In recent weeks, a group of 11 MSc and BSc students, along with three teachers from Agricultural University of Iceland (AUI)I, University of Iceland (UI, and Akureyri University (UNAK), participated in an Erasmus+ internship in Colombia.
The course, titled Tundra Meets the Páramo, was organized by Alejandro Salazar, Associate Professor at Agricultural University of Iceland (main organizer), Adriana Sanchez of del Rosario University, Colombia, María Elena Gutiérrez-Lagoueyte (and collaborators) of EIA University, Colombia, Isabel C. Barrio, Professor at AUI, and Ingibjörg Svala Jónsdóttir, Professor at UI.
The aim of the course was to explore the ecology and ecosystem processes of the Páramo—a tropical, high-altitude ecosystem with many similarities to the Icelandic tundra—particularly from the perspective of anthropogenic changes such as land cover transformation and climate change. During the course, students participated in research projects and helped collect data, including climatic patterns along altitudinal gradients (Image below left), plant traits in response to warming as part of a long-term monitoring program (Image below center), and soil properties and ecological succession in a glacier forefield chronosequence (Image below right). All academic activities took place in Chingaza National Park and Nevados National Park, under the guidance of scientists from del Rosario and EIA Universities, respectively. Local students from both institutions also took part.
Academic activities involving data collection as part of: long-term climate monitoring along an altitudinal gradient (left), plant responses to interannual climate variability (center), and a new research project on the role of biological soil crusts (biocrusts) in climate-driven ecological succession at the forefield of a retreating glacier (right).
The course included long and challenging—but also very rewarding—hikes, including one where an Andean bear was spotted, and a well-deserved break from the cold and harsh climate of the Páramo and super-Páramo, in the beautiful Colombian coffee region.
an Andean bear spotted at Chingaza National Park (left; photo by Hernando, the local guide), the summit of Sleeping Lion Mountain (4,900 m.a.s.l.) next to the Santa Isabel Glacier (center), and Ingibjörg Svala Jónsdóttir picking coffee beans during a cultural activity near Manizales.
