Pre-emptive restoration for the Tropical Andes: Can we get ahead of climate change?

Ecological restoration (ER) has been concerned with repairing damage to ecosystems done by natural and human forces, and a basic principle is that the more damaged the ecosystem is, the lower the chances are of fully restoring it. Also, ER is usually concerned with repairing discrete and clearly affected landscape units to a desired reference state. Yet, climate change is a threat to all ecosystems that is not only running its course, but it works at such scale and pace that it will test the capacity of restorationists to mitigate its impacts at the very least. Can we anticipate the effects of climate change and begin restoring before effects are actually perceived? I propose to consider a pre-emptive approach to restoring the effects of climate change, and that restoration ecologists begin to address issues such as: what should be our reference ecosystems? One of the predicted and confirmed effects of climate change in montane systems is the vertical upward movement of organisms. This will represent a challenge particularly in fragmented ecosystems where altitudinal connectivity has been lost. Here I propose to take a pro-active approach and begin restoring connections and degraded areas to ensure that the impact of climate change are minimized, by both sequestering carbon and restoring  migration routes to species as they move upward. In essence, to deal with climate change, ER must involve landscape-level actions. I present a case study from the Colombian Andes to show measured impacts of climate change on one tree species that is showing a vertical displacement and model the potential routes to mitigate effects of climate change.