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25 - Using “biosensors” to elucidate rates and mechanisms of cloud water interception by epiphytes, leaves, and branches in a sheltered Colombian cloud forest

from Part III - Hydrometeorology of tropical montane cloud forest

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 May 2011

By
M. Mulligan ,
A. Jarvis ,
J. González  and
L.A. Bruijnzeel
Edited by
L. A. Bruijnzeel ,
F. N. Scatena  and
L. S. Hamilton
M. Mulligan
Affiliation:
King's College London, UK
A. Jarvis
Affiliation:
International Centre for Tropical Agriculture, Colombia
J. González
Affiliation:
King's College London, UK
L.A. Bruijnzeel
Affiliation:
VU University, the Netherlands
L. A. Bruijnzeel
Affiliation:
Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
F. N. Scatena
Affiliation:
University of Pennsylvania
L. S. Hamilton
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
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Summary

ABSTRACT

Cloud water interception (CWI) by vegetation is a characteristic hydrological process in tropical montane cloud forests (TMCF). Its magnitude is difficult to measure directly and so artificial collectors tend to be used for comparisons between sites. However, artificial collectors say little about the actual inputs of cloud water (fog) to the vegetation. Scaling inputs via CWI from point measurements up to the watershed scale remains an important challenge. This chapter uses a combination of novel field monitoring techniques and epiphyte biomass measurements to quantify the magnitude and better understand the mechanisms of CWI in a sheltered, continental TMCF in south-western Colombia. Relationships were sought between amounts of fog water captured by complex vegetation structures including branches, leaves, and bryophytic epiphytes, for use in scaling up point measurements of fog water to the watershed scale using a simple GIS-based extrapolation.

INTRODUCTION

Tropical montane cloud forests (TMCF) often occur in hydrologically important headwater areas, and there is a growing recognition of their significance as reliable suppliers of high-quality water to downstream areas, particularly during prolonged rainless periods or where those areas are (seasonally) dry (Zadroga, 1981; Brown et al., 1996; Mulligan and Burke, 2005a,b). Nevertheless, TMCF are, hydrologically speaking, amongst the least known of tropical forest ecosystems and the precise hydrological role of the ubiquitous ground-level cloud (fog) has remained elusive (Bruijnzeel and Proctor, 1995; Bruijnzeel, 2005; cf. Part III, this volume).

Type
Chapter
Information
Tropical Montane Cloud Forests
Science for Conservation and Management
 , pp. 249 - 260
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2011

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References

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