Amphibian Disease Ecology Lab
Dr. Patricia Burrowes
Department of Biology, University of Puerto Rico
Río Piedras Campus
In April, 2019, we re-visited La Planada Nature Reserve in Nariño, Colombia. La Planada is a cloud forest nature reserve in the Pacific slopes of the Andes in Colombia.
The purpose: To do commence a re-survey of the amphibians of the area. Burrowes studied the amphibian community here in 1986; she found a very diverse fauna and describes several new species to science. The reserve has not been thoroughly re-studied since due to guerilla problems in the area. As part of our PARTED grant we hope to evaluate the status of the the amphibians in La Planada in light of all the threats of the Anthropocene like climate change and newly emerged diseases.
We found that some species are still there like Pristimantis chalceus (left) and Centrolene peristictum (right). Photos © Ignacio De la Riva. In years 2021-2022 Ph.D. student, Claudia Lansac, while doing her research there has shown that 64% of the species that were present in 1986 have disappeared, although the forest remains intact. We are now trying to find out the culprits of this drastic biodiversity loss.
The spectacled bear, Tremarctos ornatus is an iconic species of the reserve! Photo © Ignacio De la Riva.