Modelización de la distribución potencial del género Polylepis en Colombia y consideraciones para su conservación

Abstract

Modelling the potential distribution of the genus Polylepis occurring in Colombia with conservation considerations. The genus Polylepis in Colombia is represented by P. quadrijuga, P. sericea and P. incana. The modeling of the potential geographic distribution allows identifying areas of importance for the conservation of focal species. The objectives of this work were to establish the potential distribution areas of the three species and identify conservation opportunities in protected areas at national, regional and local levels. For this, 223 biological records were compiled (mainly from GBIF and SIB Colombia), which, together with 23 environmental variables, were the inputs for the modeling of the potential distribution in MaxEnt 3.3.3K. As conservation opportunities, the presence of reserves of SINAP-Colombia in the areas of potential distribution of the species was quantified. The variables that contribute most in the models are altitude, seasonal temperature and monthly average temperature range, among others. P. sericea showed the largest potential distribution area, with 23243.5 km2 in the three mountain ranges, followed by P. quadrijuga, with 6264.2 km2 in the Eastern Cordillera, and P. incana, with 1772.8 km2 in the Central Mountain Range and the border with Ecuador. A part of said potential distributions are found in, at least, one type of protected area. P. incana has 59.5% of the potential distribution area within some protection figure, followed by P. quadrijuga, with 44.8% potential distribution area located within any protection figure, and P. sericea, which, having a larger area potential result of the modeling, showed a lower percentage (33.7%) of representativeness in protected areas of SINAP. Finally, from the analysis of threats and opportunities, key areas for the conservation of Polylepis and zones for the search of possible non-reported populations are proposed.