influence of land cover over mammal and bird communities. Both, species richness and functional diversity have higher values in forests, followed by natural corridors and corridors and lower values in open pastures. Differences in species composition were greater between forests and pastures, and species composition of restoration corridors begins to resemble that of riparian forests and forest fragments. Our results provide initial evidence on the role of restoration corridors as an efficient strategy aimed to recover biodiversity and functional diversity in pervasively fragmented landscapes.

Płciowość i seksualność w kolumbijskim konflikcie zbrojnym: od ucisku patriarchatu po feministyczne ruchy wyzwoleńcze

This article explores the impact of the Colombian armed conflict on gender and sexuality, focusing on the resistance of women who were victims of sexual violence. The conflict, which lasted from 1954 to 2016, had nearly nine million victims. Most were victims of forced displacement. And it also led to various forms of violence, including sexual violence, with women and LGBT people being particularly vulnerable. This article highlights the centrality of gender and sexuality in the conflict and the impact of militarization on the gendered social landscape in Colombia. It examines how women who were victims of sexual violence became important social leaders, utilizing their experience to resist the war and transform cultural norms around gender and violence. Through collective action, these women challenged traditional gender roles and power dynamics. The article emphasizes the importance of recognizing and amplifying the voices of women who have experienced violence in conflict settings and highlights the Colombian armed conflict as a case study of the intersectionality of gender, violence, and resistance.

Living in the city: Reproductive and population ecology of Green Iguanas, Iguana iguana (Linnaeus 1758), inhabiting an urban landscape in Colombia

Understanding how species persist in urban landscapes can provide insights into the fate of biodiversityaffected by rapid and unplanned urbanization. While the ecological and conservation implications of urbanization havebeen reasonably well studied for temperate species, relatively little is known for those in tropical latitudes, especiallyNeotropical lizards. We investigated the life history, habitat use, and reproductive seasonality of Green Iguanas (Iguanaiguana) inhabiting an urban area in Colombia. Our analysis of age structure showed that the sex ratio in this populationwas approximately 1:1 at birth and adulthood, suggesting that both sexes are experiencing similar selective pressuresover time. The presence of individuals of all size classes throughout the year is indicative of a stable population. Densityestimates based on linear transect data indicated that iguanas in the studied population occur at higher densities thanthose in rural areas. This increased density might be related to some benefits of urbanization, including human trophicsubsidies and decreased predation and competence. The estimated growth rate was also higher than those reported forpopulations in natural habitats, likely reflecting increased food availability. Iguanas in the study area apparently reproducetwice per year, a pattern that might be explained by rainfall regime. Occupancy modeling revealed that contraryto rural populations, urban Green Iguanas successfully exploit open grassy areas for feeding and basking, with tree coverand built-up areas being key predictors of their occurrence. The ability of urban iguanas to modify some traits of theirbasic ecology to cope with the challenges imposed by urbanization may be crucial for this species to persist or eventhrive in cityscapes.

Habitat modification destabilizes spatial associations and persistence of Neotropical carnivores

Spatial relationships between sympatric species underpin biotic interactions, structure ecological communities, and maintain ecosystem health. However, the resilience of interspecific spatial associations to human habitat modification remains largely unknown, particularly in tropical regions where anthropogenic impacts are often greatest. We applied multi-state multi-species occurrence models to camera trap data across nine tropical landscapes in Colombia to understand how prominent threats to forest ecosystems influence Neotropical carnivore occurrence and interspecific spatial associations, with implications for biotic interactions. We show that carnivore occurrence represents a delicate balance between local environmental conditions and interspecific interactions that can be compromised in areas of extensive habitat modification. The stability of carnivore spatial associations depends on forest cover to mediate antagonistic encounters with apex predators and structurally intact forests to facilitate coexistence between competing mesocarnivores. Notably, we demonstrate that jaguars play an irreplaceable role in spatially structuring mesocarnivore communities, providing novel evidence on their role as keystone species. With increasing global change, conserving both the extent and quality of tropical forests is imperative to support carnivores and preserve the spatial associations that underpin ecosystem stability and resilience.

Descriptive Analysis of University Enrollment Trends in Colombia between 2014 and 2022

During the study period between 2014 and 2022, a 9.5% increase in the number of university students enrolled in Colombia was observed, with a total of 419,940 new enrollees. The objective of this research was to analyze trends and cycles in university enrollments, focusing on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the growth of the virtual modality. The methodology included analyzing data from the National Higher Education Information System (SNIES) and performing calculations to evaluate variations in enrollments over the years. The results allowed visualizing the enrollment cycles between private and official sector universities, highlighting that the pandemic generated a significant decrease in enrollments in 2020, mainly affecting private universities. An increase in the gap between enrollment in the official and private sector was observed, with the latter losing ground. The virtual modality experienced exponential growth in the last 8 years and as a result of the pandemic became an important factor in the university enrollment market, especially in graduate programs in the private sector and undergraduate programs in the formal sector. In summary, the study reveals the transformation of the university enrollment landscape in Colombia, due to changes in student preferences between sector and mode of study. These findings may be valuable for decision making in educational institutions and provide a deeper understanding of trends in higher education in the Colombian context.

Habitat type affects the diversity of dung beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) assemblages in a neotropical mountainous region of Colombia

Ecological communities of tropical regions respond to habitat configuration, being negatively affected by anthropogenic habitats. In the tropics, mountainous highland landscapes sustain ecological communities with contrasting responses to habitat transformation. This study assessed the effect of different habitats under different disturbance regimes on the dung beetle assemblage that inhabits a mountainous Andean landscape in Colombia. The habitat types surveyed were oak forest cores (low intervention), forest edges (medium intervention), and pastures (high intervention). A total of 3,810 dung beetles from ten species were collected. Dung beetle diversity was affected by habitat type, and forest cores and forest edges had higher diversity than pastures. Besides, each habitat type was characterized by a distinct dung beetle assemblage, with pastures showing the highest heterogeneity in the dung beetle assemblage. In conclusion, our study suggests that the dung beetles of a portion of Colombian Andean landscapes are sensitive to shifts of habitat quality. The higher dung beetle diversity in forested habitats indicates that pastures comprise limiting environments for their assemblages at this Andean region.

Identification of economic incentives for the electrification of river and maritime modes: proposal for the Colombian Case

The transportation sector's significant contribution to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, primarily through fossil fuel consumption by motorized vehicles, remains a critical concern. In this industry, maritime transportation independently contributes to 2.89% of total global greenhouse gas emissions, displaying a persistent upward trend even in the face of enhanced efficiency measures implemented in port facilities and vessel operations. In response to this urgent concern, nations and international organizations have been formulating approaches aimed at mitigating greenhouse gas emissions in this transportation sector, encompassing the implementation of economic incentives. This article presents the findings of an exploratory-descriptive research endeavor, which aims to identify incentive policies implemented across various countries to expedite the adoption of electromobility in maritime and river transportation, thereby reducing GHG emissions from vessels. Data was gathered from authorized government websites, various organizations, maritime and river transport companies, and port authorities in each respective nation. Furthermore, this study classifies the incentives according to their methodologies and conducts a comparative analysis with the existing landscape in Colombia regarding the adoption of economic incentives for electrifying river transportation within the country. Through this analysis, some insights and recommendations can be derived to promote sustainable and environmentally-friendly practices in Colombia's river and maritime transportation sectors.

Precision Agriculture and Sensor Systems Applications in Colombia through 5G Networks.

The growing global demand for food and the environmental impact caused by agriculture have made this activity increasingly dependent on electronics, information technology, and telecommunications technologies. In Colombia, agriculture is of great importance not only as a commercial activity, but also as a source of food and employment. However, the concept of smart agriculture has not been widely applied in this country, resulting in the high production of various types of crops due to the planting of large areas of land, rather than optimization of the processes involved in the activity. Due to its technical characteristics and the radio spectrum considered in its deployment, 5G can be seen as one of the technologies that could generate the greatest benefits for the Colombian agricultural sector, especially in the most remote rural areas, which currently lack mobile network coverage. This article provides an overview of the current 5G technology landscape in Colombia and presents examples of possible 5G/IoT applications that could be developed in Colombian fields. The results show that 5G could facilitate the implementation of the smart farm in Colombia, improving current production and efficiency. It is useful when designing 5G implementation plans and strategies, since it categorizes crops by regions and products. This is based on budget availability, population density, and regional development plans, among others.

Francisco José de Caldas y las transformaciones en la visión del paisaje geográfico en Colombia

El paisaje ha servido en los estudios geográficos como unidad de análisis territorial a través de elementos brindados por la Geografía cultural para integrar las geomorfologías del mundo físico y las morfologías culturales desarrolladas por el ingenio humano. El presente artículo es un resultado del proyecto de investigación: Marcas Territoriales y Paisaje, el cual apuesta por caracterizar el análisis de los territorios y sus comunidades en función de los conflictos con las transformaciones del modelo de producción global en Latinoamérica a través de una apuesta metodológica trayectiva nutrida por autores claves como: A. Berque (2009), Cosgrove (2008) y Nogue (2010). Como resultado se presenta una aproximación genealógica de la visión paisajística en Colombia que posiciona desde una perspectiva geográfica poco visitada el papel de Francisco José de Caldas como pensador bisagra en la transformación de las visiones del paisaje colonial al paisaje republicano en Colombia y quizá en Latinoamérica.

Forest fragmentation erodes mammalian species richness and functional diversity in a human-dominated landscape in Colombia

Forest fragmentation erodes mammalian species richness and functional diversity in a human-dominated landscape in Colombia

Unidad, paisaje y lugar en la fotografía colombiana, alrededor de 1900

A finales del siglo XIX, la fotografía de paisaje en Colombia contribuyó a crear las primeras imágenes de la región. La manera de representar el espacio, comparado con técnicas pictó-ricas, implicó la creación de una imagen que reconociera una unidad visual. En la presente investigación se analizaron cerca de 800 fotografías de diversos acopios documentales que permitieron interpretar cómo, mediante el desarrollo de estas imágenes y de su popula-rización a través de medios como la tarjeta postal, se impulsó el desarrollo de emblemas simbólicos del paisaje. Siguiendo de cerca la idea de unidad desde el pensamiento de Georg Simmel, profundizando a través de la noción de cliché de Gilles Deleuze en su seminario sobre pintura, y tomando el mismo concepto desde la obra de la lingüista Ruth Amossy, analizaremos cómo en Colombia, por medio de las adaptaciones visuales de la fotografía, el paisaje adquirió la forma visual que le permitió transformar un lugar en un ícono.

Can short-term payments for ecosystem services deliver long-term tree cover change?

Payments for ecosystem services (PES) have been heralded as an effective strategy to increase tree cover in agricultural landscapes, but their efficacy beyond the payment period has rarely been evaluated. I compared land covers before and 13 years after implementation of a short-term PES project that promoted the adoption of silvopastoral systems (SPS) in a cattle ranching landscape in Colombia. I used satellite images to quantify on-farm changes and farm-to-landscape differences in land cover change. On average, treeless pasture area decreased by 7% more and areas with tree cover increased 8% more on silvopastoral farms relative to the surrounding landscape. Short-term payments facilitated the adoption of SPS leading to a significantly greater increase in tree cover, which is still visible on participant farms a decade later. The results highlight the potential of short-term PES as a tool to facilitate the permanent adoption of SPS and to support restoration efforts in pasture-dominated landscapes.

The Future of Wild Mammals in Oil Palm Landscapes in the Neotropics

Colombia is the fourth largest producer of palm oil in the world with a growth of 42% in 2017, affecting its ecosystems and biodiversity. Here we review current understanding from science, policy, and practice to help shape a better fate for mammals across oil palm landscapes in Colombia. In order to prevent large mammal species erosion and decimation as has happened in South East Asia, the following lessons in zoning, infrastructure, harvest, monitoring and research should be implemented. Native habitat is irreplaceable. New oil palm frontiers should occur in degraded ecosystems, with adequate governance and without requirement of new infrastructure. Roads favor hunting, logging, and disorganized human occupation. Plantations should conserve water bodies and forests to ensure connectivity and refuge for sensitive mammal species. Higher structural complexity with added plants is desired for a varied mammal assemblage. Harvest should be done manually and crepuscular work hours should be avoided. Application of the abovementioned tactics will consolidate a more sustainable strategy for the future of mammals in oil palm landscapes in mega-diverse countries.

Gender and Feminist Geography in Colombia

The article explains how gender and feminist geography as a transversal analytical category to geography have been introduced recently in Colombia. At the beginning of the XXI century, in the geography department of Universidad Nacional de Colombia, the first undergraduate thesis to focus on the relationship between gender and processes of social construction of space was presented. Since then, the contributions of geographers and researchers from a feminist geographic perspective have contributed to the feminist geographical debates from their own trajectories. The contemporary geographical landscape in Colombia is linked with the transversal debates on feminisms and gender in social sciences, social movements and Latin-American feminisms. This networks and connections allows today a diversity of themes from the deconstruction of hegemonic spatial representations in different contexts, gender and conflicts related to territory and body, to some new approaches to technologies and virtual social interactions and their connotation in the construction of non-normative spatialities.

Richness, diversity, and factors influencing occupancy of mammal communities across human-modified landscapes in Colombia

As human-modified landscapes are increasing in the tropics, it becomes critical to understand how they affect mammal communities to reconcile conservation and development. We combined land cover information and camera-trapping data to explore the effects of agricultural expansion on mammals in the Magdalena river valley of Colombia. We estimated species diversity, evenness, and dominance across two agricultural landscapes, modified by cattle ranching and oil palm cultivation. We further assessed which variables influence species- and community-level occupancy using multi-species occupancy models. Results highlight that modified landscapes display lower species richness, diversity and evenness, and higher dominance than more pristine sites. Residual forest cover and distance to water had significant effect on community occupancy (positive and negative respectively). Forests were particularly important for pumas, ocelots, lowland pacas, Central American agoutis, and crab-eating raccoons while wetlands had a positive effect on jaguars, the apex predator in the region. The influence of anthropogenic pressure was not clearly evident, though pastures were not valuable habitats for any mammal species, as they had a negative, yet not significant, effect on species and community occupancy. In light of rapidly expanding agriculture across the tropics, our findings highlight species-specific responses to disturbance that can inform land use planning and conservation policies. We stress the conservation value of forest and wetland habitat to mammal occupancy in heterogeneous ecosystems. Moreover, our results demonstrate that oil palm and crop expansion should target existing pastures, which displayed limited conservation value for Neotropical mammals but occupy vast swathes of land across Latin America.

Deforestation May Trigger Black-and-Chestnut Eagle (Spizaetus isidori) Predation on Domestic Fowl

In anthropogenically transformed habitats, some birds of prey feed on domestic animals, triggering conflict between people and predators. To manage this conflict, it is important to understand the ecological circumstances associated with the predation of domestic animals. We studied variation in the diet of the endangered Black-and-chestnut Eagle ( Spizaetus isidori) in four different Andean landscapes in Colombia. We analyzed 261 prey items brought to five S. isidori nests during the period when the nestlings were being raised. Domestic fowl are relatively frequent prey in the diet of S. isidori in three of the four localities studied (frequency: 9.3%–36%), representing 12.2% to 37.1% of the total biomass of prey consumed. In terms of biomass, in Ciudad Bolívar, Jardín, and Campohermoso, the sites with the greatest forest cover, mammals were the most important prey in the diet of S. isidori, while in Gachalá, the most deforested site, domestic fowl were the most important prey. We recommend that forest cover be maintained and increased to provide habitat for wild prey in the breeding territories of S. isidori using the landscape management tools best suited to the specific socioecological contexts of this eagle’s territories. We also suggest that the management of domestic fowl under controlled conditions or the use of some deterrent be examined as strategies to mitigate or prevent conflict between people and S. isidori. Socioecological research and educational programs should be carried out to increase the public’s understanding of this eagle and its benefits to the ecosystem.

Conserving predators across agricultural landscapes in Colombia: habitat use and space partitioning by jaguars, pumas, ocelots and jaguarundis

AbstractLoss and degradation of natural habitats continue to increase across the tropics as a result of agricultural expansion. Consequently, there is an urgent need to understand their effects, and the distribution and habitat requirements of wildlife within human-modified landscapes, to support the conservation of threatened species, such as felids. We combined camera trapping and land cover data into occupancy models to study the habitat use and space partitioning by four sympatric felid species in an agricultural landscape in Colombia. Land use in the area includes cattle ranching and oil palm cultivation, the latter being an emerging land use type in the Neotropics. Factors determining species occupancy were the presence of wetlands for jaguars (positive effect); water proximity for pumas (positive effect); and presence of pastures for ocelots and jaguarundis (negative effect). Only ocelots were occasionally recorded in oil palm areas. Our results suggest that to align development with the conservation of top predators it is crucial to maintain areas of forest and wetland across agricultural landscapes and to restrict agricultural and oil palm expansion to modified areas such as pastures, which are of limited conservation value. Because there is no spatial segregation between the felid species we studied, conservation strategies that benefit all of them are possible even in modified landscapes.

Terrestrial mammal responses to oil palm dominated landscapes in Colombia.

The rapid expansion of oil palm cultivation in the Neotropics has generated great debate around possible biodiversity impacts. Colombia, for example, is the largest producer of oil palm in the Americas, but the effects of oil palm cultivation on native fauna are poorly understood. Here, we compared how richness, abundance and composition of terrestrial mammal species differ between oil palm plantations and riparian forest in the Colombian Llanos region. Further, we determined the relationships and influence of landscape and habitat level variables on those metrics. We found that species richness and composition differed significantly between riparian forest and oil palm, with site level richness inside oil palm plantations 47% lower, on average, than in riparian forest. Within plantations, mammalian species richness was strongly negatively correlated with cattle abundance, and positively correlated with the density of undergrowth vegetation. Forest structure characteristics appeared to have weak and similar effects on determining mammal species richness and composition along riparian forest strips. Composition at the landscape level was significantly influenced by cover type, percentage of remaining forest and the distance to the nearest town, whereas within oil palm sites, understory vegetation, cattle relative abundance, and canopy cover had significant effects on community composition. Species specific abundance responses varied between land cover types, with oil palm having positive effects on mesopredators, insectivores and grazers. Our findings suggest that increasing habitat complexity, avoiding cattle and retaining native riparian forest–regardless of its structure–inside oil palm-dominated landscapes would help support higher native mammal richness and abundance at both local and landscape scales.