Estimando y contrastando la extensión de las formaciones vegetales microtermales del Perú de inicios del siglo XX

• Autores: Zelada Gárate, Humberto, Reynel-Rodríguez, Carlos Augusto
• Formato: artículo
• Fecha de Publicación: 2023
• Institución: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
• Repositorio: PUCP-Institucional
• Lenguaje: español
• OAI Identifier: oai:repositorio.pucp.edu.pe:20.500.14657/196690
• Enlace del recurso: https://revistas.pucp.edu.pe/index.php/espacioydesarrollo/article/view/27944/25961; https://doi.org/10.18800/espacioydesarrollo.2023.004
• Nivel de acceso: acceso abierto
• Materia: Geographical Information Systems; Natural history; Peruvian Andes; Phytogeography; Vegetation maps; Andes peruanos; Fitogeografía; Historia natural; Mapa de vegetación; Sistema de Información Geográfica; https://purl.org/pe-repo/ocde/ford#5.07.00

Augusto Weberbauer published, in 1922, the first vegetation map of Peru, where he showed and described twenty-five plant formations, grouped into six categories, considering altitudinal ranges defined according to their temperature. Within these categories are the microthermal formations that are generally found above 3400 masl and have a wide latitudinal distribution throughout the Peruvian Andes. To revalue that historical map, we present, firstly, the results of digitalization and estimation of extension of the four microthermal vegetation formations identified by Weberbauer, and secondly, the findings of cartographic contrasting between these microthermal formations, and the high Andean vegetation covers as classified in the most updated map on this subject. Weberbauer mapped an area of 183.445,30 km² for the four microthermal vegetation formations: typical high Andean formations (61,67%); microthermal herbaceous steppe (17,93%); microthermal tolar (17,47%); glaciers and perpetual snow (2,93%). Likewise, a cartographic comparison showed that 63,92% of the territory currently occupied by high Andean vegetation cover in Peru is coincident with that mapped by Weberbauer as microthermal vegetation formations. These results contribute to the understanding of the evolution of these formations, which are under climate change and anthropogenic pressures.