Páramo Lakes of Colombia: An Overview of Their Geographical Distribution and Physicochemical Characteristics

Zapata, Angela María; Rivera, Carlos; Valoyes, Daivan; Muñoz-López, Claudia Liliana; Mejía-Rocha, Marino; Catalán, Jordi

doi:10.3390/w13162175

Cited by 10 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…These correlations might possibly reflect a stronger impact in smaller and shallower water bodies of soil-water inputs with a low NO 3 − content related to denitrification in highland soils (Pineda et al 2021). The NH 4 + and NO 3 − values we report in Ecuadorian lakes were consistent with those in 51 páramo lakes in the Colombian Andes investigated by Zapata et al (2021) who reported an average NH 4 + concentration of 36 µmol/L (range 20-60 µmol/L), and an average NO 3 − concentration of 1.1 µmol/L (range 0.1-12.8 µmol/L). The pCO 2 values ranged between 208 and 10,069 ppm (Fig.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 87%

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Dissolved greenhouse gas (CO2, CH4, and N2O) emissions from highland lakes of the Andes cordillera in Northern Ecuador

Chiriboga,

Bouillon,

Borges

2024

Aquat Sci

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We report, in 15 Ecuadorian mountainous lakes, dissolved concentrations of CO 2 , CH 4 , and N 2 O and a suite of ancillary biogeochemical variables (dissolved inorganic nutrients, oxygen, major cations, dissolved and particulate organic carbon, and the stable isotope composition of dissolved inorganic carbon and water). The sampled lakes were located in the páramos of Salve Facha and Antisana y Mojanda (northern region of Ecuadorian Andes), along an elevational gradient from 2213 to 4361 m above sea level, as well as a gradient of lake surface area (0.003-6.1 km 2 ) and depth (1-74 m). Most lakes were characterized by lower values of the partial pressure of CO 2 (pCO 2 ) (644-2152 ppm) than usually attributed to tropical lakes (~ 1900 ppm). Three lakes influenced by volcanic inputs were characterized by the highest pCO 2 values (3269-10,069 ppm), while two lakes bordered by large cities were characterized by the lowest pCO 2 values (208-254 ppm). Dissolved CH 4 concentrations ranged between 170 and 24,908 nmol/L and were negatively correlated to lake area and depth. N 2 O saturation levels ranged between 64% and 101%. The surface waters were undersaturated in N 2 O with respect to atmospheric equilibrium, probably due to inputs of soil-water with low N 2 O levels owing to denitrification in soils. The data obtained in the sampled highland lakes was combined with published data from lowland lakes (elevation < 500 m, n = 17 for CO 2 and n = 16 for CH 4 ) to derive relations between CO 2 and CH 4 and lake surface area, allowing to compute CO 2 and CH 4 lacustrine emissions at the scale of the Amazon basin using the HydroLAKES spatial data set. The CO 2 and CH 4 emissions from highland lakes (elevation > 500 m) only represented 0.4% and 2% of the total lacustrine emissions at the scale of the Amazon basin, respectively. Total CO 2 and CH 4 emissions from lakes represented a small fraction (8.6%) of total lentic and lotic CO 2 and CH 4 emissions at the scale of the Amazon basin. The lake and river emissions of CH 4 represented ~ 3% of total CH 4 emissions from all compartments of the Amazon basin, mainly attributable to wetlands. KeywordsAmazon River • Ecuador • Mountainous lakes • CO 2 • CH 4 • N 2 O * Alberto V. Borges

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 87%

“…These conditions have favored the formation of peat and a large number of wetlands and lakes. The páramo usually presents deep and organic rich soils (30% by volume) and its vegetation is dominated by grasslands (Zapata et al 2021).…”

Section: Site Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dissolved greenhouse gas (CO2, CH4, and N2O) emissions from highland lakes of the Andes cordillera in Northern Ecuador

Chiriboga,

Bouillon,

Borges

2024

Aquat Sci

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“…Currently, high‐mountain lakes across the globe are considered sentinels of the systemic change of the planet (Moser et al 2019). In this context, there is a growing interest in tropical high‐mountain lakes (Michelutti et al 2015; Van Colen et al 2017; Benito et al 2019; Steinitz‐Kannan et al 2020; Zapata et al 2021), which have historically received less attention (Eggermont et al 2007). Although high‐mountain lakes are among the most comparable ecosystems globally, and a common conceptual framework might be used to analyze them (Catalan and Donato‐Rondón 2016), tropical high‐mountain lake regions have unique environmental characteristics that require special attention.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Water chemistry variation in tropical high‐mountain lakes on old volcanic bedrocks

Mosquera

Hampel

Vázquez

et al. 2022

Limnology & Oceanography

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Water chemistry and its ecological implications have been extensively investigated in temperate high-mountain lakes because of their role as sentinels of global change. However, few studies have considered the drivers of water chemistry in tropical mountain lakes underlain by volcanic bedrock. A survey of 165 p aramo lakes in the Cajas Massif of the Southern Ecuador Andes identified 4 independent chemical variation gradients, primarily characterized by divalent cations (hardness), organic carbon, silica, and iron levels. Hardness and silica factors showed contrasting relationships with parent rock type and age, vegetation, aquatic ecosystems in the watershed, and lake and watershed size. Geochemical considerations suggest that divalent cations (and related alkalinity, conductivity, and pH) mainly respond to the cumulative partial dissolution of primary aluminosilicates distributed throughout the subsurface of watersheds, and silica and monovalent cations are associated with the congruent dissolution of large amounts of secondary aluminosilicates localized in former hydrothermal or tectonic spots. Dissolved organic carbon was much higher than in temperate high-mountain lakes, causing extra acidity in water. The smaller the lakes and their watersheds, the higher the likelihood of elevated organic carbon and metals and low hardness. The watershed wetland cover favored metal levels in the lakes but not organic carbon. Phosphorus, positively, and nitrate, negatively, weakly correlated with the metal gradient, indicating common influence by in-lake processes. Overall, the study revealed that relatively small tropical lake districts on volcanic basins can show chemical variation equivalent to that in large mountain ranges with a combination of plutonic, metamorphic, and carbonate rock areas.

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“…Bedrock geology generates gradients of ions and buffering capacity in high mountains, as demonstrated in analyses from of a larger set of lakes within Cajas ( n = 165; Mosquera et al., 2022), in Colombia ( n = 51; Zapata et al., 2021), and in the Spanish Pyrenees ( n = 83; Rivera‐Rondón & Catalan, 2020). However, the role of weathering of volcanic bedrock on diatom distribution in tropical climates is not well‐known.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Páramos are wet alpine grasslands and shrublands that occur between ~2800 to 4700 m above sea level (a.s.l.) and extend from 11°N to 8°S latitude in the Andes of Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador (Zapata et al., 2021). Despite their limited spatial extent, they are centres of exceptionally high levels of biodiversity and endemism (Antonelli et al., 2018; Rull, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Planktic diatom responses to spatiotemporal environmental variation in high‐mountain tropical lakes

Luethje,

Mosquera,

Hampel

et al. 2024

Freshwater Biology

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Tropical lakes harbour high levels of biodiversity, but the temporal and spatial variability of biological communities are still inadequately characterised, making it difficult to predict the impact of accelerated rates of environmental change in these regions. Our goal was to identify the spatiotemporal dynamics of the planktic diatom community in the Cajas Massif in the tropical Andes. We analysed seasonal diatom and environmental data over a period of 1 year from 10 lakes located in geologically distinct basins and modelled community–environment relationships using multivariate ordination and variation partitioning techniques. Generalised additive models with a full‐subset information theoretic approach also were used to determine which environmental variables explain single‐species abundance. Although the lakes are monomictic and thus have variable thermal structure across the year, seasonal variability of water chemistry conditions was negligible, and seasonal differences in diatom community composition were small. Across space, diatom community composition was correlated primarily with ionic content (divalent cations and alkalinity), related to bedrock composition, and secondly with lake thermal structure and productivity. The ionic gradient overrode the effect of the thermal structure–productivity gradient at the diatom community level, whereas individual diatom species responded more sensitively to variables related to in‐lake and catchment productivity, including chlorophyll‐a and iron, and the proportion of wetlands in the catchment. Our results indicate that the spatiotemporal variability of Cajas lakes and their diatom communities is the result of multiple intertwined environmental factors. The emergence of the ionic and thermal structure–productivity gradients in a rather small tropical lake district suggests segregation of ecological niches for diatoms that also may be important in other high‐elevation lake regions. Future studies that track tropical Andean lakes under natural and anthropogenically mediated change, both in contemporary times and in palaeoenvironmental reconstructions, would benefit from the modelling approach (community and species levels) developed here.

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Páramo Lakes of Colombia: An Overview of Their Geographical Distribution and Physicochemical Characteristics

Cited by 10 publications

References 44 publications

Dissolved greenhouse gas (CO2, CH4, and N2O) emissions from highland lakes of the Andes cordillera in Northern Ecuador

Dissolved greenhouse gas (CO2, CH4, and N2O) emissions from highland lakes of the Andes cordillera in Northern Ecuador

Water chemistry variation in tropical high‐mountain lakes on old volcanic bedrocks

Planktic diatom responses to spatiotemporal environmental variation in high‐mountain tropical lakes

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