By Sid Perkins
Changes in regional climate brought about by large-scale deforestation in the
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2001/10/707.jpg?resize=99%2C150&ssl=1)
eastern lowlands of Central America are affecting weather downwind in the
mountains, imperiling ecosystems there.
The so-called cloud forests of Monteverde lie along the crest of Costa Rica’s
Cordillera de Tilarn mountains. These habitats rely on the almost perpetual fog
that forms as moisture-laden Caribbean winds rise up the eastern slopes of the