Passiflora is a group of species of economic importance in Colombia because of their productive potential and nutritional, pharmaceutical and industrial properties; therefore, it is necessary to study the genetic diversity of the species cultivated in principal productive departments, such as Boyacá. The use of molecular markers has become a fundamental tool for germplasm characterization, which effectively complements morphological and agronomic information. This research aimed to characterize the genetic diversity of Passiflora spp. grown in the Department of Boyacá using inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers. The eight ISSRs generated a total 138 bands with molecular weights between 250 and 1350 kb. With a similarity coefficient of 0.60, seven groups were formed, showing lax distribution of the individuals. The percentage of polymorphic loci was between 56% (TG) and 90% (AG). The average value of heterozygosity was 0.56 with a genetic differentiation coefficient (FST) of 0.16, which indicated great genetic diversity but without a defined population structure. The AMOVA showed that 64% of the observed genetic variation was due to the component within the groups. The results suggested levels of hierarchy and subdivision finer than those considered in this study, in addition to a complementary morphoagronomic characterization that established the total genetic diversity, which can be used to implement a breeding program for more productive cultivars that are resistant to the principal phytosanitary problems.

Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Wild.) is an Andean crop that originated from the Andes of South America, with great agronomic, industrial, pharmaceutical potential and also a great capacity to tolerate adverse environmental factors. In Colombia, more accurately in the Department of Nariño, Cauca, Cundinamarca and Boyacá. Shows great genetic variation, both molecular and morphological, which organization remains poorly documented. In Boyacá, there are few studies on the morphological characterization of cultivated materials, and there is no certified planting material, with farmers planting a mixture of materials. Qualitative and quantitative descriptors and principal component and cluster analyses were used to characterize the structure of the intra-population phenotypic variation in Blanca de Jericó quinoa materials grown in the Department of Boyacá. The principal component analysis explained more than 70 % of the observed variation, with the AP, LP, DP, LHS, and AHS characteristics being more variable. The cluster analysis showed grouping by characteristics, such as AP, panicle color, and the presence of pigmented axillae. Results show that the variance in morpho-phenological traits was concentrated at the intra-population, due to high variation at the inter-individual level. A more efficient selection process should be carried out to find materials or "pure" varieties with higher yields, resistance to biotic and abiotic factors, and adaptation to local conditions, which make quinoa an economically profitable crop in the Boyacá department.

The influence of elevation on natural terrestrial ecosystems determines the arrangements of microbial communities in soils to be associated with biotic and abiotic factors. To evaluate changes of fungi and bacteria at the community level along an elevational gradient (between 1000 and 3800 m.a.s.l.), physicochemical measurements of soils, taxonomic identifications of plants, and metabarcoding sequences of the 16S rRNA gene for bacteria and the ITS1 region for fungi were obtained. The bacterial taxonomic composition showed that Acidobacteriota increased in abundance with elevation, while Actinobacteriota and Verrucomicrobiota decreased. Furthermore, Firmicutes and Proteobacteria maintained maximum levels of abundance at intermediate elevations (1200 and 2400 m.a.s.l.). In fungi, Ascomycota was more abundant at higher elevations, Basidiomycota tended to dominate at lower elevations, and Mortierellomycota had a greater presence at intermediate sites. These results correlated with the edaphic parameters of decreasing pH and increasing organic carbon and available nitrogen with elevation. In addition, the Shannon index found a greater diversity in bacteria than fungi, but both showed a unimodal pattern with maximum values in the Andean Forest at 2400 m.a.s.l. Through the microbial characterization of the ecosystems, the elevational gradient, soil properties, and vegetation were found to exert significant effects on microbial communities and alpha diversity indices. We conclude that the most abundant soil microorganisms at the sampling points differed in abundance and diversity according to the variations in factors influencing ecological communities.