Plant functional traits in 42 paramo species in Colombia

Páramos are exceptionally species-rich tropical alpine ecosystems that provide several important ecosystem services, including carbon storage and water provision. The responses of páramo plant species to climatic change are largely unknown, but classifying species by functional type and ecological strategy can help reduce complexity for modeling and conservation efforts. We measured 22 traits in 42 plant species with various growth forms in the Colombian Andes. We classified plant ecological strategies using CSR (C: competitor, S: stress tolerator, R: ruderal) analysis and identified plant functional types (PFTs) using hierarchical clustering of principal components. Additionally, we calculated the functional originality of each species to identify species with unique trait combinations. We identified a high degree of convergence among traits and strategies, with most species characterized by the S and SC strategies. Considering the full set of traits, only three PFTs were identified: o...