Have you been trying to decide whether you should visit an amazon rain forest lodge or a cloud forest lodge or both? My friend Richard Parsons came up with these ideas. In this case he is referring to Ecuador, but it would be the same in Peru or Colombia.
Tropical / subtropical rain forests grow at altitudes from near sea level, up to approximately 2500 meters in the Andes of Ecuador, on both sides of the Andes. Millions of years ago, which is recent in geological time, the Andes began the process of being “pushed up” as the tectonic plates took on their present configuration. Prior to this, the area of South America where today we find the Andes, was flat and the vast Amazon river flowed west out to the Pacific. As the Andes began to rise, pushed upwards by the subducting oceanic Nazca Plate, on the plate boundary with the continental South American Plate, so the essentially uniform lowland rain forests in time adapted to higher altitude. And the Amazon river now flows east.
Ecuador cloud forest
There are similarities between lowland forests and higher elevation cloud forests, Plants often have large, fleshy leaves, providing plenty of surface area to capture the dim sunlight that penetrates to the forest floor. Because of the high rainfall in both types of forest, leaves usually curve somewhat downwards, and have “pinched-together” drip tips. Both of these adaptations make the excess water run off. Root systems are generally shallow, and nutrients are in the biomass of the plants, rather than the soil.
The differences however are significant, and are most deeply reflected in the totally different species found in a lowland forest as compared with high elevation cloud forest. Ecuador is the most biodiverse country on the planet, boasting over 1600 species of birds, the highest number of bird species per square kilometer of any country in the world. A bird list or mammal list from a lodge / reserve in Ecuador´s Amazon basin, shares few species with a lodge / reserve in Ecuador´s northwest cloud forest. The same is true of orchids, butterflies, moths and so much more. Just as an example, in the private Bellavista Cloud Forest Reserve in 2015, 70 new species of Noctuidae moths were identified to science in just nine months!
The differences however are significant, and are most deeply reflected in the totally different species found in a lowland forest as compared with high elevation cloud forest. Ecuador is the most biodiverse country on the planet, boasting over 1600 species of birds, the highest number of bird species per square kilometer of any country in the world. A bird list or mammal list from a lodge / reserve in Ecuador´s Amazon basin, shares few species with a lodge / reserve in Ecuador´s northwest cloud forest. The same is true of orchids, butterflies, moths and so much more. Just as an example, in the private Bellavista Cloud Forest Reserve in 2015, 70 new species of Noctuidae moths were identified to science in just nine months!
Differences in temperature mean different food availability, different dominant species, etc. Lowland rain forests frequently have large rivers, higher elevation forests an abundance of waterfalls. Root systems in Amazon forest are often so shallow that merely to remove the leaves, is to expose humus-poor lateritic soil. In cloud forests, a surprisingly high percentage of the vegetable biomass is found in epihytes (air plants), living up on the branches and in the canopy, with no need for roots to the ground to supply their nutrients.. an ecosystem of its own.
Another significant difference is that lowland forests, notably Amazon forests, are generally much flatter, and so the canopy tends to be closed. As a result, the forest floor is frequently quite open, and young trees need light gaps created by fallen trees to start their push to grow up towards the light of the forest canopy. Higher elevation Andean cloud forests on the other hand, often have steep slopes, so the canopy is much more open, and vegetation on the forest floor flourishes.
Another significant difference is that lowland forests, notably Amazon forests, are generally much flatter, and so the canopy tends to be closed. As a result, the forest floor is frequently quite open, and young trees need light gaps created by fallen trees to start their push to grow up towards the light of the forest canopy. Higher elevation Andean cloud forests on the other hand, often have steep slopes, so the canopy is much more open, and vegetation on the forest floor flourishes.
For the naturalist visiting Ecuador, the ideal is to visit both ecosystems; a lowland, perhaps Amazonian rain forest, and a high elevation cloud forest up in the Andes. Both are easily accessible, although it has to be said that, taking the city of Quito as one´s starting point, one needs longer to get into an Amazon reserve.
So, if you want to see the most species, it is best to visit both ecosystems. But if you like hummingbirds and you prefer cooler weather, a cloud forest visit might suit you more, and you would only need to travel an hour or two from Quito to get into one, such as Bellavista. In Peru, the cloud forests are farther away. You can do a trip from Cusco to the cloud forest only in Manu, or you can do a combination trip to cloud forest and lowland forest in Manu. You can also visit a cloud forest in the Chachapoyas region of northern Peru, but it takes a while to get to there.
So, if you want to see the most species, it is best to visit both ecosystems. But if you like hummingbirds and you prefer cooler weather, a cloud forest visit might suit you more, and you would only need to travel an hour or two from Quito to get into one, such as Bellavista. In Peru, the cloud forests are farther away. You can do a trip from Cusco to the cloud forest only in Manu, or you can do a combination trip to cloud forest and lowland forest in Manu. You can also visit a cloud forest in the Chachapoyas region of northern Peru, but it takes a while to get to there.
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