Fig. 1

Sampling site and characterization of the plant species across the Talabre–Lejía transect. a Elevation model indicating the sampling sites at the TLT. Sampling sites at prepuna (orange dots), puna (red dots) and steppe (green dots) with their corresponding mean annual precipitation (mm) and altitude (m a.s.l.). b Distribution of the 21 selected plant species along the TLT elevations. Color gradient represent the number of years each species was observed at each location. Full data on the plants, such as family, growth habit and life history, can be found in Additional file 2: Figure S2 and Additional file 7: Table S1. c. Representative images of plant species in each vegetation belt are shown