Implications of Aquatic Plant Richness on Habitat Vulnerability to Climate Change in Tropical Wetlands

Tropical wetlands are highly sensitive to climatic and anthropogenic disturbances, and the composition of their plant communities can reflect the capacity of these ecosystems to respond to environmental perturbations. This study evaluated the relationship between aquatic macrophyte richness, community structure, and habitat vulnerability to climate change in aquatic ecosystems located in the San Luis rural district, Barrancabermeja mu-nicipality (Santander, Colombia). Macrophyte communities were characterized at 47 monitoring sites distributed across six mesohabitats: floodplain depressions, swamp la-goons, wetlands, artificial ponds (jagüeyes), naturalized ponds, and stream riparian zones. A total of 63 species belonging to 30 families and 51 genera were recorded. The re-lationships among species richness, abundance, and mesohabitat types were assessed using multivariate analyses and statistical models, including principal component anal-ysis (PCA) and generalized linear models. Results revealed clear differences in vegetation community structure among mesohabitats and dominance patterns associated with an-thropogenic disturbance. Ecosystems with higher macrophyte diversity and greater rep-resentation of native species exhibited lower levels of climatic vulnerability, whereas hab-itats dominated by eutrophication-tolerant species and subjected to greater anthropogenic pressure showed higher susceptibility. These findings highlight the ecological importance of aquatic macrophytes as indicators of environmental change and as key functional components contributing to the resilience of tropical wetlands under climate change.