CLOUD FOREST REGION SUMMARIES

Cajas Mountains

In the Andes of southern Ecuador, the Cajas Mountains are to the north-west of the town of Cuenca. The topography has largely resulted from extensive glaciation, with U-shaped valleys, moraines and numerous "boxed" glacial lakes, from dammed river valleys ("Cajas" meaning caja or box). Cloud forest is found in the Protected Landscape (IUCN Category V) of Cajas National Recreation Area and the privately owned Rio Mazan reserve. The montane cloud forest zone from 2800-3400m consists of woodland containing typical cloud forest species such as Myrtus and Podocarpus, grasslands and some areas of chaparral (dominated by scrub species, as climax woodland does not form as a result of overgrazing and fire management). In Mazan there is a huge diversity of orchids and fungi, with many species recently new to science (Barnett, 1988). Both areas contain threatened bird species, including the grey-breasted mountain toucan Andigena hypoglauca, and mammals including the northern pudu Pudu mephistopheles. Careful management is required to maintain the recrea- tional benefit of these areas to the people of the region whilst protecting the rich biodiversity. A land use zoning approach has been used in Cajas to achieve this. The forests are particularly important for watershed protection following widespread timber extraction in the area. The Rio Mazan reserve was purchased by the people of Cuenca in order to protect their water supply and wildlife (Barnett, 1988).

Chilla Mountains

Unconfirmed reports suggest that there are large tracts of cloud forest in these mountains which are in El Oro Province (pers.comm, Paul Toyne, 1996). Manu forest is one such area, along with Hacienda Buenaventura which is 9km west of Piñas at 900-1050m. Covering c.3000ha, two-thirds is cattle pasture, with humid cloud forest in patches across the rest, which at present is protected (Wege and Long, 1995).

Cordillera Occidental

Located in North-West Ecuador, the Cordillera Occidental is the western half of two parallel rows of peaks and ridges which form the northern end of the Ecuadorian Andes. Many of the higher peaks reach almost 6000m with connecting ridges at 4000m. The cordillera contains five main areas of cloud forest which, in general lie between 1500 and 3000m. These range from unprotected areas on the ridge crests of Volcán Pinchincha and Atacazo, to the legally protected privately owned land of the Intag Reserve, and on Cerro Golondrinas (both described further below), and areas within the Cotacachi-Cayapas Strict Nature Reserve. In addition there is protection forest on the western slope of Volcán Pinchincha. Despite the area being a distinct phytogeographic zone (Myers, 1988 in Harcourt and Sayer, 1996) with a particular abundance of endemic epiphytes, the Cotacachi-Cayapas Reserve is the only large conservation area protecting the moist forests in western Ecuador. In unprotected areas much of the natural vegetation has been completely cleared as a result of burning and grazing.

Cordillera Oriental

Part of the main Andean range in Central Ecuador, this Cordillera has cloud forests in the High Andes zone which is characterised by deep, steep-sided valleys, abundant cliffs an many rocky jagged peaks. Due to its elevation (1000-5140m) the area has a subtropical and temperate climate despite being in the tropics. Important areas of cloud forest are found in Sangay National Park, which is dominated by the Sangay Volcano at 5140m, and in the to-date unprotected Zapote Najda Mountains to the south, where a large tract of temperate cloud forest remains on the eastern side. In Sangay, montane rain forest occurs below 3750m on the wetter eastern slopes. The upper half is of low stature, c.5m and is dominated by Nuerolepsis spp. and associations of Myrtus communis. Below 3000m a 12m canopy dominated by Weinmannia spp and Oreopanax spp develops. Ferns, epiphytes and orchids are abundant. The fauna of the area is not well studied, but thought to be species rich. Sangay is an important habitat of the endangered mountain tapir Tapirus pinchaque which depends on cloud forest for shelter, but is rapidly declining throughout its range (Downer, 1996). These forests are also important in protecting the upper watersheds of many rivers, as run-off and erosion is substantial due to the steep terrain and high rainfall. However in the south of Ecuador, cloud forest on this mountain range lacks high elevations and snowy peaks resulting in differences in the fluvian network and paramo ecosystem compared with mountains in the north. Without run-off from snow melt the rivers are fed from subterranean springs formed from rainwater filtered through the forest floor. The Podocarpus National Park (described below) was established for the protection of large areas of natural cloud forest which protect and regulate the water supply in at least four regionally important catchments. Unprotected cloud forest is found on adjoining ranges at Angashcola and Lagunillas.

Podocarpus National Park

The park covers 146,000ha and has very irregular topography covering altitudes from 950m to 3700m (90% above 1500m), and has a wide range of vegetation types. It still retains large tracts of undisturbed forest, continuous from upper tropical to temperate zones. This is the only large remaining tract of continuous Andean forest in Ecuador. Montane forest is dominated by Podocarpus trees (Romerillos spp.) which are the only genus of conifers native to Ecuador. Many threatened mammals have been recorded in the park, including mountain lion Felix concolor, and it is one of the richest areas in the world for birds with a total of 600-700 species including the bearded guan Penelope barbata and white-breasted parakeet Pyrrura albipectus. The two main pressures on the park are mining activities and colonization along the western and north-western boundaries, and there is some hunting and illegal extraction of orchids and medicinal plants (Mansour, J. 1995).

Cordillera de la Costa

The Cordillera de la Costa runs up the northern half of Ecuador's western coast. These coastal and foothill forests ranging from sea level to 800m are of great biological importance due to the large number of species and high levels of endemism they support (Parker and Carr, 1992). Machililla National Park, the only national park in Western Ecuador, is found in the middle portion of this mountain range. It covers small but very important areas of fog and dry forest, the most biologically diverse area being Cerro San Sebastián, where small patches of fog forest remain on the mountain peaks. There are other remnants of fog and cloud forest on the low hills along the coast, which include Cerro Mutiles (fog forest, relatively dry), Cabecaras de Bilsa (very wet, cloud condensation), Cerro Pata de Pájaro (fog/cloud forest) and Manta Real (cloud forest). With an average lower limit of clouds between 500m and 600m, moving upward to peaks at 800-1000m, the cloud forests in this region are at significantly lower altitudes than in other parts of the Andes. However the forests are very wet all year round, receiving water from fog drip and cloud condensation. Trunk climbers, epiphytes and mosses are profuse and diverse. Locally endemic and threatened tree species are present, including Caryodaphnopsis theobromifolia and Carapa guianensis as well as truly montane Andean genera. Mammals found in the area include the endangered mantled howler monkey Alouatta palliata, jaguars Panthera onca and white-fronted capuchin Cebus albifrons, and there are many species of bat, some typical only of undisturbed forest (Parker and Carr, 1992). In Machililla, as with most of the forests in this area, the main pressures are timber harvesting, small-scale agriculture, livestock grazing and hunting by the local human population. The large proportion of land area under private ownership within the park is also a problem. In addition to being the last remaining habitat for local endemic and threatened species, many of the forests fulfill an important watershed role. All of these remnants require improved protection with the involvement of local residents in sustainable management programmes.