Natural Ecosystems Conservation

Human activity in mountains has decreased drastically in the last decades, modifying plant communities and landscape, mainly through shrub and tree encroachment with the detriment and reduction of pastures. Besides, global warming is affecting species distribution, and consequently the organization of communities, being particularly relevant for very specialized organisms and those adapted to extreme conditions like alpine ecosystems or dry habitats. The effects of the interactions between climate, plant, animal, and human intervention need to be integrated throughout sound information gathered along broad temporal and spatial scales, which has been the main task of our Institute for decades. Comparative studies on a broad range of altitudinal variation offer an excellent opportunity to explore the relative importance of underlying processes that influence biological interactions, which will end up in better conservative strategies.