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As the world's glaciers recede in response to a warming atmosphere, a change in the magnitude and frequency of related hazards is expected. Among the most destructive hazards are glacier lake outburst floods (GLOFs), and their future evolution is concerning for local populations and sustainable development policy. Central to this is a better understanding of triggers. There is a long‐standing assumption that earthquakes are a major GLOF trigger, and seismic activity is consistently included as a key hazard assessment criterion. Here, we provide the first empirical evidence that this assumption is largely incorrect. Focusing on the Tropical Andes, we show that, of 59 earthquakes (1900–2021) the effects of which intersect with known glacier lakes, only one has triggered GLOFs. We argue that, to help develop climate resilient protocols, the focus for future assessments should be on understanding other key GLOF drivers, such as thawing permafrost and underlying structural geology. Plain Language Summary: Climate change is increasing glacier melt in high mountains and increasing the size and number of glacial lakes. Over time, these lakes may drain catastrophically to generate glacier lake outburst floods (GLOFs), which can devastate downstream communities and destroy valuable infrastructure such as roads, bridges, and hydroelectric power facilities. As a result, many risk assessments have been carried out to understand what the triggers of GLOFs might be, in order to better predict their occurrence. One of the main triggers has been assumed to be earthquakes, but this association has not been properly tested. In this paper, we use earthquake and GLOF data from the Peruvian and Bolivian Andes to test this and find that there is little association between earthquakes and GLOFs. We conclude by arguing that focus needs to be on other GLOF triggers, and earthquake activity should be used as a secondary – not primary – indicator in GLOF susceptibility studies. Key Points: Glacier lake outburst floods (GLOFs) are a major risk concern, with earthquakes being commonly considered effective triggers in hazard assessmentsOf 59 earthquakes (1900–2021), the effects of which intersect lakes in the Tropical Andes, only one triggered GLOFsWe suggest that earthquake activity should be used as a secondary – not primary – susceptibility indicator for GLOFs [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kañawa/Cañihua (Chenopodium pallidicaule Aellen) is the lesser-known cousin of the domesticated Andean pseudocereal quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.). In 1970, Daniel Gade hypothesized that Andean farmers may have domesticated volunteer wild kañawa plants that occupied quinoa or potato fields after observing that they could survive harsh climatic events such as drought or frost. To revisit this question of kañawa domestication, this paper provides an overview of the current botanical, genetic, and archaeological knowledge of kañawa domestication. It then provides patterns in the presence of wild and domesticated kañawa seeds from archaeological sites in the southern Lake Titicaca Basin of Bolivia, spanning the Formative and Tiwanaku periods from approximately 1500 BCE to 1100 CE. This archaeobotanical evidence supports Gade's hypothesis that kañawa was a later domesticate, not appearing until after 250 CE. Regional paleoclimatic evidence of frequent climatic fluctuations lends support to the argument that kañawa contributed to a diversified food supply, which could provide a buffer against climate risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A complete, fluvial stratigraphic record for the last glacial period of the Western Andes in Peru is not available due to preservation issues and spatial variability in sedimentation. Deposits are typically restricted to incomplete records of fluvial terraces or localised occurrences of alluvial fans and landslides. These landforms are thought to have formed under a regime of climate cyclicity controlling increases in precipitation. Because of the fragmented preservation of these deposits, as well as dating uncertainties, it remains unclear if orbital climate cycles, such as the precession cycle, or suborbital cycles, such as the wet Heinrich events, are driving Andean sedimentation. In this paper, we try to answer this question through a sedimentological–stratigraphical analysis of a much more complete sedimentary sequence than usually found in the region. We present the results of a grain size analysis of 5000 clasts and 13 new luminescence ages of a 52‐m‐long, stratigraphic section of the Lima fluvial fan in Peru. Bayesian age–depth modelling resulted in a robust chronostratigraphic framework and derived sedimentation rates. The stratigraphic record registered sedimentation from 121.7 ± 4 to 6.3−1.6+1.5 ka. Three major sedimentation periods occurred between 121.7 to 110−5+4, 87 ± 1 to 67−3+2, and 31−3+4 to 6.3−1.6+1.5 ka. These periods registered various unconformities and coarsening–fining upward sequences which chronologically correlate to suborbital pluvial periods, recognised from speleothems and lake records, that drove fluvial deposition. They also correlate with the timing of other recognised sedimentation events throughout the Western Andes. Marine regression resulted in fan progradation and not in incision. The Lima fan stratigraphy represents therefore the most complete, last glacial fluvial record for the Peruvian Western Andes to date and it highlights the potential of fluvial fans as recorders of suborbital climate variability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change may affect sediment fluvial export from high mountain regions, leading to downstream environmental disruptions and direct impacts on human activities. In this paper, three decades (1990–2020) of turbidity measurements, along with climate and hydro‐glaciological variables, were used to investigate the interannual and interdecadal variability in the number of extreme turbidity events (ETE) in the glacierized Maipo River basin, located in the western subtropical Andes. ETE are defined as a sequence of days (most often 1 or 2) during which the daily maximum turbidity was in the 99% quantile of the entire study period. Some of these events compromised the drinking water provision for the city of Santiago, with more than 6 million inhabitants. ETE are more frequent during summer and are mostly associated with melt‐favourable conditions. The number of ETE tends to increase in summers with large glacier ice melt and low snowmelt (outside or over glaciers). Most notable, the mean annual number of ETE exhibits a 6‐fold increase in the last decade compared with the 1990–2010 period. After 2010, ETE also shifted their seasonal maximum from late spring to mid‐summer and their occurrence became strongly coupled with large ice melt rates. We hypothesize that such regime change was caused by an enhanced hydrological connectivity of subglacial sediment pools that increased the sensitivity of the sediment system to glacier melt. The latter is in line with recent research and is consistent with the ongoing glacier retreat due to strong regional warming and drying. Plain Language Summary: Climate change may affect sediment fluvial transport from high mountain regions, leading to environmental disruptions and direct impacts on human activities. In this paper, three decades (1990–2020) of river turbidity measurements to investigate how extreme turbidity events (ETE) have changed in the glacierized Maipo River basin, subtropical Andes. ETE are defined as a sequence of days (most often one or two) during which the turbidity was very high. Some of these events compromised the drinking water provision for the city of Santiago, with more than 6 million inhabitants. ETE are more frequent during summer and are mostly associated with melt‐favourable conditions. Most notable, the mean number of ETE exhibits a sharp increase in the last decade compared with the 1990–2010 period. After 2010, ETE also shifted their seasonal maximum from late spring to mid‐summer and their occurrence became strongly coupled with large ice melt rates. We hypothesize that such regime change was caused by meltwater that has reached subglacial sediments that used to be confined under the glacier ice. The latter is in line with recent research and is consistent with the ongoing glacier retreat as a consequence of intense regional warming and drying. Key Points: The interannual and interdecadal variability in the number of extreme turbidity events are analyzed in a glacierized basin of the AndesMost events are melt‐driven and their number increased by a factor of six during the last decade with respect to the 1990–2010 averageIt is hypothesized that the rise was due to a higher hydraulic connectivity in the subglacial system driven by regional warming and drying [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses how anthropology contributes to climate change research and communication. Building on theoretical works that highlight the cultural framing of communication it investigates the signs and symbols that a Peruvian highland community creates and the imaginaries and identities it generates to interpret and communicate climate change and its environmental impact. To explore the community's communicative repertoire the paper explores three climate voices that illuminate the conflicting ways the global discourse on climate change impacts the community's future visions. Arguing that anthropogenic climate change poses a new challenge to the communication of urgent public issues the paper asks: Should the communication discuss climate change as a matter-of-fact issue? Or should it present climate change as a cultural phenomenon that is acknowledged as an issue in dispute? The paper concludes that climate change research is a post-normal science that not only must engage a range of scholarly traditions and methods but also listen to the voices that are affected by climate change in the real world. It encourages climate change communicators to recognize that climate communication is a dialogical relation based on the mutual interests of its experts and its users in providing as well as receiving knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plot-based monitoring has yielded much information on the taxonomic diversity and carbon (C) storage in tropical lowland forests of the Amazon basin. This has resulted in an improved understanding of the relationship between lowland forest biomass dynamics and global change drivers, such as climate change and atmospheric CO2 concentration. Much less attention has been paid to the mountain ecosystems of South America that comprise montane forests and alpine vegetation (páramo, puna, high Andean grasslands, wetlands, and alpine heath). This vegetation complex provides a variety of ecosystem services and forms a natural laboratory along various physiographic, geological and evolutionary history/biogeography, and land use history gradients. Here, we review existing empirical understanding and model-based approaches to quantify the contribution of mountain ecosystems to ecosystem service provision in the rapidly changing socioecological setting of the South American mountains. The objective of this paper is to outline a broad road map for the implementation of mountain vegetation into dynamic global vegetation models (DGVM) for use in Earth System Models (ESM), based on our current understanding of their structure and function and of their responsiveness to global change drivers. We also identify treeline processes, critical in mountain ecosystems, as key missing elements in DGVMs/ESMs, and thus explore in addition a treeline model. Stocktaking of the availability of empirical data was undertaken from eight research sites along the Andes and in south-eastern Brazil. Out of eight sites, two (one each in Venezuela and Brazil) had some climate, ecological and ecophysiological data potentially suitable to parametrise a DGVM. Tree biomass data were available for six sites. A preliminary assessment of the Joint UK Land Environment Simulator (JULES) DGVM was made to identify gaps in available data and their impacts on model parametrisation and calibration. Additionally, the potential climate-determined elevation of the treeline was modelled to check the DGVM for its ability to identify the transition between the montane forest and alpine vegetation. Outcomes of the evaluation of the JULES land surface model identified the following key processes in montane forests: temperature-related decrease in net primary production, respiration, and allocation to above-ground biomass and increase in soil C stocks with elevation. There was a variable agreement between simulated biomass and those derived from field measurements via allometric equations. We identified major gaps between data availability and the needs for process-based modelling of South American mountain vegetation and its dynamics in DGVMs. To bridge this gap, we propose a transdisciplinary network, composed of members of the theoretical/modelling and empirical scientific communities, to study the natural dynamics of mountain ecosystems and their responses to global change drivers locally, regionally and at the continental scale, within a social-ecological system framework. The work presented here forms the basis for the design of data collection from field measurements and instrumental monitoring stations to parametrise and verify DGVMs. The network is designed to collaborate with and complement existing long-term research initiatives in the region and will adopt existing standard field protocols. Complementary protocols will ensure compatibility between field data collection and data needed for process-based and empirical models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last deglaciation, atmospheric CO2 increased by about 75 ppm. The deep ocean is likely the dominant source of this atmospheric CO2 rise in the atmospheric pool; however, a consensus accounting for the entire 75 ppm remains elusive. Since the deep ocean cannot account for the entire 75 ppm, the terrestrial environment likely makes up the remainder. This paper provides a mechanism for an unaccounted-for portion of the source of this terrestrial carbon, that being soil organic carbon (SOC) from the tropical montane Andes, and with that, minimum constraints on the contribution of SOC to the total rise in atmospheric CO2 during the last deglaciation. Using numerical climate modeling input into an empirical model derived from tropical montane forests of the Andes Mountains in South America, this study finds that during the last deglaciation, the organic layer thickness was thinning from the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) to the present (pre-industrial) in the tropical montane Andes. This overall warming and organic layer thickness thinning may have led to a loss of available carbon storage space, causing a leak of CO2 into the atmosphere over this time scale. This study finds an estimate for the contribution of global atmospheric CO2 from SOC in tropical montane Andean soils is likely at least ∼1.4 ppm CO2 since the LGM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Climate change is affecting flow volumes and regimes in glacier- and snow-melt-fed catchments. Together with increasing demands for water, this is putting many water users under increasing water security risk. The mines of the high Andes are one user group experiencing increased water stress. This paper illustrates the climate change problem using a 40 year hydro-climate data set from the headwaters of the Aconcagua basin in central Chile and describes the integration of climate, hydrology, mine water system and financial risk models to evaluate potential water supply solutions. It is concluded that existing water supplies are not sufficiently secure under baseline conditions and less secure under future climate scenarios. Recirculating water from the tailings storage facility, despite the large capital and operations costs involved, is considered the optimal climate-resilient solution and also offers social and environmental advantages. However, considerable modelling uncertainties exist, primarily related to spatial precipitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we review the growing evidence of anthropogenic landscapespresent in the semi-deciduous neotropical forest biomes of eastern NW Argentina,which have remained relatively neglected in favour of arid to semi-arid western Andean regions. The evidence gathered in de El Alto-Ancasti provides animportant case study where multidisciplinary methodologies have beenapplied to sites that document the emergence and variability in food productionstrategies across the eastern Andean forests and grasslands of NWArgentina. We discuss evidence offarming structures from archaeological surveys, plant management from phy-tolith analysis, and the tempo and nature of settlement from archaeological excavations undertaken at a variety of sites in the El Alto Ancasti mountainrange. We suggest that the communities that inhabited this region during thefirst millennium AD (ca. 1500–1000 BP) established a strategy of 'overlappingpatchworks' of food production that were able to contend with considerableseasonal variability. We argue that, through the use of cross-channelling, low river areas, erosion control techniques and the establishment of mesothermal crops,including maize, legumes, and tubers, throughout the region, these societies adopted flexible strategies to adapt to life in a region prone to climatic change [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, treelines form a transition zone between tree‐dominated forest downslope and treeless alpine vegetation upslope. Treelines represent the highest boundary of "tree" life form in high‐elevation mountains and at high latitudes. Recently, treelines have been shifting upslope in response to climate warming, so it has become important to understand global tree diversity and treeline distributions. However, to the best of our knowledge, no global database on tree flora of treelines exists, which limits our capacity to undertake macroecological analyses. Here, for the first time, we present a global data set on the trees of the treeline ecotone, supported by an online ToTE database. We synthesized the database from 1202 studies published over the last 60 years (1962 to 2022) following the Preferred Reporting Items in Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analysis (PRISMA) protocol. We classified the tree species in the database into three categories: treeline tree (TL) species, near to treeline (NTL) tree species, and tree species with an upper montane range limit (TUMR). The ToTE Version‐1 presents a total of 208 tree taxa, including 189 species, five subspecies, and 14 varieties, belonging to 54 genera and 26 families distributed across 34 mountain regions worldwide that either grow exactly at the treeline or have a range limit below the treeline. Of the total taxa, 155, 14, and 39 belong to TL, NTL, and TUMR, respectively. Genera such as Abies, Picea, Pinus, Larix, and Juniperus are more represented in the treeline tree category. On the other hand, Acer, Prunus, Populus, and Quercus have more representatives in the near to treeline category, whereas Erica, Nothofagus, and Polylepis contribute more tree species with an upper montane range limit. Furthermore, families such as Rosaceae and Pinaceae include trees that occur both at the treeline and with an upper montane range limit, whereas Sapindaceae includes trees that occur exclusively near to treeline. Our database also includes information on the global distribution patterns of treeline tree species richness across mountains and biomes. The mountains with the highest number of tree species are the Andes (39) followed by the Himalaya (37). Close to 67% of tree species show restricted distributions in different mountains, with the highest endemism in the Andes and the Himalaya. In terms of tree species distribution, Pinus sylvestris was widespread, with a distribution across nine mountain regions, followed by Picea glauca and Fagus sylvatica, both distributed across five mountain regions. In terms of species' distribution across biomes, the temperate biome harbors the highest treeline tree species richness (152 species), which may reflect the fact that the majority of studies are available from the temperate regions of the world. The remaining 56 species are distributed within five other biomes, with the least in dry tropical and subarctic (four species each). Furthermore, currently 40 treeline tree species fall under different International Union for Conservation of Nature threat categories. We anticipate that our database will help advance research on macroecological, biogeographic, evolutionary, climate‐change, and conservation aspects of the treeline on a global scale. The data are released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 international license. Please cite this data paper when the data are reused. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As decisions on climate change adaptation involve stakeholders with different values, beliefs and attitudes (VBA), decision outcomes depend on how stakeholders interact and how power is distributed. In this paper, we explore the VBA of stakeholders involved in three water management projects focusing on dams, micro-reservoirs, or wetlands in a Peruvian watershed facing droughts. We apply a framework with the core ideas of the hydrosocial cycle, the decision context perspective, and the VBA hierarchy to show how stakeholders' perspectives and power influence practices on the ground. The analysis of VBA reveals three different perspectives on water management held by different stakeholder groups. First, a community-based perspective, frequent among local communities, favors micro-reservoirs managed by communities. Second, an infrastructure-based perspective, frequent among public sector stakeholders, shows a preference for dams managed by the private sector. Third, a nature-based perspective, with a preference for wetlands managed by the public sector, is found across stakeholder groups. In the three water management projects, different power distributions determine which VBA dominate and influence practices on the ground. Dams on the ground represent power from the public and private sectors, while micro-reservoirs represent local grassroot control. In the wetland project, the outcomes of the evolving hydrosocial cycle are still unclear and will depend on how multiple perspectives are considered. Examining and questioning the decision context in which adaptation occurs can help excluded stakeholders achieve more power and agency and tackle the fundamental question of 'adaptation of what and for whom'. • We analyze values, beliefs, and attitudes (VBA) in climate change adaptation. • We study three water management projects in a Peruvian watershed. • Stakeholders in the projects have contrasted VBA. • Water management on the ground results from power distribution within projects. • Power relationships mediate the interactions between sets of VBA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paramo is a high mountain ecosystem with cold and humid climate, it has high amount of sunlight and cloudiness, furthermore, organic matter has low decomposition rates, hence, leaf litter degradation gets 40% per year as maximum. In the last 70 years, the air temperature near the surface of the Tropical Andes has increased significantly up to 0.34 °C/decade. In the same region, it is estimated that in this century the average temperature will vary from <+ 1.60 °C to >+ 2.61 °C, which exceeds the threshold of natural climatic variability. On the other hand, although precipitation along the Andes has not shown an increase or diminish pattern between 1955 and 1994, it is projected that by the year 2100, it will decrease in the outer tropics and will increase in the interior tropics. In this paper, we discuss how the decomposition of organic matter in paramo areas is influenced by climate change and analyze how current trends of variation in temperature are projected to affect ecosystem processes. Previous studies have determined that the increase of the atmospheric temperature (as long as the humidity remains stable or increases), generates higher decomposition rates, so that an increase of 1 °C in the atmospheric temperature would also mean an increase in the rate of decomposition of up to 10%. These changes would cause the release of the carbon accumulated in the soil to the atmosphere as CO2, which would be a determining factor for climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Climate change is arguably a major threat to biodiversity conservation and there are several methods to assess its impacts on species potential distribution. Yet the extent to which different approaches on species distribution modeling affect species richness patterns at biogeographical scale is however unaddressed in literature. In this paper, we verified if the expected responses to climate change in biogeographical scale—patterns of species richness and species vulnerability to climate change—are affected by the inputs used to model and project species distribution. Methods: We modeled the distribution of 288 vertebrate species (amphibians, birds and mammals), all endemic to the Amazon basin, using different combinations of the following inputs known to affect the outcome of species distribution models (SDMs): 1) biological data type, 2) modeling methods, 3) greenhouse gas emission scenarios and 4) climate forecasts. We calculated uncertainty with a hierarchical ANOVA in which those different inputs were considered factors. Results: The greatest source of variation was the modeling method. Model performance interacted with data type and modeling method. Absolute values of variation on suitable climate area were not equal among predictions, but some biological patterns were still consistent. All models predicted losses on the area that is climatically suitable for species, especially for amphibians and primates. All models also indicated a current East-western gradient on endemic species richness, from the Andes foot downstream the Amazon river. Again, all models predicted future movements of species upwards the Andes mountains and overall species richness losses. Conclusions: From a methodological perspective, our work highlights that SDMs are a useful tool for assessing impacts of climate change on biodiversity. Uncertainty exists but biological patterns are still evident at large spatial scales. As modeling methods are the greatest source of variation, choosing the appropriate statistics according to the study objective is also essential for estimating the impacts of climate change on species distribution. Yet from a conservation perspective, we show that Amazon endemic fauna is potentially vulnerable to climate change, due to expected reductions on suitable climate area. Climate-driven faunal movements are predicted towards the Andes mountains, which might work as climate refugia for migrating species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes in land-use practices have been a central element of human adaptation to Holocene climate change. Many practices that result in the short-term stabilization of socio-natural systems, however, have longer-term, unanticipated consequences that present cascading challenges for human subsistence strategies and opportunities for subsequent adaptations. Investigating complex sequences of interaction between climate change and human land-use in the past—rather than short-term causes and effects—is therefore essential for understanding processes of adaptation and change, but this approach has been stymied by a lack of suitably-scaled paleoecological data. Through a high-resolution paleoecological analysis, we provide a 7000-year history of changing climate and land management around Lake Acopia in the Andes of southern Peru. We identify evidence of the onset of pastoralism, maize cultivation, and possibly cultivation of quinoa and potatoes to form a complex agrarian landscape by c. 4300 years ago. Cumulative interactive climate-cultivation effects resulting in erosion ended abruptly c. 2300 years ago. After this time, reduced sedimentation rates are attributed to the construction and use of agricultural terraces within the catchment of the lake. These results provide new insights into the role of humans in the manufacture of Andean landscapes and the incremental, adaptive processes through which land-use practices take shape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enhanced anthropogenic climatic variability challenges small farmers. In the Sumapaz páramo (Colombia), higher irregularity in precipitation and temperature reduces the quality of pasture and cattle health. Data from surveys, semi-structured interviews, and focus groups were analyzed to understand livestock farmers' responses to the impacts of climatic variability. To estimate the communities' resilience in the páramo, we used the capitals framework, the Baseline Resilience Indicator for Communities (BRIC), and cluster analysis. The responses of most households aim to reduce the impacts of climatic variability on the production system, chiefly intensifying practices such as the rotation of paddocks, livelihood diversification, purchase of grass, and buying and selling livestock. Interestingly, farmers did not recognize the value of the types of capital for responding to climatic variability. Results showed that the use of available physical, social, and economic capitals render the farming system resilient. Our probit model estimated that economic and human capitals are the largest and most significant contributors to communities' capacity to respond to climatic variability. However, pre-existing non-climatic vulnerabilities are also important. For example, poverty hinders farmers from using their income in response to climatic variability. The place-based measurements used in this research are easily understood and applicable by local policy makers to address increasing climate variability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Common distributional patterns have provided the foundations of our knowledge of Neotropical biogeography. A distinctive pattern is the "circum‐Amazonian distribution", which surrounds Amazonia across the forested lowlands south and east of the basin, the Andean foothills, the Venezuelan Coastal Range, and the Tepuis. The underlying evolutionary and biogeographical mechanisms responsible for this widespread pattern of avian distribution have yet to be elucidated. Here, we test the effects of biogeographical barriers in four species in the passerine family Thamnophilidae by performing comparative demographic analyses of genome‐scale data. Specifically, we used flanking regions of ultraconserved regions to estimate population historical parameters and genealogical trees and tested demographic models reflecting contrasting biogeographical scenarios explaining the circum‐Amazonian distribution. We found that taxa with circum‐Amazonian distribution have at least two main phylogeographical clusters: (1) Andes, often extending into Central America and the Tepuis; and (2) the remaining of their distribution. These clusters are connected through corridors along the Chaco–Cerrado and southeastern Amazonia, allowing gene flow between Andean and eastern South American populations. Demographic histories are consistent with Pleistocene climatic fluctuations having a strong influence on the diversification history of circum‐Amazonian taxa, Refugia played a crucial role, enabling both phenotypic and genetic differentiation, yet maintaining substantial interconnectedness to keep considerable levels of gene flow during different dry/cool and warm/humid periods. Additionally, steep environmental gradients appear to play a critical role in maintaining both genetic and phenotypic structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper aims to explore how Andean knowledge and culture have shaped mountain ecosystems by building cultural landscapes where agrobiodiversity is created and recreated, water is domesticated (seeded and harvested), and where a harmonious relationship with the Earth and the Universe is kept. Design/methodology/approach – Through the use of primary and secondary sources, the information is then organized detailing a synthesis of thoughts and joint research studies conducted by various authors regarding the valuable contributions made by the Andean culture. Findings – This paper finds that strategies for facing the ecological crisis affecting planet Earth are being developed: the Pleiades and the Andean Cross continue to be observed in order to predict the weather and climate and make decisions related to traditional agricultural systems; cultural landscapes are being created and maintained; and water continues to be domesticated. Originality/value – The tropical Andes of Peru would be in the third country most affected by global climate change worldwide. The severe impacts of the global phenomenon on mountain ecosystems and cultural landscapes are many, all of which are affecting food security of large human groups and traditional lifestyles of communities and farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global climate model simulations project that the tropical Andes Mountains of South America, which are particularly vulnerable to climate change because of a reliance on snow and glacial melt for freshwater resources, will experience enhanced warming in the near future, with both higher rates of warming at higher elevations within the mountain range itself and localized enhancement of warming exceeding surrounding areas of the globe. Yet recent surface temperature changes in the tropical Andes do not show evidence for either elevation-dependent warming or regional enhancement of warming on average. However, it remains a possibility that the expected warming trends in this region have begun to manifest in other ways (e.g., in the free atmosphere or at intermediate mountain elevations). This paper proposes evidence from several reanalysis products that there has indeed been a regional enhancement of midtropospheric warming around the central Andes over the past few decades that makes this region stand out as a hot spot within the broader pantropics. This trend is generally not reproduced by historical AMIP climate model simulations, which suggests that the mechanisms through which the atmosphere is warming over the central Andes are not adequately captured by climate models. Possible explanations for localized enhancement of warming in this region are considered. On the other hand, reanalysis products do not consistently exhibit enhanced warming at intermediate mountain elevations in the central Andes as evidenced by the generally moderate rates of change in the freezing-level height, except perhaps in the highest-resolution reanalysis product. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Snow modelling is often hampered by the availability of input and calibration data, which can affect the choice of models, their complexity, and transferability. To address the trade-off between model parsimony and transferability, we present the Generalizable Empirical Model of Snow Accumulation and Melt (GEMS), a machine-learning-based model, which requires only daily precipitation, temperature or its daily diurnal cycle, and basic topographic features to simulate snow water equivalent (SWE). The model embeds a support vector regression pretrained on a large dataset of daily observations from a diverse set of the SNOwpack TELemetry Network (SNOTEL) stations in the United States. GEMS does not require any user calibration, except for the option to adjust the temperature threshold for rain–snow partitioning, though the model achieves robust simulation results with the default value. We validated the model with long-term daily observations from numerous independent SNOTEL stations not included in the training and with data from reference stations of the Earth System Model–Snow Model Intercomparison Project. We demonstrate how the model advances large-scale SWE modelling in regions with complex terrain that lack in situ snow mass observations for calibration, such as the Pamir and Andes mountains, by assessing the model's ability to reproduce daily snow cover dynamics. Future model improvements should consider the effects of vegetation, improve simulation accuracy for shallow snow in warm locations at lower elevations, and possibly address wind-induced snow redistribution. Overall, GEMS provides a new approach for snow modelling that can be useful for hydroclimatic research and operational monitoring in regions where in situ snow observations are scarce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Global warming and climate change are threats to the world. Warmer temperatures and changes in precipitation patterns alter water availability and increase the occurrence of extreme weather events. South America and the Andes are vulnerable regions to climate change due to inequity and the uneven distribution of resources. Climate change evaluation often relies on the use of general circulation models (GCMs). However, the spatial resolution is too coarse and does not provide a realistic climate representation at a local level. This is of particular importance in mountain areas such as the Andes range, where the heterogeneous topography requires a finer spatial resolution to represent the local physical processes. To this end, statistical and/or dynamical downscaling methods are required. Several approaches and applications of downscaling procedures have been carried out in the countries of this region, with different purposes and performances. However, the main objective is to improve the representation of meteorological variables such as precipitation and temperature. A systematic review of these downscaling applications will identify the performance of the methods applied in the Andes region for the downscaling of precipitation and temperature. In addition, the meta-analysis could detect factors influencing the performance. The overall goal is to highlight promising methods in terms of fitness for use and identify knowledge gaps in the region. Methods: The review will search and examine published and grey literature on downscaling applications of temperature and precipitation in the Andes region. Predetermined criteria for eligibility will allow the screening of the evidence. Then, the method used in each application will be coded and mapped according to the country, purpose, variable, and type of downscaling. At the same time, quantitative and qualitative data will be extracted. The performance metrics are particularly interesting for this review. A meta-analysis will be conducted for those studies with comparable metrics. A narrative synthesis, maps and heatmaps will show the results. Tables, funnel plots, and meta-regressions will present the meta-analysis. Throughout the review, a critical appraisal step will categorize the validity of the evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cryosphere provides multiple services to society, but mountain cryosphere is shrinking at an alarming rate worldwide due to climate change, threatening natural and human systems. Adaptation to cryosphere change is essential to avoid irreversible damage and to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Although documenting adaptation actions and challenges is vital for preparing and implementing adaptation strategies, efforts to document and understand current adaptation practices specifically in response to cryosphere change have been limited. This paper synthesizes adaptation actions currently practiced in the mountain ranges of the Andes, Alps, Pamir, Tien Shan and Himalaya in response to cryosphere change, discusses common constraints and suggests actions for creating an enabling environment for adaptation. It identifies various adaptation measures adopted by different actors. These range from changing current practices and behaviour at household level to collaborative monitoring at regional level. However, most adaptation measures are autonomous, narrowly focused and short term, without adequate planning and government support. The physical challenges of mountain terrain, low adaptive capacities, limited knowledge and high uncertainty about future risks constrain widespread adoption of adaptation measures. Further research is needed to better understand factors influencing adaptation actions, and the policy options and responses that can overcome existing barriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecuador belongs to the megadiverse countries of the world. However, the high diversity in species, ecosystems and their services are under threat by land use changes, invasive species, overexploitation, pollution and climate change. There is a need to monitor, manage, protect and improve biodiversity and ecosystem services (BES) in Ecuador; however, Ecuador is marginally represented in the international policy-science interface for the protection of BES. We analyzed 266 international peer-reviewed papers that were published between 2000 and 2020 to assess the current impact of human disturbance and climate change on BES in continental Ecuador. We found that there were more studies available on the impact of human disturbance on BES than on climate change effects. Birds represented the most studied taxon in Ecuador (70 studies), whereas the total amount of available international scientific publications for other Ecuadorian plant and animal taxa were rather low (< 34 studies) and spatially and thematically scattered. Among ecosystem services, water provision was analyzed relatively often. Our literature review revealed that there is a need to conduct more studies on impacts of human disturbance and climate change on BES. Further research is needed; particularly in the coastal hinterland, in the central Andes and in the Amazon. We suggest that the investment of time, resources and effort into the documentation, standardization, sharing, and publishing of data are key towards supporting the monitoring and maintenance of BES. [Display omitted] • Analyses of 266 papers on human and climatic impacts on Ecuadorian biodiversity • More studies available on the impact of human disturbance than on climate change • More studies on fauna than on flora; birds in particular • Studies vary in impact, scale, location, species focus, and context. • Documentation, standardization, publishing, and sharing of data needed [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Andes Cordillera acts as regional 'Water Towers' for several countries and encompasses a wide range of ecosystems and climates. Several hydroclimatic changes have been described for portions of the Andes during recent years, including glacier retreat, negative precipitation trends, an elevation rise in the 0° isotherm, and changes in regional streamflow regimes. The Temperate-Mediterranean transition (TMT) zone of the Andes (35.5°-39.5°S) is particularly at risk to climate change because it is a biodiversity hotspot with heavy human population pressure on water resources. In this paper we utilize a new tree-ring network of Austrocedrus chilensis to reconstruct past variations in regional moisture in the TMT of the Andes by means of the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI). The reconstruction covers the past 657 years and captures interannual to decadal scales of variability in late spring-early summer PDSI. These changes are related to the north-south oscillations in moisture conditions between the Mediterranean and Temperate climates of the Andes as a consequence of the latitudinal position of the storm tracks forced by large-scale circulation modes. Kernel estimation of occurrence rates reveals an unprecedented increment of severe and extreme drought events during the last century in the context of the previous six centuries. Moisture conditions in our study region are linked to tropical and high-latitude ocean-atmospheric forcing, with PDSI positively related to Niño-3.4 SST during spring and strongly negatively correlated with the Antarctic Oscillation (AAO) during summer. Geopotential anomaly maps at 500-hPa show that extreme dry years are tightly associated with negative height anomalies in the Ross-Amundsen Seas, in concordance with the strong negative relationship between PDSI and AAO. The twentieth century increase in extreme drought events in the TMT may not be related to ENSO but to the positive AAO trend during late-spring and summer resulting from a gradual poleward shift of the mid-latitude storm tracks. This first PDSI reconstruction for South America demonstrates the highly significant hindcast skill of A. chilensis as an aridity proxy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

lmost all of the world's glaciers in the tropical latitudes are located in the Central Andes (Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia). Due to their high altitude, to the high level of radiation and to the tropical climate dynamics, they all are particularly threatened by climate change, as a result of not only warming, but also of changing variability of precipitation. Many glaciers are of crucial importance for the livelihood of the local populations and even for three capitals, Lima (Peru), La Paz (Bolivia) and Quito (Ecuador), which depend on them for water and energy supplies. This paper shows that after a period of increased flow due to the glacier melt disequilibrium, the available water resource will decrease along with the rapid shrinking of the glaciers considered as water reservoirs. The case of the Cordillera Blanca (Peru) is analyzed more in detail with the mid-term (20 years) and long-term (1-2 centuries) impact of the glacier shrinking on the local water resources. Associated risks for the population and consequences for the human activities (tourism, hydropower, agriculture and stock-breeding, large-scale irrigation) are described at each stage of the mountain range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Predicted climate change in the Andes will require plant species to migrate upslope to avoid extinction. Central to predictions of species responses to climate change is an understanding of species distributions along environmental gradients. Environmental gradients are frequently modelled as abiotic, but biotic interactions can play important roles in setting species distributions, abundances, and life history traits. Biotic interactions also have the potential to influence species responses to climate change, yet they remain mostly unquantified. An important interaction long studied in tropical forests is postdispersal seed predation which has been shown to affect the population dynamics, community structure, and diversity of plant species in time and space. This paper presents a comparative seed predation study of 24 species of tropical trees across a 2.5 km elevation gradient in the Peruvian Andes and quantifies seed predation variation across the elevational gradient. We then use demographic modelling to assess effects of the observed variation in seed predation on population growth rates in response to observed increasing temperatures in the area. We found marked variation among species in total seed predation depending on the major seed predator of the species and consistent changes in seed predation across the gradient. There was a significant increase in seed survival with increasing elevation, a trend that appears to be driven by regulation of seed predators via top-down forces in the lowlands giving way to bottom-up (productivity) regulation at mid- to high elevations, resulting in a ninefold increase in effective fecundity for trees at high elevations. This potential increase in seed crop size strongly affects modelled plant population growth and seed dispersal distances, increasing population migration potential in the face of climate change. These results also indicate that species interactions can have effects on par with climate in species responses to global change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is expected to have a large impact on water resources worldwide. A major problem in assessing the potential impact of a changing climate on these resources is the difference in spatial scale between available climate change projections and water resources management. Regional climate models (RCMs) are often used for the spatial disaggregation of the outputs of global circulation models. However, RCMs are time-intensive to run and typically only a small number of model runs is available for a certain region of interest. This paper investigates the value of the improved representation of local climate processes by a regional climate model for water resources management in the tropical Andes of Ecuador. This region has a complex hydrology and its water resources are under pressure. Compared to the IPCC AR4 model ensemble, the regional climate model PRECIS does indeed capture local gradients better than global models, but locally the model is prone to large discrepancies between observed and modelled precipitation. It is concluded that a further increase in resolution is necessary to represent local gradients properly. Furthermore, to assess the uncertainty in downscaling, an ensemble of regional climate models should be implemented. Finally, translating the climate variables to streamflow using a hydrological model constitutes a smaller but not negligible source of uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with natural disturbances and their impact on vascular plant enrichment at two climatically contrasting Andean ranges, i.e. the perhumid Cordillera Real in southern Ecuador and the arid Cordillera de Atacama in northern Chile. In the first case, main triggers for an additional input of pioneer species during succession stages initiated by perturbations are landslides, mudflows, and, to a lesser extent, cohort mortality, floods, and wildlife damages. Droughts and wind are stressors, which reduce plant growth but hardly plant diversity, in contrast to enhanced UV radiation with its mutagen effect. Though stress effects are similar in the Atacama, disturbance regimes differ considerably in this dry mountain environment. Here, most perturbations are of small dimension such as nitrogen inputs by feces of Lamoids and burrow activities of tuco-tuco mice, both of them fostering nitrophilous plant communities. Flooding, gelifluction, and other denudation processes such as sheet wash occur too, however, do not charge species enrichment in the dry Andes. Although the perhumid study site represents one of the world's plant diversity "hotspots" and, by contrast, the arid one a comparatively "coldspot", pioneer species during successive stages after natural disturbances contribute in a similar percentage to the total plant inventories (appr. 10% of the species numbers). Relatively seen, natural disturbances are most important for species enrichment in the Atacama (200-500 species per 10 000 km²), while most other ecological factors delimit plant survival. Instead, plant life at the Ecuadorian study area benefits from many climatic and edaphic site conditions, and consequently, disturbances are considered only one of many driving forces for its hotspot status (>5000 species per 10 000 km²). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South American subtropics east of the Andes exhibit a region of intense climatological frontogenesis in equivalent potential temperature (EPT) in the December to March season, mostly produced by deformation of the wind field. The goal of this paper is to investigate the large scale features associated with intense and weak frontogenesis by deformation (FGD) in EPT in the region where it attains its climatological maximum. This can be approximately delimited by 32-42° S and 66-69°W, which is small enough as to contain only one synoptic perturbation at a time. The spatial average of the positive values of frontogenesis at 850 hPa over the whole region (DFG+) is used to represent the strength of the perturbation. ECMWF ERA-40 reanalysis data set is used to calculate DFG+ at six hour intervals for 21 seasons (1981-2002). Compositing analysis is carried out for strong (above the 0.75 quantile) and weak (below the 0.25 quantile) events. For strong events the geopotential field at 850 hPa exhibits the North Argentinean Low (NAL), a transient trough and the Low Pressure Tongue East of the Andes (LPT). Upon comparison with the composite field of FGD it can be observed that FGD exhibits a strong maximum over the Argentinean Col (AC) which separates the NAL and the trough. These features are absent in the weak frontogenesis composite, which exhibits a stronger South Pacific Subtropical High close to the continent. At 250 hPa the strong FGD composite exhibits a trough over the Andes with a wind speed maximum to its east. Both of these features are associated with the deepening of the NAL in the literature. These are not present in the weak FGD composites. Strong events show an intense quasi meridional corridor of water vapor transport from the Amazon to the subtropics that encounters westerly flow in the neighborhood of the AC. This is absent in weak events. A preliminary analysis of precipitation is carried out using the GPCP daily data set. An intense precipitation nucleus appears slightly northeast of the AC, with maximum intensity in the day that follows the strong events. Weak events exhibit a drying of the subtropics instead, between one and three days after the events. Higher precipitation over the oceanic South Atlantic Convergence Zone can be also observed. Analogous composites were constructed for the presence and absence of both the AC and the LPT, showing similar characteristics to the strong and weak FGD event composites respectively, but with lower intensities. This shows that by selecting strong FGD events, intense NAL and LPT events are also singled out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper documents the main features of the weather, climate and climate variability over Andes cordillera in South America on the basis of instrumental observations. We first provide a basic physical understanding of the mean annual cycle of the atmospheric circulation and precipitation and over the Andes and adjacent lowlands. In particular, the diversity of precipitation, temperature and wind patterns is interpreted in terms of the long meridional extent of the Andes and the disruption of the large-scale circulation by this formidable topographic barrier. We also document the impact of the El Niño Southern Oscillation phenomenon on the temperature and precipitation regimes along the Andes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Andes as mountain regions worldwide, provide fundamental resources, not only for the local population. Due to the topographic characteristics, the potential for natural hazards is higher than elsewhere. In these areas, assessments of climate change impacts and the development of adequate adaptation strategies therefore become particular important. The data basis, however, is often scarce. Moreover, perceptions of changes and needs are often divergent between national and local levels, which make the implementation of adaptation measures a challenge. Taking the Peruvian Andes as an example, this paper aims at initiating a discussion about scientific baseline and integrative concepts needed to deal with the adverse effects of climate change in mountain regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a first result of an investigation of the presence of anthropogenic pollutants named polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs, sum of 25 congeners) in snow samples in the Aconcagua Mountains in the Andean Range, along an altitudinal gradient. Samples were taken during an expedition in 2003 and analysed by using a specific technique of thermodesorption and GC-MS adapted to small amount of sample. Mountain ecosystems could be efficient natural trap of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) transported by the atmosphere, and it is shown in this note that PCBs are also present in snow samples but at low concentrations, levels ranged from 0.02 to 0.190 ng/L. The detected congeners were those more persistent (PCB 138, PCB180) and compared to other mountain and cold areas around the world, detected levels are in the low range indicating that pollution levels are lower in the southern hemisphere. This results points out the need of investigating with some more detail the role of mountains in the trapping of POPs and the associated risks including the climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The snowpack in the central Andes (30°–37°S) is the primary source for streamflow in central Chile and central-western Argentina, but few published studies are available on snowpack variability in the region. This paper develops the first regional snowpack series (1951–2005) from Chilean and Argentinean snow course records. This series shows a strong regional signal, marked interannual variability, and a positive, though nonsignificant, linear trend. Correlations with local precipitation and temperature records reveal a marked association with conditions in central Chile. High snow accumulation is generally concurrent with El Niño events in the tropical Pacific, but only 5 of the 10 driest years coincided with La Niña events. Evaluation of 500-hPa geopotential height anomaly maps during extreme snow years highlights the crucial significance of tropospheric conditions in the subtropical and southeast Pacific in modulating snowfall. Correlations with gridded SST and SLP data and multiple regressions with large-scale climatic indices corroborate a Pacific ENSO-related influence largely concentrated during the austral winter months. This hampers the predictability of snowpack before the onset of the cold season. Annual and warm-season river discharges on both sides of the cordillera are significantly correlated with the regional snowpack record and show positive linear trends over the 1951–2004 common period, probably related to a greater frequency of above-average snowpacks during recent decades. Future demand and competition for water resources in these highly populated regions will require detailed information about temporal and spatial variations in snow accumulation over the Andes. The results indicate that the relationships between snowpack and atmospheric circulation patterns prior to the winter season are complex, and more detailed analyses are necessary to improve prediction of winter snowfall totals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although wetlands contain a disproportionately high amount of earth’s total soil carbon, many regions are still poorly mapped and with unquantified carbon stocks. The tropical Andes contain a high concentration of wetlands consisting mostly of wet meadows and peatlands, yet their total organic carbon stocks are poorly quantified, as well as the carbon fraction that wet meadows store compared to peatlands. Therefore, our goal was to quantify how soil carbon stocks vary between wet meadows and peatlands for a previously mapped Andean region, Huascará n National Park, Peru. Our secondary goal was to test a rapid peat sampling protocol to facilitate field sampling in remote areas. We sampled soil to calculate carbon stocks of four wetland types: cushion peat, graminoid peat, cushion wet meadow, and graminoid wet meadow. Soil sampling was conducted by using a stratified randomized sampling scheme. Wet meadows were sampled to the mineral boundary using a gouge auger, and we used a combination of full peat cores and a rapid peat sampling procedure to estimate peat carbon stocks. In the lab, soils were processed for bulk density and carbon content, and total carbon stock of each core was calculated. We sampled 63 wet meadows and 42 peatlands. On a per hectare basis, carbon stocks varied strongly between peatlands (avg. 1092 MgC ha-1) and wet meadows (avg. 30 MgC ha-1). Overall, wetlands in Huascará n National Park contain 24.4 Tg of carbon with peatlands storing 97% of the total wetland carbon and wet meadows accounting for 3% of the wetland carbon in the park. In addition, our results show that rapid peat sampling can be an effective method for sampling carbon stocks in peatlands. These data are important for countries developing land use and climate change policies as well as providing a rapid assessment method for wetland carbon stock monitoring programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review paper compiles research related to debris flows and hyperconcentrated flows in the central Andes (30°–33° S), updating the knowledge of these phenomena in this semiarid region. Continuous records of these phenomena are lacking through the Andean region; intense precipitations, sudden snowmelt, increased temperatures on high relief mountain areas, and permafrost degradation are related to violent flow discharges. Documented catastrophic consequences related to these geoclimatic events highlight the need to improve their understanding in order to prepare the Andean communities for this latent danger. An amplified impact is expected not only due to environmental changes potentially linked to climate change but also due to rising exposure linked to urban expansion toward more susceptible or unstable areas. This review highlights as well the need for the implementation of preventive measures to reduce the negative impacts and vulnerability of the Andean communities in the global warming context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reference evapotranspiration (ETo) is a variable used to characterize the evaporative demand of the atmosphere and its impact on the water balance. During the last decades, significant ETo variabilities have been observed, especially at mid‐latitudes. These variabilities respond mainly to local variations in their physical drivers, such as solar radiation, vapour pressure deficit or wind speed. In this study, the annual and seasonal ETo estimates are generated using the Penman–Monteith method (FAO). Surface weather stations for the Argentine territory and reanalysis data for southern South America of the last four decades (1981–2020) are used. Contributions of both aerodynamic (ETaero) and radiative (ETrad) effects are evaluated to analyse their driving role. Significant positive ETo trends are observed from reanalysis data throughout Argentina, especially on the central east side of the Andes Mountain range with values up to 10 mm·year−1. Most of these ETo changes respond to positive trends in air temperature in the study area, while those in the central Andes also respond to negative trends in dew point temperatures. On the other hand, the increase in energy availability through positive trends in net surface radiation produced a slightly higher ETo in the northern regions of the country. Regional ETo values have shown to be more sensitive to variations in air temperature in the northeastern areas, although changes in humidity and solar radiation could also play a role. In a context of climate change, given that temperature and rainfall are expected to increase in the central and northeastern region of the country and decrease along the eastern side of the Andes Mountains in the coming decades, the characteristics observed over the 1981–2020 period are expected to intensify in the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article follows a groundbreaking climate justice lawsuit between a Peruvian farmer and major energy company in a German court, a strategic political intervention addressing the inequities of global warming. The claim posits that the two are neighbors, meaning the company should take responsibility for contributing to climate change impacts in the Andes. Using this legal conception as a starting point to engage with academic discussions about sociality and moral responsibility, I establish neighborliness as an analytical framework for examining the moral stakes of social relations. Addressing the methodological and theoretical challenges of studying a phenomenon that draws connections across the planet, this approach allows for an ethnographically grounded understanding of global warming. Climate change expands the scope of social relations and raises the question of how we should live together on our planet. A focus on neighborliness foregrounds the normative claims through which people make sense of globalizing phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Current coupled global climate models have biases in their simulations of the tropical Pacific mean-state conditions as well as the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon. Specifically, in the Community Earth System Model (CESM version 1.2.2), the tropical Pacific mean state has overly weak sea surface temperature (SST) gradients in both the zonal and meridional directions, ENSO is too strong and too regular, and El Niño and La Niña events are too symmetrical. A previous study with a slab-ocean model showed that a higher elevation of the Andes can improve the tropical Pacific mean-state simulation by adjusting the atmospheric circulation and increasing the east–west and north–south SST gradients. Motivated by the link between the mean tropical Pacific climate and ENSO variations shown in previous studies, here we explored the influence of the Andes on the simulation of ENSO using the CESM 1.2.2 under full atmosphere–ocean coupling. In addition to improving the simulated tropical Pacific mean state by increasing the strength of the surface easterly and cross-equatorial southerly winds, the Higher Andes experiment decreases the amplitude of ENSO, increases the phase asymmetry, and makes ENSO events less regular, resulting in a simulated ENSO that is more consistent with observations. The weaker ENSO cycle is related to stronger damping in the Higher Andes experiment according to an analysis of the Bjerknes index. Our overall results suggest that increasing the height of the Andes reduces biases in the mean state and improves the representation of ENSO in the tropical Pacific. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nature-Based Solutions for Integrated Water Resources Management (NbS-IWRM) involve natural, or nature-mimicking, processes used to improve water availability in quantity and quality sustainably, reduce the risks of water-related disasters, enhance adaptation to climate change and increase both biodiversity and the social-ecological system's resilience. United Nations and the European Commission promote their research as a cornerstone in the changeover to the Ecological Transition. In the Sierra Nevada range (Spain) and the Andean Cordillera, there is a paradigmatic and ancestral example of NbS-IWRM known as "careo channels" and "amunas", respectively. They recharge slope aquifers in mountain areas and consist of an extensive network of channels that infiltrate the runoff water generated during the snow-thawing and rainy season into the upper parts of the slopes. The passage of water through the aquifers in the slope is used to regulate the water resources of the mountain areas and thus ensure the duration of water availability for the downstream local population and generate multiple ecosystem services. This form of water management is known as Water Sowing and Harvesting (WS&H). As shown in this work, it is a living example of a resilience and climate change adaptation tool that can be qualified as a nature-based solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frost cracking is a dominant mechanical weathering phenomenon facilitating the breakdown of bedrock in periglacial regions. Despite recent advances in understanding frost cracking processes, few studies have addressed how global climate change over the late Cenozoic may have impacted spatial variations in frost cracking intensity. In this study, we estimate global changes in frost cracking intensity (FCI) by segregation ice growth. Existing process-based models of FCI are applied in combination with soil thickness data from the Harmonized World Soil Database. Temporal and spatial variations in FCI are predicted using surface temperature changes obtained from ECHAM5 general circulation model simulations conducted for four different paleoclimate time slices. Time slices considered include pre-industrial (∼ 1850 CE, PI), mid-Holocene (∼ 6 ka, MH), Last Glacial Maximum (∼ 21 ka, LGM), and Pliocene (∼ 3 Ma, PLIO) times. Results indicate for all paleoclimate time slices that frost cracking was most prevalent (relative to PI times) in the middle- to high-latitude regions, as well as high-elevation lower-latitude areas such the Himalayas, Tibet, the European Alps, the Japanese Alps, the US Rocky Mountains, and the Andes Mountains. The smallest deviations in frost cracking (relative to PI conditions) were observed in the MH simulation, which yielded slightly higher FCI values in most of the areas. In contrast, larger deviations were observed in the simulations of the colder climate (LGM) and warmer climate (PLIO). Our results indicate that the impact of climate change on frost cracking was most severe during the PI–LGM period due to higher differences in temperatures and glaciation at higher latitudes. The PLIO results indicate low FCI in the Andes and higher values of FCI in Greenland and Canada due to the diminished extent of glaciation in the warmer PLIO climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Amazonian floodplains include distinct types of seasonally flooded habitats, determined by the flooding regime and sedimentation dynamics. Some bird species prefer specific habitat types within the floodplains. To investigate whether distinct habitats are differentially affected by geologic and climatic history, we compare population history in a sympatric and closely related pair of ovenbird species with different habitat associations. Location: Amazonian floodplains. Taxa: Synallaxis albigularis and Mazaria propinqua (Aves; Furnariidae). Methods: Occurrence records were obtained from museums and public databases. Genomic data included nuclear loci (UCE) and the mitogenome for 49 samples. SNPs from UCE data were used to infer population genetic structure and effective migration. Mitogenomes were used to build phylogenetic trees and chronograms. Both datasets were used to infer historical demographic changes and test demographic scenarios. Results: S. albigularis includes geographically structured mtDNA clades with a crown age of 250 ka, whereas M. propinqua includes a single clade with a crown age of 38 ka. Effective migration is lower at the base of the Andes for S. albigularis and at the lower Negro River for M. propinqua. Population expansion is detected for both species during the Quaternary, but was steeper and more recent in M. propinqua. Main conclusions: The differences in population histories relate to distinct habitat associations along Amazonian floodplains. Preference of M. propinqua for more ephemeral island habitats may favour local extinctions, leading to demographic change, low genetic variability, no population structure and smaller effective population size. In contrast, more resilient habitats along the floodplains inhabited by S. albigularis may sustain local populations, generating and maintaining local diversity. Our results suggest that climatic variations of the late Pleistocene and Holocene caused changes in distribution and connectivity of the different types of habitats along the Amazonian floodplains, affecting gene flow and population sizes of associated bird populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Climate change is expected to impact mountain biodiversity by shifting species ranges and the biomes they shape. The extent and regional variation in these impacts are still poorly understood, particularly in the highly biodiverse Andes. Regional syntheses of climate change impacts on vegetation are pivotal to identify and guide research priorities. Here we review current data, knowledge and uncertainties in past, present and future climate change impacts on vegetation in the Andes. Location: Andes. Taxon: Plants. Methods: We (i) conducted a literature review on Andean vegetation responses to past and contemporary climatic change, (ii) analysed future climate projections for different elevations and slope orientations at 19 Andean locations using an ensemble of model outputs from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 5, and (iii) calculated changes in the suitable climate envelope area of Andean biomes and compared these results to studies that used species distribution models. Results: Future climatic changes (2040–2070) are projected to be stronger at high‐elevation areas in the tropical Andes (up to 4°C under RCP 8.5), while in the temperate Andes temperature increases are projected to be up to 2°C. Under this worst‐case scenario, temperate deciduous forests and the grasslands/steppes from the Central and Southern Andes are predicted to show the greatest losses of suitable climatic space (30% and 17%–23%, respectively). The high vulnerability of these biomes contrasts with the low attention from researchers modelling Andean species distributions. Critical knowledge gaps include a lack of an Andean wide plant checklist, insufficient density of weather stations at high‐elevation areas, a lack of high‐resolution climatologies that accommodates the Andes' complex topography and climatic processes, insufficient data to model demographic and ecological processes, and low use of palaeo data for distribution modelling. Main conclusions: Climate change is likely to profoundly affect the extent and composition of Andean biomes. Temperate Andean biomes in particular are susceptible to substantial area contractions. There are, however, considerable challenges and uncertainties in modelling species and biome responses and a pressing need for a region‐wide approach to address knowledge gaps and improve understanding and monitoring of climate change impacts in these globally important biomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mountain regions have been recognized to be more sensitive to climate and environmental changes, and in particular to global warming. Several studies report on elevation-dependent warming (EDW), i.e., when warming rates are different in different altitude ranges, particularly focusing on the enhancement of warming rates with elevation. The Andean chain proved to be a relevant climate change hot-spot with positive temperature trends and a widespread glacier retreat over the recent decades. To assess and to better understand elevation dependent warming in this mountain region and to identify its possible dependence on latitude, the Andean Cordillera was split into five domains, three pertaining to the tropical zone and two pertaining to the Subtropics. Further, for each area the eastern and western faces of the mountain range were separately analyzed. An ensemble of regional climate model (RCM) simulations participating in the Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX), consisting of one RCM nested into eight different global climate models from the CMIP5 ensemble was considered in this study. EDW was assessed by calculating the temperature difference between the end of the century (2071–2100) and the period 1976–2005 and relating it to the elevation. Future projections refer to the RCP 8.5 high-emission scenario. Possible differences in EDW mechanisms were identified using correlation analyses between temperature changes and all the variables identified as possible EDW drivers. For the maximum temperatures, a positive EDW signal (i.e. enhancement of warming rates with elevation) was identified in each side of both the tropical and subtropical Andes and in all seasons. For the minimum temperatures, on the contrary, while a positive EDW was identified in the Subtropics (particularly evident in the western side of the chain), the Tropics are characterized by a negative EDW throughout the year. Therefore, the tropical boundary marks a transition between discordant EDW behaviours in the minimum temperature. In the Tropics and particularly in the inner Tropics, different EDW drivers were identified for the minimum temperature, whose changes are mostly associated with changes in downward longwave radiation, and for the maximum temperature, whose changes are mainly driven by changes in downward shortwave radiation. This might explain the opposite EDW signal found in the tropical Andes during daytime and nighttime. Changes in albedo are an ubiquitous driver for positive EDW in the Subtropics, for both the minimum and the maximum temperature. Changes in longwave radiation and humidity are also EDW drivers in the Subtropics but with different relevance throughout the seasons and during daytime and nighttime. Also, the western and eastern sides of the Cordillera might be influenced by different EDW drivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Lambayeque Valley on the north coast of Peru offers a cautionary case study on the relation between climatic and cultural change. Three archaeological site complexes dating from late in the first millennium AD to the middle of the second millennium AD rose and were abandoned in sequence. Each abandonment was associated with a conflagration on the main pyramidal mound(s). In this region, El Niño is the most significant climatic disruption now and for millennia past. By tracking proxy records for El Niño intensity, we found that only the first episode of abandonment and burning was associated with a strong peak in El Niño intensity, while the final episode was the outcome of the Spanish Conquest of the Andes, a distinctly non-climatic driver. These records suggest that equifinality is operative and urge caution in over-interpreting climate as culture-changing catastrophe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report results from geoarchaeological investigations at Cuncaicha rock shelter (4480 m above sea level) in the high Andes of southern Peru. Using field observations, geomorphological, micromorphological, micro‐Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Bayesian modeling of radiocarbon ages, and archaeological data, we analyzed the entire stratigraphic sequence to determine depositional and postdepositional processes and agents to assess the impact of bioturbation and to correlate the deposits with regional paleoenvironmental information. The archaeological record is represented well on a microscale, and bioturbation has not destroyed the stratigraphic integrity. The Terminal Pleistocene sediments that contain the oldest archaeological material at the site, dating to ~12.3–11.1 ka, are especially well preserved and capped by a layer of tufa. Depositional changes from autochthonous carbonate precipitation during the Terminal Pleistocene toward allochthonous aeolian sedimentation in the Early Holocene reflect changing environmental and climatic conditions. Formation of a soil during the Late‐Middle Holocene caused postdepositional alterations and likely correlates to variable environmental conditions. We use these results to formulate a site formation model for Cuncaicha rock shelter that integrates archaeological, chronological, and paleoenvironmental data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biodiversity loss due to climate change is one of the most critical current environmental problems. Global warming is causing substantial species-range shifts and local extirpations, especially for species with restricted distribution ranges. Studies of impact of the climate change on species ranges and environmental suitability have become a fundamental tool for evaluating conservation strategies. However, one important limitation of these approaches is that only species with an adequate number of spatially distinct occurrence records can be modelled, generally excluding threatened rare species from the analyses, a situation referred to as the 'rare species modelling paradox'. To overcome this limitation, we analysed the effect of climate change on the richness of threatened endemic plants of Argentina employing a macroecological modelling approach, using three different modelling techniques (generalized linear mixed models – GLMM, generalized additive models – GAM, and boosted regression trees – BRT), four general circulation models, two representative CO2 concentration pathways (RCPs), and two time periods (2050 and 2070). We identified grid cells with the greatest decline in numbers of threatened endemics, determined species composition in these cells and characterized their vulnerability using three indices. A loss of species richness is observed in ca 83% of the cells, and both protected areas and hotspots of threatened species show significant decrease in future species richness. We identified 32 most affected cells under future climatic projections, including a total of 370 threatened endemic species and exhibiting high beta diversity values (high dissimilarity) among most of the cells. Cells with the highest vulnerability were located along the Central Andes of northwestern Argentina, along the Southern Andean Yungas, High Monte and Central Andean Puna ecoregions, and including a total of 118 threatened endemics (15% of those registered for Argentina) with greater representation of Asteraceae, Apocynaceae, Cactaceae and Iridaceae. However, coverage of protected area network is less than 5% for each of these cells. Our results highlight the urgent need for both in situ and ex situ conservation policies and strategies for the vascular flora of Argentina. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many mountain regions around the world are exposed to enhanced warming when compared to their surroundings, threatening key environmental services provided by mountains. Here we investigate this effect, known as elevation-dependent warming (EDW), in the Andes of Ecuador, using observations and simulations with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model. EDW is discernible in observations of mean and maximum temperature in the Andes of Ecuador, but large uncertainties remain due to considerable data gaps in both space and time. WRF simulations of present-day (1986–2005) and future climate (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 for 2041–60) reveal a very distinct EDW signal, with different rates of warming on the eastern and western slopes. This EDW effect is the combined result of multiple feedback mechanisms that operate on different spatial scales. Enhanced upper-tropospheric warming projects onto surface temperature on both sides of the Andes. In addition, changes in the zonal mean midtropospheric circulation lead to enhanced subsidence and warming over the western slopes at high elevation. The increased subsidence also induces drying, reduces cloudiness, and results in enhanced net surface radiation receipts, further contributing to stronger warming. Finally, the highest elevations are also affected by the snow-albedo feedback, due to significant reductions in snow cover by the middle of the twenty-first century. While these feedbacks are more pronounced in the high-emission scenario RCP8.5, our results indicate that high elevations in Ecuador will continue to warm at enhanced rates in the twenty-first century, regardless of emission scenario. Significance Statement: Mountains are often projected to experience stronger warming than their surrounding lowlands going forward, a phenomenon known as elevation-dependent warming (EDW), which can threaten high-altitude ecosystems and lead to accelerated glacier retreat. We investigate the mechanisms associated with EDW in the Andes of Ecuador using both observations and model simulations for the present and the future. A combination of factors amplify warming at mountain tops, including a stronger warming high in the atmosphere, reduced cloudiness, and a reduction of snow and ice at high elevations. The latter two factors also favor enhanced absorption of sunlight, which promotes warming. The degree to which this warming is enhanced at high elevations in the future depends on the greenhouse gas emission pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In this article, we review the current knowledge of the glacial recession and related glacial lake development in the Andes of South America. Since the mid-1980s, hundreds of glacial lakes either expanded or formed, and predictions show that additional hundreds of lakes will form throughout the 21st century. However, studies on glacial lakes in the Andes are still relatively rare. Many glacial lakes pose a potential hazard to local communities, but glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) are understudied. We provide an overview on hazards from glacial lakes such as GLOFs and water pollution, and their monitoring approaches. In real-time monitoring, the use of unmanned aerial systems (UASs) and early warning systems (EWSs) is still extremely rare in the Andes, but increasingly authorities plan to install mitigation systems to reduce glacial lake risk and protect local communities. In support, we propose an international remote sensing-based observation initiative following the model of, for example, the Global Land Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS) one, with the headquarters in one of the Andean nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]