Talk:Páramo

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Hi, if you like you can use this photo that's already used in the Spanish Wikipedia: [1] I think it's more recognizable as a páramo landscape than the photo from Ecuador.

Same photo twice

Photos #3 and 3 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.249.47.164 (talk) 02:50, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

Plans to add a few new sections to the page, as well as bolster some of the existing sections with more information.

General Definition

The term “páramo” can refer to a variety of ecosystems, depending on which definition one is using. For this reason and in an attempt to simplify the term, some ecologists describe páramo quite broadly as “all high tropical montane vegetation above the continuous timberline” (Baruch 1984). A more narrow and accepted term, however, classifies a páramo according to its regional placement, specifically located in “the northern Andes of South America and adjacent southern Cental America” The páramo is the ecosystem of the regions above the continuous forest line, yet below the permanent snowline (Baruch 1984). It is a “Neotropical high mountain biome with a vegetation composed mainly of giant rosette plants, shrubs and grasses (Luteyn 1999).

Climate

Páramo climates differ slightly depending on specific geographic location. In Colombia and northern Ecudaor, air masses from the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) have a substantial effect on the climate, and these regions tend to be consistently humid (approx. 70-85%) throughout the year. The Andes also play a key role in the climate of these páramo’s as they cause an orographic uplift in which moist air rises. This creates continuous moisture via rain, clouds, and fog for these páramos; many of them receive over 2000mm of rain annually. The páramo’s of northern-most Andes of Venezuala, northern Colombia, and Costa Rica experience a different climate due to the dry season caused by NE Trade Winds. Southern Ecudaor and northern Peru experience the most severe dryness as they are influenced by an air mass from the Amazon basin which has already released its moisture on the eastern slopes, as well as another air mass from the west influenced by the Humboldt current. Overall, páramo climates are known for their daily fluctuations in temperature and humidity. While they’re generally cold and humid ecosystems, they often undergo a sudden and drastic change in weather in which they fluctuate between temperatures from below freezing to as high as 30C. This oscillation often results in a daily freeze-and-thaw cycle, sometimes described as “summer every day and winter every night.” Mean annual temperatures of the páramo range from 2C to 10C, with increasingly colder temperatures with increasing altitude.

Vegetation Zone

Páramo’s are divided into the separate zones based on altitude and vegetation structure. The three main types of páramo vegetation are unequally distributed. Grass páramo covers large areas of mountain ranges, while shrub and desert páramo are limited to small areas on slopes and summits of very high mountains (Sklenar and Jorgensen 1999). Superpáramo is the highest elevation and is usually considered to be the transition zone between the higher and permanent snow region and the lower grass páramo zone. The Superpáramo zone is generally narrow and exists atop loose stones and sandy soils at about 4500-4800 m. It has the lowest air temperature, precipitation level, soil water-holding capacity, and nutrient content of all the zones. Being the highest altitudinally, it also has the highest levels of solar radiation and night-frost. For this reason, vegetation in the superpáramo must be highly resistant to such severe fluctuations in weather.1 Air temperatures are low, cold at night and cool during the day with daily oscillations larger than oscillations of monthly averages (Luteyn 1999). Due to its localization on high mountains, this area is the least disturbed by humans and contains the most endemic species of all the zones. The most broadly described zone is that of the grass páramo. This is often what people are reffering to when they use the term “páramo” as it has continuous vegetation and plant cover and has a “yellowish to olive – brown” look due to the combination of dead grasses amongst the living. The grass páramo exists at about 3500-4100 m, and is composed of mostly tussock-grasslands or bunch-grasslands, such as Calamagrostis and Festuca which dominate this zone. Other common vegetation includes large and small shrubs, stunted trees, cushion plants, herbs, graminoids, and rosette plants (Luteyn 1999). While these are the dominant species, grass páramo’s can also contain tall- and short-grass communtiies, including herbaceous and woody vegetation. Due to it’s easier access and high levels of grass, this zone is more inflicted by humans and suffers from both burning and grazing by humans and their herds. Subpáramo is the lowest and most diverse zone. At 3000-3500m, it is a shrub dominated zone that combines aspects of both the grass páramo above and the forest below. Along with shrubs, this zone also contains small, scattered trees, as well as lower vegetation levels of the grasses and herbs of the grass páramo. Fragmented forests can appear in the subpáramo due to microclimatic or edaphic conditions, yet the more abrupt changes are generally due to anthropogenic disruption such as cutting, burning, and grazing. Because of these high levels of disruption, it is believed that subpáramos are made up of largely secondary-growth communities.

Soils

Most soils in páramo vary, but all are mostly young and partially weathered. The soil has a relatively low pH because of an abundance of moisture and organic content. Organic content, even within disturbed sites averaged very high which contributes to water retention in the soil. With cold and wet weather, there are few nutrients available and productivity is very low in páramo soils (Hofstede 1995). Soils in the páramo ecosystem have changed because of human activity, mostly because of burning for grazing. Soils in the south Ecuadorian páramo are characterized broadly into Andosols, Inceptisols, Histosols, Entisols, and Mollisols (Luteyn 1999). Recently, there is an increase in Andosol soils because of volcanic activity (Buytaer 2005). They have very high water retention which contributes to the rise in cultivation and differential land use. This water supply stored in the soil in the higher elevations of páramo in the Andes becomes the water supply for Andean settlements in lower altitudes.

Human Impact/Climate Change

Human’s have inhabited páramo in the Andes for perhaps the past 15,000 years. Deforestation has been extensive, in some cases like the northern Andes, 90-95% of forests have been cleared. Other areas such as Venezuela and Colombia show evidence that humans have settled there at least 500-800 years ago and used the land for agriculture and hunting (Luteyn 1999).

When Europeans came to the America’s they introduced exotic plants and animals that greatly affected the land. Cattle were introduced to the páramos in the early 18th century. When more land was needed for cattle, fire became a very popular resource and eventually páramo became overgrazed and excessively burned. Both burning and grazing have had an impact on the vegetation, soils, species diversity, and water storage capacity. In burned and disturbed sites that were studied in the Andes, the pH of the soil is higher as well as the concentration of phosphorus (Suárez 2001). The demand for more land and a growing population opened Páramo up in the 20th century. There is an increase in burning and grazing as well as cultivation (Buytaer 2005). Growing populations in Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador have forced settlements in higher elevations covering more páramo. Recent developments such as construction of aqueducts, drainage systems, and roads, mining, and afforestaion have been a huge additional páramo disturbance. Climate change is becoming an increasingly pressing issue in páramo. An increase in temperature extremes is forcing many fauna and flora species to higher grounds, and eventually they could face extinction. Flora in páramo is adapted to specific conditions and is vulnerable to even small climatic change. Páramo is the main water source for Andean lowlands. The change in climate in the Andes is causing glaciers in the páramo to disappear as well as decreasing rainfall, virtually drying up páramo and in turn, drying up the water supply for cities such as Quito, Ecuador and Bogotá, Columbia.

Bibliography:

Baruch, Zdravko. "Ordination and Classification of Vegetation along an Altitudinal Gradient in the Venezuelan Páramos." Vegetation 2nd ser. 55 (1984): 115-26. JSTOR. Web. 01 Nov. 2011. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/20146032>

Buytaer, W., J. Sevin, B. De Leeu, and J. Decker. "Clay Mineralogy of the Soils in the South Ecuadorian Páramo Region." Geoderma 127 (2005): 114-29.Www.sciencedirect.com. Web. 02 Nov. 2011. <http://www.paramo.be/pubs/geoderma.pdf>.

Waring, Claire. View from the Paramo. 2009. Photograph.

"Climate Change Threatens a Fragile Ecosystem in the Andes." International Research Institute for Climate and Society. Web. 02 Nov. 2011. <http://portal.iri.columbia.edu/Production/Home/common/featureframer.html?http:/ /iriportal3.ldeo.columbia.edu:7087/publishedcontent/publish/development/home/new_ho me/homebody/2011_spotlight_features/cli mate_change_threatens_a_fragile_ecosystem_in_the_andes.html>.

Hofstede, Robert, Ximena Castillo, and Constanza Osorio. "Biomass of Grazed, Burned, and Undisturbed Páramo Grasslands, Colombia. I. Aboveground Vegetation." Arctic and Alpine Research 27.1 (1995): 1-12. JSTOR. Web. 01 Nov. 2011. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/1552062>.

Lewis, Jesse. The Paramo. 2010. Photograph. Our Amazing Planet. Web. 04 Nov. 2011. <http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/journey-into-the-tropical-andes-0395/>.

Lewis, Jesse. Paramo Burn. 2010. Photograph. Our Amazing Planet. Web. 04 Nov. 2011. <http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/journey-into-the-tropical-andes-0395/8/>.

Lewis, Jesse. Water and Carbon Storage. 2010. Photograph. Our Amazing Planet. Web. 04 Nov. 2011. <http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/journey-into-the-tropical-andes-0395/10/>.

Luteyn, James L. Páramos: A Checklist of Plant Diversity, Geographical Distribution, and Botanical Literature. Bronx, N.Y: New York Botanical Garden Press, 1999. Print.

Sanford, R. Head of a Mountain Lion (felis Concolor). 1999. Photograph. Science Photo Library. Web. 01 Nov. 2011. <http://www.sciencephoto.com/media/387599/enlarge>.

Sklenar, P., and P. M. Jorgensen. "Distribution Patterns of Paramo Plants in Ecuador." Journal of Biogeography 26.4 (1999): 681-91. JSTOR. Web. 02 Nov. 2011. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/2656172>.

Suárez, Esteban, and Galo Medina. "Vegetation Structure and Soil Properties in Ecuadorian Páramo Grasslands with Different Histories of Burning and Grazing." Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research 33.2 (2001): 158-64. JSTOR. Web. 01 Nov. 2011. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/1552216>. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Alicebeth (talk • contribs) 18:10, 17 November 2011 (UTC)

Alicebeth (talk) 18:14, 17 November 2011 (UTC)

Undiscussed move

I reverted the undiscussed move of this article to Andean Moorland. This is not an uncontroversial move: I think we need to go through the WP:RM process.

Even though "Páramo" is a word in Spanish, it is also a technical term in English for this kind of ecosystem. Checking Google Scholar:

• "Andean Moorland" has 2,910 results
• "Páramo" has 54,800 results (restricted to English-language papers only).

Comparing the usage in English-language books, ""Páramo" is far more common than any form of Andean moorland.

These tests indicate that Páramo is the WP:COMMONNAME. Any comments or thoughts from other editors? — hike395 (talk) 04:50, 20 November 2021 (UTC)

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