Cloud forest

Tree ferns in a cloud forest on Mount Kinabalu, Borneo

One of the hanging bridges of the sky walk at the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve in Costa Rica

A cloud forest or fog forest is a tropical or subtropical, contains mostly evergreen trees, and is high up on a mountain. There is a large amount of water in the air. Cloud forests have cloud cover for much of the year, usually at the same height as the canopy, the place where the trees' branches meet.

Cloud forests often have mosses covering the ground and large plants. Such mossy forests usually grow on the saddles of mountains, where the wind cannot blow away moisture from clouds.

Cloud forests grow from 500 to 4000 meters above sea level. Usually, they grow where the fog is right at the level where the plants grow, so there is less sunlight to burn away the mist. Many of the plants take water through fog drip. Fog drip is when water forms drops on tree leaves and then drips onto the ground below.

Cloud Forest Media

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  Stratus silvagenitus clouds in Uva Province, Sri Lanka

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  Bryophyte-covered mossy forest at Mount Dulang-dulang, Philippines

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  Hanging moss in a cool temperate rainforest at Budawang National Park, Australia

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  Distribution of tropical montane cloud forests in 2016.

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  Temperate cloud forest on La Palma, Canary Islands

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  At the edge of the Panamanian side of the Parque Internacional la Amistad

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  Seaborne moisture is vital to the cloud forest of Fray Jorge that is surrounded by the arid southern reaches of the Atacama Desert.