Paramo Regions  

This high altitude mountain region (click to pictures) of mostly grass- and shrub land, is only found in the Andes, possessing a distinct flora and fauna, which differentiates it from other elevated mountain regions of the world. Paramo could be described as the high alpine region of the Andes mostly devoid of trees, having dark peat soils, which support hardy grasses, small shrubs and flowers, which often grow close to the ground. The mean temperature is around 10° C with a range of 24°C at day and 0°C at night. The climate is occasionally harsh with cold winds, foggy conditions, occasional snowfall and frequent light frosts at night. Annual precipitations reach from 600mm to 1800mm, with the paramo regions located in the northern part of the country and in the Eastern Cordillera being in general more humid. As it is situated so high and right around the equator, it also receives high levels of ultraviolet light, to which the native flora and fauna had to adapt.

In Ecuador, this ecosystem starts right at the edge of the glacier at around 5000m and drops down to the upper edge of the mountain forests at approximately 3600m. It covers 10% of the land of the country and is home to hundreds of thousands of mostly indigenous people, who dedicate themselves to agriculture and living in small hamlets. Potatoes and onions are still grown that high up and the paramo grass serves as pastures for cattle and sheep. Originally, this area was home to the llamas but at the beginning of the last century the llamas were all but eradicated from there and replaced by cattle, which are not really well adapted to that area, destroying the fragile soils with their hooves. Another detrimental effect of human use, is the burning of the grass in the dry season to promote new growth of more nutritious grass shoots. That however changes the flora by depleting plants, which need more years to establish themselves. Large cattle ranches also take away habitat from wild animals, which are further threatened by hunting.

This high Andean area is also important as a water source for irrigation purposes and drinking water. The grass paramo serves as a natural filter to provide clean water and many small lakes, dotting the landscape, gather the rain water and the melt off from glaciers and serve as reservoirs to provide the precious liquid for the people living in the valleys. Those small lakes also serve as a special habitat to various animals.

This nature area is of course not uniform in the whole country and divided in various paramo sub-ecosystems, differentiated mostly in dry and wet areas and the plants they support. The majority of the country's paramo regions are wide open grass steppes, supporting woody shrubs in sheltered areas, like the one around Cotopaxi. Some paramos however are water saturated swamps, which are called locally patonales and the least disturbed by human intervention. One of the most interesting humid paramo area is that of El Angel close to the Colombian border, which boasts of the famous giant frailejones plants. Some of those high altitude areas even still support forests of polylepis trees, special habitat for some animals. The farther south you travel in the country the drier the region becomes and a very dry paramo area can be found around Mount Chimborazo. As already mentioned mountain lakes or ponds play a major role in this environment and one region known for its many water holes is El Cajas.

All of those factors play a big role in the evolution of the specific plants of the paramo, which adapted to this habitat. The most common characteristics are small and thick leaves, sometimes hairy, flowers growing close to the ground, a deep soil-penetrating root system and very distinct compact cushion plants. Most paramo flowers belong to the aster family or composites but also species from the gentian family are widespread. A species of the ranunculus family is locally called the "Rose of the Andes" for their big, beautiful red and yellow flowers. Some other flowers belong to the legume family with various species of wild lupines, valerians and even orchids are still found in those high paramo regions. Other plants found that high up are the hardy grass species, ichu stipa or locally named pajonal or paja, which grows in bunches and was and still is used as thatching material by the local inhabitants. Lycopsids, also falsely known as club mosses, an old plant order, which survived from dinosaur times has an interesting representative in that altitude, a dark red elongated, fingerlike plant, growing also in bunches. Other well-known plants are the puyas, which belong to the bromeliad family and produce meter high flower spikes, which stand out in the open areas. Also still growing there are lichens, ferns and mosses. Shrubs and small trees still dot the more sheltered areas with many composites bushes, like the chuquiragua, which stands out with its bright orange flowers and has medicinal values and species of the valerian family. The Polylepis tree, locally called arbol de papel because of its papery bark, is considered one of the world's highest growing tree specie, growing sometimes over 4000m in the country.

This natural vegetation serves as habitat for some mammals. The Andean Fox also called "Lobo del Paramo" or "Paramo Wolf", White-tailed Deer and other members of the deer family, rabbits and various rodents inhabit the regions and the rare Spectacled Bear  although living in high mountain forests, ventures into the high paramo for its most treasured food treat, the Puya bromeliads. The paramo is also home to a wide range of birds. The most famous but unfortunately already rarely seen, is the mighty Condor, also called "King of the Andes" because of its wide wingspan and majestic flight. Other important birds found are Eagles and other Raptors, the Caracara Falcons, Owls, one specie of Gull, which with other water- and shorebirds are found on the paramo ponds. Even quite a few species of  tiny Hummingbirds make their home there and survive that high up by going into a kind of nightly hibernation. Insects are also still found, although in smaller numbers, pollinating the small flowers along with hummingbirds and even a few amphibians and reptiles can be encountered in the high Andes paramo region. Amazingly, altogether more than 2000 species of plants and animals call their home in this cold and high ecosystem.