Cayambe-Coca Nature Reserve, Ecuador Photograph by © WWF-Canon/Kevin SCHAFER   Western South America: Central Ecuador into Colombia Montane Grasslands and Shrublands   11,600 square miles (30,000 square kilometers) -- about twice the size of Hawaii Relatively Stable/Intact

· Between the forest and the snow
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Between the forest and the snow

High alpine grasslands, bogs, and open meadows--all surrounding the high peaks of the northern Andes--define the Northern Andean Páramo ecoregion. This ecoregion spans the area between the treeline and the snowline from north central Colombia down the Andean cordillera to central Ecuador.

Special Features

Gaze across the páramo and you’ll notice the lack of trees. Instead, you’ll see bunchgrass interspersed with shrub sedges, herbs, and low-lying mats of cushion plants, lichens, and mosses. The variety of habitats in this ecoregion has led to the evolution of a large number of endemic species. In fact, nearly 60 percent of all plant species found in the páramo grow nowhere else in the world.

The Northern Andean Páramo is home to an unusual species of endemic hummingbird-- the bearded helmetcrest. Unlike most hummingbirds, which are specially adapted to eat nectar, the helmetcrest depends on insects for much of its diet. It has a short bill and somewhat larger legs and feet than other hummingbirds, and it often hunts insects while walking on the ground. As suggested by its name, the bearded helmetcrest has a distinct white beard and a tall black and white crest that at least doubles the height of its head.

Wild Side

The páramo supports a wide variety of wildlife, and each species goes about getting food in its own way. The bare red face of an endemic falcon called the carunculated caracara watches from its rock ledge nest as its mate chases after a large insect on the ground below. Launching four feet into the air, a gray fox pounces on a spiny rat. An endemic shrew has already caught its dinner and is gnawing on a beetle among the moss mats. A high altitude squirrel rummages through stands of rosette Espeletia, a characteristic páramo endemic plant that looks like a spiral whirl of leaves around a single thick stalk, for seeds to eat. Nearby, a dwarf red brocket deer shares a tuft grass pasture with one of the world’s smallest deer, the northern pudu.

Cause for Concern

Livestock grazing, erosion, tree cutting, burning, cultivation, and road building are the primary threats to this fragile ecosystem. Problems increase as introduced species begin to take hold in the ecoregion.

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