Cloud forest

Mossy forests usually develop on the saddles of mountains, where moisture introduced by settling clouds is more effectively retained.

Cloud forests are among the most biodiversity-rich ecosystems in the world, with a large number of species directly or indirectly depending on them.

Typically, there is a relatively small band of elevation in which the atmospheric environment is suitable for cloud forest development.

This is characterized by persistent fog at the vegetation level, resulting in the reduction of direct sunlight and thus of evapotranspiration.

A total of around 736 cloud forest sites have been identified in 59 countries by the World Conservation Monitoring Centre, with 327 of them legally protected areas as of 2002.

Important areas of cloud forest are in Central and South America (mainly Costa Rica, Venezuela, Honduras, Mexico, Ecuador, and Colombia), East and Central Africa, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Hawaii, Papua New Guinea, and in the Caribbean.

Southeast Asia and Australasia had 228 sites in 14 countries – 66 in Indonesia, 54 in Malaysia, 33 in Sri Lanka, 32 in the Philippines, and 28 in Papua New Guinea.

Results show that the extent of environmentally suitable areas for cloud forest in Mexico will sharply decline in the next 70 years.

[29][30] Linked to the reduction of cloud moisture immersion and increasing temperature, the hydrological cycle will change, so the system will dry out.

[30] Calculations suggest the loss of cloud forest in Mexico would lead to extinction of up to 37 vertebrates specific to that region.

[31] In addition, climate changes can result in a higher number of hurricanes, which may increase damage to tropical montane cloud forests.

The Gardens by the Bay features a 0.8 hectares (2.0 acres) coolhouse that is simply named "Cloud Forest".

The latter features a 35-metre (115 ft)-high artificial mountain clad in epiphytes such as orchids, ferns, clubmosses, bromeliads and others.