A systematic review of ecosystem services in the Rabanal páramo (Colombia)

Colombian páramos, strategic ecosystems of the northern Andes, provide a broad range of ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, water regulation, and soil protection. The department of Boyacá in Colombia contains the largest area of páramo ecosystems, with the Rabanal páramo serving as the primary water source for the capital city of Tunja. Despite scientific studies on the diversity of flora and fauna, páramos remain among the least studied ecosystems regarding their services. No study has yet addressed a detailed systematic review assessing the range of ecosystem services in the Rabanal páramo. We systematically reviewed 162 documents published between 1992 and 2022 to assess the progress of ecosystem services knowledge, identify biases, and define research priorities. Most of the studies (60%) focused on regulating services, followed by cultural services (24%) and provisioning services (16%). In the category of regulating services, biodiversity maintenance is the most studied service with 60 studies (37%), followed by vegetation cover with 22 studies (14%). In provisioning services, fresh water has the most studies 18 (11%), while environmental education, with 16 studies (10%), is the cultural service with the most publications. Likewise, we identified 21 different research methods in the documents. The most employed was environmental assessment (23%), followed by stakeholder engagement and environmental planning (10%) and inventory (7%). We conclude that there is a significant research gap in prioritizing the understanding of cultural services and the impacts of conservation initiatives on páramo communities. This unique ecosystem, which is not only a source of livelihood for local farmers but also deeply connected with their cultural identity and heritage, underscores the need to address these gaps to sustain the Rabanal páramo ecosystem.