Tillandsia comarapaensis

Although the Bolivian Yungas ecoregion has a good coverage of national parks, habitat loss and general degradation due to human activities persist outside protected areas (Mee 1998). Habitat is burned for growing cash crops, and this has increased, along with logging, due to intensified road-building (Collar et al. 1992).

It also occurs within the Bolivian montane dry forests ecoregion, which is among one of the most threatened ecosystems in the world (Portillo-Quintero and Sánchez-Azofeifa 2009). It contains large areas of degraded land, and the region is heavily impacted by urban expansion and the associated conversion to agriculture (Fjeldså and Mayer 1996). This species has been recorded to occur in the Churo Negro Municipal Protected Area in the region. The regionally outstanding central Andean puna ecoregion, where this species is also found, is classified as Vulnerable. Land has been extensively converted for agricultural purposes, as well as livestock grazing, firewood supply and by burning (Dinerstein et al. 1995). In 2022, 33 kha of land burned in the department of Santa Cruz (where this species occurs), one of the highest levels recorded since 2001. This species also occurs in the department of Chuquisaca, where an unusually high 590 ha of land burned in 2022. In 2020, a record high 37 kha of land in Chuquisaca burned (Global Forest Watch 2023).

The species has been recorded to occur in the Churo Negro Municipal Protected Area, although the level of protection here is likely to be low (WDPA 2020). It could be present in the Amboro National Park, and more surveys are recommended to confirm this. Its seeds are not currently held in any seed bank (Genesys 2023), however, it is held in six ex situ sites worldwide. A hybrid cross of this species with another is also held at one ex situ site (BGCI 2023).