Insights into the eco-hydrology of (tropical) high-Andean wetland ecosystems (bofedales) and its importance in the context of "water sowing & harvesting" interventions for adaptation to the adverse effects of global (climate) change: A systematic review, combined with a long-term in-situ eco-hydrological monitoring in Apurimac (Peru)

Abstract:

(Tropical) high-Andean wetlands (bofedales) are a diverse group of hybrid (aquatic-terrestrial) ecosystems, distributed in an altitudinal range from about 3,500-4,900 m.a.s.l. in the humid and dry Puna region of the Central Andes (from the north of Peru to the border between Chile, Bolivia and Argentina) and in the Paramo of the Northern Andes (Colombia and Ecuador). They provide an important set of ecosystem services (ES), among them, the (temporal) retention and storage of freshwater, which is used for livestock farming and other agricultural activities. Apart from the direct anthropogenic impacts (overgrazing, construction of roads and dams, peat digging and extraction, etc.), the bofedales and their ES are also impacted by climate change (CC) - causing higher temperatures and changes in the precipitation regime/patterns - what, on the long term, could result in their drying-out, especially when they are not hydrologically connected with glaciers or lakes.

In the frame of CC adaptation, micro-catchment basins in the high Andes have been and are getting intervened by water sowing and harvesting (WS&WH) techniques. WS&WH includes grey infrastructure (dams, channels, etc.) and (semi-)natural infrastructure, like e.g. micro-reservoirs (q’ochas) and native high Andean ecosystems (forests, puna grasslands and bofedales). They all provide important, basic ES, which are reduced when they are impacted by unsustainable anthropogenic activities, combined with the overall adverse effects caused by CC.

I provide first results from a long-term eco-hydrological monitoring in 7 bofedales in the North of the Apurimac region (Peru), which focuses on eco-hydrological key parameters (precipitation, runoff, soil moisture, evapotranspiration and groundwater level, etc.). A preliminary analysis of the so far collected data shows that bofedales are important, natural water reservoirs and sustain base flows year-round, especially during the dry season (aprox. May – November) in the southern Central Andes. Further aspects of the importance of the eco-hydrology of bofedales are analysed and discussed in the frame of an extensive, systematic, scientific and grey literature review - combined with the in-situ data - and in the context of WS&WH interventions and adaptation to the adverse effects of global (climate) change.