Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Part I General perspectives
- Part II Regional floristic and animal diversity
- Part III Hydrometeorology of tropical montane cloud forest
- Part IV Nutrient dynamics in tropical montane cloud forests
- Part V Cloud forest water use, photosynthesis, and effects of forest conversion
- Part VI Effects of climate variability and climate change
- 54 Meso-scale climate change due to lowland deforestation in the maritime tropics
- 55 The impact of deforestation on orographic cloud formation in a complex tropical environment
- 56 Meso-scale climate change in the central mountain region of Veracruz State, Mexico
- 57 Potential effects of global climate change on epiphytes in a tropical montane cloud forest: an experimental study from Monteverde, Costa Rica
- 58 Climatic change impacts on tropical montane cloud forests: fire as a major determinant in the upper zones of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
- 59 Historical 14C evidence of fire in tropical montane cloud forests in the Chimalapas region of Oaxaca, southern Mexico
- 60 Biennial variation in tree diameter growth during eight years in tropical montane cloud forests on Mount Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
- 61 Modeling the dynamics of tropical montane cloud forest in central Veracruz, Mexico
- Part VII Cloud forest conservation, restoration, and management issues
- References
58 - Climatic change impacts on tropical montane cloud forests: fire as a major determinant in the upper zones of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
from Part VI - Effects of climate variability and climate change
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 May 2011
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Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Part I General perspectives
- Part II Regional floristic and animal diversity
- Part III Hydrometeorology of tropical montane cloud forest
- Part IV Nutrient dynamics in tropical montane cloud forests
- Part V Cloud forest water use, photosynthesis, and effects of forest conversion
- Part VI Effects of climate variability and climate change
- 54 Meso-scale climate change due to lowland deforestation in the maritime tropics
- 55 The impact of deforestation on orographic cloud formation in a complex tropical environment
- 56 Meso-scale climate change in the central mountain region of Veracruz State, Mexico
- 57 Potential effects of global climate change on epiphytes in a tropical montane cloud forest: an experimental study from Monteverde, Costa Rica
- 58 Climatic change impacts on tropical montane cloud forests: fire as a major determinant in the upper zones of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
- 59 Historical 14C evidence of fire in tropical montane cloud forests in the Chimalapas region of Oaxaca, southern Mexico
- 60 Biennial variation in tree diameter growth during eight years in tropical montane cloud forests on Mount Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
- 61 Modeling the dynamics of tropical montane cloud forest in central Veracruz, Mexico
- Part VII Cloud forest conservation, restoration, and management issues
- References
Summary
ABSTRACT
Cloud forests are of great importance for the hydrological functioning of watersheds in sub-humid East Africa. However, the montane forests of Mt. Kilimanjaro are heavily threatened, at lower elevations by illegal logging and at higher elevations by an increasing fire risk. Based on an evaluation of over 1400 vegetation plots and interpretation of satellite imagery from 1976 and 2000, land-cover changes on Kilimanjaro were evaluated and their impact on the water balance estimated. In recent years, a drier climate has facilitated the spreading of human-caused fires dramatically, and has led to the almost complete destruction of the former closed forest between 3000 m.a.s.l. and the potential tree-line at 4000 m.a.s.l. Therefore, the current upper closed forest limit at 3200 m.a.s.l. has become suppressed by nearly 800 m. Since 1976, about 150 km2 of cloud forests have been destroyed by fire, possibly representing an estimated annual loss of 20 million m3 of water potentially captured by “fog stripping” under forested conditions. Such losses are potentially much more harmful hydrologically speaking than those associated with the loss of the showy ice cap on Kilimanjaro and highlight the importance of quantitative hydrological investigations in support of montane forest conservation and management in the region.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Tropical Montane Cloud ForestsScience for Conservation and Management, pp. 566 - 574Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011
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