Cloud forest
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A cloud forest is a generally tropical or subtropical evergreen montane forest characterized by a high incidence of low-level cloud cover, usually at the canopy level.
Typically, there is a relatively small band of altitude in which the atmospheric environment is suitable for rain 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 collects 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
- 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
- Federated States of Micronesia
- Mozambique
- Myanmar
- Nicaragua
- Oman
- Panama
- Papua New Guinea
- Peru
- Philippines
- Rwanda
- Sri Lanka
- Tanzania
- Venezuela
- Vietnam
Temperate cloud forests
Although far from universally accepted as being 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
- Haiti
- Mexico - Sierra Madre and Chiapas forests
- New Zealand - parts of Fiordland, and Mount Cargill cloud forest
- Portugal - Azores and Madeira
- Spain - Canary Islands
- Taiwan
- United States - Santa Cruz redwood forest (California), Kalopa Park, (Hawaii)
External links
- [UNEP tropical cloud forest page]
- National Geographic (2001), ["Cloud Forests Fading in the Mist, Their Treasures Little Known"]
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