Introduction

According to the Catalog of plants and lichens of Colombia (online edition, Betancur, 2019), there are 25 genera and 545 species and/or varieties of bromeliads in Colombia. The online Encyclopedia of Bromeliads (Gouda et al, 2020) lists 693 species in 39 genera in Colombia. Taking 3623 (Gouda et al., 2020) as the number of bromeliad species and or varieties in the Americas, we see that Colombia hosts 15.0% of all recognized bromeliad species based on the numbers given in Betancur (2019) and 19.1% based on the numbers given in Gouda et. al. (2020).

In accordance with the numbers presented in Gouda et al. (2020) Colombia ranks fourth in bromeliad diversity among the countries of the Americas, following Brazil with 1734 species, Ecuador with 733 species and Peru with 728 species.

In Colombia, the largest agency dealing with the environment in the 1970's was INDERENA, but the name has since been changed to Ministerio de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sostenible--MADS--(Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development).

In 1977 a national law, with strong protections for certain classes of plants growing in areas where some remnants of the natural habitat remain, was passed by the Colombian government and is now being enforced. Protected plants include bromeliads, orchids, lichens, mosses and liverworts (INDERENA, 1977). As a consequence of the national law, companies planning projects with medium or large impacts on the environment must carry out two studies in such areas before work begins. An EIA (Estudio de Impacto Ambiental --Environmental Impact Study) includes a description of all the protected flora in the area undergoing development and its neighborhood. The second study is concentrated on the actual area within the EIA where natural habitat will be disturbed during construction. This study, known as the "Solicitud de Levantamiento Parcial de Veda de Flora" (in English it would be something similar to "Request for partial lifting of a ban on wild flora") inventories all the protected plants, including information on abundance and relationships between epiphytes and phorophytes (host plants). It also requires an inventory of the different substrates (rocks, soil and humus) used by the listed plants. Based on the results of this study, a plan to manage the protected species is developed to ensure the continued existance of the species at the site. This may include moving some protected plants from the area of direct impact to another area on the property that can be managed for the benefit of the protected...