Páramo: characteristics, flora and fauna

Among the main characteristics of the moor we can highlight:

• The páramo is a unique ecosystem on the planet due to its environmental conditions, it is classified as an intertropical mountainous ecosystem .
• It has a function as important as that of retaining water and maintaining its balance between contributions and losses within the ecosystem. This characteristic is due to its altitude and climate, thanks to it in times of drought water can be taken to lower areas and supplied with water, thus guaranteeing drinking water supply for humans in nearby towns, irrigation and hydroelectricity.
• The best known is the Andean páramo of South America, which stretches from Colombia to northern Peru. 80% of the world’s páramos are found in the countries of Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Costa Rica and Colombia, and only in Colombia are more than 60% of the existing páramos. Learn more about these ecosystems and others with this other post about What are the ecosystems of Colombia .
• It is located from altitudes of approximately 2,700 meters above sea level to 4,000 m – 5,000 m above sea level.
• According to their biogeographic characteristics, ecosystem functions and vegetation, they are classified as low páramo, middle páramo and super páramo .
• This mountainous ecosystem has a geology with an irregular, rugged and rough relief. Its soils are of volcanic origin and are dark in color due to this origin and the large amount of organic matter that remains buried.
• With regard to hydrogeology, these have large valleys shaped like a “U” product of the transit of ice that gives depth or valleys with a “V” shape are also formed by the passage of water currents. Its great slopes make it easier to descend the waters. In them we can find lakes and tributaries that are beneficial for the hydrological cycle.
• As already mentioned, the paramo has an extraordinary biological richness , its species have adapted to be able to live in the extreme conditions of this ecosystem: the intense daily fluctuation in temperature and a marked seasonality due to precipitation, moments of high radiation or others from cloud cover, drying winds and daily freezing and thawing of the soil. Furthermore, there is also little oxygen availability and the soils are underdeveloped and sometimes nutrient deficient.
• Some adaptations that have developed both the flora and fauna that inhabit it have been mechanisms to retain water, protect against the wind and maintain an optimal and stable temperature.

The vegetation of the páramo is capable of preventing floods when water is abundant and droughts when it is scarce, as well as reducing the erosive impact of the soil. It is believed that in the moors there are more than 4,000 species of plants, with 60% endemism. The flora that we find has evolved to the extreme conditions present in the ecosystem. The most representative species are the following:

• Frailejón.
• Cardón.
• Tiller.
• Chusques.
• Bamboos.
• Dwarf trees and shrubs.

The fauna represents great vulnerability to this ecosystem, not only due to extreme conditions, but also due to threats such as habitat destruction and uncontrolled hunting. Among the animals that inhabit the páramo we find around:

• 70 species of mammals: such as the puma, the jaguar , the tigrillo, the fox, the tapir, the guagua and the spectacled bear .
• 15 species of reptiles: specifically 11 species of lizards and 4 of snakes.
• 90 species of amphibians: there are 3 species of salamanders and 87 species of frogs and toads.
• 154 species of birds: the condor , the blackbird, hummingbirds or ducks are some of the most representative.
• In this ecosystem there are 131 species of butterflies.
• It is also worth mentioning the aquatic fauna, although this is not very diverse, which includes the pregnant women.

The páramos are unique ecosystems that offer important ecosystem services in their environment, with their great variety of flora and fauna, they also contribute to the reduction and adaptation to climate change thanks to the great capacity of CO2 fixation that their soils have.

It is important to know that they are fundamental ecosystems for life due to the great diversity of living beings that inhabit them, because they are a great hydrological regulator and mitigate the impact of CO2. Its conservation is necessary since it is currently a very vulnerable ecosystem due to anthropogenic activity, with practices such as agriculture, livestock, hunting activities (hunting), mineral exploitation or burning for pasture.

Now that you know the benefits that an ecosystem like the páramo brings to living beings, you will see that it is necessary to help their conservation through education, sustainable tourism and public awareness. We have thousands of hectares on our planet occupied by this biological relic and not conserving it would be irresponsible.