| Summary: | En este trabajo se realizó la clasificación funcional de especies de páramo y se determinó la capacidad de aclimatación térmica de la fotosíntesis y la respiración en los diferentes grupos funcionales, así como el efecto de la temperatura en su capacidad de germinación. Above treeline in the mountains from the Northern Andes, there is an ecosystem of restricted distribution locally called as páramo. Páramos are tropical ecosystems of high altitude where there are special conditions that make them and their flora unique, such as greatly dynamic cloud conditions, excessive amounts of UV radiation, rapid changes of incident sunlight and pronounced temperature fluctuations during each day, among others. They are critical as a source of water in the region, are important carbon sinks, are home to a vast endemic flora, and possess some of the fastest rates of diversification in the world. Although the ecosystemic services of páramos depend to their high spatial abiotic and biotic heterogeneity that generates complex mosaics of plants associations; unfortunately, little work has been done on the susceptibility of páramo plants to climate change. Human-induced climate change is affecting all the Earth's biomes, including páramos, where models predict that temperatures will increase, while the volume and frequency of precipitation will decrease to the end of this century. All research indicates that warmer and drier environments will drive vegetation upward, as plants did in the past, during interglacial periods, rather than adapting to the new conditions. Plants can respond to climate change by adaptation, migration, or local extinction; adaptation implies that plants can acclimate its physiology to the new conditions, migration requires reproductive traits that favored dispersal and colonization of new areas, and it is well established, that species with limited ranges of distribution, such as those restricted to the páramo, have a higher risk of extinction. However, adaptation and migration capacities are not enough ...
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