La Planada

High in Andean cloud forest lies the 25 ha La Planada Forest Dynamics Plot in the La Planada Nature Reserve. The La Planada site was established in 1997 by the Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos "Alexander von Humboldt" and ForestGEO/STRI. The plot represents a gradient from the plateau of La Planada (1718 m) to the slopes leading to the surrounding ridges (1844 m), and researchers are interested in how the forest changes over this gradient. The La Planada plot provides interesting parallels to the Asian montane site, Doi Inthanon Forest Dynamics Plot.