High-mountain grasslands, scrublands, and scree slopes of Aigüestortes, Spanish Pyrenees — Habitats

Ecological context

A system, not a backdrop

A guide to the landscape, its changes and ways to care for it. This profile covers a broad habitat type; local data need site-specific research.

Habitat guide

How it works

Environmental conditions

Above 2,200 m, climatic conditions are harsh and few trees manage to grow; grassland composition also varies with altitude, aspect, and substrate.

Distribution and scope

This profile is limited to the high-mountain areas described for Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici National Park, where the source places these conditions at elevations starting at 2,200 m.

Structure

The landscape comprises extensive scree slopes, meadows, and scrub on rocky slopes, among boulders, and in avalanche corridors; grasslands vary with exposure and substrate, and some are dominated by Festuca eskia.

Ecological processes

The cycle of cold, ice, snow, and storms shapes natural activity in the Pyrenees: water is stored as snow in winter, feeds snowmelt and waterfalls, and streams may have low flows in autumn after the low-water period.

How to read occurrence data

Linked species are documented examples for a specific area. The list is not complete, and the absence of a species does not prove that it is not present.

Evidence base