Class and Páramo

On Wednesday, I had my first day of Tropical Ecology.  Esteban Suarez is the professor and he seems both passionate about his work and friendly.  In class, we talked about how the tropics are not uniform and that other factors, such as elevation, ocean currents, and rain shadows, help to determine the climate and ecosystem in any area.  We also discussed how ecology is starting to see "life forms" based on niches and convergent evolution, rather than phylogenies.

In the Northern Andes, the Páramo is the predominate ecosystem above 3200 m, the border between forests and glaciers.  Here there are large temperature fluctuations (summer every day, winter every night) along with lots of rain, wind, and exposure to UV light.  The plants in this region have adaptations like waxy coatings, retention of dead matter, and other forms of insulation to keep them warm enough to survive and reproduce.  Even though the Páramo isn't as biologically diverse as other ecosystems, there is a high rate of endemism here because the regions defined as Páramo are isolated like islands in a sea of lowlands.

The soil in the Páramo is very dense with organic matter, which makes it sponge-like and able to retain a lot of water.  Many of the lakes in this region are being depleted as they are the source of many municipal water supplies.  There are also concerns about how grazing farm animals, fires, introduced pines, and agricultural expansion are changing the soil structure (pH, organic matter concentration, depth, etc).  Because of all the water in this region, disturbed soil leads to increased erosion which destroys the ecosystem because vegetation recovery in poor-quality soil is slow.

On Friday, we got to hike down the Páramo and experience this ecosystem for ourselves.  We took a charter bus up a dirt road (with no pines to cushion a potential fall off the road!) to about 4200 m and hiked down.  The top of the mountain was a lot colder and windier than I expected.  We were definitely aware of the amount of water in this ecosystem.  Nearly everyone fell once or was covered in mud.  The cushion plants were good to step on because they were harder than the mossy soil or grassy areas and thus not saturated with water.  Overall, the landscape was beautiful.  I'm sure when I come back to Montana I will have a greater appreciation of the "brown" mountains that I took for granted.

I got to see some cool birds, like the andean tinamou, andean gull, chiguanco thrush, and some swifts.  When we visited the hot springs after the hike, I also saw a sunshine humming bird feeding at some beautiful flowers!

Please see my flickr photostream or the Páramo album on my facebook account (if we are friends) for the first batch of photos from the Páramo.  More to come later.