Análisis espacio temporal y climático del humedal altoandino de Chalhuanca (Perú) durante el periodo 1986-2016

The high Andean wetlands are considered fragile ecosystems that provide ecosystem services for the maintenance of Andean biodiversity and economy. However, currently the global threat of climate change puts them at serious risk, which is why the objective of this study is to determine the spatial-temporal and climatic variation of the high Andean wetlands of Chalhuanca (Peru), during the period 1986-2016. Landsat scenes were obtained during dry season in the years 1986, 1991, 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011, 2016, and using remote sensing techniques the area and vegetation index (NDVI) of the wetlands were calculated. For precipitation, maximum and minimum temperature, an analysis of moving averages, linear trends and the Mann-Kendall non-parametric statistical test was carried out, and finally the interaction between the variables was evaluated by using correlation and regression. The results show that the wetland area has increased by 12 ha/year. As for the NDVI, an increase of the average values for the evaluated period has been detected, being 0.26 the average of minimum values. Analysis of climate data shows that precipitation, maximum and minimum temperature have increased by 32 mm/dec, 0.3 °C/dec and 0.6 °C/dec respectively, with the maximum and minimum temperature being significant (α<0.05). Finally, correlation and regression analyses show that the wetland area-precipitation, NDVI-precipitation and wetland-NDVI relationships are significant for α<0.01, while the wetland-temperature and NDVI-temperature relationships were significant for α<0.05.