Forest Structure and Biodiversity on a Cloud Forest Lee MarginR. O. Lawton, R. M. Welch, U. S. Nair, K. N. Rabenold & W. A. Haber

The local flora: >3000 vascular plant species (>700 tree spp) in 350 km2 above 700 m(as rich as 15,000 km2 of Amazonian lowlands, Manu, Peru)

Apparently extinct

~1800 20x50 m plots>33,000 trees>500 tree species

We don’t sample second growth, swamps, ridgetops, or – most especially -- gorges

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Cloud immersion frequency over Monteverde derived using: a) MODIS data for March of 2003; and b) MODIS data for March of 2003-2006.

Wind stress and spatial segregation in the guild of shade intolerant trees: Didymopanax pittieri (orange) Guettarda poasana (olive) Cecropia polyphlebia (teal

All this made possible by a host of characters: NSF, NASA, Wolf Guindon, Eladio Cruz, & the staff of the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, Drs. J. Putz, J. Daniels, R. Welch, U. Nair, R. Pielke, D. Ray, J. Calvo, A. Pounds, W. Haber, K. Rabenold, M. F. Lawton, and students – G. Cauthen, K. Wasmund, T. Earnhardt, T. Field, A. Petroff, P. Petroff, M. Lawton, M. Patrick, N. Lawton, S. Asefi, A. Regmi & V. S. Manoharan