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Forests that float in the clouds are drifting away

Tropical cloud forests are safe havens for a vast range of creatures and plants, but they are under siege around the globe.
Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve, Costa Rica

Mist wafts through the trees at the Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Preserve in Costa Rica. Cloud forests around the world are threatened by development, wood collection and climate change. Credit: Stefano Paterna/Alamy

Remote habitats called tropical cloud forests, which cling to misty mountains and tap humid air for water, are in decline. So says a global analysis also reporting that cloud forests, despite occupying just 0.4% of Earth’s land, harbour around 15% of the global biodiversity of birds, mammals, amphibians and tree ferns.

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Nature 593, 170 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-01195-5

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