{"id":9563,"date":"2011-03-08T15:00:06","date_gmt":"2011-03-08T19:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nybg.org\/plant-talk\/?p=9563"},"modified":"2011-03-02T18:58:24","modified_gmt":"2011-03-02T22:58:24","slug":"from-the-field-paola-andes-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/2011\/03\/science\/from-the-field-paola-andes-2\/","title":{"rendered":"From the Field: Paola Pedraza-Pe\u00f1alosa in the Colombian Andes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ed. Note: NYBG Scientist and Assistant Curator, Institute of Systematic Botany, Paola, Pedraza-Pe\u00f1alosa<\/a> recently returned from an expedition to the Colombian Andes where she was without electricity and the Internet. Upon returning to New York, she filed these briefs about her time in the field. Follow her journey on Plant Talk<\/a>.
\n<\/em>
\nJanuary 25, 2011; Arrival to Las Orqu\u00eddeas National Park<\/a><\/strong>; Antioquia, Colombia<\/strong><\/p>\n

Las Orqu\u00eddeas National Park<\/a> is tucked into the westernmost mountain chain of Colombia, a part of the great Andean Cordillera<\/a>. In the park the terrain is steep and rough and is crossed by many rivers and streams that originate in the upper part of the mountains. The constant presence of water makes these humid forests a source of abudant epiphytic<\/a> plants. Epiphytes, like many bromeliads and orchids, are plants that grow on other plants without killing them. Epiphytes root in the humid mixture of mosses and decaying matter that cover the branches of the trees; they are a forest on top of the forest.<\/p>\n

\"Montane<\/a>
Montane cloud forest trees covered by abundant epiphytes. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

Orchids are such a prominent feature in this area that the park takes its name from them–Las Orqu\u00eddeas–the park of the orchids. Here are two examples of some of the favorite orchids that we collected.<\/p>\n

\"Flower<\/a>
Flower of the orchid genus "Pleurothallis" ("Orchidaceae"). <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Flower<\/a>
Flower of the orchid genus "Dracula" ("Orchidaceae").<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Although we were traveling during the less rainy season (locally known as summer), in western Colombia it always rains; there is no marked dry season. In fact some of the rainiest places in the world are found here. However, the weather throughout the entire trip was particularly good, with plenty of sunshine, daily (but not too cold) fog, and some rain (but only at night). With such good luck on our first day we woke up to an amazing sight, the humid premontane forests of northern South America.<\/p>\n

\"Looking<\/a>
Looking west through a forest opening in the trail. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The first order of the day was to design a collecting plan and schedule. We wanted to see and collect everything; we wanted to go everywhere. That was when we realized that the field station was only right at the entrance of the park. After all the traveling we had done, we were still far from the heart of the reserve. Further in lay a world of unknown plants, places that no botanists had ever visited, relicts of disappearing paradises.<\/p>\n

\"Near<\/a>
Near the merging of the rivers Calles and Polo. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Acknowledgments: this project is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF DEB 1020623). Photos courtesy of: Julio Betancur*, Giovanny Giraldo*, Fredy G\u00f3mez<\/a>, Mar\u00eda Fernanda Gonz\u00e1lez*, Paola Pedraza-Pe\u00f1alosa<\/a>. (Those marked with a * are affiliated with the Universidad Nacional de Colombia<\/a>.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Orchids are such a prominent feature in this area that the park takes its name from them–Las Orqu\u00eddeas–the park of the orchids.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":183,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[1206,1293,46],"tags":[4637,1295,1298,1297,1296,150,4672,1294,4621,1207,4648],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/ph0lU-2uf","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9563"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/183"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9563"}],"version-history":[{"count":39,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9563\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9647,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9563\/revisions\/9647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}