The Costa Rican páramo, also known as the Talamanca páramo, is a

natural region A natural region (landscape unit) is a basic geographic unit. Usually, it is a region which is distinguished by its common natural features of geography, geology, and climate. From the ecology, ecological point of view, the naturally occurring fl ...

montane grassland and shrubland Montane grasslands and shrublands is a biome defined by the World Wildlife Fund. The biome includes high elevation grasslands and shrublands around the world. The term "montane" in the name of the biome refers to "high elevation", rather than th ...

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

and western

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

Setting

The Costa Rican páramo includes several enclaves on the highest peaks of the

Cordillera de Talamanca The Cordillera de Talamanca is a mountain range that lies in the southeast half of Costa Rica and the far west of Panama. Much of the range and the area around it is included in La Amistad International Park, which also is shared between the two ...

in eastern Costa Rica and western Panama, with a total area of 31 km.Dinerstein, Eric; David Olson; Douglas J. Graham; et al. (1995). ''A Conservation Assessment of the Terrestrial Ecoregions of Latin America and the Caribbean.'' World Bank, Washington DC. The páramo is found above 3000–3100 meters elevation on the summits of

Cerro de la Muerte Cerro de la Muerte is a mountain peak of a massif in Costa Rica, it is located within the Tapantí — Cerro de la Muerte Massif National Park, and is the highest point on the Pan-American Highway. Toponymy Its name means "Mountain of Death", " ...

Cerro Chirripó Cerro is Spanish for "hill" or "mountain". Toponyms ;Bolivia: * Cerro Rico, the "Rich Mountain" containing silver ore near Potosi, Bolivia ;Brazil: *Cerro Branco, a municipality of Rio Grande do Sul *Cerro Grande, Rio Grande do Sul, a municipa ...

, and

Cerro Kamuk Cerro Kamuk (also known as Cerro Pico Blanco) is a mountain in the Cordillera de Talamanca, in La Amistad International Park, in eastern Costa Rica, close to the border with Panama. It rises to above sea level. It is one of the highest mountain ...

in Costa Rica,

Cerro Echandi Cerro Echandi is a mountain in Bocas del Toro Province of western Panama and in Limón of southwest Costa Rica, on the border with Costa Rica. It is part of the Cordillera de Talamanca The Cordillera de Talamanca is a mountain range that lies ...

on the Costa Rica-Panama border,

Cerro Fábrega Cerro Fábrega is a mountain in Bocas del Toro Province of western Panama. It has a height of 3,335 meters (10,942 feet). Cerro Fábrega is the second highest point in Panama. It is located in the province of Bocas del Toro, in the border area wit ...

, and Cerro Itamut in Panama. It is surrounded at lower elevations by the

Talamancan montane forests The Talamancan montane forests ecoregion, in the tropical moist broadleaf forest biome, are in montane Costa Rica and western Panama in Central America. Setting The Talamancan montane forests cover a discontinuous area of in Cordilleran mountain ...

. The

World Wide Fund for Nature The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wor ...

includes the Costa Rican páramo within the montane forests ecoregion, although the páramo has a distinct flora with affinities to the

páramo Páramo () can refer to a variety of alpine tundra ecosystems located in the Andes Mountain Range, South America. Some ecologists describe the páramo broadly as "all high, tropical, montane vegetation above the continuous timberline". A narrower ...

of the Northern Andes.

Flora

The Costa Rican páramo can be divided into three zones. The subpáramo is a

dwarf forest Dwarf forest, elfin forest, or pygmy forest is an uncommon ecosystem featuring miniature trees, inhabited by small species of fauna such as rodents and lizards. They are usually located at high elevations, under conditions of sufficient air humi ...

, dominated by the dwarf

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, bu ...

'' Chusquea subtessellata'', together with short shrubs. The páramo proper lies above the subpáramo, and is dominated by grasses, rushes, herbs, and low shrubs of the families

Gramineae Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns and ...

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

Cyperaceae The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus ''Carex'' w ...

Rosaceae Rosaceae (), the rose family, is a medium-sized family of flowering plants that includes 4,828 known species in 91 genera. The name is derived from the type genus ''Rosa''. Among the most species-rich genera are ''Alchemilla'' (270), ''Sorbus ...

and

Ericaceae The Ericaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the heath or heather family, found most commonly in acidic and infertile growing conditions. The family is large, with c.4250 known species spread across 124 genera, making it th ...

. Above the páramo lies the superpáramo, a narrow zone with scarce vegetation between the grass páramo and the snow line. The páramo is home to 416 flowering plant species, from 216 genera and 72 families. Fifty species are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the Talamancan páramos. Asteraceae is the most species-rich, with 73 species, including five endemic genera – '' Iltisia,

Jessea ''Jessea'' is a genus of Central American plants in the tribe Senecioneae within the sunflower family, closely related to ''Senecio''.Nordenstam, Rune Bertil. 1996. Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeograp ...

, Laestadia, Talamancalia'', and '' Westoniella''. Twenty species are restricted to the highest páramo elevations (3,500 to 3,819 m) – ''Azorella biloba, Castilleja quirosii, Draba jorullensis, Lewisia megarhiza, Lysipomia acaulis, Poa chirripoensis, Ranunculus crassirostratus, Senecio kuhbieri, Stevia westonii, Uncinia koyamae, Westoniella chirripoensis'', and ''Westoniella eriocephala''.

Fauna

32 species of mammals inhabit the páramo, including shrews (''

Cryptotis The genus ''Cryptotis'' is a group of relatively small shrews with short ears, which are usually not visible, and short tails, commonly called small-eared shrews. They have 30 teeth and are members of the red-toothed shrew subfamily. Since 1992, ...

''), rabbits (''

Sylvilagus Cottontail rabbits are the leporid species in the genus ''Sylvilagus'', found in the Americas. Most ''Sylvilagus'' species have stub tails with white undersides that show when they retreat, giving them their characteristic name. However, this ...

''),

ocelot The ocelot (''Leopardus pardalis'') is a medium-sized spotted wild cat that reaches at the shoulders and weighs between on average. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. Two subspecies are recognized. It is native to the southwes ...

(''Leopardus pardalis''),

margay The margay (''Leopardus wiedii'') is a small wild cat native to Central and South America. A solitary and nocturnal cat, it lives mainly in primary evergreen and deciduous forest. Until the 1990s, margays were hunted illegally for the wildlife ...

(''Leopardus wiedii''), puma (''Puma concolor'' ssp. ''costaricensis''), and

Baird's tapir The Baird's tapir (''Tapirus bairdii''), also known as the Central American tapir, is a species of tapir native to Mexico, Central America, and northwestern South America. It is the largest of the three species of tapir native to the Americas, as ...

(''Tapirus bairdii''). 70 bird species have been observed in the páramo. Twelve are considered true páramo residents, who live year-round in the páramo – the

red-tailed hawk The red-tailed hawk (''Buteo jamaicensis'') is a bird of prey that breeds throughout most of North America, from the interior of Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West Indies. It is one of the most common members with ...

(''Buteo jamaicensis''), black-cheeked warbler (''Basileuterus melanogenys''),

wrenthrush The wrenthrush or zeledonia (''Zeledonia coronata'') is a unique species of nine-primaried oscine bird which is endemic to Costa Rica and Panama. Taxonomy and systematics The wrenthrush is the only member of its genus and family. Despite its ...

(''Zeledonia coronata''),

flame-throated warbler The flame-throated warbler (''Oreothlypis gutturalis'') is a small New World warbler. It is sometimes placed in the genera ''Vermivora'' and ''Parula''. Description The adult flame-throated warbler is long and weighs . It has slate grey upper p ...

(''Oreothlypis gutturalis''),

timberline wren The timberline wren (''Thryorchilus browni'') is a species of bird in the family Troglodytidae. It is found in Costa Rica and western Panama. Taxonomy and systematics The timberline wren is the only member of genus ''Thryorchilus'', but its ...

(''Thryorchilus browni''),

volcano hummingbird The volcano hummingbird (''Selasphorus flammula'') is a species of hummingbird in tribe Mellisugini of subfamily Trochilinae, the "bee hummingbirds". It is found in Costa Rica and Panama.HBW and BirdLife International (2020) ''Handbook of the ...

(''Selasphorus flammula''),

black-billed nightingale-thrush The black-billed nightingale-thrush (''Catharus gracilirostris'') is a small thrush endemic to the highlands of Costa Rica and western Panama. Its position in the genus ''Catharus'' is somewhat equivocal, but it is apparently closer to the hermi ...

(''Catharus gracilirostris''),

sooty thrush The sooty thrush (''Turdus nigrescens'') is a large thrush endemic to the highlands of Costa Rica and western Panama. It was formerly known as the sooty robin. This is an abundant bird of open areas and oak forest edge normally above 2200 m alt ...

(''Turdus nigrescens''), sooty-capped bush tanager (''Chlorospingus pileatus''),

volcano junco The volcano junco (''Junco vulcani'') is a New World sparrow endemic to the Talamancan montane forests of Costa Rica and western Panama. This junco breeds above the timberline, typically at altitudes above 3,000 m, but there is an isolated ...

(''Junco vulcani''), large-footed finch (''Pezopetes capitalis''), and

rufous-collared sparrow The rufous-collared sparrow or Andean sparrow (''Zonotrichia capensis'') is an American sparrow found in a wide range of habitats, often near humans, from the extreme south-east of Mexico to Tierra del Fuego, and the island of Hispaniola (split ...

(''Zonotrichia capensis''). Another 34 species are regular visitors to the sub-páramo from the adjacent cloud forests; the remainder are occasional visitors. The páramo is home to one amphibian, the mushroom-tongue salamander (''Bolitoglossa pesrubra''), and two reptiles, the montane alligator lizard (''Mesaspis monticola'') and green spiny lizard (''Sceloporus malachiticus''). Another 16 species of reptiles and amphibians inhabit the sub-páramo dwarf forests. 71 insect species are recorded in the páramo, with

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) is an order (biology), order of insects that includes butterfly, butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 Family (biology), families and 46 Taxonomic r ...

as the order with the most species. The most abundant species are the moth '' Gonodonta pyrgo'', the leafhopper '' Hortensia similis'', and the bumblebee '' Bombus ephippiatus''.

Protected areas

All of the Costa Rican páramo is in protected areas.

Chirripó National Park Chirripó National Park is a national park of Costa Rica, encompassing parts of three provinces: San José, Limón and Cartago. It was established in 1975. It is named for its most prominent feature, Cerro Chirripó, which at is the highest ...

, established in 1975, protects Costa Rica's largest area of páramo on

(3,819 m) and surrounding peaks.

La Amistad International Park The La Amistad International Park, or in Spanish , formerly the La Amistad National Park, is a Transboundary Protected Area in Latin America, management of which is shared between Costa Rica ( Caribbean La Amistad and Pacific La Amistad Conservati ...

, established in 1982, protects the páramo on peaks extending southeastward from Cerro Chirripó, including as Eli, Dúrika, and Kamuk in Costa Rica and Fábrega, Itamut, and Echandi in Panama. Tapantí–Macizo Cerro de la Muerte National Park protects the páramos of Buenavista massif. Irazú and Turrialba national parks protect the páramo on the Irazú and Turrialba volcanoes in the Cordillera Central.

References

External links

*
Data Sheet on La Amistad Biosphere Reserve
{{DEFAULTSORT:Costa Rican paramo Páramos Montane grasslands and shrublands Ecoregions of Costa Rica Ecoregions of Panama Grasslands of Costa Rica Grasslands of Panama Natural regions Ecoregions of Central America Neotropical ecoregions IUCN Red List of Ecosystems