Conservation of paramo birds in Ecuador in the face of climate change: on the need for a detailed classification of high-altitude habitats

Abstract

When we think of "the paramo," most of us think of waves of grass moving in the wind. However, our concept of paramo is limited by the lack of prehistoric data on what this ecosystem would have been like without human activity. Throughout the Holocene, humans have been part of the Andean landscape, shaping it through fire and by hunting important herbivores, such as deer and cottontails. Pollen records are scant due to glaciers having scraped high Andean lakes and peatlands off the landscape. What we find today at high altitudes is not "one paramo" but "several types of paramo" that are likely the result of various intensities of human activity. The different vegetation forms we see today are habitats for various birds within the ecosystem. The classification of vegetation for the Ecuadorian Andes by Sierra 1 recognizes several high Andean plant assemblages, yet these do not accurately describe the diversity of plant communities vis-à-vis avian habitats. For instance, the Antisana paramo is composed of a mixture of plant formations not recognized in previous classifications 2 that birds depend on for at least one life stage.