Near Machu Pichu, Peru Photograph by Colby Loucks   Western South America: Peru and Bolivia Montane Grasslands and Shrublands   45,300 square miles (117,300 square kilometers) -- about the size of Pennsylvania Vulnerable

· High Plains of the Andes
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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High Plains of the Andes

This wet puna ecoregion consists of high elevation montane grasslands that extend through the high Andes Mountains of northern Peru and northern Bolivia. This ecoregion occurs is found in areas where moist air is uplifted up from the Amazon Basin and the Pacific Ocean, resulting in 30 to 60 inches (800 to 1,500 mm) of rain per year. The landscape is characteristically mountainous, with snow-capped peaks, mountain pastures, high lakes, plateaus, and valleys.

Special Features

A distinct group of high-altitude plants and animals thrives here, including many endemic species. The ecoregion occurs above the tree line higher than 11,400 feet (3,500 m) and is composed of bunchgrass communities, wetlands, small shrubs and trees, and herbaceous plants. Biodiversity is greatest at lower elevations, decreasing as the mountains rises to approach the snowline.

	With the changing of seasons, herds of huemel migrate from elevations of up to 17,000 feet (5,200m) in the summer down the mountain to spend winter in the valleys. The number of huemel continues to decline due to hunting, habitat destruction, and competition with livestock.

Wild Side

Tall tussock (bunched) grasses conceal a small elusive Andean mountain cat as it stalks an endemic Kalinowski’s tinamou, (a bird resembling a guineafowl). In an open pasture, grasses are interspersed with herbs, forbs, lichens, mosses, and ferns, and it is here that a puna thistletail is startled from its roost by a vicuña, a relative of the llama. Wetlands host numerous floating and submerged cushion plants, growing among endemic Isoetes plants, which are fernlike lycopodiums. A wide variety of small flowers attract a white-tufted sunbeam (a hummingbird), which buzzes through a herd of northern Andean huemul (medium-sized deer) as they quietly chew on reed stems. At dawn, an Andean hairy armadillo saunters along on its way back to its burrow to sleep for the day. The calls of other endemic birds, including the rufous-eared brush-finch, green-and-white hummingbird, Inca wren, and chestnut-breasted mountain-finch, can be heard.

Cause for Concern

The puna is one of the most heavily altered ecoregions, and has suffered extensive conversion in both Peru and Bolivia in Peru. The history of hHuman habitation here goes back almost 10,000 years, and recent socioeconomic pressures and an increasing population are severely affecting the native plants and animals. Overgrazing, burning, hunting, exotic species invasions, and contamination from mining are all serious threats to the ecoregion.

For more information on this ecoregion, go to the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Report.