Sumapaz Paramo (Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

 Páramo de Sumapaz - meaning "Utterly peaceful moorland

Moorland

Moorland or moor is a type of habitat, in the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome, found in upland areas, characterised by low-growing vegetation on acidic soils and heavy fog...

" ) is a large páramo

Páramo

The term páramo can refer to a variety of ecosystems. Some ecologists describe the páramo broadly as “all high, tropical, montane vegetation above the continuous timberline”. A more narrow term classifies the páramo according to its regional placement - specifically located in “the northern Andes...

 ecosystem located in the Altiplano Cundiboyacense

Altiplano Cundiboyacense

The Altiplano Cundiboyacense is a set of highlands located on the Eastern Cordillera of the Colombian Andes between the departments of Cundinamarca and Boyacá. The altiplano corresponds to the ancient territory of the Muisca...

 mountain range, considered the largest páramo ecosystem in the world. It was declared a National Park of Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

 in 1977 because of its importance as a biodiversity hotspot

Biodiversity hotspot

A biodiversity hotspot is a biogeographic region with a significant reservoir of biodiversity that is under threat from humans.The concept of biodiversity hotspots was originated by Norman Myers in two articles in “The Environmentalist” , revised after thorough analysis by Myers and others in...

 and main source of water

Water resources

Water resources are sources of water that are useful or potentially useful. Uses of water include agricultural, industrial, household, recreational and environmental activities. Virtually all of these human uses require fresh water....

 for the most densely populated area of the country, the Bogotá Savannah.

History

Sumapaz Paramo was considered a sacred place for the Muisca

Muisca

Muisca was the Chibcha-speaking tribe that formed the Muisca Confederation of the central highlands of present-day Colombia. They were encountered by the Spanish Empire in 1537, at the time of the conquest...

 aboriginal people. It was associated with the divine forces of creation and the origin of mankind

Bachué

The goddess Bachué , is a mother goddess that according with the muisca colombian mythology is the mother of mankind. She emerged of the waters in the Lake Iguaque with a baby in her arms, who grew to become her husband and populate the earth...

, a domain where the humans were not supposed to enter.

During the 16th century, German adventurer and conquistador

Conquistador

Conquistadors were Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th to 16th centuries, following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...

 Nikolaus Federmann

Nikolaus Federmann

Nikolaus Federmann was a German adventurer and conquistador in the colonies of Venezuela and Colombia. He worked in the service of the Welser brothers.- Life :...

 conducted an expedition crossing the Sumapaz, searching for El Dorado

El Dorado

El Dorado is the name of a Muisca tribal chief who covered himself with gold dust and, as an initiation rite, dived into a highland lake.Later it became the name of a legendary "Lost City of Gold" that has fascinated – and so far eluded – explorers since the days of the Spanish Conquistadors...

 mythic treasure, with heavy casualties. The place was named by the Spaniards "País de la Niebla" ("Country of Fog)" because of the dense clouds at ground level, with great decrease in visibility.

In 1783, José Celestino Mutis

José Celestino Mutis

-External links:*** at The Catholic Encyclopedia official site...

 led the Botanic Expedition, with the purpose of studying the flora and fauna of the region. However, the paramo was not visited because of its harsh climatic conditions. The German naturalist Alexander Von Humboldt

Alexander von Humboldt

Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander Freiherr von Humboldt was a German naturalist and explorer, and the younger brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt...

 made the first description of the paramo and the local plants in 1799. He also described the presence of glacier

Glacier

A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...

 valleys and associated the geologic features of the region with those seen in the Alpine geomorphology

Geology of the Alps

The Alps form part of a Tertiary orogenic belt of mountain chains, called the Alpide belt, that stretches through southern Europe and Asia from the Atlantic all the way to the Himalayas. This belt of mountain chains was formed during the Alpine orogeny. A gap in these mountain chains in central...

.

During the early 20th century, the Spanish naturalist José Cuatrecasas

José Cuatrecasas

José Cuatrecasas was a botanist. He was born on March 19, 1903 in Camprodon, Catalonia, Spain.His research focused on the high-elevation páramo and sub-páramo regions of the Andes Mountains in South America, especially the flowering plant families Asteraceae and Malpighiaceae.In 1997, the...

 made important research of the páramo and the tree line. Other scientists that described and studied Sumapaz páramo were Ernesto Guhl, who conducted a long-term 3-decade research of the vegetal communities, and Thomas van der Hammen.

Climate and geography

Sumapaz Paramo has an inhospitable, cold climate with temperatures averaging below 10 °C (50 °F).(ranging from −10 °C to 17 °C) with quick changes from short periods of warm climate to freezing cold. The average altitude oscillates between 3500 and 4000 m. AMSL. The highest point is the Nevado de Sumapaz peak (4300 m AMSL). The precipitation

Precipitation (meteorology)

In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation (also known as one of the classes of hydrometeors, which are atmospheric water phenomena is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation...

 is about 700–1000 mm³/year. The rainy season lasts almost the entire year, except from December to February, when the sunlight reaches a peak, with intense ultraviolet radiation (adaptations such as white, glassy coloration help the local plants to survive). The humidity

Humidity

Humidity is a term for the amount of water vapor in the air, and can refer to any one of several measurements of humidity. Formally, humid air is not "moist air" but a mixture of water vapor and other constituents of air, and humidity is defined in terms of the water content of this mixture,...

 is usually high, (from 50 to 90%), and the ground remains soaked, and covered by shallow bodies of water and sticky mud, often covered with dense, flat vegetation difficult to spot by the unexperienced visitor, with danger of falling into them, and risk of drowning or other injuries. These places are called "Chupaderos" or "Chucuas" ("Drainage

Drainage

Drainage is the natural or artificial removal of surface and sub-surface water from an area. Many agricultural soils need drainage to improve production or to manage water supplies.-Early history:...

s").

Sumapaz lies between the Orinoco

Orinoco

The Orinoco is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes called the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3% of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia...

 River basin and the Magdalena River

Magdalena River

The Magdalena River is the principal river of Colombia, flowing northward about through the western half of the country. It takes its name from the biblical figure Mary Magdalene. It is navigable through much of its lower reaches, in spite of the shifting sand bars at the mouth of its delta, as...

 basin, the two main fluvial

Fluvial

Fluvial is used in geography and Earth science to refer to the processes associated with rivers and streams and the deposits and landforms created by them...

 systems of Colombia, and provides tributaries to both. Its location in the Thermal equator

Thermal equator

The thermal equator is a belt encircling the Earth, defined by the set of locations having the highest mean annual temperature at each longitude around the globe...

 generates high rates of precipitation, which together with its endemic flora that regulate the soil moisture acting like sponges for the rain waters, contribute to the high amount of surface water

Surface water

Surface water is water collecting on the ground or in a stream, river, lake, wetland, or ocean; it is related to water collecting as groundwater or atmospheric water....

 and its role as source of water reservoir

Water reservoir

A reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...

s such as Tota, Chivor

Chivor

Chivor is a town and municipality in the Colombian Department of Boyacá, part of the subregion of the Eastern Boyacá Province.Currently has 2126 inhabitants and has a temperature of 18°C....

, Fúquene

Fúquene

Fúquene is a municipality and town of Colombia in the department of Cundinamarca....

, Sisga, Tominé, Guavio, Muña

Muna

Muna may refer to:*Muna, Yucatán, town in Yucatán, Mexico*Muna, Nepal, village development committee, Myagdi District, Nepal*Muna, Estonia, village in Rõuge Parish, Võru County, Estonia*Muna River, river in Murmansk Oblast, Russia...

, Iguaque, Guatavita

Guatavita

Guatavita is a municipality and town of Colombia in the department of Cundinamarca. There you can find the Guatavita's lake, that were a sacred and ceremonial lake for the Quimbayas indians.- External links :*...

, Sochagota and Chingaza.

Geology

The east part of Sumapaz consists of devonian

Devonian

The Devonian is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic Era spanning from the end of the Silurian Period, about 416.0 ± 2.8 Mya , to the beginning of the Carboniferous Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya...

 metamorphic rock

Metamorphic rock

Metamorphic rock is the transformation of an existing rock type, the protolith, in a process called metamorphism, which means "change in form". The protolith is subjected to heat and pressure causing profound physical and/or chemical change...

 formations, with fault scarp

Fault scarp

A fault scarp is the topographic expression of faulting attributed to the displacement of the land surface by movement along faults. They are exhibited either by differential movement and subsequent erosion along an old inactive geologic fault , or by a movement on a recent active fault...

ed configuration, and alpine

Alpine climate

Alpine climate is the average weather for a region above the tree line. This climate is also referred to as mountain climate or highland climate....

 landscapes. Its west part consists of oligocene

Oligocene

The Oligocene is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 34 million to 23 million years before the present . As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the period are well identified but the exact dates of the start and end of the period are slightly...

 sedimentary rock

Sedimentary rock

Sedimentary rock are types of rock that are formed by the deposition of material at the Earth's surface and within bodies of water. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause mineral and/or organic particles to settle and accumulate or minerals to precipitate from a solution....

s, with softer landscapes. The different stages of the Quaternary glaciation

Quaternary glaciation

Quaternary glaciation, also known as the Pleistocene glaciation, the current ice age or simply the ice age, refers to the period of the last few million years in which permanent ice sheets were established in Antarctica and perhaps Greenland, and fluctuating ice sheets have occurred elsewhere...

 left plenty of glacier

Glacier

A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...

 debris, and glacier lakes such as Chisaca lake. During the Last Glacial Maximum

Last Glacial Maximum

The Last Glacial Maximum refers to a period in the Earth's climate history when ice sheets were at their maximum extension, between 26,500 and 19,000–20,000 years ago, marking the peak of the last glacial period. During this time, vast ice sheets covered much of North America, northern Europe and...

, the glacier motion of the ice sheets through the Tunjuelo valley reached as far as Usme

Usme

Usme is the 5th locality of the Capital District of Bogotá, capital city of Colombia. Usme is located in the southwestern part of Bogotá limiting to the north with the localities of San Cristóbal, Rafael Uribe Uribe and Tunjuelito, to the west with the locality of Ciudad Bolívar, to the south with...

 (today part of Bogotá

Bogotá

Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...

 City).

Soil

The soil of this region is acidic, with high levels of sodium

Sodium

Sodium is a chemical element with the symbol Na and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal and is a member of the alkali metals; its only stable isotope is 23Na. It is an abundant element that exists in numerous minerals, most commonly as sodium chloride...

 and potassium

Potassium

Potassium is the chemical element with the symbol K and atomic number 19. Elemental potassium is a soft silvery-white alkali metal that oxidizes rapidly in air and is very reactive with water, generating sufficient heat to ignite the hydrogen emitted in the reaction.Potassium and sodium are...

. This is a coarse-grained soil, with high permeability favoring the formation of groundwater

Groundwater

Groundwater is water located beneath the ground surface in soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. A unit of rock or an unconsolidated deposit is called an aquifer when it can yield a usable quantity of water. The depth at which soil pore spaces or fractures and voids in rock...

 in aquifer

Aquifer

An aquifer is a wet underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock or unconsolidated materials from which groundwater can be usefully extracted using a water well. The study of water flow in aquifers and the characterization of aquifers is called hydrogeology...

s. The composition of the soil and the low temperatures contribute to the low amount of humus and poor decomposing of the organic matter

Organic matter

Organic matter is matter that has come from a once-living organism; is capable of decay, or the product of decay; or is composed of organic compounds...

 making this soil largely unsuitable for agriculture

Agriculture

Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

.

Flora

Over 200 species of vascular plants are native to the area with substantial amount of endemisms. The most representative plants of the area are the Espeletia

Espeletia

Espeletia, commonly known as Frailejón or Fraylejón is a genus of perennial subshrubs, in the family Asteraceae. The genus, which is endemic mainly to Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador, was first formally described by botanist Alexander Von Humboldt in 1801...

s. Several species have been described here, the most common being Espeletia grandiflora Humb. & Bonpl. The largest one is Espeletia uribei Cuatrec., with specimens up to 12 meters of height, other species are: Espeletia algodonosa Aristeg. Espeletia banksiifolia Sch.Bip. & Ettingsh. ex Wedd. Espeletia cuatrecasasii Ruíz-Terán & López-Fig. Espeletia formosa S.Díaz & Rodr.-Cabeza
Espeletia glossophylla Mattf. Espeletia killipii Cuatrec. Espeletia picnophyla Cuatrec. Espeletia schultzii (Benth.) W.M.Curtis and Espeletia curialensis Cuatrec. The Sphagnum

Sphagnum

Sphagnum is a genus of between 151 and 350 species of mosses commonly called peat moss, due to its prevalence in peat bogs and mires. A distinction is made between sphagnum moss, the live moss growing on top of a peat bog on one hand, and sphagnum peat moss or sphagnum peat on the other, the...

 moss covers wide areas of Sumapaz, which increases the soil's capacity to hold water and nutrients by increasing capillary forces and cation exchange capacity. In the canyons areas, encenillo tree and tibouchina

Tibouchina

Tibouchina is a genus of about 350 species of neotropical plants in the family Melastomataceae. They are trees, shrubs or subshrubs growing 0.5–25 m tall, and are known as glory bushes or glory trees. They are native to rainforests of Mexico, the Caribbean, and South America, especially Brazil...

 are the dominant species. The European plant Digitalis purpurea

Digitalis purpurea

Digitalis purpurea , is a flowering plant in the family Plantaginaceae , native to most of Europe.-Description:...

 is an introduced species

Introduced species

An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...

, the way of its introduction is not known, either deliberate or accidental.

Fauna

The endangered spectacled bear

Spectacled Bear

The spectacled bear , also known as the Andean bear and locally as ukuko, jukumari or ucumari, is the last remaining short-faced bear and the closest living relative to the Florida spectacled bear and short-faced bears of the Middle Pleistocene to Late Pleistocene age.The spectacled bear is a...

 lives in Sumapaz, its main source of food being the Puya boyacana fruits and the Espeletia plant stem

Plant stem

A stem is one of two main structural axes of a vascular plant. The stem is normally divided into nodes and internodes, the nodes hold buds which grow into one or more leaves, inflorescence , conifer cones, roots, other stems etc. The internodes distance one node from another...

s, (known as caulirosule). Other animals described are: Little Red Brocket Deer, tapir

Tapir

A Tapir is a large browsing mammal, similar in shape to a pig, with a short, prehensile snout. Tapirs inhabit jungle and forest regions of South America, Central America, and Southeast Asia. There are four species of Tapirs: the Brazilian Tapir, the Malayan Tapir, Baird's Tapir and the Mountain...

, coati

Coati

Coatis, genera Nasua and Nasuella, also known as the Brazilian aardvark, Mexican tejón, hog-nosed coon, pizotes, crackoons and snookum bears, are members of the raccoon family . They are diurnal mammals native to South America, Central America, and south-western North America...

, golden eagle

Golden Eagle

The Golden Eagle is one of the best known birds of prey in the Northern Hemisphere. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. Once widespread across the Holarctic, it has disappeared from many of the more heavily populated areas...

, torrent duck

Torrent Duck

The Torrent Duck is a member of the duck, goose and swan family Anatidae. It is the only member of the genus Merganetta. Today it is placed in the shelduck subfamily Tadorninae after the "perching duck" assemblage where it was formerly assigned to was dissolved because it turned out to be...

, Paramo duck (Anas georgica). An introduced species in the waterbodies is the rainbow trout

Rainbow trout

The rainbow trout is a species of salmonid native to tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead is a sea run rainbow trout usually returning to freshwater to spawn after 2 to 3 years at sea. In other words, rainbow trout and steelhead trout are the same species....

.

Socio-economic issues

Although the soil and climate are adverse for agriculture and other economic activities, human settlements do exist in the Sumapaz Paramo, including the villages of San Juan de Sumapaz, Nazareth, Santa Rosa and El Hato (only the first two have road access) with an estimated 1200 families, most of them under the poverty threshold

Poverty threshold

The poverty threshold, or poverty line, is the minimum level of income deemed necessary to achieve an adequate standard of living in a given country...

, living on less than $1.25 per day, without schools or sanitation

Sanitation

Sanitation is the hygienic means of promoting health through prevention of human contact with the hazards of wastes. Hazards can be either physical, microbiological, biological or chemical agents of disease. Wastes that can cause health problems are human and animal feces, solid wastes, domestic...

. In consequence, the peasants often invade the protected area to grow potato

Potato

The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...

 crops. The natural forest line is severely altered by human activity (logging, intensive grazing), which makes the difference between natural and artificial grasslands difficult to distinguish. An estimated 10000 heads of cattle live or feed within the protected area. In 1950, president Mariano Ospina Pérez

Mariano Ospina Pérez

Luis Mariano Ospina Pérez was a Colombian engineer and political figure, member of the Colombian Conservative Party. He served as President of Colombia between 1946 and 1950.- Biographic data :...

 ordered the Colombian banks not to approve loans destinated to establishment of crops or cattle at altitudes higher than 3500m as an attempt to discourage such activities.

Illegal armed groups such as FARC and ELN

National Liberation Army (Colombia)

National Liberation Army is a revolutionary, avowed Marxist guerrilla group that has been operating in several regions of Colombia since 1964....

 guerrillas used the area in recent years as a corridor for the transportation of kidnapping

Kidnapping

In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...

 victimes, weapon trafficking and narcotrafficking. The Colombian government, according with the democratic security

Democratic security

Democratic security or Democratic security policy refers to a Colombian security policy implemented during the administration of President Álvaro Uribe...

 policies, established in 2002 a center of military operations: the General Antonio Arredondo Military base, achieving the withdrawal

Withdrawal (military)

A withdrawal is a type of military operation, generally meaning retreating forces back while maintaining contact with the enemy. A withdrawal may be undertaken as part of a general retreat, to consolidate forces, to occupy ground that is more easily defended, or to lead the enemy into an ambush...

 of the illegal forces. However, the presence of the Colombian army

Colombian Army

The National Army of Colombia is the land military force of the government of Colombia and the largest service of the Colombian Armed Forces...

 has generated controversy about the environmental impact, with alleged destruction of the espeletia

Espeletia

Espeletia, commonly known as Frailejón or Fraylejón is a genus of perennial subshrubs, in the family Asteraceae. The genus, which is endemic mainly to Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador, was first formally described by botanist Alexander Von Humboldt in 1801...

 plants, whose leaves are supposedly collected by the soldiers for making rudimentary mattress

Mattress

A mattress is a manufactured product to sleep or lie on, consisting of resilient materials and covered with an outer fabric or ticking. In the developed world it is typically part of a bed set and is placed upon a foundation....

es to sleep in.

External links