Polylepis Woodlands of the Paramo

This week we find ourselves at about 13,000 ft (3960 m) elevation, at Papallacta Pass in the high Andes Mountains of northern Ecuador.  This is the paramo or high-elevation plateau country.  Much of the woodland cover at this altitude is replaced by grasslands or low windswept shrubs and herbs that hug the ground, or has been cut and converted to agriculture or pastureland or for human habitations ...

... except for these increasingly-rare patches of polylepis woodland.  These are forests of the native tree Polylepis reticulata, a member of Rosaceae ... these are evergreen rose trees!  

Polylepis woodlands -- comprising actually some 15 species of the genus Polylepis -- are endemic to the paramo of the Andes, and are habitat for some scarce wildlife species including the birds Giant Conebill, Black-backed Bush-tanager, Royal Cinclodes, and Red-rumped Bush-tyrant.  

Increasing loss and fragmentation of polylepis woodlands are likely serving to imperil their associated wildlife.  Thus, active conservation programs are striving to protect the remaining remnants of these diverse and special forest ecosystems.  

Although we are on the equator (thus the name "Ecuador"), at this altitude the air is thin and often very cold.  Polylepis species have adapted to this environment in several ways ... such as being able to supercool its tissues.  It also profusely sheds its rose-colored bark (leading to the local name "paper tree"), which might create air pockets to stave off freezing of the active growing part of the trunk.  

--Bruce G. Marcot

Image and text © Bruce G. Marcot, Ph.D. Research Wildlife Ecologist,
who produces the Ecology Picture of the Week website.