This study introduces AgroTec 4.0, which is a smart farming system designed to revolutionize strawberry cultivation in greenhouses through the integration of edge computing technology in the Andean region of Ecuador. The primary objective has been to enhance cultivation efficiency by comparing results from strawberry crops with and without the system, under identical greenhouse conditions. Given the low educational and economic status of local farmers, AgroTec 4.0 was engineered to be user-friendly, easy to operate, and cost-effective, empowering producers with data-driven decision-making capabilities. Key findings underscore the potential of AgroTec 4.0 and agricultural data, including a 15% increase in strawberry yield, from 5.0 kg/m² in the control greenhouse to 5.75 kg/m² with AgroTec 4.0, highlighting the system’s ability to maximize productivity. There has also been a significant 20% reduction in water usage, decreasing from 80 L/m² in the control greenhouse to 64 L/m² with the system, showcasing AgroTec 4.0’s efficiency in resource management. Furthermore, there were significant improvements in fruit quality, with an 11.8% increase in the Brix index (from 8.5 to 9.5) and a 16.7% increase in average fruit weight (from 30 to 35 g), demonstrating the system’s capacity to enhance product quality. Finally, there has been an impressive 103.03% return on investment (ROI) with AgroTec 4.0, compared to no change in ROI in the control greenhouse, emphasizing the economic value of implementing this technology. These results underscore the transformative potential of AgroTec 4.0 in precision agriculture, offering a scalable and sustainable approach for small-scale producers in Ecuador. The system’s modularity and real-time data analysis capabilities allow for flexible adaptation to various needs, providing farmers with an intuitive interface for managing crops and optimizing resource use. This study demonstrates the feasibility of leveraging agricultural data and edge computing to improve cultivation practices and enhance productivity, contributing efficiently to the sustainability of agriculture in challenging environments.

This study focused on the important role of renewable energies in the transition to a sustainable energy model and assessed their benefits, challenges and opportunities. Renewable energies have been identified as an important solution to respond to climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and diversifying the energy matrix. However, challenges have been identified, including the scarcity and variability of renewable energy sources, high upfront costs and the need for infrastructure improvements. However, significant opportunities in energy storage were highlighted, including technological advances, favorable policies and regulations, and financial innovations. The positive socio-economic impact of renewable energy on job creation, social development and poverty reduction has also been demonstrated. In summary, the importance of harnessing the potential of renewable energy and addressing current challenges is key to moving towards a more secure and sustainable future.

Monitoring land cover changes in protected areas is crucial to control the conservation efficiency of biodiversity and natural ecosystem conditions, especially in Ecuador, one of the most megadiverse countries in the world. Therefore, the purpose of the present study has been to estimate spatiotemporal changes in the landscape and the level of fragmentation using remote sensing in Llanganates National Park (PNL), a protected area in central Andean Ecuador. To obtain land cover, satellite images were processed using the Maximum Likelihood Classification (MLC) algorithm. After statistical analysis, it was encountered that there is no significant difference in land cover change between the years 1991 to 2016 nor among the three watersheds, while the level of fragmentation in the PNL is low. Land cover changes in the study area are not evident, as it is a protected area where ecosystems are usually expected to maintain their initial conditions over time. Therefore, with these results it has been concluded that the biodiversity and landscape conservation processes in the PNL are effective.

The current study aims to analyze the fundamental ecological niches of five páramo species in the high Andean zones of South America. Hereby, the research focuses on the typical flora species of this ecosystem, such as Azorella aretioides, Azorella crenata, Azorella biloba, Azorella corymbosa, and Azorella pedunculata, testing whether their niches are more similar than expected. The study area in the Ecuadorian Andes encompasses altitudinal gradients between 2000 and 5000 m above sea level, where the species were previously registered. For the methodology, we used data from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and identified the determining bioclimatic variables for the model as Bio1, Bio2, Bio3, Bio4, Bio12, Bio13, Bio14, Bio18, and Bio19. Moreover, we considered two alternative socioeconomic scenarios of climate change (SSP126 and SSP 245) projected for the period 2021–2040. In the same way, ecological niche models were evaluated and applied in order to identify areas of reduction in geographic space and the ecological space of the five species. Subsequently, the analysis revealed significant sensitivity of these high mountain species to variations in temperature and precipitation, with potential risks to associated species and water resources. In conclusion, changes in the fundamental niche were observed, with all species indicating reductions in distribution for 2040. This occurs particularly under the SSP245 scenario and especially in the equatorial zone, which currently exhibits extraordinary richness concerning the Azorella genus. Therefore, the study highlights evidently the vulnerability of páramo species to climate change, emphasizing the need for conservation efforts.

Zantedeschia aethiopica L. (Lirio de agua) es una planta vascular ornamental, protectora de humedales y sistemas fluviales con alta distribución en la zona Andina del Ecuador. El objetivo de este trabajo fue evaluar el efecto tóxico del cromo VI (Cr+6) en esta planta, reconociendo sus limitaciones como bioindicadora, para lo cual se determinaron los efectos fisiológicos específicos y no específicos, entre ellos: germinación relativa de semillas (GRS), elongación radicular relativa (ERR) e índice de germinación, en unidades experimentales consistentes en concentraciones de 0, 50, 100, 200 y 300 mg/kg de Cr+6 durante 168 h. Las observaciones fueron realizadas durante 20 semanas en la etapa de germinación en plantas cultivadas en suelo contaminado en condiciones semicontroladas de temperatura, humedad y capacidad de campo. Para determinar el Factor de Bioconcentración (FBC), en poscosecha se utilizaron los índices de traslocación (IT) como concentraciones del metal en la parte aérea de la planta (tallo, hojas y flores) y en el suelo. Los resultados mostraron toxicidad similar de Cr+6 en concentraciones de 100, 200 y 300 mg/kg en la etapa de germinación y con efectos fisiológicos no específicos en el crecimiento de la planta en concentraciones de 200 y 300 mg/kg presentando ausencia de floración, enanismo y marchitamiento. Los resultados mostraron un límite CL50 de 118.96 mg/kg-de Cr+6 en el cual la planta es una especie bioacumuladora y bioindicadora de este metal.

High-Andean páramo ecosystems are characterized by harsh environmental conditions that shape the structure and functioning of plant-associated microbial communities. However, the ecological drivers underlying microbial functional organization across plant compartments remain poorly understood. In this study, we characterized the functional metagenomic profiles of rhizospheric soil, non-rhizospheric soil, and endophytic microbiomes associated with Azorella spp. in the Ecuadorian Llanganates National Park using shotgun metagenomic sequencing and metabolic pathway reconstruction with HUMAnN3 and MetaCyc. Functional diversity differed significantly among microbial compartments for all alpha diversity indices (FDR-adjusted p < 0.001), and beta diversity analyses showed that ecological compartment was the primary determinant of functional composition (PERMANOVA, R2 = 0.590, p = 0.001), whereas geographic location had no significant effect (R2 = 0.082, p = 0.393). Across all compartments, microbial communities shared a conserved metabolic core dominated by pathways involved in nucleoside and nucleotide biosynthesis, amino acid biosynthesis, cofactor and vitamin biosynthesis, and fatty acid and lipid biosynthesis, indicating high functional redundancy despite taxonomic differentiation. Differential abundance analyses identified 42 metabolic pathways that varied significantly among ecological compartments (FDR < 0.05), revealing compartment-specific metabolic specialization. Hierarchical clustering further demonstrated that endophytic communities were functionally distinct from soil-associated microbiomes, whereas rhizospheric and non-rhizospheric soils displayed greater functional similarity. Environmental analyses identified 345 significant associations between metabolic pathways and environmental variables after false discovery rate correction. Soil physicochemical properties, particularly potassium, iron, magnesium, calcium, manganese, and other exchangeable cations, were the strongest predictors of functional variation, whereas climatic and radiometric variables exerted comparatively weaker effects. Distance-based redundancy analysis confirmed that soil properties significantly explained microbial functional composition (Pseudo-F = 6.99, p = 0.001), with the first two constrained axes accounting for 89.9% of the explained variation. These findings demonstrate that microbial functionality in tropical high-Andean páramos is primarily structured by ecological compartment and soil physicochemical conditions rather than geographic location. The conservation of a shared metabolic backbone combined with compartment-specific functional specialization highlights the existence of a resilient microbial metabolic network that supports nutrient cycling, plant–microbe interactions, and ecosystem functioning under extreme mountain environments.