Photograph by Joel Sartore bolded. Human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels and changes in land use, however, are contributing to an accelerated pace of climate change. The research is focused on the remote subalpine regions known as montane in Bolivia. Bolivia is ranked 12th in the world in biodiversity and is home to 39 percent of South America's mammals and 40 percent of its birds. Yet very little is known about the country's flora and fauna.
Montane regions are extreme.
They exhibit some of the wettest, driest, coldest, and hottest conditions on the planet. The terrain lies below the timberline and is characterized by evergreen forests, meadows, and wetlands in rugged, usually isolated mountain regions. Because of their tendency toward extremes, montane regions provide an opportunity to track the early signs of climate change and study it. To establish a baseline of information on how the region stands now, scientists are collecting data on the region's flora and fauna at three different elevations. The information will be used to map the distribution and patchiness of montane ecosystem, identify pockets of habitat, and establish plant and animal inventories.