A team of Colombian botanists has issued an urgent wake-up call after discovering a remarkable new orchid species, only to project its likely extinction within decades due to climate change.

The new species, named Lepanthes nasariana, grows in the cloud forests and páramos of the Western and Central Andes of Colombia, thriving in lush, humid habitats at altitudes between 2,800 and 3,600 metres. Yet, its discovery is shadowed by grim future prospects.

Drawing inspiration from the tragic fate of Santiago Nasar, the protagonist of the Gabriel García Márquez’s novel Chronicle of a Death Foretold, the researchers have termed their finding the “Nasar Effect”: a phenomenon where new species are described even as their demise is foretold by the very conditions that threaten them. In the novel the protagonist’s impending death is known to everyone but himself, reflecting the fate of the new species.

Published in the open-access journal PhytoKeys, their models show Lepanthes nasariana could lose up to 96% of its suitable habitat by 2090 under a worst-case climate scenario, shrinking the orchid’s presence to tiny refugia in just two Colombian national parks.

While the species is currently assessed as “Least Concern” according to IUCN Red List criteria, the projected impact of rising temperatures and shifting rainfall patterns would, under more severe climate projections, qualify it as “Critically Endangered” in less than a century. This trajectory is reflected in numerous high-Andean species, many still unknown to science, whose fates may soon be sealed by global warming.

This study underscores the need for concerted international action to curb greenhouse gas emissions and boost in situ and ex situ conservation in Colombia’s high-mountain ecosystems.

“Like the fate of Santiago Nasar, Lepanthes nasariana lives under a prophecy it cannot hear. Its extinction foretold by the warming of the very clouds that cradle it. Yet, in naming it, we hope to break that spell, to remind the world that there is still time to change the ending,” said the research team behind the discovery.

Original source

Moreno JS, Herrera Cobo AT, Palacio RD, Hazzi NA (2025) Chronicle of a death foretold: Lepanthes nasariana (Orchidaceae, Pleurothallidinae), a newly described high-Andean orchid facing a worst-case climate change scenario. PhytoKeys 266: 219-240. https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.266.161410