XVI International Botanical Congess

Critical environmental factors that affect the present-day distribution of endemic plants in the Andes of Bolivia are the climate, soils, and vegetation. Through time, several biogeographical processes involved variations in the distribution patterns of those species. Three main biogeographic affinities are found in the Andean region of Bolivia: Andean, Amazonian and Chaqueñan elements, these are characterized by both tropical and temperate species. Sympatric, parapatric and allopatric speciation may took place in some areas of the Andean flora regarding the uplift of the mountains and the formation of valleys. Today, some plant speciation centers as well as disjunctions are mostly found in the interandean valleys of Bolivia, as well as along elevational gradients of different kinds of soils and vegetation.