Satellite view of the Cordillera Central, Peru Photograph by USGS   Eastern South America: Southern Ecuador and northern Peru Montane Grasslands and Shrublands   4,700 square miles (12,200 square kilometers) -- about the size of Connecticut Relatively Stable/Intact

· A Carpet of Vegetation
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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A Carpet of Vegetation

The Cordillera Central Páramo is covered in vegetation that spreads across the high plain like a thick carpet. Bunchgrass and cushion plants grow alongside shrubs, sedges, and an underlying mat of lichens and moss. This shrubby alpine grassland is bordered at lower elevations by montane cloud forests and elfin forests.

Special Features

Stretching across numerous ridges and mountaintops from southern Ecuador into northern Peru, this ecoregion, like other páramo ecosystems, occurs from the tree line at around 10,500 feet (3200 m) up to the permanent snow line at approximately 14,760 feet (4500 m). Typically windy and foggy, this ecoregion receives less precipitation than northern páramo habitats, ranging between 23 and 39 inches (600 and 1000 mm) annually. Alpine grass savannas, bogs and alpine marshes, and scattered dense thickets of bunchgrass and shrubs dominate this dry páramo. In undisturbed areas, dwarf bamboo is still abundant. Species endemism is high for both plant and animal communities throughout the páramo. In fact, up to 60 percent of the vegetation is endemic.

	d to hunt the way most other birds of prey are, because their feet have blunt claws instead of sharp talons. Their beaks are strong but are best suited to tear meat that is already rotting.

Wild Side

A mixed flock of masked mountain-tanagers and black-chested mountain-tanagers forage along thick, moss-covered branches, eating berries and clumsily hunting for flying insects. The rich chattering of Andean parakeets fills the air as a large flock flies from a dwarf bamboo stand to their nests burrowed into steep embankments. A small group of vicuña, a relative of the llama, feeds on the high altitude tuft grasses, unaware of the elusive cougars that might be stalking them from the nearby thicket. The puma’s brown khaki coloration makes it almost invisible against rocky patches in the dense fog. An endemic reddish purple neblina metaltail hummingbird patrols the grassy slopes in search of nectar and an occasional small insect. High above, an Andean condor looks for carrion along the parched landscape below.

Cause for Concern

Livestock grazing, timber harvesting, burning, agriculture, and road building are primary threats to this fragile ecosystem. Introduced species are beginning to take hold, and erosion resulting from overgrazing is also problematic.

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