Clout forests (jobs forestry), jobs forestry and Characteristics of forests.

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

Distribution and climate  (jobs forestry)

Dependent on local climate, which is affected by the distance to the sea, the exposition and the latitude, the altitude varies from 500 m to 4000 m above sea level. Typically, there is a relatively small band of altitude in which the atmospheric environment is suitable for cloud forest (jobs forestry) development. This is characterized by persistent mist or clouds at the vegetation level, resulting in the reduction of direct sunlight and thus of evapotranspiration. Within cloud forests (jobs forestry), much of the precipitation is in the form of fog drip, where fog condenses on tree leaves and then drips onto the ground below.
Tropical cloud forests (jobs forestry) extend from 23°N to 25°S latitudes and occur in a relatively narrow altitudinal zone with a special atmospheric environment which is characterized by at the vegetation level. Annual rainfall can range from 500 to 10000 mm/year and mean temperature between 8 to 20°C.
While cloud forest (jobs forestry) today is the most widely used term, in some regions these ecosystems or special types of cloud forests (jobs forestry) are called mossy forest (jobs forestry), elfin forest (jobs forestry), montane thicket, dwarf cloud forest (jobs forestry), nuboselva, bosque montano nebuloso, selva de neblina, bosque nuboso, bosque de ceja, selva sublada, nebelwald, wolkenwald, forêt (jobs forestry) néphéliphile, forêt (jobs forestry) de nuage, unmu-rin, bosque anao, foresta (jobs forestry) nebular, mata nebular, matinha nebular, floresta (jobs forestry) fe neblina, floresta (jobs forestry) nuvigena, mata de neblina, matinha de altitude, floresta (jobs forestry) nublada, and floresta (jobs forestry) pluvial montana e/ou alto montana.
The definition of cloud forest (jobs forestry) can be ambiguous, with many countries not using the term (preferring such terms as Afromontane forest (jobs forestry) and upper montane rain forest (jobs forestry), or more localised terms such as the Bolivian yungas, and the laurisilva of the Atlantic Islands), and occasionally subtropical and even temperate forests (jobs forestry) in which similar meteorological conditions occur are considered to be cloud forests (jobs forestry).
Only 1% of the global woodland is covered by cloud forests (jobs forestry).
Important areas of cloud forest (jobs forestry) are in Central- and South America, East- and Central Africa, Indonesia, Malaysia, at the Philippines, Papua-New Guinea and in the Caribbean.

Temperate cloud forests (jobs forestry)

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

Characteristics of cloud forests  (jobs forestry)

In comparison with lower tropical moist forests (jobs forestry), cloud forests (jobs forestry) show a reduced tree stature combined with increased stem density and generally the lower diversity of woody plants. Trees in these regions are generally shorter and more heavily stemmed than in lower altitude forests (jobs forestry) in the same regions, often with gnarled trunks and branches, forming dense, compact crownes. Their leaves become smaller, thicker and harder with increasing altitude. The high moisture promotes the development of a high biomass and biodiversity of epiphyte, particularly bryophytes, lichens, ferns (including filmy ferns), bromeliads and orchids. The number of endemic plants can be very high.
An important feature of cloud forests (jobs forestry) is that the tree crowns can intercept the wind-driven cloud moisture, part of which drips to the ground. This water stripped from the clouds is termed horizontal or occult (because it is not recorded with normal rainfall measurement) precipitation, and can be an important contribution to the hydrologic cycle.
Due to the high water content of the soil, the reduced solar radiation and the low rates of decomposition and mineralization, the soil acidity is very high, with mor humus and peat often forming the upper soil layer.
Stadtmüller (1987) distinguishes two general types of tropical montane cloud forests (jobs forestry):

• Areas with a high annual precipitation due to a frequent cloud cover in combination with heavy and sometimes persistent orographic rainfall; such forests (jobs forestry) have a perceptible canopy strata, a high number of epiphytes and a thick peat layer which has a high storage capacity for water and control the runoff;
• In drier areas with mainly seasonal rainfall cloud stripping can amount to a large proportion of the annual precipitation.

Importance of cloud forests (jobs forestry)

Watershed function. Because of the cloud stripping strategy the effective rainfall can be doubled in dry seasons and increase the wet season rainfall by about 10 percent.Experiments of Costin and Wimbush (1961) showed that the tree canopies of non-cloud forests (jobs forestry) intercept and evaporate 20 percent more of the precipitation than cloud forests (jobs forestry), which means a loss to the land component of the hydrological cycle.

Vegetation. Tropical montane cloud forests (jobs forestry) are not as species-rich as tropical lowland forests (jobs forestry) but they provide the habitats for many species that are found nowhere else. For example, the Cerro de la Neblina, a cloud covered mountain in the south of Venezuela accommodates many shrubs, orchids and insectivorous plants which are restricted to this mountain only.

Fauna. The endemism in animals is also very high. In Peru, more than one third of the 270 endemic birds, mammals and frogs are found in cloud forests (jobs forestry). One of the best known cloud forest mammal is the Mountain Gorilla (Gorilla b. beringei). Many of those endemic animals have important functions such as seed dispersal and forest (jobs forestry) dynamics in this ecosystems.

Current situation

In 1970, the original extent of cloud forests (jobs forestry) was around 50 million hectares. Population growth, poverty and uncontrolled land use have contributed to the loss of cloud forests (jobs forestry). The 1990 Global Forest (jobs forestry) Survey found that 1.1% of tropical mountain and highland forests (jobs forestry) were lost each year, which was higher than in any other tropical forests (jobs forestry). In Colombia, one of the countries with the largest area of cloud forests (jobs forestry), only 10-20% of the initial cloud forest (jobs forestry) cover remains. Significant areas have been converted to plantations, or for use in agriculture and pasture. Important crops in montane forest (jobs forestry) zones are tea and coffee, but also logging special species such as Podocarpus causes changes to forest (jobs forestry) structure.
Currently, one third of all cloud forests (jobs forestry) are protected.

Impact of climate change on cloud forests (jobs forestry)

Because of their delicate dependency on local climate, cloud forests (jobs forestry) will be strongly affected by global climate change. A number of climate models suggest that the low-altitude cloudiness will be reduced, which means that the optimum climate for many cloud forest (jobs forestry) habitats will increase in altitude. Linked to the reduction of cloud moisture immersion and increasing temperature, the hydrological cycle will change with the consequence that the system will dry out. This can result in the wilting and the death of epiphytes, which rely on high humidity. Frogs and lizards are expected to suffer from increased drought. In addition, climate changes can result in a higher amount of hurricanes, which may increase damage to tropical montane cloud forests (jobs forestry). All in all the results of the climate change will be a loss in biodiversity, altitude shifts in species ranges and community reshuffling and, in some areas, complete loss of cloud forests (jobs forestry).