Download or read book Hydro meteorological Functioning of Tropical Montane Cloud Forests in the Orinoco River Basin written by and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Tropical Montane Cloud Forests written by Lawrence S. Hamilton and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 425 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Until relatively recently the valuable tropical montane cloud forests (hereaf ter usually referred to as TMCFs) of the world had scarcely come under the assaults experienced by the downslope montane and lowland forests. TMCFs are not hospitable environments for human occupation, and their remoteness (except in places near Andean high mountain settlements and in the Ethiopian Highlands) and difficult terrain have given them de facto protection. The ad jacent upper montane rain forests have indeed been under assault for timber, fuelwood, and for conversion to grazing and agriculture for many decades, even centuries in the Andes, but true cloud forest has only come under ex ploitation as these lower elevational resources have disappeared. They have also been "nibbled" at from above where there have been alpine grasslands under grazing pressure. Increasingly now, however, these cloud forest eco systems are being fragmented, reduced, and disturbed at an alarming rate. It is now becoming recognized that steps must be taken rapidly to increase our understanding of TMCF and to achieve their conservation, because: their water-capture function is extremely important to society; • their species endemism is high; they serve as refugia for endangered species being marginalized in these environments by increasingly transformed lower elevation ecosystems; they are relatively little studied; yet, their value to science is extremely high; they have low resilience to disturbance; vii viii Preface and many other reasons, which will be discussed subsequently in this publi cation.

Download or read book Forests Water and People in the Humid Tropics written by M. Bonell and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2009-12-17 with total page 970 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Forests, Water and People in the Humid Tropics is a comprehensive review of the hydrological and physiological functioning of tropical rain forests, the environmental impacts of their disturbance and conversion to other land uses, and optimum strategies for managing them. The book brings together leading specialists in such diverse fields as tropical anthropology and human geography, environmental economics, climatology and meteorology, hydrology, geomorphology, plant and aquatic ecology, forestry and conservation agronomy. The editors have supplemented the individual contributions with invaluable overviews of the main sections and provide key pointers for future research. Specialists will find authenticated detail in chapters written by experts on a whole range of people-water-land use issues, managers and practitioners will learn more about the implications of ongoing and planned forest conversion, while scientists and students will appreciate a unique review of the literature.

Download or read book Cloud Forests in the Humid Tropics written by Thomas Stadtmüller and published by Bib. Orton IICA / CATIE. This book was released on 1987 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Tropical Montane Cloud Forests written by and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 740 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume represents a uniquely comprehensive overview of our current knowledge on tropical montane cloud forests. 74 chapters cover a wide spectrum of topics including cloud forest distribution, climate, soils, biodiversity, hydrological processes, hydrochemistry and water quality, climate change impacts, and cloud forest conservation, management, and restoration. The final chapter presents a major synthesis by some of the world's leading cloud forest researchers, which summarizes our current knowledge and considers the sustainability of these forests in an ever-changing world. This book presents state-of-the-art knowledge concerning cloud forest occurrence and status, as well as the biological and hydrological value of these unique forests. The presentation is academic but with a firm practical emphasis. It will serve as a core reference for academic researchers and students of environmental science and ecology, as well as practitioners (natural resources management, forest conservation) and decision makers at local, national, and international levels"

Download or read book Tropical montane cloud forests written by Lawrence S. Hamilton and published by Springer Verlag. This book was released on 1995 with total page 407 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Tropical Montane Cloud Forest written by Ylva Wård and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 62 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Plant Water Relations in Seasonally Dry Tropical Montane Cloud Forests written by Gregory Rubin Goldsmith and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seasonal changes in water availability have been demonstrated to play a fundamental role in determining plant survival-mortality dynamics in a number of different ecosystems. Tropical montane cloud forests are often considered to be aseasonal environments that do not experience significant water deficits; however, there is growing recognition that many of these rare ecosystems experience one or more dry seasons annually. Moreover, many tropical montane cloud forests are projected to experience decreases in dry season precipitation and increases in dry season temperature as a function of climate change. While the regular presence of clouds may mitigate plant water stress occurring during the dry season, clouds are also projected to decrease in frequency, intensity and cover. At present, little is known about the plant-climate interactions in tropical montane cloud forests. In order to improve our understanding of the effects of climate change on tropical montane cloud forests, I studied how seasonal changes in water availability affect plant functioning using observational and experimental approaches at a number of different scales: In Chapter 1, I present the results from a study on tropical montane cloud forest ecohydrology. Despite longstanding recognition of the unique nature of hydrologic cycling in tropical montane forests, comprehensive and comparative studies remain limited. I studied the intra- and inter-annual variation in the inputs, pools and fluxes of water in a seasonally dry tropical montane cloud forest near Veracruz, Mexico using hydrogen and oxygen stable isotope ratios in water. There was significant seasonal variation in the hydrogen and oxygen stable isotope ratios of precipitation inputs driven by differences in the origin and size of storm events. This variation facilitated the separation of different pools of water, revealing the presence of two separate soil water pools, one highly mobile pool contributing to streams and a second less mobile pool being used by plants. At the peak of the dry season, the predominant deciduous and evergreen tree species were accessing shallow soil water from this second, less mobile pool. The results provide a foundation upon which to better understand the coupling between the hydrology and ecology of tropical montane cloud forests now and given projected scenarios of climate change. In Chapter 2, I present the results from a study on the effects of a sustained decrease in water availability on the growth and physiology of tropical montane cloud forest plant seedlings. Research on the functional response of tropical plants to seasonal changes in water availability has largely focused on tropical lowland ecosystems. I conducted an experimental dry-down of seedlings from four common tropical montane plant species in the genus Ocotea at a common site near Monteverde, Costa Rica. Despite only a small decrease in soil water availability, plants subjected to the experimental dry down demonstrated species-specific reductions in both physiology and growth. The results indicate that water is likely to play a strong role in tropical montane cloud forest plant functioning. In Chapter 3, I present the results from a study on the interactions between clouds and tropical montane cloud forest plants, with a focus on the prevalence and significance of foliar water uptake. Foliar water uptake, the direct uptake of water accumulated on leaf surfaces into leaves, is a common phenomenon in ecosystems that experience frequent fog or cloud immersion, but has not been studied in tropical montane cloud forests. I quantified cloud cover patterns in two neighboring, seasonally dry tropical montane cloud forests near Monteverde, Costa Rica using remote sensing data. I then correlated these patterns with ground-based observations of leaf wetting occurring due to the physical impaction of cloud moisture on leaf surfaces. During the dry season, when rainfall is reduced and leaf wetting due to clouds is the primary source of water in the ecosystem, leaf wetting events resulted in foliar water uptake in all species studied. While all the species demonstrated the capacity to improve their leaf water potential as a result of foliar water uptake, this capacity differed between the two forests and among the species studied within a forest. The results indicate that changes in the frequency, intensity, and duration of cloud cover projected to occur as a function of regional warming will not affect all species or forests equally. In Chapter 4, I present the results from a study on the effects of leaf wetting events and the resultant foliar water uptake on leaf water pressure-volume relations. Research on foliar water uptake has almost exclusively focused on the implications of additional water for leaf water potential and its impacts on photosynthetic performance. However, the study of pressure-volume relations can provide important insights into whether foliar water uptake alters traits responsible for the movement and conservation of water in leaves. I compared the pressure-volume relations of leaves rehydrated through both xylem and foliar water uptake compared to xylem alone in four tropical montane plant species near Monteverde, Costa Rica. Rehydration through both pathways caused inconsistent differences among species; however, one species demonstrated a decrease in the modulus of elasticity and an increase in capacitance that may be a function of differences in leaf anatomy. The results indicate that changes in pressure-volume traits associated with leaf wetting and foliar water uptake may have consequences for plant functioning and suggest that future research should more explicitly consider the role of leaf wetting in plant-water relations. Taken together, these studies suggest that the annual dry season experienced by the tropical montane cloud forests studied herein result in plant water deficits that impact plant functioning. However, these plant water deficits can be mitigated by the presence of clouds. The species-specific nature of many of the results indicate that projected changes in dry season water availability may alter plant survival-mortality dynamics and thus affect the species composition of tropical montane cloud forests in the future.

Download or read book Tropical Montane Cloud Forests written by Lawrence S. Hamilton and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Tropical Montane Cloud Forests written by and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 20 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Cloud Forest Agenda written by Philip Bubb and published by United Nations Environment Programme. This book was released on 2004 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Cloud Forest Agenda report is designed to stimulate new initiatives and partnerships for the conservation and restoration of tropical cloud forests around the world. It provides global maps of cloud forests, alongside information on their biodiversity and watershed importance, a regional analysis of the threats to cloud forests and discussion on cloud forest conservation and livelihoods. The report concludes with an agenda for action, identifying global to national priorities and opportunities. Publishing Agency: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Download or read book Tropical Montane Cloud Forests written by and published by . This book was released on 200? with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Forests Climate and Hydrology written by Evan R. C. Reynolds and published by United Nations University Press. This book was released on 1988 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book representing the research efforts of a dozen hydrologists and climatologists from around the world, grew out of the strongly felt need in the scientific community for an objetive and quantitative assessment of the effects of deforestation or reforestation on climate and hydrology and the regional extent of these effects. Of particular note in this volume, considerable attention is directed to improvements in experimental method and the collection of necessary data and in the application of computer models of atmospheric circulation for the simulation of climate effects of vegetation change.

Download or read book Belowground Responses to Elevation in a Tropical Montane Cloud Forest written by Caitlin Irene Looby and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 119 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tropical montane cloud forests (TMCF) are defined by their characteristic cloud cover. This cloud cover endows these forests with unique structural and functional characteristics. However, climate change is reducing cloud cover, and causing warmer temperatures and longer dry periods in TMCF. Studies show that there will be devastating effects on plant and animal species aboveground. But, few studies have investigated soil communities and associated processes in TMCF. The goal of this dissertation was to characterize soil fungal communities and associated properties to determine how they respond to elevation. And in turn, assess how soil fungi and decomposition may respond to projected climate change.In Chapter 1, I characterized soil fungal communities and associated properties along an elevation gradient in a TMCF in Monteverde, Costa Rica. I found that soil properties, fungal communities, and microbial processes varied with elevation and across seasons. In Chapter 2, I simulated the effects of climate change by performing a soil translocation experiment across this same gradient. I found that fungal decomposers and pathogens may increase under warmer, drier conditions. I also found that decomposition increased under these warmer, drier conditions. The results suggest that decomposition may increase, and plants and animals may be exposed to more pathogens. In Chapter 3, I compared canopy and ground soils along two elevation gradients. I also assessed if these two soil types differed in how their properties, fungal communities, and extracellular enzyme activity (EEA) varied with elevation. I found that fungal communities differed between canopy and ground soils. Moreover, canopy soils had greater EEA than ground soils, suggesting that canopy soils have a greater decomposition potential and may contribute greatly to C cycling. Carbon dynamics in canopy soil may also be particularly responsive to climate change even more than we might predict based on observations from ground soil. Collectively, the results of my dissertation provide insights into how the structure and function of TMCF may be altered through changes in the fungal community.

Download or read book Hydrology Hydrochemistry and Implications for Water Supply of a Cloud Forest in Central America written by Luis Alonso Caballero and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cloud-forest ecosystems are important sources of water supplies for the expanding cities of Central America. Surprisingly, few stream flow records are available for watersheds in Central America which has a climate with distinct wet and dry periods. Consequently, the tropical hydrology of cloud-forest watersheds is not well studied. To contribute to the understanding of the hydrology of this important ecosystem and to narrow the knowledge gap of tropical hydrology with that of temperate zones, we instrumented four neighboring catchments, located within La Tigra National Park in Central Honduras. This experimental watershed site is part of the headwater catchment of the Choluteca River Basin which drains into the Pacific Ocean. Although rainfall increased with the elevation gradient, it could not explain the greater water yield from the cloud forest watershed compared with the neighboring three watersheds at lower elevations. Additionally, analysis of the stream flow records suggests that subsurface flow paths are the primary mechanisms in all watersheds. Baseflow and interflow were greater and lasted longer for the cloud forest watershed. Any direct runoff was originated from saturated areas or from rock outcrops. Statistical analysis (MANOVA) of the of the stream flow chemistry confirms that the cloud forest watershed has a longer residence time because all the elements linked to parental material (Ca, Mg, SO4-S, Na, and SiO2-Si) had significantly lower concentrations in the cloud-forest watershed than in the non-cloud-forests watersheds. On the other hand, most elements associated with the immediate effect of rainfall events such as Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC), nitrates, potassium, phosphorous, and iron were not significantly different between the four watersheds. Finally, using a simple water balance model we were able to simulate the observed daily discharges with the Nash Sutcliffe model efficiency index ranging from 0.67 to 0.91. The cloudforest watershed had a distinctly smaller amount of available plant water and greater groundwater storage than the three non-cloud forest watersheds. This result is similar to the results obtained for an undisturbed paramo system in the Andes of South America. Consequently, protecting cloud-forests to maintain hydrologic processes overtime is critical for the sustained provision of clean water for the growing population of Central America. Key Words: Central America, concentration, hydrologic modeling. cloudforest, watershed hydrology, solutes.

Download or read book Tropical Montane Cloud Forests written by and published by . This book was released on with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Tropical Montane Cloud Forests written by C. Doumenge and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 18 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: