The first in the Colombia Blog Series by Colombia Photo Expeditions, in which Kike Calvo profiles interesting information, research and thoughts on Colombia for journalism, ecotourism, science, exploration and photography.
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This post is the latest in the series Uncover Diverse Colombia by Colombia Photo Expeditions, in which Kike Calvo profiles interesting information, research and thoughts on Colombia for journalism, ecotourism, science, exploration and photography.
A new journal article in Caldasia about the pollen of Colombian magnolias by Marcela Serna-González and César Velásquez-Ruiz was recently published by the Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia.
The articles unveils how Colombia, with 36 species, has the highest number of species of the family Magnoliaceae in South America. In spite of the family’s evolutionary importance and significant threats to species survival, information is still lacking about Colombian Magnoliaceae due to a paucity of research. In this article, the pollen morphology of fourteen Magnolia species from Colombia is described based on size, shape, apertures, exine and sculpture.
The high uniformity of pollen morphology among the Colombian species supports the most recent classification of the American magnolias.
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Pollen of colombian magnolias.Marcela Serna-González and César Velásquez-Ruiz
Caldasia. Vol. 39, No. 1 (Enero – Junio de 2017), pp. 59-67
Published by: Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia
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This post is the latest in the series Uncover Diverse Colombia by Colombia Photo Expeditions, in which Kike Calvo profiles interesting information, research and thoughts on Colombia for journalism, ecotourism, science, exploration and photography.
On a recent article published by Revista Espacios, the authors described how one of the most relevant stages of coffee processing is drying due to the fact that it affects the quality of the organoleptic properties of the product. At this stage, there are crucial variables such as the drying time, temperature, airflow, and the physical-chemical characteristics of the drying agent in contact with the grains, and the thickness of the drying layer, among others.
Olmos, Duque and Rodriguez reviewed the coffee drying process, the current technologies used at a national level and international technological development opportunities in order to identify the current status of the process.
As a conclusion, the article explained how in Colombia, coffee drying has been made by traditional methods; advances generally have led to improve the existing technologies; this help having better efficiency and less pollution. This research process in Colombia is limited to the scarce knowledge of coffee growers in relation to innovation and to the lack of available resources in the sector to finance further research.
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State of the art of coffee drying technologies in Colombia and their global development
Luis Carlos OLMOS Villalba 1; Eduardo Alexander DUQUE Grisales 2; Elizabeth RODRIGUEZ 3
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Coffee in Colombia, 1850-1970: An Economic, Social and Political History (Cambridge Latin American Studies) by Marco Palacios
Coffee and conflict in Colombia, 1886-1910 Paperback – 1978 by Charles W Bergquist
This post is the latest in the series Uncover Diverse Colombia by Colombia Photo Expeditions, in which Kike Calvo profiles interesting information, research and thoughts on Colombia for journalism, ecotourism, science, exploration and photography.
The Colombian Caribbean, one of the most biodiverse regions in the world, is facing great challenges in biodiversity conservation due to accelerated ecosystem transformations and the territorial planning required for peacemaking. A recent article explains how the authors conducted a systematic review of 470 documents published between 1990 and 2015 to evaluate the progress of biodiversity and ecosystem services knowledge, identify biases, and define the priorities for research.
They concluded “In the short term, the establishment of protected areas to guarantee the supply of ecosystem services for human well-being, in the middle term, an integrated territorial planning,” said the scientists in their article. “And in the long term, the promotion of the social-ecological systems perspective. Ecosystem services concept reveals the link between biodiversity and human well-being and thus could have the potential to contribute to biodiversity conservation and peace construction in the Caribbean.”
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Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Knowledge in the Colombian Caribbean
Progress and Challenges
Juanita Aldana-Domínguez1, 2, Carlos Montes1, María Martínez2, Nicolás Medina3, Joachim Hahn2, Maritza Duque2
This post is the latest in the series Uncover Diverse Colombia by Colombia Photo Expeditions, in which Kike Calvo profiles interesting information, research and thoughts on Colombia for journalism, ecotourism, science, exploration and photography.
“The upper altitude ecosystems of the Andes are among the most threatened by climate change. Computer models suggest that a large percentage of species in these ecosystems will be at risk of extinction and that avian communities will suffer disruption and impoverishment,” explained a group of scientists in a new article(1) recently published on the Journal of Field Ornithology.
As their abstract describes studies in other Andean countries lend some support to these predictions, but there are no quantitative data from Colombia appropriate to test these models. In 1991–1992. They we conducted a bird survey in a high Andean cloud forest to gather information about the species present and their abundance, attempting to replicate this earlier study 24 yr later to detect any changes in the avifauna and determine possible causes for those changes.
The team supplemented their observational data by also capturing birds in mist-nets. Community species richness and composition as well as the overall abundance of birds changed little from 1991–1992 to 2015–2016, but nearly 30% of bird species changed in abundance. Changes in the presence or abundance of nine or 10 species reflected upward shifts in elevational limits potentially due to climate change.
The authors recommended the establishment of a monitoring program in Colombia because data obtained from such a program might be important in designing measures to mitigate the effects of climate change and conserve biodiversity.
Photo Tanager Finch © Juan Jose Arango / VWPics
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Changing Markets: Medicinal Plant Ethnobotany in the Andes of Bolivia, Peru and Colombia
by KIKE CALVO
This post is the latest in the series Uncover Diverse Colombia by Colombia Photo Expeditions, in which Kike Calvo profiles interesting information, research and thoughts on Colombia for journalism, ecotourism, science, exploration and photography.
As a result of the 58th Annual Meeting of the Society for Economic Botany celebrated in Braganca (Portugal) during June 4-9 of June 2017, the book “ Living in a global world: ethnobotany, local knowledge and sustainability.” was produced. The program included “Changing markets: medicinal plant ethnobotany in the Andes of Bolivia, Peru and Colombia” by Authors: Paniagua-Zambrana, Narel Y. [1], Bussmann, Rainer W [2], Hart, Robbie E [3], Romero, Carolina [2], Moya Huanca, Araseli Laura [1].
Given the importance of local markets as a source of medicinal plants for both healers and the population, literature on market flows and the value of the plant material traded is rather scarce. This stands in contrast to wealth of available information for other com- ponents of Andean ethnobotany. The present study attempts to remedy this situation by providing a detailed inventory of medicinal plant markets in the La Paz-El Alto (Bolivia); Lima, Trujillo and Chiclayo (Peru) and Bogota (Colombia). Both species composition, and medicinal applications, have changed considerably over time. From 2001-2015, semi– structured interviews were conducted with hundreds of plant vendors in order to elucidate more details on plant usage and provenance. The results of the present study were then compared to previous inventories of medicinal plants in the region, as much as available, to elucidate changes over time and impact of interview techniques. Over the years we we encountered and documented over 800 plant species. This indicates a great wealth of ethnobotanical knowledge in the Andean region of South America. All markets show a considerable change over the last few decades, with new species being introduced into the market chain, and other species being replaced. In course of the present study it became apparent that even well known species might often be replaced by other ap- parently similar but botanically unrelated species due to environmental and market forces The present data indicate that, while the floristic composition of often remained relatively constant over the last decades, the number of indications for which certain species were used increased tremendously, and that profound differences exist even between markets in close proximity. The dramatic increase in previously not used species used per indica- tion might pose serious risks for consumers. We found serious problems due to species replacements. Even plants that have a well established vernacular name, and are easily recognizable botanically, can be replaced by other species that can pose a serious health risk. Vendor education and stringent identification of the material sold in public markets are clearly needed.
1 – Universidad Nacional de San Andres, Herbario Nacional de Bolivia, Cota Cota, La Paz, Murillo, Bolivia; 2 – Missouri Botanical Garden, WLBC, PO Box 299, Saint Louis, Missouri, 63166-0299, United States; 3 – Missouri Botanical Garden, WLBC, P. O. Box 299, Saint Louis, MO, 63166-0299, United States
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Learn More:
Ethnobotany: Evolution of a Discipline
Plants of the Gods: Their Sacred, Healing, and Hallucinogenic Powers
Herbal Medicine Natural Remedies: 150 Herbal Remedies to Heal Common Ailments
Photo: Botanical Garden of the Pacific. Mecana River Nature Reserve. Bahia Solano, Choco, Colombia. © Kike Calvo
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