Description

The Sierra Nevada de Mérida exhibits an abrupt physiography and great altitudinal differences, ranging from the foothills of the Orinoco plains to the highest elevations in the country (Pico Bolívar, 4980 m). Gavidia is a rural community located within the national park and the agricultural belt extends between 3000 and 3700 m. In the higher areas, there is a great diversity of plant communities including shrublands, rosettelands, grasslands, high Andean wetlands and superparamo areas. 

The summits installed in the GSN site are located in the transition between the Andean and high Andean paramos.  The area presents a unimodal pattern of precipitation with a well-marked dry season between December and March and an average total annual precipitation of 1300 mm. 

Site installation began in September 2014 and ended in November of the same year. A first re-sampling was carried out in November 2019. 

Location

The site is located in the Páramo de Gavidia, located in La Sierra Nevada de Mérida which together with the Sierra de la Culata from the Cordillera de Mérida (8.54 LN and -70.99 LO).

Summits

Piedras Bonitas 8 (PB8, 3810 masl), Piedras Bonitas 9 (PB9, 3928 masl), Santo Cristo 1 (SC1, 4144 masl), Santo Cristo 2 (SC2, 4270 masl)

Responsible Institution:

Instituto de Ciencias Ambientales y Ecológicas – ICAE, Universidad de los Andes.

Site coordinator: Luis Daniel Llambí, (ldllambi@gmail.com)

Database manager: Lirey Ramirez

Botanist/Taxonomist: Luis Enrique Gámez

Other researchers: Roxibell Pelayo, Carmen Azocar, Jesús Eloy Torres, Nelson J. Márquez.

Related resources:

Gámez Luis E., Llambí Luis D., Ramírez Lirey, Pelayo Roxibell, Torres J. Eloy, Márquez Nelson, Azócar Carmen, Muriel Priscilla y Cuesta Francisco. 2021. Contribución al Conocimiento de la Vegetación Altoandina: riqueza florística y clave para la identificación de plantas vasculares en cumbres de monitoreo de la red GLORIA-Andes en Venezuela. Pittieria 40

Pelayo R, LD Llambi, LE Gámez, JE Torres & L Ramirez. 2020. Protocolo para el monitoreo de fenología y polinización en cumbres de la Red GLORIA Andes Venezuela. Instituto de Ciencias Ambientales y Ecológicas, Universidad de Los Andes, Mérida, Venezuela.