Functional resilience but reduced species diversity of Puya after fire in the Colombian páramo

Fire plays an important role in the dynamics of the páramo, a high Andean Mountain ecosystem, as it primarily alters the composition and structure of plant communities. In this ecosystem, there are indications that fire facilitates species establishment in the understudied genus Puya. To further investigate their response to fire, transects were established in an area impacted by fire in 2002, as well as in undisturbed areas (no fire prior to 1985). The study aimed to understand how fire interacted with species diversity, with aboveground and belowground plant functional traits, and mycorrhizal colonization. Our results revealed that in the undisturbed transects, there was higher plant diversity (four species), and that fire disturbance led to a decrease in species richness. In the 2002 fire-affected transects, only Puya goudotiana was present. Interestingly, this species did not undergo functional trait changes, showing a recovery after 20 years post-fire. Mycorrhizal colonization did not show significant differences between fire disturbances also. Considering the ecological importance of Puya in the páramo ecosystem, more research on the genus is needed to better understand how these plants respond to disturbance events and colonization in affected areas.