field guideggh

Cloud
Forest
A field guide about this
magnificent ecosystem.
By: Laura Santamaria and Adelaida Villegas
1
Table of Contents
About the ecosystem
Page 2
Plants
Eucaliptus
Pine tree
Yagrumo
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Birds
Tortolita
Reinita
Mirla patamarilla
Page 6
Page 7
Page 8
Insects
Moth
Cricket
Beetle
Page 9
Page 10
Page 11
Mammal
Squirrel
Conclusion
Page 12
Page 13
2
About the ecosystem…
Pictures like this one (oval shaped) were not taken by us.
In Colombia, one of the countries with the largest
area of cloud forests, only 10-20% of the initial
cloud forest cover remains.
Envigado’s mount side is part
of a very special kind of forest,
a cloud forest or fog forest.
They are characterized by a
persistent or frequent lowlevel cloud cover. They have
an abundance of mosses
covering the ground and
vegetation, so they are
sometimes reffered as mossy
forests.
3
Eucalyptus
Spanish name: Eucalipto
English name: Eucaliptus
Family: Myrtaceae
Size: up to 30 meters high
There are many different types
of eucalyptus trees, some have
bigger trunks, pink flowers or
are smaller in height. Australia
has the most diversity. The
most common here is the
eucalyptus cinerea or silver
dollar tree. Eucaliptus can be
found all over the world so they
are not endemic.
4
Pine tree
Spanish name: Pino
English name: Pine tree
Genus: fir
Family: pinaceae
Size: 15 to 45m tall
There are about 115 different species of
pine. Fir is a genus of pine. There are
about 48-55 species in the family
pinacea. There are found in much of
north and central America, Asia, north
Africa and most of all on mountains.
The different types can be found in
many places throughout the world but
specially on forest that receive great
amounts of rainfall.
5
c
Yagrumo
Spanish and English name: Yagrumo or
Yarumo, or more specificaly ‘Yagrumo
hembra’
Family: Urticaceae
Genus: Cecropia
Size: 5 to 15m
There are 63 different
species. The genus is
native to American
rainforest. They are
commonly found in
Costa Rica and
Colombia inside the
“cloud forest”, but are
also found in other
American tropics,
Ecuador, Mexico and
Central America.
6
Tortolita
Spanish name: Tortolita, caminera o
abuelita.
English name: Ruddy Ground-dove
Scientific Name: Columbina
talpacoti
Size: 17cm
A small American dove found from
Mexico to Peru, Brazil and Paraguay,
and northern Argentina, and on
Trinidad and Tobago and even
southern part of the united states. It
can be found on both urban places
and forests. It feeds mainly on
seeds.
Here we have two of the common
birds of the region, the Tortolita and Reinita
preparing for liftoff.
7
Reinita
Spanish name: Reinita
English name: Rusty-margined
Flycatcher
Scientific name: Myiozetetes
cayanensis
Size: 16.5cm
It is a species of bird in the
Tyrannidae family. It’s found in
Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia,
Ecuador, French Guiana,
Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and
Venezuela. Its natural habitats
are subtropical or tropical moist
forests and heavily degraded
former forest. They eat small
insects.
8
Mirla Patiamarilla
Spanish name: Mirla
Patiamarilla
English name: Great
Thrush
Scientific name: Turdus
fuscater
Size: 28 - 35 cm
They live subtropical and
tropical moist forests in the upper part of South
America ( Colombia , Venezuela , Ecuador and
Peru). It is part of the Turdidae family. They are
not country endemic and are a common specie.
9
Moth
Spanish name: Polilla
English name: Moth
Family: hesperiidae
Subfamily: pyrginae
Specie: erynnis tristis (mournful
duskywing)
Size:
The word tristis comes from latin "sad,
sorrow, mournful" referring to the
somber colors of the wings. Feeds from
flower nectar. They live in oak
woodlands in North America and some
parts of Central and South America.
10
Cricket
Spanish name: Grillo
Common English name: Cricket
Family: Gryllidae
Subfamily: Gryllinae
Genus: Acheta
Size : 15-25 millimeters
There are 15 different species of
Acheta’s. The one in the picture is
more likely to be a Acheta
domesticus (house cricket)
because it is communly found
indoors. This specie is very
common in the southern part of
the U.S. and Central and South
America. It’s used by many people
to feed their pets. There are not
likely to survive in the wild
(outdoors).
11
Beetle
Spanish name: Escarabajo
English name: Leaf beetle
Family name: Chrysomelidae
Size: 2cm long
Beetles in the Chrysomelidae family
are often refer to as leaf beetles.
There are more than 35,000 different
species and over 2,500 different
genera. They feed from all different
kinds of plant tissue. We guess the
metalic green beetle we found was
either part from the Chrysomelinae,
Galerucinae or Cryptocephalinae.
12
Squirrel
Spanish name: Ardilla
English name: Red squirrel
Family: Sciuridae
Genus: Sciurus
Subgenus: Urosciurus
Species: S. spadiceus
Size: 48 to 53cm
Are found in Colombia and
Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil.
They have reddish-brown fur.
They eat fruit from trees and all
kinds of seeds.
13
Conclusion
We hope you have learn a bit from the species of
this ecosystem. We only mention ten of the
thousands of plants, insects, mammals, ect, that
live in this area. Cloud forest are among the
healthiest ecosystems thanks to there great
biodiversity. This also means we have a greater
compromise with nature, we live in an area with
lots of organisms and plants we should take care of!