IVÁN MOTA SKETCHBOOK

Friday, March 2, 2012

Azua, D.R

[ Northern Green Anole ]

Anolis chlorocyanus

Aceitillar pine forest, Sierra de Bahoruco. DR.

Tuck-wheep frog

Eleutherodactylus abbotti

I.D. Cristian Marte (MNHNSD)

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Francisco Caamaño Deño National Park, DR.

{ R e p t i l e s }

Hispaniolan Paled-bellied Curlytail

(Leiocephalus semilineatus)

Hispaniolan Khaki Curlytail
(Leiocephalus schreibersii)

Desert Grass Anole (Anole olssoni)

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Luis Quin National Park, Baní, DR.

Cloud Forest Fragile Biodiversity

A cloud forest, also called a fog forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical evergreen montane moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud cover, usually at the canopy level. Cloud forests often exhibit an abundance of mosses covering the ground and vegetation, in which case they are also referred to as mossy forests. Mossy forests usually develop on the saddles of mountains, where moisture introduced by settling clouds is more effectively retained.

Tropical cloud forests extend from 23°N to 25°S latitudes and occur in a relatively narrow altitudinal zone with a special atmospheric environment which is characterized by at the vegetation level. Annual rainfall can range from 500 to 10,000 mm/year and mean temperature between 8 to 20 °C.

Dependent on local climate, which is affected by the distance to the sea, the exposition and the latitude, the altitude varies from 500 m to 4000 m above sea level. Typically, there is a relatively small band of altitude in which the atmospheric environment is suitable for cloud forest development. This is characterized by persistent mist or clouds at the vegetation level, resulting in the reduction of direct sunlight and thus of evapotranspiration. Within cloud forests, much of the precipitation is in the form of fog drip, where fog condenses on tree leaves and then drips onto the ground below. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_forest