from Part II - Hydrological processes in undisturbed forests
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 January 2010
INTRODUCTION
The paper by Zadroga (1981) on the hydrological significance of tropical montane cloud forests (TMCF) in northern Costa Rica probably marks the start of the enhanced interest in these remarkable forests although the importance of fog deposition on vegetation surfaces as an extra source of moisture has been acknowledged for a long time (see Kerfoot's 1968 review of early literature).
Arguably, this increased interest is in no small measure due to the unstinting efforts of one man, Professor Lawrence S. Hamilton, who recognised the far-reaching implications of Zadroga's preliminary work and who kept stressing the hydrological and ecological importance of TMCF on numerous occasions. Hamilton's efforts culminated in the organisation of the First International Symposium on Tropical Montane Cloud Forests, held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, from 31 May until 5 June 1993 (Hamilton, Juvik and Scatena, 1995), and the launching of ‘A Campaign for Cloud Forests’ by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) in 1995 (Hamilton, 1995a). The hydrological and biogeochemical evidence on TMCF was reviewed in detail at the Puerto Rico Symposium by Bruijnzeel and Proctor (1995). These authors stressed how little is actually known about the hydrological functioning of different types of montane forests exposed to varying degrees of cloud impaction; the role of epiphytes in cloud water interception and retention; cloud forest carbon dynamics and the factors limiting their growth; and, above all, the uncertainty surrounding the water use of different types of TMCF and the effect of their conversion to pasture or vegetable cropping on downstream water yield.
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