Northern Andean Páramo
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The Northern Andean páramo (NT1006) is an
ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) is an ecological and geographic area that exists on multiple different levels, defined by type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and c ...
containing
páramo Páramo () may 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 ...
vegetation above the treeline in the
Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...
of Colombia and Ecuador. In the past, when the climate was cooler, the treeline and the páramo units were lower and the units were connected. During the present warmer
Holocene The Holocene () is the current geologic time scale, geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago. It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene to ...
epoch the páramos have migrated uphill, shrinking and becoming isolated. They contain many rare or endangered species, some of them restricted to a narrow area of one mountain or mountain range. The ecoregion is relatively well preserved, but faces threats from over-grazing and farming.


Geography


Location

The Northern Andean
páramo Páramo () may 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 ...
surrounds the highest peaks of the Andes between the treeline and the snowline from north central Colombia along the ''cordilleras'' south to central Ecuador. It has an area of . The páramo is found at elevations from to the snow line at , islands of grasslands and shrubs surrounded by a sea of cloud forest lower down. Areas of the ecoregion are found within or adjoining the
Apure–Villavicencio dry forests The Apure–Villavicencio dry forests (NT0201) is an ecoregion in Venezuela and Colombia to the east of the eastern cordillera of the Andes. The ecoregion covers the transition zone between montane forests in the Andes and the llanos, or lowland g ...
, Cordillera Oriental montane forests,
Magdalena Valley montane forests The Magdalena Valley montane forests (NT0136) is an ecoregion in the Andes mountains of central Colombia. Geography Location The ecoregion covers the higher land on both sides of the valley of the Magdalena River in the Colombian Andes. The ri ...
,
Magdalena Valley dry forests The Magdalena Valley dry forests (NT0221) is an ecoregion in Colombia along the upper Magdalena River, a large river that runs from south to north between the two main ''cordilleras'' of the Andes. There are many endemic species, but much of the o ...
,
Northwestern Andean montane forests The Northwestern Andean montane forests (NT0145) is an ecoregion on the Andes mountains in the west of Colombia and Ecuador. Both flora and fauna are highly diverse due to effect of ice ages when the warmer climate zones were separated and the cool ...
and Eastern Cordillera Real montane forests.


Soils

There are many types of soil due to the diverse geology of the Andes, but most are fairly young. They include
andosol Andosols are soils found in volcanic areas formed in volcanic tephra. In some cases Andosols can also be found outside active volcanic areas. Andosols cover an estimated 1–2% of Earth's ice-free land surface. Andosols are a Reference Soil Grou ...
s,
inceptisol Inceptisols are a soil order in USDA soil taxonomy. They form quickly through alteration of parent material. They are more developed than Entisols. They have no accumulation of clays, iron oxide, aluminium oxide or organic matter. They have a ...
s,
histosol In both the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) and the USDA soil taxonomy, a Histosol is a soil consisting primarily of organic materials. They are defined as having or more of organic soil material starting within 40 cm from the so ...
s,
entisol Entisols are soils, as defined under USDA soil taxonomy, that do not show any profile development other than an A-horizon (or “A” horizon). Entisols have no diagnostic horizons, and are unaltered from their parent material, which could ...
s and mollisols. At the lowest levels, the subpáramo, soils are dark, low in acid, low in
calcium Calcium is a chemical element; it has symbol Ca and atomic number 20. As an alkaline earth metal, calcium is a reactive metal that forms a dark oxide-nitride layer when exposed to air. Its physical and chemical properties are most similar to it ...
and free
phosphorus Phosphorus is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol P and atomic number 15. All elemental forms of phosphorus are highly Reactivity (chemistry), reactive and are therefore never found in nature. They can nevertheless be prepared ar ...
, fairly high in
potassium Potassium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol K (from Neo-Latin ) and atomic number19. It is a silvery white metal that is soft enough to easily cut with a knife. Potassium metal reacts rapidly with atmospheric oxygen to ...
and
nitrogen Nitrogen is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a Nonmetal (chemistry), nonmetal and the lightest member of pnictogen, group 15 of the periodic table, often called the Pnictogen, pnictogens. ...
, with more than 10% organic matter in the top layer. At the middle levels, the grass páramo, soils are fairly deep and are dark in color, acidic, moist or saturated with water, rich in organic matter and peat-like. At the highest levels, known as the superpáramo, soils are shallow and coarse, with much rock and sand and little organic matter. They do not retain water and are highly infertile.


Climate

The
Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...
is "Cfb": warm temperate; fully humid; warm summer. The páramos of Colombia and the north of Ecuador are generally humid throughout the year with moisture delivered in the form of rain, clouds and fog as air masses are lifted up over the mountains. Annual rainfall ranges from . This differs from the
Costa Rican páramo The Costa Rican páramo, also known as the Talamanca páramo, is a natural region of montane grassland and shrubland of Costa Rica and western Panama. Setting The Costa Rican páramo includes several enclaves on the highest peaks of the Cordi ...
,
Santa Marta páramo The Santa Marta páramo (NT1007) is an ecoregion containing páramo (high moorland) vegetation above the treeline in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range on the Caribbean coast of Colombia. The isolated position of the range has allowed ...
and Venezuelan páramo, where the northeast trade winds create a distinct dry season. It also differs from the páramos in the south of Ecuador and north of Peru, which are drier. The Northern Andean páramos experience temperatures that may drop below freezing at night and rise to during the day. Rain, snow and fog may alternative with sunny skies and high temperatures in the course of a day.


Ecology

The Northern Andean páramo ecoregion is in the
neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In biogeogra ...
realm, in the
montane grasslands and shrublands Montane grasslands and shrublands are 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 t ...
biome. The ecoregion is part of the Northern Andean Paramo global ecoregion, which also includes the
Cordillera Central páramo The Cordillera Central páramo (NT1004) is an ecoregion containing páramo (high moorland) vegetation above the treeline in the Andes mountain range of northern Peru and southern Ecuador. Due to its isolation there are high levels of endemism. De ...
,
Santa Marta páramo The Santa Marta páramo (NT1007) is an ecoregion containing páramo (high moorland) vegetation above the treeline in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range on the Caribbean coast of Colombia. The isolated position of the range has allowed ...
and
Cordillera de Merida páramo The Cordillera de Merida páramo (NT1004) is an ecoregion containing páramo (high moorland) vegetation above the treeline in the Andes mountain range of Venezuela. The isolated habitat has many endemic species. It is relatively stable and intact. ...
terrestrial ecoregions. The plants and animals are adapted to the cold, dry conditions of the high peaks. There is a high level of local endemism, particularly on the more isolated peaks.


Origins

The Andes began to rise in the
Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...
epoch, but in the north did not reach their present height until the
Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Poaceae Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivate ...
'', ''
Cyperaceae The Cyperaceae () are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as wikt:sedge, sedges. The family (biology), family is large; botanists have species description, described some 5,500 known species in about 90 ...
'', ''
Asteraceae Asteraceae () is a large family (biology), family of flowering plants that consists of over 32,000 known species in over 1,900 genera within the Order (biology), order Asterales. The number of species in Asteraceae is rivaled only by the Orchi ...
'', ''
Ericaceae The Ericaceae () are a Family (biology), 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 about 4,250 known species spread acros ...
''. During the later parts of the
Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), as well as the current and most recent of the twelve periods of the ...
epoch a series of short, cold and dry glacial periods alternated with warmer and more humid interglacial periods. The páramo belts moved lower and joined in the cold periods, and moved higher into unconnected enclaves when the temperatures rose. The result is a mix of species of tropical and
boreal Boreal, northern, of the north. Derived from the name of the god of the north wind from Ancient Greek civilisation, Boreas (god), Boreas. It may also refer to: Climatology and geography *Boreal (age), the first climatic phase of the Blytt-Sernand ...
origin with the same
genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...
found in most páramos, but with many
endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...
species in the individual páramos. As recently as 14,000 years ago the temperatures were below those of today, and the páramo belt began at an elevation of . It covered a much larger area than it does today, and most of today's isolated areas of páramo were connected. The warming that began about 10,000 years ago at the start of the
Holocene The Holocene () is the current geologic time scale, geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago. It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene to ...
epoch caused the forest line to rise, pushing the páramo belt upward and reducing its area. Cooling that started around 2,900 years ago caused the belts to move down towards their present positions. This picture may be simplistic, since species that are less sensitive to temperature changes may have moved less than those that are more sensitive, so the composition of the belts may have changed.


Provinces

A 2013 analysis of the páramo units in Colombia evaluated similarities between their endemic flora. It found that the units naturally formed into five biogeographical provinces: The definition of the Páramos del Norte province differs from the traditional grouping, where the
Santa Marta páramo The Santa Marta páramo (NT1007) is an ecoregion containing páramo (high moorland) vegetation above the treeline in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range on the Caribbean coast of Colombia. The isolated position of the range has allowed ...
is treated as a separate ecoregion and the Perijá páramo is included in the Cordillera Oriental province. The flora of these two is closer to the Páramos de Chirripó of Central America than to the rest of the Northern Andean páramo, despite their being separated by the
Cesar River The Cesar River () is a river in northern Colombia which is a part of the Magdalena Basin. It flows through the Cesar-Ranchería Basin and separates the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta from the mountain ranges of the Serranía del Perijá, an exten ...
valley. The Páramos del Macizo and Cordillera Central province shared many species with the Ecuador páramos, confirming the grouping of the Ecuador and central-south Colombia páramos in one ecoregion.


Flora

Vegetation consists of high alpine grasslands, bogs and open meadows. The boundary between the treeline and the páramo is usually higher on the wetter, windward side of the mountains. The treeless grasslands of the páramo are probably man-made, and preserved through cutting, burning and grazing. In earlier times the transition from forest to grassland was probably higher and less abrupt. The flora are mostly recent species that have emerged in the last 4 million years. The páramos have plants of the same genera, but have highly endemic species. 86% of flowering plant species are endemic to the ecosystem. The subpáramo is the transition between the forest and grasslands at around of elevation. It contains small, scattered trees, giving way to scrub, dwarf shrubs, grasses and herb. Grass páramo grows at altitudes of about and mostly contains tussock grass or bunch grass of ''
Calamagrostis ''Calamagrostis'' (reed grass or smallweed) is a genus of flowering plants in the grass family Poaceae, with about 260 species that occur mainly in temperate regions of the globe. Towards equatorial latitudes, species of ''Calamagrostis'' general ...
'' or ''
Festuca ''Festuca'' (fescue) is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the grass family Poaceae (subfamily Pooideae). They are evergreen or herbaceous perennial tufted grasses with a height range of and a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on ...
'' species. It also contains a great variety of small herbs. There are also rocky areas and areas of swamp, bog or marsh with unique flora. At the highest levels superpáramo vegetation is adapted to the harshest conditions, has very high endemism, and holds very small plants, gymnosperms, mosses and lichens.


Fauna

Endangered mammals include Hammond's rice rat ('' Mindomys hammondi''),
mountain tapir The mountain tapir, also known as the Andean tapir or woolly tapir (''Tapirus pinchaque''), is the smallest of the four widely recognized species of tapir. It is found only in certain portions of the Andean Mountain Range in northwestern South A ...
(''Tapirus pinchaque'') and woodland Oldfield mouse (''Thomasomys hylophilus''). Endangered reptiles include Colombian lightbulb lizard (''Riama columbiana'') and '' Riama petrorum''. Endangered birds include
Apolinar's wren Apolinar's wren (''Cistothorus apolinari'') is a passerine bird in the family Troglodytidae. It is endemic to Colombia. Taxonomy and systematics Apolinar's wren has two subspecies, the nominate ''Cistothorus apolinari apolinari'' and ''C. a. ...
(''Cistothorus apolinari''), black-breasted puffleg (''Eriocnemis nigrivestis'') and Bogotá rail (''Rallus semiplumbeus''). Endangered amphibians include the painted frogs '' Atelopus arthuri'', '' A. bomolochos'', '' A. ebenoides'', '' A. exiguus'', '' A. muisca'' and '' A. pachydermus'', the poison dart frog '' Colostethus jacobuspetersi'', the marsupial frogs '' Gastrotheca espeletia'', '' G. litonedis'', '' G. orophylax'', '' G. pseustes'' and '' G. riobambae'', the treefrog '' Hyloscirtus psarolaimus'', the rocket frogs '' Hyloxalus anthracinus'', '' H. delatorreae'', '' H. edwardsi'', '' H. vertebralis'', the Boqueron robber frog '' Hypodactylus latens'', the '' Niceforonia adenobrachia'', the plump toads '' Osornophryne percrassa'' and '' O. talipes'', the robber frogs '' Pristimantis atratus'', '' P. baryecuus'', '' P. cryophilius'', '' P. cryptomelas'', '' P. devillei'', '' P. gentryi'', '' P. mnionaetes'', '' P. modipeplus'', '' P. ocreatus'', '' P. orestes'', '' P. pycnodermis'', '' P. pyrrhomerus'', '' P. simonbolivari'', '' P. simoteriscus'', '' P. surdus'', '' P. thymalopsoides'' and '' P. truebae'' and the black water frog ''
Telmatobius niger ''Telmatobius niger'' is a species of frog in the family Telmatobiidae. It is endemic to the Andes of Ecuador, with records from both Amazonian and Pacific versants. Last seen in 1994, it is feared that this species may be extinct. The English ...
''.


Status

The
World Wildlife Fund The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a Swiss-based 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 ...
gives the Northern Andean páramo the status of "Relatively Stable/Intact". The páramo is a major source of water for the Andean highlands and large parts of the adjacent lowlands, providing a sustainable flow of rivers with high quality water. Humans have been present in the páramo since the pre-Columbian period, but often did no more than allow their animals to graze freely. More recently the limit with the natural forest has been drastically changed by logging and intensive grazing, and it is hard to distinguish between natural and artificial grasslands. There has been an increase in cultivation, more intense grazing by livestock, pine plantations and tourism, all of which may affect the hydrological properties of the páramo. In some areas there is intensive potato and bean cultivation, which requires drainage of the waterlogged soils. Mining has been restricted. Protected areas include the Cayambe-Coca Ecological Reserve and the Cinturon Andino Cluster Biosphere Reserve. Other conservation units are the
Chingaza National Natural Park Chingaza National Natural Park () is located in the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes, northeast of Bogotá, Colombia in the departments of Cundinamarca and Meta. The elevation in the park, to the east of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, rang ...
, Sumapaz Páramo National Park, Sierra Nevada del Cocuy Chita o Guican National Natural Park, Lake Iguaque Flora and Fauna Sanctuary,
Los Nevados National Natural Park Los Nevados National Natural Park () is a national park located in the Cordillera Central of the Colombian Andes. The park features Colombia's highest and northernmost active volcanoes including the glacier-capped Nevado del Ruiz, Nevado del Tol ...
and
Las Hermosas National Natural Park The Las Hermosas National Natural Park () is a national park located in the Valle del Cauca and Tolima departments, at the highest elevation of Cordillera Central range in the Andean Region of Colombia. Its main feature is probably the wetland ...
.


Notes


Sources

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Northern Andean paramo Neotropical ecoregions Ecoregions of Colombia Ecoregions of Ecuador Páramos