Biodiversity conservation in the presence of global warming in the Guayana Highlands (north of South America). Phase II: Recent and future altitudinal migrations (PANTEPUI II)

Otto Huber, Valentín Rull del Castillo, Teresa Vegas Vilarrúbia, Argelia Silva Ríos, Maximiliano Bezada Díaz, Núria Cañellas Boltà, Encarnación Montoya Romo.

The Guayana Highlands have managed to survive to this day in a pristine state and their biota is among the most biodiverse in the Neotropics, with abundant endemisms. It is estimated that 75%-80% of the almost 2,500 known vascular plant species face habitat loss due to the hypothetical upward migration expected this century in response to global warming. The goal of this project is to verify whether the vascular plants of the Guayana Highlands have moved uphill in the last century and will likely continue to do so. To this end, we will compare the current flora and vegetation of a standard area with those observed during historic expeditions up to one hundred years ago. Also, a suitable site will be selected for regular monitoring and a protocol established for five-year reviews. With the results to hand, we can check predictions of extinction due to upward migration against real measurements of the phenomenon, and thus draw up a more realistic risk classification per species and more practically oriented conservation strategies.