The Andean cloud forest is a critical part of the Neotropics and much of its structure, function and dynamics are in response to both natural and human-caused disturbances. Those natural disturbances include landslides, and tree death leading to trees falling and creating gaps in the canopy. The human-caused disturbances include logging, mining, road construction and other aspects of urbanization as well as slash-and-burn forest clearing techniques before cultivation (e.g., in sugarcane [Saccharum officinarum], in banana [Musa sp.] and/or in coffee [Coffea arabica]). When yields decline in those cultivated areas cattle often graze in them creating pastures, with or without the planting of exotic grasses such as Setaria sphacelata. Here I first explore definitions of disturbance and then review all published research on disturbances in the Andean cloud forest and the responses of the abiotic and biotic components of those ecosystems, which include plant replacements. Next, I expand on conceptual models of plant community dynamics by refashioning the traditional disturbance = > response paradigm into nine classes of plant-plant replacements. Finally, I present 6 years of baseline data showing the plant-plant replacements in a one-hectare plot in undisturbed Andean cloud forest in Ecuador. I suggest that those replacements be used to facilitate future research through comparison with the plant-plant replacements in disturbed Andean cloud forests recovering after both natural and human-caused disturbances.