Chapter 12

Other Tropical Ecosystems: From the Mountains to

the Rivers to the Sea

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FIGURE 12-1

Vegetation belts in the Cordillera Oriental (Colombia) shown schematically.

PLATE 12-1 Clouds are beginning to cover this Ecuadorian cloud forest as afternoon approaches.

PLATE 12-2

This cloud forest in Venezuela contains numerous conifers (foreground). The fog has fully engulfed the forest.

PLATE 12-3

Tree ferns are common in cloud forests.

PLATE 12-4

Cloud forests have an abundance of epiphytes, as is

evident in this image.

PLATE 12-5

ELFIN-WOODS WARBLER

PLATE 12-7 GRASS-GREEN TANAGER

PLATE 12-6

SPECTACLED BEAR

PLATE 12-10 GOLDEN TOAD

PLATE 12-8

GIANT ANTPITTA

PLATE 12-9

ANDEAN COCK-OF-THE-ROCK

FIGURE 12-2

Percentages and numbers of rapidly declining species in amphibian families (with at least one rapidly declining

species), broken into groups reflecting the dominant cause of rapid decline: overexploitation, habitat loss, or enigmatic

decline.

FIGURE 12-3

Predicted distribution of the fundamental niche of Batrachochytrium dendro-batidis. Darker regions are those where B. dendrobatidis niche presence was predicted by more models (i.e., overlap index 1 means that 10 out of 10 models predicted presence; overlap index 0 means that none of the 10 models did).

PLATE 12-11

The Andes Mountains are extensive and active and include numerous snow-capped peaks. The top image shows terraced

plots and a village.

(a) (b)

FIGURE 12-4

A general map showing the extensive range of the Andes Mountains.

PLATE 12-12

The Andes Mountains near Tierra del Fuego.

PLATE 12-13

ALTIPLANO

PLATE 12-14

Polylepis forest enshrouded in mist.

PLATE 12-16

This combination of grasses, shrubs, and forbs

characterizes páramo at high elevations in the Ecuadorian

Andes.

PLATE 12-15

GIANT CONEBILL

PLATE 12-17

(a) Espeletias dominate the landscape high in the Venezuelan Andes. (b) Espeletia in flower. Note the thick leaves.

(a) (b)

PLATE 12-18

SWORD-BILLED HUMMINGBIRD

PLATE 12-20

ECUADORIAN HILLSTAR

PLATE 12-19

WHITE-TIPPED SICKLEBILL

PLATE 12-22

Puna is windswept and dominated by tussock grass, as shown here.

PLATE 12-21

BEARDED HELMETCREST

PLATE 12-24

PERUVIAN SHEARTAIL

PLATE 12-23

PUYA RAIMONDII

PLATE 12-26 JAMES’S FLAMINGO

PLATE 12-25

ANDEAN CONDOR

PLATE 12-27

TORRENT DUCK

PLATE 12-28

RESPLENDENT QUETZAL (PHARAMACHUS MOCINNO)

PLATE 12-29 Many butterfly species are elevational migrants.

FIGURE 12-5

ORINOCO RIVER

PLATE 12-30

The “sky islands” that are the Venezuelan tepuis.

FIGURE 12-6

Amazon River, with all major tributaries labeled.

PLATE 12-31

Amazon River at one of its wider areas.

FIGURE 12-7

The Amazon has an amazing

diversity of fish species. (a)

FIGURE 12-7

Continued from page 452

(b)

PLATE 12-32

PIRARUCU

PLATE 12-34

SPECTACLED CAIMAN (CAIMAN CROCODILUS)

PLATE 12-33

GIANT OTTER

PLATE 12-36

CAPYBARA

PLATE 12-35

Black-collared hawk (Busarellus nigricollis), common along

rivers and streams. It feeds primarily on fish.

PLATE 12-37

Beaches forming from sediment deposit in the Napo River,

Ecuador. Vegetation is beginning to colonize.

PLATE 12-39 Sandbar scrub has stabilized this island in the Napo River.

PLATE 12-38

Grasses quickly colonize exposed beach along the Napo River.

PLATE 12-40

River island on the Napo River.

PLATE 12-42

The point bar shown in this image is already being

colonized by plants that will eventually stabilize it,

contributing to its expansion.

PLATE 12-41

Oxbows are common along the

tributaries of the Amazon, Napo, and

Orinoco rivers.

PLATE 12-43

HOATZIN

PLATE 12-44

MORICHE PALM SWAMP

PLATE 12-45

MORICHE ORIOLE

PLATE 12-47

This male frigatebird has its throat pouch fully

expanded, an attempt to attract a female.

PLATE 12-46

This mangrove forest on a cay in Belize is a nesting colony

of magnificent frigatebirds (Fregata magnificens). The red

spots visible in the foliage are the expanded throat pouches

of the male birds.

PLATE 12-48

Propagules of red mangrove attach to sediment, and the plant begins to

grow quickly, forming prop roots.

PLATE 12-49

The interior of a mangrove swamp is dense with roots, stabilizing the

sediment and helping expand the forest.

PLATE 12-50

This is Bird Cay off Dangriga, Belize, in 1978, some 17 years

after Hurricane Hattie.

PLATE 12-51

Scarlet ibis flock near sunset at Caroni Swamp, a coastal mangrove forest

in Trinidad, near Port-of-Spain.