cloud forest

Tree ferns in cloud forest on Mount Kinabalu, Borneo

At the edge of the Panamanian side of the Parque Internacional la Amistad

Temperate cloud forest on La Palma, Canary Islands

The cloud forest of Monteverde, Costa Rica

Cloud forest on Mount Lushan in southeastern China

One of the hanging bridges of the Sky walk in Santa Elena, Costa Rica disappearing into the clouds

A cloud forest, also called a fog forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical evergreen montane moist forest characterized by a high incidence of low-level cloud cover, usually at the canopy level. Cloud forests often exhibit an abundance of mosses covering the ground and vegetation, in which case they are also referred to as mossy forests. Mossy forests usually develop on the saddles of mountains, where moisture introduced by settling clouds is more effectively retained.^[1]

Characteristics

Typically, there is a relatively small band of altitude in which the atmospheric environment is suitable for cloud forest development. This is characterized by persistent mist or clouds at the vegetation level, resulting in the reduction of direct sunlight and thus of evapotranspiration. Trees in these regions are generally shorter and more heavily stemmed than in lower altitude forests in the same regions, and the moisture promotes the development of an abundance of vascular epiphytes. This results in abundant moss and fern covering, and frequently flowers such as orchids may be found. Soils are rich but boggy, with a preponderance of peats and humus. Within cloud forests, much of the precipitation is in the form of fog drip, where fog condenses on tree leaves and then drips onto the ground below.

The definition of cloud forest can be ambiguous, with many countries not using the term (preferring such terms as Afromontane forest and upper montane rain forest, or more localised terms such as the Peruvian yungas, and the laurisilva of the Atlantic Islands), and occasionally subtropical and even temperate forests in which similar meteorological conditions occur are considered to be cloud forests.

Distribution of cloud forests

Tropical and subtropical cloud forests exist in the following countries:

• Angola
• Australia
• Bolivia
• Brazil
• Brunei
• Burundi
• Cambodia
• Cameroon
• Colombia
• Costa Rica
• Democratic Republic of Congo
• Ecuador -
• El Salvador
• Fiji
• Gabon
• Guatemala
• Honduras
• India
• Indonesia
• Kenya
• Madagascar
• Malaysia
• Mexico
• Federated States of Micronesia
• Mozambique
• Myanmar
• Nicaragua
• Oman
• Panama
• Papua New Guinea
• Peru
• Philippines
• Rwanda
• Sri Lanka
• Tanzania
• Trinidad and Tobago
• Venezuela
• Vietnam

Temperate cloud forests

Although far from being universally accepted as true cloud forests, several forests in temperate regions have strong similarities with tropical cloud forests. The term is further confused by occasional reference to cloud forests in tropical countries as "temperate" due to the cooler climate associated with these misty forests.

Distribution of temperate cloud forests

• Argentina
• Australia - Lamington National Park (Queensland)
• People's Republic of China - Yunnan Plateau, mountains of southern and eastern China
• Colombia - Serranía de Macuira mountain range, in the middle of La Guajira Desert.
• Dominican Republic - Western provinces such as Barahona
• Haiti
• Japan - parts of Yakushima Island
• New Zealand - parts of Fiordland,Mt Taranaki and Mount Cargill cloud forest
• Portugal - Azores and Madeira
• Spain - Canary Islands
• Taiwan

References

1. ^ Clarke, C.M. 1997. Nepenthes of Borneo. Natural History Publications (Borneo), Kota Kinabalu, p. 29.

External links

• Monteverde Costa Rica Cloud Forest
• Tropical Montane Cloud Forest Initiative
• National Geographic (2001), "Cloud Forests Fading in the Mist, Their Treasures Little Known"
• An Ecological Reserve in the Cloud Forest of Mindo Ecuador
• St. Elena and Rara Avis, Costa Rica - Video
• Tropical hydrology and cloud forests project
• Hydrology of tropical cloud forests project

Donate to Wikimedia