The cloudy or cloud forest, also called tropical rainforest is present in tropical and subtropical regions characterized by abundant vegetation cover of mosses and a dense cloud that is trapped between vegetation.
There are forests of this type in America, Africa and Asia. The Central American isthmus, the northern part of South America, the Caribbean countries, the mountainous areas of Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia and the eastern region of Africa stand out in particular.
Main features
The tropical humid forest climate occurs mainly between latitudes 23 ° N to 25 ° S, with altitudes between 500 and 4000 meters above sea level. This basically includes the entire tropical belt above and below the equator.
A persistent fog keeps covering the forest between the ground and the treetops, which, because they are very lush, prevent the fog from escaping.
This creates a microclimate in which the fog condenses and falls to the ground in the form of drops, which when evaporating, turns back to mist in a constant cycle that repeats itself.
Flora
Biodiversity in the cloud forest is unique to the tropics. Plants such as orchids do very well due to the constant humidity in the bark of trees and the protection from the sun's rays that they receive from the forest.
The same happens with bromeliads, which abound in the forest and are part of a symbiotic process with their environment.
Biofrites, represented mainly as liver plants and musks, cover most of the soil, sharing space with various types of lichens.
Magnolias and ferns complement the flora offer of this type of forest. It should be noted that a good part of the plant species are endemic to each region.
So, although the type of plants is more or less uniform, the particular species are not the same and can be unique from one region to another.
Fauna
Thousands of species inhabit the cloud forest. Mammals such as possums, squirrels, rats, mice, and bats exist consistently in most regions.
But other species such as ocelots, jaguars or panthers can exist in Central America and parts of Asia, while not in South America.
Among reptiles, iguanas, boas, anacondas, and pythons commonly exist in South America, and various species of lizards and geckos are common in most regions.
As for birds, there may be owls, eagles and hawks, as well as parrots, toucans and hummingbirds that feed on the nectar of flowers or live on the fruit of bromeliads.
Weather
Due to its location close to the equator and its humidity, they tend to be hot areas because the water is constantly evaporating.
With average temperatures between 8 to 20 ° C, the thermal sensation can be much higher due to steam and condensation.
Furthermore, as they are located in the tropics, rainfall is common, ranging between 500 and up to 10,000 mm per year.
References
- Wikipedia - Cloud forest en.wikipedia.org
- Tropical Forest Animals: Names and Species animalsde.net
- Ecosystems of Costa RIca - Cloud forest ecosystemsdecostarica.blogspot.com
- Ecosystems of Mexico - Cloud forests biodiversity.gob.mx
- Monteverde Reserve - Climate reservaamonteverde.com La Hesperia - Definition of
- Cloud Forest lahesperi.com