Cloud Forest and how they affect the Environment locally and globally - draft 1

This discussion topic submitted by Michael Pateman ( patemamp@muohio.edi) at 12:57 pm on 3/31/01. Additions were last made on Saturday, May 4, 2002.

I plan on looking at the Cloud Forests and how they impact their local environmnet and how they impact the global environment.

Outline
INTRO
What is a Cloud Forest
*A cloud forest is a specific type of rainforest
*Cloud forests are found only in mountain areas
*Temperatures are much cooler than in surrounding lowland forests
*The forest is immersed in clouds most of the time, with water being deposited directly from the clouds onto leaves and other vegetation

BODY
How Cloud Forests Affect the Sounding Environment/
*important sources of fresh water, providing clean water supplies for human consumption, agricultural and industrial uses near and far
*The forests provide direct income to local residents through ecotourism and other mechanisms
*Education and sociology

How Cloud Forest Affect the Globe
*absorb carbon dioxide, thus helping to slow the effects of global warming
*may be an important source of pharmaceuticals for treatment of disease
*knowledge and benefits of unique and rare ecosystems in foreign lands

Threats to Cloud Forests
*Deforestation
*Hunting and poaching
*Scientists believe that global warming is beginning to cause disruptions in cloud forest ecosystems
*Increasing UV exposure could be an especially serious problem in mountainous cloud forests, where UV light is already more intense than in lowland areas
*Introduction of non-native species is a constant threat to the biodiversity

Conclusion

Sources

"Ecology and conservation of a tropical cloud forest"; New York :
Oxford University Press, 2000

Hamilton Lawrence S. , "Tropical montane cloud forests", New York : Springer-Verlag, c1995

Haber, William A, "An introduction to cloud forest trees" Mountain Gem Pub., c2000



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It is 7:58:50 AM on Monday, November 23, 2009. Last Update: Saturday, May 4, 2002