蒙特维德云雾森林中的吊桥，哥斯达黎加 Hanging bridge in Monteverde Cloud Forest, Costa Rica (© Dmitriy Burlakov/Getty Images)

蒙特维德云雾森林中的吊桥，哥斯达黎加 Hanging bridge in Monteverde Cloud Forest, Costa Rica (© Dmitriy Burlakov/Getty Images)

上面的空气怎么样？ How's the air up there?

Monteverde Cloud Forest in Costa Rica

Today we're taking a walk through the clouds to visit one of the most beautiful and biodiverse places on the planet. Costa Rica's Monteverde Cloud Forest is in the Tilarán mountain range 5,000 feet above sea level. Hundreds of different animal species and thousands of insect and plant species call the forest home. Diligent nature lovers could count nearly 700 different types of butterflies and 500 different species of orchids during a visit. Famous in the scientific community, the forest also attracts more than 70,000 tourists a year.

You may be wondering, what exactly is a 'cloud forest?' Different than a rainforest, they're forests high enough above sea level to be covered by persistent mist and fog generated by the forest's own evaporating moisture. This makes for a damp and humid, yet cool environment. Generally tropical, they're pretty rare. Only 1% of the current global woodland is considered true cloud forest. Entirely dependent on an area's local climate, it is expected that many of the 736 locations currently identified as cloud forests will be strongly impacted and altered in the coming years. Monteverde, in fact, is known as the location where the first climate-related species extinction was recorded—in the 1980s, the golden toad fell victim to a parasitic fungus that spread into the area due to the changing climate.

哥斯达黎加蒙特维德云林

今天，我们将在云层中漫步，参观地球上最美丽、生物多样性最强的地方之一。哥斯达黎加的蒙特维德云林位于海拔5000英尺的蒂拉兰山脉。数百种不同的动物物种和数千种昆虫和植物物种称之为森林之家。勤奋的自然爱好者在一次参观中可以数出近700种不同类型的蝴蝶和500种不同种类的兰花。这片森林在科学界享有盛誉，每年也吸引了70000多名游客。

你可能想知道，“云林”到底是什么与雨林不同的是，它们的海拔高度足以被森林自身蒸发水分产生的持续雾所覆盖。这就形成了一个潮湿而凉爽的环境。通常是热带地区，它们非常罕见。目前全球只有1%的林地被认为是真正的云林。完全取决于一个地区的当地气候，预计目前被确定为云林的736个地点中的许多将在未来几年受到强烈影响和改变。事实上，蒙特维德是20世纪80年代记录的第一个与气候相关物种灭绝的地方，金蟾是一种寄生真菌的受害者，这种真菌由于气候变化而传播到该地区。