page_title: Guiana Shield
section_title: Ecology
hierarchical_section_title: Guiana Shield / Ecology
caption_attribution_description: Heliamphora chimantensis
context_page_description: The Guiana Shield is one of the three cratons of the South American Plate. It is a 1.7 billion-year-old Precambrian geological formation in northeast South America that forms a portion of the northern coast. The higher elevations on the shield are called the Guiana Highlands, which is where the table-like mountains called tepuis are found. The Guiana Highlands are also the source of some of the world's most well-known waterfalls such as Angel Falls, Kaieteur Falls and Kuquenan Falls.
  The Guiana Shield underlies Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana, much of southern Venezuela, as well as parts of Colombia, and Brazil. The rocks of the Guiana Shield consist of metasediments and metavolcanics overlain by sub-horizontal layers of sandstones, quartzites, shales and conglomerates intruded by sills of younger mafic intrusives such as gabbros.
context_section_description: The Guiana Shield is one of the regions of highest biodiversity in the world, and has many endemic species. The region houses has over 3000 vertebrate species: 1168 fresh water fish, 269 amphibians (54% endemics), 295 reptiles (29%), 1004 birds (7.7%), and 282 mammals (11%). Diversity of invertebrates remains largely undocumented, but there are several species of endemic butterflies and dung beetles.
  Plant life is equally rich and 13,367 species of vascular plants have been found, approximately 40% of which is considered endemic. The shield is overlain by the largest expanse of tropical forest on any Precambrian shield area in the world. Guianan rain forest is similar in nature to Amazonian rain forest and known protected areas include the Iwokrama Forest of central Guyana, Kaieteur, Kanuku National Park of southern Guyana, the UNESCO World Heritage Site Central Suriname Nature Reserve of Suriname, the Guiana Amazonian Park in French Guiana and the Tumucumaque National Park in the Amapá State of Brazil. In Venezuela the forests are protected by Canaima, Parima-Tapirapeco and Serranía de la Neblina national parks. In 2014, the Government of Colombia designated a 250 hectare area of the Guaina Shield, as a Ramsar Wetland, thus becoming a protected area of international importance in accordance to the Ramsar Convention.
  According to recent researches, ecosystems of the Guayana Highlands are in danger because of non-native plant species (including "a well-known invasive plant elsewhere" Poa annua and "one of the most aggressive weeds" Polypogon elongatus) and infectious faecal bacteria Helicobacter pylori introduced by tourists.
caption: Heliamphora chimantensis, endemic to the Chimantá Massif (a Venezuelan part of the Guiana Shield)
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