Ecofisiología de plantas de los páramos andinos

Paramo plants must respond to extreme abiotic conditions characterized by changing light radiation, a high variation in daily temperatures, seasonal changes in water availability and a high evaporative demand for air. These factors have played an important role in the adaptive responses of different life forms in these neotropical alpine ecosystems. Functional responses by plants are evident in aspects such as their morphological adaptations, resistance to freezing temperatures and their water relations. This in turn will affect processes such as gas exchange and, therefore, photosynthesis and respiration. Likewise, the type of functional response can vary depending on the altitude, the particular abiotic conditions of the moor, the stage of development of the plant and its way of life. The objective of this chapter is to compile the existing physiological information for the conditions of the páramo, as well as to review the relationship between some abiotic and biotic factors and morphological adaptations, as well as water and carbon balances, in the different life forms of the plants existing in this ecosystem.