Introduction
to the
Páramo Ecosystem
Checklist
of Páramo
Plants
Lichens
Mosses
Hepatics
Vascular
plants
Gazetteer
of Páramo
Localities
Costa
Rica & Panama
Colombia
Venezuela
Ecuador
Peru
James L. Luteyn and Mauricio R. Gavilanes A.
The "Sierra" or montane part of Ecuador
has two major parallel ranges of the Andes mountains, the Cordillera Occidental
and Cordillera Oriental, between which is a relatively high interandean
plateau averaging 2650 m. Several transverse mountain chains known
as "nudos" connect the cordilleras and divide the intermountain plateau
into roughly 10 basins or "hoyas." The Nudo del Azuay, at 4500 m,
divides the country into two subregions, a northern area of modern volcanism
and an area of more ancient volcanism to the south. The mountains
in the north are higher, wetter, and their vegetation (including the páramos)
generally resembles that of Colombia, whereas the mountains of the south
are lower, drier, and their vegetation resembles that of northern Peru.
The Sierra has at least 22 peaks averaging over 4200 m in elevation and
30 peaks of volcanic origin (six still active), giving rise to the designation
"avenue of the volcanos" for this region. Estimates of the area covered
by páramo in Ecuador vary considerably, depending on how páramo
is defined, and range from 4470 km2 (Cañadas Cruz, 1983), to 19,610
km2 (Bonifaz, 1981; using subpáramo between 3500 m and 4000
m =13,310 km2 and páramo above 4000 m =6,300 km2), to 20,000 km2
(Encalada, 1986), to a high of 25,000-28,000 km2 (Acosta-Solís,
1984), out of a total land area of ca. 280,000 km2. [The figure of
"about 40,000 km2" given in Balslev and de Vries (1991) was a mistake and
should read "about 20,000 km2" (Balslev, pers. comm.).]
Ecuadorean national parks that include
páramo are: Cajas, Cotopaxi, Llanganatis, Podocarpus, and
Sangay. Ecological reserves that include páramo are:
Cotacachi-Cayapas, Cayambe-Coca, El Angel, and Antisana (cf. Mena V., 1995).
The Ecuadorean gazetteer was difficult
to assemble, because none of the maps nor indices consulted used the word
"páramo" (in some cases the word "loma" seemed to be the equivalent,
but not always). Therefore, the gazetter was constructed in two ways:
1) from herbarium labels, local knowledge, and literature references that
specifically used the word páramo, and 2) by the inclusion of all
localities found in geographical dictionaries, indices, etc. that were
over 3500 m elevation and used the word "cerro," "laguna," "nevado," or
"vulcán." That opened the possibility that some localities
might not actually be páramo, but that was the decision made for
the purposes of this book.
For additional discussion about Ecuadorean
páramo vegetation, see Acosta-Solís (1984), Balslev and de
Vries (1982, 1991), Black (1982), Cerón M. (1985, 1992), Diels (1937),
Jørgensen and Ulloa U. (1994), Keating (1995), León Yánez
(1993), Løjtnant and Molau (1982), Mena V. (1984), Muñoz
et al. (1985), and Ramsay (1992).
Bibliographic Sources for Locations of Páramos
ECUADOR
Acosta-Solís, M. 1980. Plantas indígenas
para forrajicultura tropandina. Revista Acad. Colomb. Ci. Exact.
15(56): 57-97.
. 1984. Los páramos andinos
del Ecuador. Publicaciones Científicas MAS. Quito.
Andrade Marín, L. 1952. La desconocida región
de Oyacachi: Rectificaciones geográficas, hallazgos etnológicos
y de un precioso manuscrito inédito, en poder oculto de los indios.
Anales Organo Univ. Central (Ecuador) 79(331-332): 5-63.
American Geographical Society of New York. 1938. Quito.
Map SA-17. 1:1,000,000. Provisional edition. A. Hoen
and Company, Baltimore.
. 1938. Piura. Map SB-17.
1:1,000,000. Provisional edition. A. Hoen and Company, Baltimore.
. 1949. Río Mira-Islas
Galápagos. Map NA-18, Southamerica. 1:1,000,000.
Provisional edition. A. Hoen and Company Publishers, Baltimore.
Diels, L. 1937. Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Vegetation
und Flora von Ecuador. Biblioth. Bot. 116: 1-190. [Spanish
translation as: Contribuciones al conocimiento de la vegetación
y flora del Ecuador. Universidad Central, Quito. August, 1938.]
Instituto Geográfico Militar. 1950. Mapa geográfico
del Ecuador. 1:1,000,000. Quito.
. 1978. Indice toponímico
de La República del Ecuador. Tomo I-VII. Quito.
Mena V., P. 1995. Las áreas protegidas con bosque
montano en el Ecuador. Pp. 627-635. In: S. P. Churchill,
H. Balslev, E. Forero & J. L. Luteyn (eds.), Biodiversity and conservation
of neotropical montane forests. The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx.
Paynter, A. R., Jr. & M. A. Traylor. 1977. Ornithological
gazetteer of Ecuador. Bird Department, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard
University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Sampedro F., Ing. Capt. 1950. Mapa del Ecuador. 1:1,OOO,OOO.
United States Coast and Geodetic Survey.
. 1976. Atlas geográfico
del Ecuador. Artes Gráficas, Quito.
United States Board on Geographical Names. 1987. Gazetter
of Ecuador. Second edition. The Defense Mapping Agency, Washington,
D.C.