ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Special thanks to all the people that helped collecting data in the field and in the lab: Rafael Lara, Sandra Estrada, Felipe Avila, Alejandra Ayarza, Andrea Rojas and to Indira Leon for drawing the different growth forms presented in all figures and for helping in the field. We would like to thank the Sabogal family for allowing the collection of samples in paramo el Verjon and the ”Parque Ecológico Matarredonda”. Additionally, we would like to thank Adolfo Amézquita for his guidance during data analysis, James Dalling for reviewing and editing the last version of this manuscript and Fermín Rada, Barbara Scott M, Gordon Murdock, Rebecca Montgomery who made valuable suggestions that further improved this manuscript.
This research was funded by Colciencias Patrimonio autónomo fondo nacional de financiamiento para la ciencia, la tecnología y la innovación Francisco José de Caldas”, grant number 120471451294,also by the following grants from University of los Andes: “Fondo de Investigaciones para apoyar programas de profesores de la Facultad de Ciencias de la Universidad de los Andes, grant number INV-2019-84-1805 and “Fondo semilla” grant INV-2017-26-1118 and INV-2019-86-1807.