This dependence on the cloud regime is another dimension of the vulnerability of tepui summit species to climate change.

The clouds are not just scenery.

They are habitat.

The Bryophytes And What They Do

Among the least glamorous and most ecologically important inhabitants of the Roraima summit are the bryophytes — the mosses, liverworts, and hornworts that cover vast areas of the summit rock surface.

Bryophytes are non-vascular plants: they lack the internal water-conducting tissues of the flowering plants and ferns, and they are restricted to environments where they can absorb water directly from the surface.

This is why bryophytes dominate wet rock surfaces in cool, humid environments — exactly the conditions of the Roraima summit.