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     This bibliography of páramo literature is primarily botanical in orientation.  Also included are a few studies of puna or afro-alpine (and other Old World) regions for comparative purposes, and a few zoologically-oriented páramo studies.  Although literature searches for these latter subjects have not been exhaustive, I have tried to add relevant papers with extensive bibliographies whenever possible.  I have also made an effort to include páramo-based unpublished theses for which I have looked diligently in the various libraries of the Universidad de Los Andes (Facultad de Ciencias, Mérida, Venezuela), Universidad Nacional de Colombia (Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Bogotá, and Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Medellín), Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador (Departamento de Biología, Herbario QCA, Quito), and the University of Amsterdam (Hugo de Vries Laboratory, The Netherlands).  I have not included in this bibliography strictly taxonomic revisions or monographs in which páramo species are a major element;  they are, instead, included in Chapter 2 of this book, "Checklist of Páramo Plants", and are cited with their respective families or genera.  Although neither algae nor fungi (with the exception of lichenized fungi) are included in the above "Checklist of Páramo Plants," literature references to them are included below.  As an additional help, at the end of most bibliographic entries after the double dash (--), I have tried to note the main emphasis of the reference using the subject categories given in the "key" below:

Key to subject categories

1. ecology (including geoecology, reproductive biology, community ecology, phyto-sociology, population and vegetation dynamics, etc.)
2. systematics
3. physiology, ecophysiology
4. zoology
5. general (including natural history, travels, etc.)
6. conservation
7. geology (including soils, geologic history, glaciation, etc.)
8. palynology, paleoecology, and paleoclimatology
9. biogeography
10. ethnobiology (including agricultural systems, land use and management)
11. anatomy & morphology
12. chemistry & pharmacology
13. archeology
14. anthropology (including sociology, human ecology)
15. limnology
16. present day climatology (including microclimatology)
17. algae
18. fungi (including lichenes)
19. bryophytes