Breuer, L. (2012): <b>Simulating ecosystem functioning of tropical mountainous cloud forests in southern Ecuador</b>. <i>Ecological Modelling</i> <b>239</b>, 1-2.
Resource Description
Title:
Simulating ecosystem functioning of tropical mountainous cloud forests in southern Ecuador
FOR816dw ID:
1106
Publication Date:
2012-07-24
License and Usage Rights:
Resource Owner(s):
Individual:
Lutz Breuer
Contact:
email:
lutz.breuer <at> umwelt.uni-giessen.de
Heinrich-Buff-Ring 26
Institute for Landscape Ecology and Resources Management
Justus-Liebig-University Gießen
35392 Gießen
Germany
Abstract:
Tropical mountainous cloud forests belong to the most diverse ecosystems on earth. If you ask scientists which features characterize these ecosystems, then the answers are as diverse as is the flora and fauna within them: persistent cloud cover, reduced solar radiation due to cloud cover, distinctly structured vegetation forms, suppressed evapotranspiration as a consequence of high relative humidity, stripping of clouds by tree canopies and resulting large amount of throughfall, reduced canopy heights, high rainfall rates, gnarled tree trunks at increasing altitudes, substantial epiphyte biomass, moss-covered stems, organic rich and typically wet soils, and – last but not least – extremely high biodiversity with a paramount endemism (Bruijnzeel et al., 2011).
Additional Infos:
Editorial to the special issue in Ecological Modelling
