ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes functional variability and architectonic models to develop an ecological interpretation of taxonomic diversity in Andean wetlands. Tropical and subtropical highland areas are characterized by a high diversity per unit area, which is reflected not only in species numbers but also in the functional variability of the ecosystem. Andean wetlands are located in the driest paramo of the Cordillera de Merida, Venezuela. During the fieldwork in 2002–2003, people observed that the cattle consumed the palatable forbs and grasses and trampled the vegetation in the Andean grasses. The study was undertaken in the wetland of Mifafi, in the Sierra La Culata of the Cordillera de Mérida, Venezuela. The area is a dry páramo in the cold intertropic, where the annual isotherm is 2.8°C, and the average yearly rainfall is 869.3 mm. Therefore, the conservation of species and functional diversity for a sustainable use of the Andean wetlands necessarily implies appropriate cattle management strategies in the Venezuelan Andean region.
