#Paramo Ecosystem

[thesorcerersapprentice]

Valeriano's Manor sits upon a floating island about 3300 meters above sea level in a páramo ecosystem. The manor itself incorporates various Gothic turrets and arches and is surrounded by 25 acres of private moorland. It is home to many owls, rabbits, white-tailed deer, coati, frailejones, mosses, shrubs, hummingbirds, and high-altitude foxes. For more on páramo ecosystems, click here.

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*Disclaimer: none of the above images are mine.

[sanchoyo]

today is world donkey day apparently, so I was going to draw a lil doodle of mira with her donkey right. so I go 2 google it (have not googled her specific donkey type, the woolly páramo donkey, since I made her possibly, in like, ..2014?? usually I just type in baby donkey for refs, lmao)

and ive gone down a rabbit hole.

bear with me.

this is going to be a Long One.

there's almost NOTHING abt the 'woolly paramo donkey' on the internet. there's a blogsite from 2011 saying "Another endangered species of donkey is the Woolly Paramo Donkey. It can be found in high elevations of up to 3,000 m altitude and the permanent snow line of about 5,000 meters. It can be found in Colombia." which, I assume in 2014, when making Mira, I googled 'endangered donkeys' and this popped up. And I did not look further. until now.

if you google that passage, or anything related to páramo woollies, they just. don't seem to EXIST???! there's one page that copy and pastes the above paragraph word for word, but it was published in 2015, so. it also just scrubbed info from the aforementioned blog that seems to be run by a rando with no...sources or expertise at all....fabulous. okay. kept digging.

this page cites the pictured donkey as a woolly páramo donkey, except, that is in Ireland. not anywhere near páramo! (and sure, exporting animals is a Thing, but...the caption says its a subspecies of the paramo donkeys???!) (and, for the record, were going with the wiki's definition of paramo here: "A narrower term classifies the páramo according to its regional placement in the northern Andes of South America and adjacent southern Central America.") so we're looking for donkeys around there. more on that later.

but for now, The ENGLISH wikipedia page for Páramo (region) does not include ANYTHING about donkeys. which. if it was an endangered species, wouldn't it be notable?? however, the image the first blog uses...IS on wikipedia, and is cited. as being taken in 2007, possibly one of the earliest pics of said donkey type, and was in Chimborazo, Ecuador which iS IN THE PARAMO ECOSYSTEM OKAY WE'RE GETTING SOMEWHERE. RIGHT. THERE'S DONKEYS THERE. I knew that from looking up travel iteraries around Columbia's paramo. what I need to know tho is...ARE THEY A SPECIFIC, ENDANGERED SPECIES/SUBSPECIES/ RARE BREED?! ANYTHING???

The guy who's credited with the photo...unless its a case of the same name (which would be a hell of a coincidence, in this case) has scientific papers out about the paramo region! but...I have to request access to them, and most of them are in spanish, and who knows if they mention donkeys at all or the guy just put pics of them on wikipedia to be nice. like, I know donkeys do live there, but it doesn't seem to be a specific species, more like this is 'a woolly donkey of the paramo region' from the translation of the title of the photo. woolly donkeys can be anywhere!

WELL. the wikipedia photo is used on the ITALIAN WIKIPEDIA PAGE FOR PARAMO. and it lacks info which makes me scream. just calling it a 'woolly paramo donkey' and not elaborating is EVIL is it a reg donkey or NOT

looking into woolly donkeys alone, which I KNOW are a thing, this page cites the miniature woolly variation as rare, saying there are only 400-ish in the US. cool, that's a rare breed, if true. different from being an endangered species, though!!! totally different thing!!! and that linked page is from a breeder with no cited sources, and their last news update was...2019.

the smithsonian estimates miniature donkeys in general to at 10,000-20,000, so 400 of those being woolly seems to be..lowballing the amount of woollies? possibly? seems very low...esp for something with high cuteness appeal that would be a hit at fairs, competitions, or petting zoos. but if true thats at least...a rare breed... which is something...

(there are Poitou donkeys, if nothing else, which are confirmed to be a Thing, woolly, and endangered. quite frankly if I was going to change her to any other donkey, this would be it. its not on the red data list, but it is on the FAO endangered list, which is like. close enough yk?)

back to the paramo donkeys specifically. in my desperation, I asked bing's AI to scrub the web for ANYTHING about them. not that AI is always right, but it is Fast. it said "There is no scientific record of a species known as the “Woolly Paramo Donkey” living in high altitudes or near permanent snow." which...yeah. starting to Doubt it's existence. by this point.

just when I thought 'this thang isn't real, oh god I might have to pick a new donkey for Mira.....' I Found it somewhere unexpected.

a blog post about farmville 2. yeah the old facebook game! why is it here???! the game came out in 2012, so it had to be pulling the name from an earlier source, and was not where the blogs were getting their info (and thank god for that) but...even looking into reputable sources for THAT is hard to find??! its not on the farmville 2 wiki (LMAO) there's other species of donkey on the game, but none matching these low res pics that pop up on random cheatcode blogs when I look for possible sources?

both of these images/img descriptions call it the woolly paramo donkey. and seem to be reasonably well rendered, and can be found across a few other farmville 2 blogs/guides... (the first img being a baby, the scond being adult vers) I can't really imagine boomers who play farmville going to the effort to photoshop fake upgrades in 2012 for farmville 2... but its not on the fan wiki, which usually cite their sources. I am not playing farmville 2 to investigate this further, but its WEIRD!!! esp since farmville does have woolly donkeys, and the above are NOT just colorovers of them! where...where was farmville drawing the "woolly paramo donkey" name from.

anyway, enough about farmville it really isnt THAT important but it blows my mind the name woolly paramo donkey slipped into there somehow. how. who. & its supposedly in a game called 'island paradise' but I couldn't find pictures of it. but its got its own wiki fan page as well...??

so, anyway, back to the actual research, here's a map of where the paramo ecosystem is. and a map from 2018 on a reputable government website regarding donkey populations. (most recent study I could find, unfortunately!) there could very well be an endangered or at least rare subspecies/breed of donkey around there! (by the way, there ARE woolly MONKEYS around the area. surely no one with dyslexia like me read monkeys as donkeys and ran with it right. RIGHT.)

but...there's not one listed under the red data list's website under the name paramo or even any woollies. tbf, the red data website is moreso for wild animals, rather than rare domestic breeds). so I thought hm. okay. time to try something else. I checked for endangered south american donkeys in general. narrowed it down by possible countries. I checked every search engine I have bookmarked, including one that searches for scientific articles/books exclusively. I checked the dang wikipedia list of donkeys. (which, by the way? severely lacking info in general)

NOTHING. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS THE WOOLLY PARAMO DONKEY BREED, EXCEPT CITED ON THOSE RANDOM BLOGS, AND THAT SINGLE WIKIPEDIA PHOTO. unless...the region it would be in would be spanish-speaking.... there MIGHT be websites on it that I can't even read or find because I'm not using the right terms...OOF. I tried a few words for donkey (burro, burra, burrico,) paired with paramo, and I just kept getting a book result. Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo. not related at all, sadly, just includes a donkey in the story and the word paramo in the title.

I guess u could say the woolly paramo donkey was just a mirage? :) (loud booing)

anyway, all of this to say, the breed is most likely not real, or if they are, not documented online. from what I can tell, it seems to just be that woolly donkeys in general are rare, and while they do live in that area, are not proper endangered animals/species if we want to get hung up on semantics. but I'm not changing it for the comic. having her be a (possibly) fake donkey breed is objectively kind of funny, and it was already mentioned in chapter 1!

unless shirogane has decoy DNAs in the event of a break in and that was one of them. oops, all placebo. her mew power comes from, like, the power of belief or whatever. joke joke joke this is not lore its a joke

whatever. I had fun digging for a while! happy world donkey day. petition for a donkey emoji btw ^_^

[gothseparatist]

Adding to this:

C4 grasses dominate the tropics but in higher latitudes the dominant grasses have same type of photosynthesis as almost all other plants (and there are non-grass C4 photosynthesizers too).

grasses are generally dominant wherever trees are suppressed. biggest suppressors are disturbances like fire and herbivory (how grazing mammals feed is different than most dinosaurs) and rainfall too low to support trees. it also helps grasses are wind-pollinated which has great synergy with the above and with the increasing seasonality we see over the Cenozoic. the herbivory aspect is frequtently ignored but shouldn't be imo, studies with white rhinos demonstrated that if rhinos were excluded, grasses decreased

i say generally because there are exceptions and they tend to have traits that put them more in line with how Mesozoic communities were:

Here is a fern field in Hawai'i an area with no native grazing herbivores (but decent disturbance rate due to volcanoes so openings occur anyway) + constant humidity + tropical climate. I've seen parts of South FL like this as well and FL has many Cretaceous floral elements

Prior to grasses, at least before Cenozoic, ferns likely were the dominant plant in disturbed areas. Cycads and other gymnosperms were important back then too but I have yet to find examples of some that took on more grass-like ecological roles

Most ferns during Mesozoic are NOT closely related to the ones we see today. ~80-90% of ferns we see today belong to Polyopsid group which emerged at the earliest 100 mya.

Some of the older fern groups get pretty weird with some even looking grass-like:

Schizae pusilla of New Jersey, Shizaea is part of a very old group of ferns. There are other species e.g. in South Africa and that one I know is more adapted to seasonally dry conditions.

similarly old horesetails being quite dominant:

montane and poor soil ecosystems which naturally exclude megaherbivores tend to be dominated by woody shrubs or non-grass herbaceous plants e.g. Fynbos in Southern Africa, rift scrub in Rwanda, various Australian ridges, moorland and heath in Europe, sagebrush in North America, all the whacky paramo guys so those are good sources of inspiration too even if they lean more on angiosperms

This ask is not about dinosaurs, actually... before the evolution of grasses during the Cenozoic, what could have been the equivalent of grass-like ecosystems (prairies, savanna...) during the Mesozoic?

F E R N PRAIRIES

seriously, there were lots of different kinds of prairies. fern, horsetail, cycad, the list goes on. Basically, different kinds of low-lying plants would do the prairie thing in ecosystems where forests couldn't get a foothold.

but, there were a lot fewer of them than today. because grasses are kind of OP, and have their own photosynthesis system, so they are able to grow and take over many places that would have been forests before grasses took over. That doesn't mean there weren't prairies, but there were just less. and a lot of things were more scrubland than prairie, too.

It's honestly amazing how much grass has changed the ecology of the planet. they are the biggest bioengineers of the cenozoic after people...

[44gamez]

Diving Deeper into the World of Avowed

“For us, creating these selections, like the large ones that have an effect on the result of a quest, or the wellbeing of sure characters or communities are simply as essential because the smaller selections that you simply make in navigating a dialogue and, in refined methods, influencing your relationship with one other character,” stated Patel. “All of it's actually centered round letting the participant be the primary character on this setting.” It’s essential to notice that for all we’ve now seen of Avowed, there’s a lot, far more to discover all through the Residing Lands. In truth, the particular quest in Shatterscarp we lined “is solely discoverable, which implies it’s additionally solely missable.” When it comes to scope of the sport, Paramo compares with one other latest Obsidian title, “it’s open-zone, measurement corresponding to The Outer Worlds areas on the bigger aspect, and a number of paths primarily to deal with fight conditions, or keep away from them.” In keeping with Patel, sharp-eyed gamers may have far more to hunt out all through their time with Avowed: “One of many large delights of being a developer on a recreation like that is creating a lot for gamers to seek out, and realizing that not all people’s going to hunt it out, and never all people’s gonna discover it, however realizing that the gamers who do are actually going to benefit from the secrets and techniques they uncover.” Avowed launches this fall on Recreation Go, Xbox Sequence X|S, and Home windows PC – for extra info please go to the Avowed website. 

Avowed

Xbox Recreation Studios ☆☆☆☆☆ ★★★★★ Welcome to the Residing Lands, a mysterious island full of journey and hazard. Set within the fictional world of Eora that was first launched to gamers within the Pillars of Eternity franchise, Avowed is a first-person fantasy motion RPG from the award-winning crew at Obsidian Leisure. You're the envoy of Aedyr, a distant land, despatched to research rumors of a spreading plague all through the Residing Lands – an island stuffed with mysteries and secrets and techniques, hazard and journey, and selections and penalties, and untamed wilderness. You uncover a private connection to the Residing Lands and an historic secret that threatens to destroy every thing. Are you able to save this unknown frontier and your soul from the forces threatening to tear them asunder? The Bizarre and Fantastic Residing Lands The Residing Lands is a spot that feels international but considerably intrinsic to you because it feels the island itself is asking out to you for assist. Discover an island residence to many various environments and landscapes, every with their very own distinctive ecosystem. Visceral Fight to Play Your Approach Combine and match swords, spells, weapons, and shields to struggle your approach. Dig into your grimoire for spells to lure, freeze or burn enemies, bash them along with your defend, or use vary bows to assault from a distance. Companions as a part of your journey Companions from a selection of species will struggle alongside you, with their very own distinctive set of talents. From a former mercenary to an eccentric wizard, they are going to be a part of your journey along with your selections shaping them as you assist them with their quests. Read the full article

[rondaincorporated]

Hummingbird Species, Part 174

Today we take a look at the bronzy inca, Coeligena coeligena. Introduction The bronzy inca hummingbird (Coeligena coeligena) is a captivating bird species native to the high-altitude cloud forests and paramo ecosystems of the Andes mountains in South America. With its striking plumage, remarkable behavior, and important ecological role, the bronzy inca hummingbird is a subject of great interest…

[laura-apexart]

Day 30 8.6.23 

Marthin picks me up around 10 ish in an Uber with his friend Paola, we go to Alejandro’s apt because he is another friend of M’s and has a car and will drive us up the mountain to the much anticipated trip to Paramo de oceta —-“which means an ecosystem above the continuous forest line yet below the permanent snow-line” 

Every day I look at the mountains outside the windows which make up the eastern facing walls of my airbnb. I want to know what it’s like to be inside of the mountain. Now, on the last full day, I will.

It’s misty and rainy and the ground is incredibly wet and slippery and what starts out as black mud and dirt quickly shifts to brown wet clay, then gray, then yellow. The sound shifts too with the squirts in texture -I think of Alejandra in her studio throwing pots and mugs and also the famous brick library built in the shape of a snail—Biblioteca Pública Virgilio Barco—I visited the day before, same architect as Marthin's apt. A mountain and city made of clay.

The environment is otherworldly with the thick mist and filled with lichen and Espeletia, or Frailejon plants which is a type of perennial subshrubs (reminds me of a large pineapple) they are often called “big monks” because they form in clusters and the silhouettes look like cloaked friers on their way to mass—I am very intrigued by this reference because it plays into my interest in natural history and human’s eco-centrism, desire to domesticate the natural world. 

The plants have hairy leaves which help them trap water and the center is hollow–to hold all the water. They take forever to grow. They have beautiful yellow flowers. There are also these spiky silver looking succulent like plants that grow from the center outward as well as lots of tiny little purple and red flowers and orange barked wire like trees.

The whole hike is supposed to take about 2 hours, we take about 4 because there is an incredible waterfall to swim in (I hold back because I am already cold and know getting completely wet will put me over the edge) and also because we are taking our time, and taking pictures and there is so much clay and mud so we have to be careful with our footing. After we finish we sit in the pick-nick area and we eat bone broth soup and arepas and sugarcane tea with cheese. We drive back to P’s house for a coffee and then home. A full day.

[tonallyclear]

"Isla" opens today at Kew Gardens Wakehurst (UK). Suspended accross Westwood valley, the sculpture is inspired by Kew's research into a high altitude ecosystem in the Colombian Andes called the paramos. When the sculpture collects rainwater it divides vertically. The lower section of the sculpture is based on direct study of a plant called a freilejon in the Chingaza Range above Bogota, Colombia. 40 feet across with 6000 individually cast parts, the sculpture will be on view through September 2022. More info to follow on future exhibition of the sculpture.

JOHN GRADE

[aquitainequeen]

Design students in Colombia have harnessed the porousness of moss to design a water filter that can trap microplastics.

Over the two-month product life of the filter, it can trap 80 grams of microplastics, sparing the drinker’s biology from consuming the equivalent of 16 credit cards.

The design comes from the remarkable ecosystem high in the Andes Mountains called the Paramo. Hiking in this mountainous region is done either on rock, or what feels like marshmallows. The biosphere is covered in layers of moss species which absorb, filter the water, and send it down mountain streams where it’s scientifically found to be good to drink for around 40 million people across northern South America.

[typhlonectes]

Buffy Helmetcrest (Oxypogon stuebelii), a hummingbird endemic to the paramo ecosystem of the central Andes of Colombia

photograph by Juan Jose Arango | Flickr CC

[dalrel]

Sumapaz: Between Life and Death

Sumapaz: Between Life and Death

In my opinion, the Paramo is the most representative ecosystem of Colombia. For many years, it was a place of violence in Colombia. Nowadays, other issues, such as extensive cattle farming and deforestation have endangered the Paramo. But what is a Paramo? Well, I will not use a biogeographic term to describe the Paramo, because this could be extensive. However, I can say that one of its…

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from The Revelator:

An ecosystem unique to the Andes, the páramo moorlands are located mainly in Ecuador and Colombia, along with areas of Peru and Venezuela. This discontinuous belt of land covers roughly 36,000 square kilometers and represents a kind of high-altitude island archipelago. Found between 3,200 and 4,500 meters above sea level, these tropical alpine wetlands occupy a zone that typically lies above the agricultural frontier and upper tree line, reaching up to border areas of perennial snow.

They’re also uniquely at risk in ways that threaten millions of people, if not the entire climate.

Efforts to protect the páramo overlap with Indigenous struggles for recognition and environmental justice. Local leaders know that the future of all these actions depend on one group in particular: young people.

As I first learned a decade ago, preserving the páramo ecosystem and sustaining its role in hydrological cycles is vital for ensuring that water continues to flow through the community irrigation pipeline, a project operative since 2009. Such work remains particularly important now, when the páramo faces increasing threats from industrialization and climate change.

I’m frequently told how jóvenes (young people) play a key role in this work.

Reflecting on his experiences in the páramo, earlier this month Jumandy told me, “We need the young people to be well trained,” and repeating the word concientizar, perhaps best translated from Spanish as “to raise awareness.”

Jumandy added, “We need to raise the awareness of young people — and of their parents too — so that everyone understands the importance of the páramo, so that everyone, including young people, plays an active part in these processes.”

[tabletmains]

Zoo tycoon 2 download snakes

Seminatural grassland occupies areas where moisture is sufficient to support forests. On the periphery of these climatic regions, fire is important in maintaining grasslands by preventing the encroachment of forests in moist regions and desert shrubs in semiarid regions. Tropical grasslands develop in regions with marked wet and dry seasons. Temperate natural grasslands develop in regions characterized by an annual rainfall between 250 and 750 mm (10 and 30 in), a high rate of evaporation, and seasonal and annual droughts. Natural grasslands occupy, or once occupied, large areas of continental landmasses, including the prairies and plains of North America, the pampas and paramos of South America, the veld of South Africa, and the steppes of Eurasia. Grasslands are natural, seminatural, and cultivated. Although temperate grasslands may have more than 50 species of vascular plants, and tropical grasslands more than 200, two or three species of grasses usually dominate upward of 60 percent of the biomass above ground. Grassland is defined as an ecosystem in which grasses, sedges, and other forage plants are the dominant vegetation. East Indian Lemon Grass ( Arabian Nights).Campbell Island Daisy ( Island Excursions).Other plants list Grassland as their biome but instead appear under the Zoo Decorations filter. Squirrel ( Zoo Tycoon 2, Grassland as of Marine Mania).Plain Tiger Butterfly ( Arabian Nights).Citrus Swallowtail Butterfly ( Arabian Nights).Shetland Pony ( Zoo Tycoon 2 Farm Animals booster pack)Īmbient Animals (four official + four user-made).Sheep ( Zoo Tycoon 2 Farm Animals booster pack).Przewalski's Wild Horse ( Endangered Species).Dwarf Sicilian Elephant ( Extinct Animals).Columbian Mammoth ( Extinct Animals booster pack).Clydesdale Horse (Colonel Swampert and Mjmannella download).Black-tailed Prairie Dog ( North America Pack).Aldabra Giant Tortoise ( Grassland Pack).4 Plants (six official + six user-made)Įxhibit Animals (eight official + 17 user-made).3 Trees (three official + eight user-made).2 Ambient Animals (four official + four user-made).1 Exhibit Animals (eight official + 17 user-made).

[ruksanah]

Spent a day walking around the city of Bogota checking out its green spaces. 👍🏽 Started at the José Celestino Mutis Botanical Garden, the largest botanical garden in Colombia, ended at Simon Bolivar Park which has a lovely lake in the center and great activity spaces. 🙌🏾 #didyouknow The botanical garden serves as a recreation and research center with an emphasis on Andean and paramo ecosystems. It also has plants from all altitudes, climates and regions of the country. 😲 Bogotá is surrounded by a unique paramo ecosystem. These cold grasslands are found only in a few countries located in South and Central America. 😊 This also plays a role in the country’s great biodiversity as relates to birds, butterflies, and orchids! 😍 #satwbogota #satw #seeyouinbogota #travelerandtourist #bogotacolombia #bogotaart #bogotafoodie #bogotacity #bogotagrafia (at Bogotá, Colombia) https://www.instagram.com/p/CihNd0TuVPu/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[xtruss]

Best National Parks in Colombia For Volcanoes, Glaciers, Scuba Diving and More

— Steph Dyson, Lonely Planet Writer

Colombia’s national parks offer a staggering range of ecosystems, such as the volcanoes and sparse highland paramo at Parque Nacional Natural Puracé © Guillermo Ossa/Shutterstock

A country famed for its exceptional natural wealth, Colombia promises beguiling natural beauty that spans rugged Andean peaks, wildlife-rich tropical rainforests, vast grasslands of wax palms and sparse, highland paramo.

Following two decades of concerted efforts to strengthen its protected areas, the country now has 59 national parks and protected areas, which span a total of 200,000 sq km (77,220 sq miles) – adding up to a whopping one-sixth of Colombia’s land mass. Venturing into one of this country’s national parks offers an escape into remote, pristine and – more often than not – hard-to-access lands. But doing so is always worth the effort.

From encounters with an unsurpassed richness of wildlife to hiking trails offering majestic mountain views, remarkable indigenous stories past and present, and much more, these treasures simply dazzle travelers. Here is our guide to the best national parks in Colombia.

On your visit to Parque Nacional Natural Tayrona, you might spot a critically endangered cotton-top tamarin © Bildagentur Zoonar GmbH / Shutterstock

Parque Nacional Natural Tayrona is the best national park for white-sand beaches

An exquisitely beautiful stretch of white-sand beaches, vast rock formations and untouched rainforest, Tayrona National Natural Park lies in the north of the country, between the skirts of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range and the azure waters of the Caribbean Sea.

Colombia’s most visited park extends across 12,000 hectares (29,650 acres) of land, with a further 3000 hectares (7413 acres) of ocean protected, too. You’ll find access to glorious swimming and snorkeling on a select few beaches; treacherous currents make many others too dangerous for a dip – if beautiful to admire. The obligatory trail from the entrance at Cañaveral into the park traces the coast, dropping by beaches where you can take shade beneath a coconut palm or even catch sight of the critically endangered cotton-top tamarin monkeys that call the adjoining jungle home.

At night, choose a hammock, beachside tent or rustic cabin so close to the ocean that the crashing waves will lull you to sleep. And for maximum tranquility, avoid visiting in December and January when the park is packed with backpackers and pleasure seekers.

See one of the last untouched places on earth at Parque Nacional Natural Serranía del Chiribiquete

One of the last unexplored corners of the planet, Serranía del Chiribiquete National Park is the world’s largest tropical rainforest park and one of Colombia’s most remarkable protected areas, Covering 44,000 sq km (17,000 sq miles), the park was added to Unesco’s World Heritage List in 2018 thanks to its incredible biodiversity (some 3000 animal and plant species reside here) and unique topography in the form of the tepuis, table-top mountains that rise dramatically out of the jungle.

But human history is what makes this place special. Deep within the park lie 75,000 cave paintings dating back to 20,000 BCE, which depict hunting scenes and other ceremonial events. They’re believed to still be used by the five uncontacted tribes who reside within the park’s borders.

Serranía del Chiribiquete National Park first opened to visitors only in 2019, and access is solely by a limited number of 1-hour flyovers run by local tour operators, where you’ll see the park’s dazzling topography and lush jungle from the air.

Active travelers will love hiking through Parque Nacional Natural Los Nevados, one of Colombia’s most dramatic and high-altitude national parks © Antoine Barthelemy / Shutterstock

Parque Nacional Natural Los Nevados offers exciting high-altitude hiking

Dappled with snow-swept volcanic peaks thrusting towards the sky, Parque Nacional Natural Los Nevados is one of Colombia’s most dramatic and high-altitude national parks. Adventurous travelers come here in their droves to tackle the summit of Nevado del Tolima, a 5200m (17,060ft) volcanic crater that requires technical mountaineering experience. For more casual hikers, gentler trails pass up through the sparse yet striking paramo landscapes to reach glassy lagoons and age-old glaciers. You’ll need a registered guide to hike here, which you can organize in nearby Salento.

In the southern skirts of the national park, the more accessible Valle de Cocora is a verdant wonderland of grasslands and cloud forest surrounded by Colombia’s trademark rolling hills dotted with coffee plantations. The main attraction is the Quindío wax palm, Colombia’s national tree, a species that towers up to 60m (196ft). Admire it from the meandering trails that take you to viewpoints from which breathtaking panoramas of the whole Cocora valley and the craggy peaks of the park’s northern reaches await.

Explore the beautifully barren paramo at Parque Nacional Natural Chingaza

Tucked into the eastern Andes within a stone’s throw of Bogotá, Chingaza National Natural Park is a rich source of water, its 60 lagoons providing 80% of the water consumed by the capital city’s residents. It also provides some of the easiest access from the capital to Colombia’s distinctive paramo. This barren yet beautiful tundra-like ecosystem sits between the tree line and snow line, and is dotted with curious-looking frailejón plants.

No public transport operates here, so exploring this 76,600-hectare (189,300-acre) park requires the assistance of a Bogotá-based tour operator or your own vehicle. Five hiking trails, each with visitor caps at either 40 or 60 per day, allow you to explore the park, with the most popular being the challenging climb to reach the otherworldly Lagunas de Siecha.

Altitudes hit 4000m (13,120ft) above sea level within the park, so give yourself a couple of days to acclimate in Bogotá before venturing out here.

Summit an active volcano at Parque Nacional Natural Puracé

In the far south of Colombia and protecting a slice of the Andes, Parque Nacional Natural Puracé packs volcanoes, dazzling waterfalls, soaring condors and sparse highland paramo within its boundaries.

Like most of Colombia’s national parks, the best way to experience the remote but beautiful natural landscapes here is on foot. The best route is the hike to the edge of the crater of the 4650m (15,255ft) Volcán Puracé, the only active volcano in Colombia with a summit that’s safe to reach. Keep your eyes on the skies for the unmissable vast wingspan of the Andean condors, a species introduced to the park in 2002.

Visit Puracé during September and October to see the frailejón plants that dominate the paramo produce dazzling, sunflower-like blooms.

Take in shrinking glaciers (while you still can) at Parque Nacional Natural El Cocuy

Remote and untouched, Parque Nacional Natural El Cocuy is a challenging place to reach. Yet the effort of a 10-hour rattling bus journey northeast from Bogotá pays big dividends, granting access to a 3060 sq km (1180 sq mile) park that’s home to 15 magnificent 5000m-plus peaks, electric-blue lakes and the largest expanse of glaciers in the country, which are narrowly clinging on despite the onward march of climate change.

While many hiking trails have been closed because of objections from the resident U’wa people about visitors crossing their sacred lands, the park still has plenty to offer. Trekking highlights include the 12-hour trail to El Pulpito del Diablo, a shard of rock spiking out of a slowly retreating glacier, beyond which alpine tundra, glacial valleys and vertiginous mountains roll into the distance.

Every year, the Caño Cristales bursts into a bloom of pink and red thanks to the Macarenia clavigera plant within its depths © sunsinger / Shutterstock

Swim in magenta-hued rivers at Parque Nacional Serranía de La Macarena

Parque Nacional Natural Serranía de La Macarena is where you’ll find one of Colombia’s most curious natural attractions. Each year within the tropical reaches of this park, a river blooms magenta.

Better known as Caño Cristales or the Liquid Rainbow, this river bursts into a bloom of pink and red between July and October thanks to the Macarenia clavigera plant within its depths – and you can swim the water to get a closer look. As part of a guided tour, you can access a trail of waterfalls and swimming holes dotted around the south of the national park, all of which are within easy reach of the town of La Macarena.

Visitor numbers are capped at 200 per day, but this figure is rarely enforced; a mid-week trip will see many fewer visitors than on weekends.

Enjoy snorkeling and scuba diving galore at Parque Nacional Old Providence McBean Lagoon

Measuring in at just 1485 hectares (3670 acres), Parque Nacional Old Providence McBean Lagoon is one of Colombia’s smallest national parks. It covers the mangrove forests in the east of Colombia’s Caribbean island, Providencia, as well as the surrounding waters, which protect part of the third-longest coral reef in the world.

Within the park is Cayo Cangrejo, a magical, picture-perfect island nearby whose waters lay claim to some of the most remarkable snorkeling and diving in the region. Beneath the bathtub-warm and crystal-clear waters, you’ll spot coral reefs inhabited by schools of tropical fish. Keep your eyes peeled for four species of turtles and manta ray, too.

It takes days of trekking through the jungle to reach Ciudad Perdida (Lost City) in Colombia’s Parque Nacional Natural Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta © Jess Kraft / 500px

Visit Parque Nacional Natural Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta for intriguing archeological sites

The birthplace of the Tairona people, Parque Nacional Natural Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is best known as the home of Ciudad Perdida, the once-thriving Tairona city that remains buried deep in the jungle. This national park is a place of stark contrasts, where the soaring summits of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range slide into deep river valleys and practically impenetrable jungle.

Descendants of the Tairona still inhabit this national park – and consider these mountains sacred – and you may well bump into them as part of the 5-day trek that slogs through the rainforest to reach the intriguing archeological site. Conditions are hot, humid and muddy; visit between December and February for dry ground underfoot.

[evoldir]

Fwd: Postdoc: ULodz.VertebrateEvolution

Begin forwarded message: > From: evoldir@web.rhpcs.mcmaster.ca > Subject: Postdoc: ULodz.VertebrateEvolution > Date: 29 September 2021 at 06:07:04 BST > To: rdmpage@gmail.com > > > Postdoc: EXILE - University of Łódź - Department of Ecology and > Vertebrate Zoology > > REMINDER – DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF APPLICATIONS: 20 October 2021 > > An exciting postdoctoral position funded by the Polish National > Science Centre (NCN, grant EXILE) is available at the Department of > Ecology and Vertebrate Zoology of the University of Łódź (Poland) > under the supervision of Philippe Kok (STELLAR Research Group, see > https://ift.tt/3CYm8BY). The position is > offered for one year, renewable for two further periods of one year > (thus max 3 years) and is available from January 2022. > > Brief scientific summary of the project: > While potential responses of vertebrate communities to environmental > constraints have been widely tested in post-Pleistocene landscapes, > extrinsic and intrinsic drivers of vertebrate population density in > ancient insular terrestrial landscapes (fragmented paleosurfaces) > are essentially unknown. The overarching objective of this project > (acronym EXILE for EXobIoLogy on Earth) is to explore, document > and understand how environmentally hostile naturally fragmented > paleosurfaces may have driven/altered peculiar behavioural, bio-physical > and eco-physiological adaptations, and ultimately the evolutionary > trajectories of vertebrates. EXILE focusses on the “Lost World” > moonlike tabletop mountains of northern South America (tepuis). We > hypothesize that ancient endemic lineages of vertebrates thriving > on these paleosurfaces, such as the toad genus Oreophrynella and the > lizard genus Riolama, have developed unique behavioural, bio-physical > and eco-physiological traits/strategies to cope with the tepuis’ highly > contrasted environmental conditions. EXILE stems from our previous work in > this unique system and was inspired by unconventional findings, testimony > to the tremendous research discoveries yet to be made in this unusual > ecosystem. It is well known that body temperature and water balance are > jointly influenced by heat and water exchange within the organism and > between the organism and its environment. This exchange is modulated by > (i) the biophysical and physiological properties of the organism and by > (ii) behavioural strategies. Biophysical properties include morphology, > surface properties, and metabolic modes. For instance, skin colour, > thickness, and ultrastructure in reptiles and amphibians determine > heating capacity and resistance to water loss. EXILE will specifically > focus on two main complementary research axes: (1) thermal biology, > and (2) bio-physical adaptations to dehydration. We will use selected > Pantepui amphibians and reptiles on a single tepui summit at ca. 2,800 m > elevation. In order to situate these results in the appropriate ecological > and evolutionary context, we will also investigate non-insular upland > (ca. 1,000 m elevation) closely-related taxa in the surrounding Pantepui > tropical rainforest, as well as the closest relatives of the tepui > taxa living in a Neotropical post-Pleistocene landscape at similar > elevation (ca. 2,800 m elevation in the sub-paramo in the Andes). Field > expeditions coupled with the use of advanced techniques such as highly > sensitive thermal imagery, including the use of drones to record thermal > images of the landscapes from the air, will be carried out to complete > our project. We will also run a variety of cutting-edge behavioural > tests, either in the native environment of the animals or in our field > laboratory, and use modern imagery techniques (such as high-resolution > X-ray microcomputed tomography and electronic microscopy). > > Summary for the public is available here: > https://ift.tt/3F0v0sr > > Requirements: > We are looking for an out of the box thinker with strong motivation > and positive energy, as well as an eye for the details and excellent > organisational skills. The successful candidate will have a PhD in > biological or closely related science and experience in field work, > preferably under difficult conditions and during extended periods. The > EXILE project involves heavy field work in different locations (such > as tepui top, intervening forest at tepui foot, and one locality around > 2,800m elevation in the Andes), for usually 6-8 weeks, with at least 6 > distinct field campaigns over 2-3 years. > > The ideal candidate will also have some of the following: > o   Excellent publication record (according to experience); > o   Excellent skills in statistics; > o   Experience in behavioural tests; > o   Experience in thermal imagery (a drone pilot license is a plus); > o   Experience in μCT/ SR-μCT/SEM/TEM/soft-tissue staining techniques; > o   Experience in population estimates; > o   Background in amphibians and/or reptiles eco-physiology > > Among other things the successful applicant will conduct field work with > the PI and other external collaborators, help analysing the data and > disseminating our results (publications, conferences, etc.). Depending > on her/his skills (e.g., in genetics/genomics) the successful applicant > will be involved in other research projects of the group. > > Salary: > The salary is ca. 1200€ net/month. Note that living cost in Poland > is substantially lower than in western Europe (average salary in Poland > is ca. 850€ net/month). In addition, the University of Łódź offers > attractive bonus payments for high-quality publications. No need to say > that this position includes participation to the most exciting field > work one can dream of. > > Documents: > Review of applications will begin immediately (official deadline 20th of > October 2021) and continue until the position is filled. Please send a > full CV including contact details for two references and a motivation > letter to Philippe Kok (philippe.kok@biol.uni.lodz.pl). For more > information, please e-mail me at the same address or at pjrkok@gmail.com. > > > About the STELLAR Research Group: > STELLAR stands for [S]ystematics, [T]axonomy, [E]co[L]ogy and Evo[L]ution > of [A]mphibians and [R]eptiles, and is a new research group in the > Department of Ecology and Vertebrate Zoology of the University of Łódź > (central Poland). We are integrative organismal biologists aiming at > generating and disseminating new knowledge about the origin and diversity > of amphibians and reptiles. Our group has broad interests in e.g., > biogeography, dispersal, phylogenetics, population genetics/genomics, > ecology, sociality, and physiology, mostly from an evolutionary > perspective. We have, for instance, a keen interest in understanding > how geographically isolated species/populations cope with extreme and > competitive terrestrial environments, and a great deal of our research > concerns high tepui (South American tabletop mountains) summit taxa. We > also conduct collections-based research, mainly revising the systematics > of several Guiana Shield amphibian and reptile taxa. Our two most recent > research projects – funded by a Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant from the > European Commission (HOSTILE, in collaboration with the Natural History > Museum, London) and a SONATA grant from the National Science Centre of > Poland (EXILE) – primarily aim at understanding the impact of South > American Old Climatically Buffered Infertile Landscapes (OCBILs) on (1) > genetic structure and phenotypic traits; and (2) behavioural, bio-physical > and eco-physiological adaptations of amphibians and reptiles. We combine > field work, in situ behavioural tests (in native environment and/or in > our field laboratory), all sorts of advanced techniques such as highly > sensitive thermal imagery and laboratory approaches (e.g., molecular, > SEM, µ-CT scans) to answer our questions and test new hypotheses. > > > I am happy to discuss any PhD/postdoc/collaboration proposition, so please > do not hesitate to contact me if you would like to join our ambitious, > highly motivated team. > > > "Philippe J. R. Kok" > via IFTTT