In early June, Bogotá, Colombia, became the center of global páramo research as faculty and students from Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences joined forces with international partners to host the landmark Páramos 2025 Symposium.
The four-day event, held at Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano, brought together nearly 60 scientists, students and conservation leaders from across the Americas and Europe to address the challenges facing the páramos - high-altitude Andean ecosystems crucial for biodiversity, water regulation and carbon storage.
Through interdisciplinary panels and collaborative workshops, the symposium marked a significant step toward advancing ecological research and climate resilience in one of the planet's most threatened biomes.
The event was co-organized by Estelle Couradeau, Siela Maximova, Lina Tami Barrera and Daniela Betancurt Anzola, from Penn State; Johanna Santamaria Vanegas, from Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano; and Jose-Luis Machado, from Swarthmore College. The U.S. National Science Foundation, Ag Sciences Global in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, Penn State Global and Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano provided support.
Among the key outcomes of the symposium was the formation of the Páramos Microbiome Initiative, or PARAMINI, a collaborative effort involving Universidad Jorge Tadeo, Penn State, Universidad Nacional and the University of Arizona to establish a coordinated network for sharing microbiome data in páramo ecosystems. PARAMINI is aimed at promoting findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable data practices, enabling comparative studies with global wetlands to improve our understanding of microbiome dynamics in response to the changing climate.
Several other initiatives discussed included the development of comparative studies with global wetlands, integration of remote sensing with soil and plant data, and coordinated climate manipulation experiments using rain-out shelters. Participants also emphasized the importance of long-term monitoring networks, standardized data protocols, and interdisciplinary modeling efforts to simulate interactions between vegetation, soil and hydrology under changing climate conditions.
The scientists identified critical knowledge gaps in areas such as soil mapping, microbial diversity, plant reproduction and plant-soil-water interactions - factors essential for predicting ecosystem responses to global environmental change. The symposium emphasized the need for interdisciplinary research and the integration of tools such as remote sensing, hydrology, plant ecology, and socio-ecological systems to inform conservation and land-use policy.
The event also featured an art exhibition, "Páramos, cuerpos de agua/cuerpos en fuego," which translates to "Páramos, bodies of water/bodies on fire," curated by Ana María Lozano. Through immersive installations by artists Clemencia Echeverri and Eulalia De Valdenebro, the exhibit invited participants to reflect on the dialogue that should occur among multiple disciplines, each with its own knowledge, which has been reflecting on and warning about the profound imbalance that the Earth is undergoing.
"This symposium was not just about science," said Penn State's Couradeau, an assistant professor of soils and environmental microbiology. "It was about building a community. We are now connected through a shared vision to protect one of the planet's most vital and vulnerable ecosystems."
Representatives at the symposium came from 10 Colombian universities and nine international universities. It featured presentations from Colombia, the U.S., the United Kingdom, Belgium, Ecuador, Venezuela, Panama, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic.
The event also included delegates from key Colombian government agencies: the Ministerio de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sostenible (Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development), the Instituto de Hidrología, Meteorología y Estudios Ambientales (IDEAM, Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies), Parques Nacionales Naturales de Colombia (National Natural Parks of Colombia), and the Instituto Alexander von Humboldt (Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Research on Biological Resources).
Participants also represented other international institutions, including the Climatebase Fellowship, Carboneers, Netherlands; UCLouvain, Belgium; Kew Botanical Garden, United Kingdom; New York Botanical Garden, U.S.; UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, United Kingdom; Coiba AIP Research Station, Panama; Consorcio para el Desarrollo Sostenible de la Ecorregión Andina, Peru; and the Fondo para la Conservación del Agua, Ecuador.
"It's interesting to see such a diverse and thriving community of scientists," said participant Wouter Buytaert, from Imperial College, U.K. "We need that kind of scientific community that produces the evidence that can help conserve the páramo."
Robert Hofstede, a participant from Universidad de San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador, agreed.
"Events like this are so important to bring people together, generate ideas and plant the seeds for fantastic research," he said.
