Editing Cloud forest (section)

== Importance ==
[[File:DirkvdM cloudforest.jpg|thumb|At the edge of the Panamanian side of the [[Parque Internacional la Amistad]]]]
* 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%.<ref>{{harvnb|Vogelmann|1973}} and {{harvnb| Bruijnzeel|1990|p={{pn|date=December 2017}}}} quote by {{harvnb|Hamilton|Juvik|Scatena|1995}}</ref>{{sfn|García-Santos|2007|p={{pn|date=December 2017}}}}<ref>{{Cite journal| last1=Köhler| first1=Lars| last2=Tobón| first2=Conrado|last3=Frumau|first3=K. F. Arnoud| last4=Bruijnzeel|first4=L. A. (Sampurno)| date=2007-12-01| title=Biomass and water storage dynamics of epiphytes in old-growth and secondary montane cloud forest stands in Costa Rica|journal=Plant Ecology| language=en| volume=193| issue=2| pages=171–184| doi=10.1007/s11258-006-9256-7| bibcode=2007PlEco.193..171K|s2cid=1032485|issn=1573-5052}}</ref> Experiments of Costin and Wimbush (1961){{psc|date=December 2017}} showed that the tree canopies of non-cloud forests intercept and evaporate 20 percent more of the precipitation than cloud forests, which means a loss to the land component of the hydrological cycle.{{fact|date=December 2017}}
* Vegetation: Tropical montane cloud forests are not as species-rich as tropical lowland forests, but they provide the habitats for many species found nowhere else.{{sfn|Bruijnzeel|Hamilton|2000|p={{pn|date=December 2017}}}}{{sfn|García-Santos|2007|p={{pn|date=December 2017}}}} 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.{{sfn|Bruijnzeel|Hamilton|2000|p={{pn|date=December 2017}}}}
* 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.{{sfn|Bruijnzeel|Hamilton|2000|p={{pn|date=December 2017}}}} One of the best-known cloud forest mammals is the [[spectacled bear]] (''Tremarctos ornatus''). Many of those endemic animals have important functions, such as seed dispersal and forest dynamics in these ecosystems.{{sfn|Hamilton|Juvik|Scatena|1995}}