The climate science of the tepui highlands is also increasingly important in the context of global climate change.

The tepui communities have evolved under specific climate conditions, and changes in rainfall patterns, temperature, and the frequency and character of cloud cover can have cascading effects on an ecosystem adapted to specific ranges of those variables.

The question of how tepui ecosystems will respond to climate change — whether species will be able to track changing conditions, whether the specific ecological interactions that characterize the summit will be disrupted, and whether the hydrological functions of the tepui highlands will change in ways that affect the surrounding river systems — is one that researchers are actively investigating.

The answer, unfortunately, is not reassuring.