With molecular biologist Maryam Chaib de Mares (Assistant Professor at the National University of Colombia), we investigate how knowledge about "extreme environments" in Colombia has incorporated the study of microbial communities. We focus on the microbiota associated with paramo lichens in one such extreme environment—the Colombian paramo. Instead of asking how paramo ecological dynamics configure microbial life, we investigate how a deeper understanding of microbial life transforms our understanding of paramo ecosystems and "extreme" life during the Anthropocene.