ABSTRACT
Species richness and community structure have long been debated as emergent properties of biological communities affected by environmental conditions and potentially linked to properties of resilience and stability. This chapter explores dynamic changes in the structure of diversity and functional responses of key indicator species of high-Andean vegetation and how it correlates to environmental factors in the Cumbres Calchaquies mountains of NW Argentina between 3750 and 4650 m altitude. It examines a high altitude area sensitive to global warming incorporating vegetation boundaries, is climatically and biologically relevant to a wide section of the Central Andes, and is relatively high in biodiversity. Plants ranging in size from seedlings to large adults were marked by distances and directions from a metal stake or by position with reference to rocks. Species richness in the Cumbres Calchaquies is high compared to other high mountains of comparable size, and particularly to mountains in the Central Andes.
