Cordillera de Merida páramo
The Cordillera de Merida páramo (NT1004) is an ecoregion containing páramo vegetation above the treeline in the Andes mountain range of Venezuela.
The isolated habitat has many endemic species. It is relatively stable and intact.
Páramo in the Cordillera de Merida
Horses in the Sierra La Culata National Park
Páramo may refer to a variety of alpine tundra ecosystems located in the Andes Mountain Range, South America. Some ecologists describe the páramo broadly as "all high, tropical, montane vegetation above the continuous timberline". A narrower term classifies the páramo according to its regional placement in the northern Andes of South America and adjacent southern Central America. The páramo is the ecosystem of the regions above the continuous forest line, yet below the permanent snowline. It is a "Neotropical high mountain biome with a vegetation composed mainly of giant rosette plants, shrubs and grasses". According to scientists, páramos may be "evolutionary hot spots", that meaning that it's among the fastest evolving regions on Earth.
Páramo in Colombia
Culcitium sp. in Páramo de Chiles, Carchi, Ecuador.
Páramo de Rabanal, Boyacá, Colombia
Azorella pedunculata