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Venezuela

James L. Luteyn and Mauricio R. Gavilanes A.

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      The Cordillera Oriental of Colombia splits into two unequal spurs as it enters Venezuela: the smaller one goes directly north and is called the Sierra de Perijá, while the larger one goes in a northeast direction and is generally called the Cordillera de Mérida. The Cordillera de Mérida, in turn, transects the Venezuelan Andes in a southwest to northeast direction, ranging over 450 km, from the Táchira depression near San Cristóbal to the Barquisimeto-Carora depression in southwestern Lara. The páramos of Venezuela are centered in the states of Mérida, Táchira, and Trujillo, with smaller numbers in Barinas, Lara, Apure, and Portuguesa. The primary mountain ranges in the state of Mérida are the Sierra del Norte (or also called the Sierra de La Culata), which is north of the city of Mérida, the Sierra Nevada de Mérida to the south of Mérida that includes the Parque Nacional Sierra Nevada, and the Sierra de Santo Domingo, northeast of Mérida. The highest point in Venezuela is Pico Bolívar (Mérida state) at 5007 m. In the state of Trujillo, the eastern continuation of the Andes mountain range is called the Cordillera de Trujillo, which has several branches such as the Ramal de Calderas that continues into the state of Barinas, Ramal del Rosario east-northeast of Boconó, and the Sierra Morena de Trujillo that continues into the state of Lara. The primary ranges in Táchira are the Sierra del Batallón, Sierra La Cimarronera, Sierra de Callejón Colorado, and Sierra de Palo Grande. In the state of Zulia, along the Colombian border, the extreme northern limit of the Cordillera Oriental of Colombia is known as the Sierra de Perijá, with its southern part known as the Serranía de Los Motilones and the northern part the Serranía de Valledupar.
      Jahn (1931) estimated that páramo occupied 4100 km2 in Venezuela. According to many herbarium labels, the Venezuelan páramos often seem to begin at lower elevations than those of the other countries, e.g., 2500-2800 m. This may be true in some rare cases since in general the páramos of Venezuela are somewhat drier than those of Colombia and northern Ecuador. It is my (JLL) experience, however, that most of these areas are usually not páramo, but instead are areas that have been severely disturbed by man and are now almost totally dominated by the fern Pteridium aquilinum and with scattered Monochaetum (Melastomataceae) and Dodonea viscosa (Sapindaceae). I do not consider these areas páramo in this book (but see also Bono, 1996).
      Venezuelan national parks that include páramo are: Sierra Nevada, Sierra de la Culata, Dinira, El Tamá, Perijá, Guaramacal, and Páramo Batallón-La Negra (cf. Gabaldón, 1992). For additional discussion of Venezuelan páramo vegetation, see Bono (1996), Fariñas & Monasterio (1980), Goebel (1891), Hitchcock (1954), Jahn (1931), Monasterio (various papers cited), Tamayo (1958, 1975), Tillett (1978), Vareschi (1970), and Viloria P. (1993).

Bibliographic Sources for Locations of Páramos

VENEZUELA

American Geographical Society of New York.1945. Map CN-19, Caracas.Compiled and drawn by The American Geograpichal Society of New York.

Aranguren B., A. & N. J. Márquez. 1995. Use, collection, commercialization, and vulnerability of two species of the genus Oritrophium (O. venezuelense and O. peruvianum) in the Venezuelan Andes. Final Report.Programa Andes Tropicales, Fundación BIOMA, Mérida, Venezuela.

__, __, R. Prato & Y. Lesenfants.1996. Use, collection, commercialization, and vulnerability of two species of the genus Oritrophium (O. venezuelense and O. peruvianum, Compositae) in the Venezuelan Andes.Acta Bot. Venez. 19: 16-38.

Bono, G.1996. Flora y vegetación del Estado Táchira, Venezuela.Monografie 20. Museo Regionale di Scienze Natrurali, Torino.

Caribbean Petroleum Company. 1943. Mapas de las vías de comunicación de los Estados Unidos de Venezuela. 1:2,000,000. Proyección plicónica. Top. Dept. C.P.C., Maracaibo.

Gabaldón, M. 1992. Parques nacionales de Venezuela. Serie Parques Nacionales y Conservación Ambiental, Caracas.

Jahn, A. 1912. La cordillera venezolana de los Andes. Tipografía Comercio, Caracas. [Cited in Pérez, 1992a.]

__.  1931. Los páramos venezolanos: Sus aspectos físicos y su vegetación. Bol. Soc. Venez. Ci. Nat. 1(3): 93-127.

López del Pozo, E. 1993. El páramo: Diferentes visiones. Pp. 109-121. In: C. Schubert & L. Vivas (eds.), El Cuaternario de la Cordillera de Mérida (Andes venezolanos). Universidad de Los Andes/Fundación Polar, Mérida.

López Figueiras, M. 1986. Censo de macrolíquenes venezolanos de los estados Falcón, Lara, Mérida, Táchira y Trujillo. Universidad de Los Andes, Mérida, Venezuela.

Ministerio de Obras Públicas. 1969. Atlas de Venezuela. Dirección de Cartografía Nacional, Caracas.

__.  1969-1977. Maps of Venezuela. Serie DCN. 1:25,000. Dirección de Cartografía Nacional, Caracas. [Hoja 5839, San José de Bolívar. 1976; Hoja 5840, La Grita. 1976; Hoja 5841, El Vigía. 1977; Hoja 5940, Libertad. 1976; Hoja 5941, Mérida. 1977; Hoja 5942, La Azulita. 1977; Hoja 6041, Ciudad de Bolivia. 1977; Hoja 6042, Timotes. 1976; Hoja 6142, Barinitas. 1975; Hoja 6143, Boconó. 1977; Hoja 6144, Trujillo. 1969; Hoja 6244, Biscucuy. 1976; Hoja 6245, El Tocuyo. 1975; Hoja 6043, Valera. 1976.]

__.  1977. Mapa de las carreteras de Venezuela. 1:1,000,000. Octava edición. Dirección General de Vialidad. Gráficas Artimano C.A., [Caracas] Venezuela.

__.  [Without date]. Mapa de las carreteras de Venezuela, Región Norte de la República de Venezuela. 1:1,000,000. Dirección General de Vialidad. Gráficas Artimano C.A., [Caracas] Venezuela.

Ministerio del Ambiente y de Los Recursos Naturales Renovables. 1978. Mérida. Map NC 19-13. 1:250,000. Dirección General de Información e Investigación del Ambiente, Dirección Nacional de Cartografía - MARNR. Caracas.

__.  1983. Venezuela en mapas. Primera edición. Dirección General de Información e Investigación del Ambiente, Dirección de Cartografía - MARNR. Caracas.

Monasterio, M. (ed.). 1980. Estudios ecológicos en los páramos andinos. Ediciones de la Universidad de Los Andes, Mérida, Venezuela.

Paynter, A. R., Jr. 1982. Ornithological gazetteer of Venezuela. Bird Department, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Schubert, C. 1976. Evidence of former glaciation in the Sierra de Perijá, western Venezuela. Erdkunde 30: 222-224.

Sívoli G., A. [Date uncertain but 1976 or earlier]. Diccionario geográfico de Venezuela. Ediciones Eneva, C.A., Caracas.

United States Board on Geographical Names. 1961. Venezuela. Gazetteer Nº 56. Office of Geography, Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C.

Vila, M. A. 1976. Diccionario de tierras y aguas de Venezuela. Ministerio de Obras Públicas, Dirección de Cartografía Nacional, Caracas.

Viloria P., A. L. 1993. Los páramos de Perijá. Natura No. 93: 25-29. Revista de Divulgación Científica Sociedad de Ciencias Naturales La Salle, Caracas.

Vuilleumier, F. & D. N. Ewert. 1978. The distribution of birds in Venezuelan páramos. Bull. American Mus. Nat. Hist. 162(2): 47-90.

Xena de Enrech, N. 1992. Valerianaceae. Fl. Venezuela 5(1): 221-267.


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