NEC06630 How does the Paramo capture and store water? The role of plants and people.

帕拉莫斯是高山草原-泥炭地(3000米-4000米)生物群，总面积约35700平方公里。它们对生活在哥伦比亚和邻近的北安第斯国家(委内瑞拉、委内瑞拉、厄瓜多尔和秘鲁)的数百万人的生计和福祉至关重要。PáRamos是这些地区的主要水源，被用于农作物种植和放牧，并包含一个独特的未开发遗传多样性来源。虽然巴拉莫斯有潜力通过开发其生物多样性、地方和区域发展来支持，但土地利用和气候变化的双重压力已经使巴拉莫的许多地区退化，这些地区的潜在灭亡引起了许多人的关切，包括哥伦比亚的当地社区、区域和国家政策制定者和研究人员。所有人都同意，未来的任何开采都需要一种可持续的方法，这些系统的管理应该增强Páramo对气候变化的适应能力。然而，对于PáRamos的运作仍有许多未知之处，如果不了解这一点，就有可能旨在实现可持续性和增强复原力的干预措施不能有效或更有害。PáRamos被描述为从大气中捕获和储存水分的海绵。很少有定量研究研究这一过程背后的机制，对植物和土壤在这个复杂系统中的相对作用更是知之甚少。此外，帕拉莫斯是几个世纪以来居住在那里的人类人口塑造的社会生态系统。这项为期3年的跨学科项目旨在与哥伦比亚的合作者合作，确定帕拉莫斯地区生境和植物的多样性如何通过直接储存在活的和死亡的植被中以及通过土壤中的有机物质供应来促进水的调节。我们将在哥伦比亚的Páramo Guantiva-la Rusia开展大规模实地和无人机行动，以收集和分析有关植物、土壤和水文学的数据。开展卫星影像分析，绘制景观比例尺、土地复盖和泥炭地状况图，完善模型，使其更好地反映生态系统的水文状况。该项目还将确定当地帕拉莫居民，特别是农作物和畜牧业农民，目前如何通过他们的日常耕作做法与帕拉莫生态系统互动。我们将邀请当地人参加研讨会和讲故事，共同了解他们如何理解自己正在影响以及如何受到PáRamos水资源监管的影响。随着我们对Páramo的运作有了更多的了解，我们将把我们的发现反馈给当地人民，从而帮助他们提出更可持续的解决方案。

Páramos are high mountain grassland-peatland biomes (3000m-4000m) that cover a total area of circa 35700km2. They are crucial for the livelihoods and wellbeing of millions of people living in Colombia and neighbouring Northern Andean countries (Venezuela, Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru). Páramos are the main source of water in these regions, are used for crop cultivation and grazing and contain a unique source of untapped genetic diversity. While the Páramos have the potential to support, through the exploitation of its biodiversity, local and regional development, the combined pressure of land use and climate change has already degraded many Páramo areas and their potential demise is a cause for concern for many, including local communities, regional and national policy and decision makers and researchers in Colombia. All agree that any future exploitation requires a sustainable approach and that the management of these systems should enhance the Páramo's resilience to climate change. However, there is still very much which is not known about the functioning of the Páramos and without this knowledge there is a risk that interventions which are designed to achieve sustainability and enhance resilience are not effective or worse detrimental. Páramos are described as sponges that capture and store water from the atmosphere. Few quantitative studies have investigated the mechanisms behind this process and even less is known about the relative role of the plants and the soil of this complex system. Also, Páramos are socio-ecological systems that have been shaped by the human populations that have inhabited them over several centuries. This interaction is continuing to date with local communities relying solely on the Páramo for their livelihoods.This interdisciplinary 3 year project aims to, jointly with Colombian collaborators, establish how the diversity of habitats and of plants within the Páramos contributes to water regulation, via direct storage in live and dead vegetation and via the supply of organic matter in the soil. We will carry out a large field and drone campaign in the Colombian Páramo Guantiva-la Rusia to collect and analyse data on plants, soil and hydrology. We will carry out satellite image analysis to map landscape scale land cover and peatland condition and improve models so that they better represent the hydrology of the ecosystem. The project will also identify how local Páramo inhabitants, particularly crop and livestock farmers, interact currently with the Páramo ecosystem through their day-to-day farming practices. We will invite local people to participate in workshops and storytelling to jointly discover how they understand they are affecting and are affected by the Páramos' water regulation. We will, as we learn more about the functioning of the Páramo, feedback our findings to the local people and so help them initiate more sustainable solutions.