Objective.

Our research is focused on climate and vegetation dynamic recorded by the Medellincito wetland (5° 19’ 022” N and 75° 54’ 515” W), located on the western flank of the Western cordillera of Colombia at 2020 masl.

Scope.

A predominance of the Andean forest along the entire core suggests that the wetland was established under almost permanent humidity conditions. Nevertheless, low precipitation events are also recorded around 6700, 5900, 5100, 4500, 4100-4,300, 3200-1300, and 1000-750 cal years AP, when open vegetation such as Poaceae, Asteraceae, Ericaceae and Cyperaceae occurred. The high humidity conditions interpreted for the studied site may be indicating the constant influence of the Pacific jet stream and the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). Although there is no direct evidence of El Niño activity, which has a high impact on the western Colombia, we speculate that drier events identified in the Medellincito wetland may be related to this phenomenon.

Results.

The pollen, spore, and diatom records reveal that during the last ( 6700 years Cal AP, the Andean forest vegetation was dominated by Cyatheaceae, Hedyosmum (Chloranthaceae), Solanaceae, Viburnum, Miconia, Weinmannia and Myrsine, and the Subandean forest by Fabaceae, Alchornea (Euphorbiaceae) and Bignoniaceae.

Conclusions.

In the last ( 150 years cal BP, the landscape has significantly changed from a very humid to a humid forest. This is evidenced by the drastic decrease of Hedyosmum, Cyatheaceae, and Solanaceae, and the increase of open vegetation, mainly Poaceae and Cyperaceae in swamp environments, due to anthropic intervention (selective extraction of timber species and extensive livestock). It is possible that negative effects of humidity advection by the Jet stream, have affected the precipitation and, consequently, decreased the cloud forest characteristic of low montane ecosystems.

        · resumen en Español     · texto en Español     · Español ( pdf )