Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
quence of global warming not widely covered in the media, but mentioned
in Al Gore's
An Inconvenient Truth
, is that this valuable source of information
on recent climate change is rapidly melting away. Fortunately, cores from
glacial ice no longer in existence have been stored by Thompson and his col-
leagues for future study. The mountains are crossed by several arid valleys
that geographically isolate páramo species at the peaks and montane forests
on the slopes. The lowest point in the Central Andes is the Huancabamba
Valley of Peru at 2145 m. The Huallaga Valley is the principal coca-growing
region of South America.
Bolivia and the Altiplano
Just over a century ago a diplomatic crisis was brewing in La Paz over a glass of
chicha. The new British ambassador to Bolivia had made the mistake of sneering
at this local drink when served it by the incumbent dictator. As a punishment, he
was forced to drink a barrelful of chocolate and be led through the streets of the
capital strapped to a donkey. When news reached London, Queen Victoria was not
amused. She demanded a map of South America, drew a cross through the coun-
try and declared, “Bolivia does not exist!”
—ALAN MURPHY,
Bolivia Handbook
, 1997
In Bolivia, the Central Andes reach 700 km in width and the average height
is 4000 m. The highest peaks are in the Cordillera Oriental and include Ne-
vado Ancohuma (Illampu) near La Paz at 6550 m, Huayna north of La Paz
Potosí at 6088 m, and Illimani to the southwest at 6485 m. Atmospheric
pressure is one-half that at sea level, making fi eldwork and longer-term
stays by lowlanders dangerous because of HACE (high altitude cerebral
edema), HAPE (high altitude pulmonary edema), and decompression sick-
ness (bubbles of nitrogen forming in the blood). La Paz is the world's high-
est capital at 3600 m, Lake Titicaca is the second largest in South America,
after Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela, and it is the world's highest navigable
lake at 4000 m. Fieldwork is made even more diffi cult by the fact that only
about 4 percent of the roads are paved; during the rainy season from No-
vember through February, 80 percent are impassable.
The Altiplano is a high, cold, windswept plateau in the rain shadow of the
two cordillera. It is 800 km long, about 100 km wide, extending from south-
ern Peru to Argentina, and at 3700 m, it is the second largest and highest
plateau on land. The largest and highest is the Tibetan Plateau at 4690 m,
and the largest on Earth is the submerged Ontung-Java Plateau. The MAT
of the Altiplano is 7°C-10°C and temperatures may drop to
-
20°C. It is dry
