Adaptation and Survival of the Fittest —— from nytimes.com

                
                Colombia is the most diverse place in the New World tropics for a group of plants that includes blueberries and cranberries.
Survival of the fittest and adaptation — these are concepts that come to my mind often while leading the botanical exploration of Las Orquídeas National Park, in western Colombia. These are not hard concepts to grasp while carrying out research in this park, a place that is two days on foot from the nearest trace of modern civilization. It is not only the incredible diversity of the plants that brings the words “survival” and “adaptation” to my mind, it is also the harshness of the environment, the challenges we face and the resilience of the people who live and work in the park.
                
                Julio Betancur
This orchid has an attractive sickle-shaped leaf.
With parallels in economic and biological theories, survival of the fittest and natural selection both express the struggle for life. During the trip I often think about it, especially when I feel a bit out of my comfort zone. Like when I’m clinging to my mule as she jumps over a fallen tree with a big drop on one side of the trail, or searching for poisonous snakes around my bed or doing unintentionally perfect somersaults down a very steep hill after tripping clumsily. All of us have had those moments during this trip, and we are determined not to let natural selection work against us — or so we jokingly say. Truth be told, we are doing well and enjoying the expedition.
                
                We work with the park rangers, teaching them about field botany and plant conservation. Here, Javier is using the telescopic pole pruners that allow us to sample hard-to-reach plants.
We have come here to collect as many ferns and flowering plant species as possible, so we spend most of the time out in the forest. My collaborators from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia and I have done this many times before, and we are comfortable in the forest. However, we feel especially safe and confident because of the presence of the park rangers, who are a vital part of the team. The park rangers are truly skilled people who know their way around the jungle. They are our guides, expert mule herders and research assistants. Some of them even have biology or forestry backgrounds, so the expedition is a perfect opportunity to train them further. We want to teach them about the plant species in the park and how to identify those that are critical for conservation programs. We are botanizing in a general area unusually rich in plant species, the Andes and Chocó biogeographic regions, where we expect that endemic species could make up as much as 50 percent of the total diversity. This means that many of the park’s plant species are naturally restricted to a small region, even just to the park. Conservation of endemic species, especially those traditionally used by locals, is critical for the survival of these forests.
                
                Filmy ferns: the leaf lamina between the leaf’s veins is just one cell thick. These delicate ferns thrive here.
In the lush forests that we are inventorying, plants grow in impossibly steep places and tolerate the high rainfall that washes nutrients from the soil. Excessive humidity can be a hard thing for many plants, but for other species, it can be an opportunity to diversify where others cannot. That is the case of the epiphytes, plants that grow on trees, in the wet mixture of mosses and decaying matter that cover tree trunks and branches. The filmy ferns, a group of epiphytic ferns that are most diverse and abundant in cloud forests, cover trees so densely that they can hide the bark beneath. Because their leaves are only one cell thick in the lamina between the veins, filmies, as they are called, cannot handle moisture loss well. In places like Las Orquídeas National Park, which have an excess of water every year, these beautiful ferns thrive. The leaf blades of filmy ferns are so thin that they are translucent when you hold them against the light, and with the aid of a magnifying glass, you can actually see the leaf cells.
                
                Locals use the large leaves of some Araceae as umbrellas to protect themselves from the rain. In this case, park rangers kept our saddles dry while we foraged for more plant samples.
Indians and farmers have been living in this general region since before the creation of the park. They have also adapted to the harshness of the environment, and plants play an important role in their adaptation. Many palms, trees and herbs are not only a food source, they are also used to build essential things like houses and to make rope, hammocks and so on.
Life in this remote region of Colombia is lush and colorful, but not easy. With every day that passes we learn more about it. On the few occasions we have seen locals while hiking in the forests or trails, it is fascinating to see how tough and resourceful they are. We have seen women too pregnant to ride, walking for hours; mothers handling a horse while holding a baby in one arm; people on foot carrying school desks on their backs from the nearest town; children going to school by crossing rivers using rusty hanging cages or bridges made out of rope and wood; and men maneuvering mules loaded with sharp metallic sheets for roofing through very narrow trails. Everyday life for these people is like a lifetime of adventures for us. Working here really has been an illuminating, inspiring and humbling experience.