Dear Diana

Protection of each area is referred to many parameters such as: 

Lithologic aspect of bed rock , type of rock is referred to mineralogical composition and geologic condition of formation of minerals. Thermodynamic description is the most factor which allows stability of minerals. Therefore decomposition of minerals take place when thermodynamical  equilibrium of the minesrals changes.   

Soil coverage: it is function of weathering and erosion in area. Soil coverage depends on topographic slope, run off, geologic setting (morphotectonic aspect and rock sequence) and plant growth. 

morphotectonic elements (fault, fold, joint......)

Sequence of rock units ( alternation of igneous, metamorphic or sedimentary rocks) types of sedimentary sequence. For example presence of evaporites (gypsum salt.....) or fine grain clastic rocks (shales) are non resistant under climatic conditions. They can cause collapse structure when they are covered by resistant rock units (limestone and sand stone)

Climatic condition is one of the most significant factor of protection in distinct area. However precipitation causes erosion rapidly on chemical weathering in all types of exposed rocks. therefore moisturized climatic condition dispersed bed rocks. other non organic weathering factors such as physical (wind, rivers and streams)  affect on rate of weathering. Geographical latitude  control  general temperature of area and mechanism of climatic periods. Therefore change in climatic condition period can affect of weathering pattern.

Plant coverage is a positive effect on protection which causes stability of soil structure. It can a most factor of soil erosion. Despite plant coverage development is an equal with biological weathering. As mentioned before climatic condition is one the most factor which affects on protection. Presence of organisms is depend on climatic condition directly. Therefore types of organisms are assigned to described climatic conditions.

Topographic characteristic is another factor which determines the protection in area. It is influenced by geologic setting of each area. However geologic setting describes structure position of exposures.  As mentioned before Geologic setting of each area is described by tectonic regime, historical lithology, paleoclimatologic aspect (many rock types are affected by paleoclimatic condition and change to altered rocks during the geologic time) and recent climatic condition. Eventually ecosystem characteristics are distinguished by these factors.

Hydrological and Hydrogeological systems is anther most factors which determines the protection. Water table position and its change in level, types of run off are the most factor in geomorphological aspect.  

I propose you some references which are presented their links below:

link 1:  https://books.google.com/books?id=T5M2uEMpWF8C&pg=PT332&lpg=PT332&dq=geomorphology+and+protection+area&source=bl&ots=aafye4Gq8b&sig=dMSHQl3tBD3Vpvb7PbTDVOqrw_U&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAWoVChMI4vmEubrcxwIVAsAUCh3BbwD-#v=onepage&q=geomorphology%20and%20protection%20area&f=false

link 2: https://books.google.com/books?id=whgNDVXFiqYC&pg=PT846&lpg=PT846&dq=geomorphology+and+protection+area&source=bl&ots=WnfD2kWkNb&sig=Vx7zmGe8u43FEKwGjN5XqGPmcNw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAmoVChMI4vmEubrcxwIVAsAUCh3BbwD-#v=onepage&q=geomorphology%20and%20protection%20area&f=false

link 3: https://books.google.com/books?id=SxwafPr6RHEC&pg=PA81&lpg=PA81&dq=geomorphology+and+protection+area&source=bl&ots=O0LRnZ8Wvt&sig=tPn4-ryZAPFoD0BmTU6g242yCOQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDMQ6AEwA2oVChMI4vmEubrcxwIVAsAUCh3BbwD-#v=onepage&q=geomorphology%20and%20protection%20area&f=false

Regards

Massih

Hi Massih, thanks for your reply, may be I was not so clear on my question. of course I know there are a lot of factors, and I am working on a multidisciplinary team, focused on the geosystem, so all the aspects you are mentioning are going to be studied, for example there is a geological fault that limits the study area, so we are going to try to produce an structural model, also the area is covered by fluvial deposits, but in other sector there is some aeolian dunes, all of those deposits have certain characteristics like porosity and permeability, etc... unfortunately the budget doesn't allow to go to fieldwork, so any samples will be taken, so any lab analysis will be done.

So what I wanted to know was more specific about some criteria from the geomorphological point of view that worked to establish a national park, for example I believe there must be some relation between a specific geoform and water infiltration, there must be some methodologies or statistical modelling.

This is just one idea, but I think that there are some more relationships that I could use a s a criteria.

Regards

Diana Lozano

Dear Diana,

the question is difficult because I suppose the objective of establishing a park there is to protect biodiversity and you actually have no biodiversity data. A rule of thumb is that your park should encompass as a diverse range of habitats as possible to make sure many ecological niches are covered. However, I would also consider identifying key species in need of protection in the country where the park has to be established (i.e. by looking at redlist assessments, or considering endemisms) and develop species distribution models to see in which sites of your candidate territory they are most likely to occur. You may use accessible datasets of species presence records for neighbouring regions to train models and project them to your area even if no faunal/floristic records are available for the latter. Your geomorphological information along with climate variables etc will form the set of environmental predictors to test in order to develop models for the target species. Then I would try to enclose in the future park at least all sites showing significant overlap of potential ranges (= model outputs) of your priority species. You might also select organisms (among the set identified according to the approach described above) whose wide home ranges/diverse habitat use make them potentially good umbrella species (which means that if you protect their range you would automatically preserve the ranges of other species). Please note this approach is far from perfect but in your case (neither data nor funds) I cannot see any better option. 

I hope this helps,

best

Danilo

Hi Danilo, that looks goog, National Parks of Colombia, already have a preliminar polygon based on biodiversity, the area outside that polygon is not well conserved, is afected mostly by agricultural lands, as well as oil companies. Thats why they want to take that piece of land that is still intact and protect it. However, they want to have also abiotic criteria, another colleagues are working on several aspects as geology, geochemistry, etc, I am working on geomorphology.

By doing this, it could happen that the final polygon could be even bigger, and some restauration activities would be necessary.

So following your advice, I guess I could take the biotic maps that they have (ecosystem, or species distribution) and overlap them with my geomorphological map, to see if there is any direct relationship among them?

Thank you so much,

Regards.

No idea how the "biodiversity polygon" was obtained, but you may use that as a leading criterion, then try to maximise landscape heterogeneity by including in the protected area as much geomorphological variation as possible (which would presumably correspond to more habitat types for the various species). In some cases geomorphological features may also be useful to define clear boundaries of the area (think about mountain ridges, for instance), which may help mapping, management and protection. Finally, you may want to include in the protected area any linear element such as rivers, mountain chains, etc. that connect your area to other sites important for biodiversity (e.g. other reserves), preserving such features as ecological corridors to favour gene flow between habitat patches and encourage network dynamics.  If habitat restoration is applicable, as you mention, this might target potential corridors and improve connectivity on a regional scale.

I hope this helps!

Best wishes

Danilo

Dear Diana,

Many geomorphological and landscape features are incorporated into conservation planning protocols as they serve as surrogates for evolutionary and ecological processes that are difficult or even impossible to delimit otherwise. This ties in with what Danilo Russo has mentioned with regards to corridors and connectivity. I am most familiar with the South African literature, so I provide some examples below. I realise this might not answer your questions exactly, but hopefully it will help you identify which geomorphological features are of importance.

Article Designing Large-Scale Conservation Corridors for Pattern and Process

Article Identifying spatial components of ecological and evolutionar...

Many years ago, I was part of a group working in Ecuador to do what you are going to do in Columbia, but where we were working was solid tropical forest.  The area around  Arauca, Colombia looks like a huge cleared forest with remains only along the larger rivers, about 300 miles by 1,000 miles going from Bogata to Port of Spain?

What we were planning in Ecuador, is to protect an entire watershed from ridge line to ridge line, and into the mountains from wherever the rivers originate.   And the other plan was to keep the local native peoples involved with the land management and traditional uses, instead of kicking them off the land.

Danilo and Adriaan, thank you so much, I believe that your information and ideas has been really helpful, and now I have a path where to start working, for sure through the process I will have more questions,that we can discuss.

thanks!

Couple of things to add to the comments above.

You need to define the extent of process flows. Catchment (watershed) - scale is always a good start, because it provides boundaries to water flows. But there could be things like home range and habitat requirements of particular species of concern. There is also the issue of shape of the area and edge effect.

Trying to encompass as much heterogeniety as possible may be useful but could lead to awkwardly-shaped areas that create problems for catchment management or migration. Rather define the limits of the ecosystem you wish you could have and then eliminate the areas that you cannot manage because of social, logistical, political or other constraints. You need to have an idea of mineral concessions and other potentially valuable resources on your area that will generate future threats to the land.

Conservation planning is primarily a social and economic exercise. if you have the luxury of having a large area to choose from and willing neighbours, you are in a very fortunate position.