Justification for Monitoring
The term “Hotspot” has become a readily evoked idiom in the ever-important discipline of conservation biology. It is a defined geographical region based on two simple criteria. First, that region must contain at least 1,500 species of vascular plants as endemics and second, to have lost at least 70% of its original habitat. In other words, it is a region of uniquely high plant endemism with a juxtaposed high rate of habitat loss. Some important hotspots include the Atlantic Forest of Tropical South America, Madagascar and surrounding islands, The Cape Floristic region of South Africa and The Indo-Burma region of Tropical Asia. Attempting to protect the vast number of threatened species and habitats would stretch insufficient conservation dollars too thin for effect. The foresight of Norman Myers in 1988 in coining the term hotspot, based originally on ten tropical forest hotspots, has lent to more concentrated efforts in the conservation of threatened places. The 34 worldwide hotspots have therefore been identified as conservation priorities and the areas most immediately important for conserving biodiversity. Our region of concentration will be within the Mesoamerican Hotspot.
The Mesoamerican hotspot encompasses all subtropical and tropical ecosystems from central Mexico to the Panama Canal and includes an incredibly diverse array of lifeforms (1). This great species richness is a result of a major event in geological history known as the Great American Biotic Interchange. The rising of the Isthmus of Panama, between 2 and 3 million years ago, permitted the migration of flora and fauna from the two separate ecological realms of North and South America (2). The flow of species in both directions and their interactions led to the complex and myriad ecology of the region. For example, the region boasts about 17,000 vascular plants, with nearly 17 percent (3,000) endemic to the region, well above the defined criteria for a hotspot. It is home to more than 200 endemic bird species (1,120 total) and 440 mammal species with more than 65 (15 percent) being endemic. The region is the richest hotspot for reptile diversity, boasting more than 690 species with nearly 240 (35 percent) endemic species. Amphibians also reach high levels of endemism as over 20 percent of the genera are endemic to the region. In total there are more than 550 species of amphibians, over 350 of which are endemic (1). A naturalist’s paradise indeed!
This overall richness further enforces the areas classification as a hotspot, but unfortunately it also fulfills the second criteria, that of massive habitat loss. The 19th century saw the conversion of Central American forests on a massive scale for the production of coffee, bananas, palm oil and beef cattle. By the end of the 1800s most of the Pacific lowlands had been cleared. More recently, Mesoamerica has achieved a rate of deforestation almost unequaled throughout the world; between 1980 and 1990, deforestation averaged 1.4 percent annually, and it is estimated that 80 percent of the area's original habitat has been cleared or severely modified (1). Only about 13 percent, or 142,000 km², of the total land area of the Mesoamerican hotspot is currently under some form of protection. In two countries, national percentages for protected land are more than twice the hotspot average: Belize (37 percent) and Costa Rica (31 percent) (1), the latter country is where we focus our research efforts.
Costa Rica sits at the southern edge of the Mesoamerican Hotspot and contributes to it a fair share of its biodiversity. Initially, the country was no exception with respect to its extensive modification of natural habitats. Population growth, immigration into new lands, and demands for a higher quality of life all contributed to an ever increasing rate of deforestation. Before the 1970s, the Ticos would have given little thought to protecting their seemingly endless supply of natural resources. Fortunately, there developed an awareness of environmental problems and demands for a park system with the goal of preserving natural areas and their biodiversity. The creation of the Dirección de Parques Nacionales in 1970 by President José Figueres kicked off a storm of conservation. By 1980 twenty major parks, reserves and biological and wildlife refuges had been established under the leadership of Mario A. Boza and Alvaro F. Ugalde with the support of presidents Daniel Oduber and Rodrigo Carazo (3).
Today there are 26 National Parks, four other biological reserves, and 23 refuges. In all, 15 percent of Costa Ricas land is devoted to protecting natural areas. There are also several important preserves under non governmental control, for example the Monteverde Forest Reserve (3). The use of conventional measures by this diminutive country (creation of the national park system, the planting of trees and the banning of deforestation) has placed Costa Rica at the forefront of conservation and international recognition in several respects. The huge increase in forest cover, which absorbs carbon like a sponge, has Costa Rica inline to become the first carbon neutral nation (4). “Ecotourism has become an important sector in nearly every country in Mesoamerica, notably Costa Rica, which is probably the world's best-known example of the successful promotion of economic benefit from conservation. In 2000, Costa Rica earned about $1.25 billion from ecotourism, and it is estimated that 70 percent of the country’s tourists visit natural protected areas (1).”
Within Costa Rica exists what could be considered its own hotspot of diversity, that of the Golfo Dulce region of the southwest. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has placed a conservation priority on 200 of the earths so called ecoregions, of which there are over 1,250 defined to date. The Golfo Dulce forests are encompassed within ecoregion number 38, The Talamancan-Isthmian Pacific Forests of Costa Rica and Panama.
WWF defines an ecoregion as a large area of land or water that contains a geographically distinct assemblage of natural communities that:
- share a large majority of their species and ecological dynamics;
- share similar environmental conditions, and;
- interact ecologically in ways that are critical for their long-term persistence.
“Insufficient and often inaccessible funding forces the conservation community to be strategic and allocate the greatest amount of resources for the most outstanding and representative areas for biodiversity. The WWF's Global 200 is a first attempt to identify a set of ecoregions whose conservation would achieve the goal of saving a broad diversity of the Earth's ecosystems. These ecoregions include those with exceptional levels of biodiversity, such as high species richness or endemism, or those with unusual ecological or evolutionary phenomena (6).”
The wet lowland forests of the Golfo Dulce and surrounding area are no exception when noting its high rate of endemism. Several examples of endemism to this unique forest include the vibrantly colored Granulated and Golfo Dulcean poison-dart frogs (Dendrobates granuliferus and Phyllobates vittatus respectively), the legendary black-headed bushmaster (Lachesis melanocephala), the minute Central American squirrel monkey (Saimiri oerstedii), the rare Osa pulchra, several palm species (Desmoncus stans and Geonoma scoparia), the Yellow-billed cotinga (Carpodectes antoniae) and 25 percent of the Marantaceae species.
The biodiversity and endemism of this region is the result of an anomaly of weather patterns on the otherwise dry Pacific coast of Central America. The Talamanca Mountains, east of the Golfo Dulce, act as a shield against the winter trade winds so that precipitation arrives from the pacific lending to the areas wetter climate than the rest of Pacific Central America. The area thus supports the richest tropical lowland forest on Central America’s west coast and possesses strong floristic affinities to the Colombian Chocó-region. Many South American tree species reach their northern limits here (8). “The lowlands of southern Costa Rica are the only wet forests still extant on the Pacific side of Central America. The abundant rainfall coupled with a short, three month dry season seems ideal for tree growth, for these forests are by far the most exuberant in Central America. In fact, the Corcovado forests are just as impressive in height as the best forests I have seen in the Amazon basin or the dipterocarp forests of Malaysia and Indonesia (5)”, wrote Forest ecologist Gary Hartshorn in Costa Rican Natural History in 1983.
However, Costa Ricas fastest disappearing forests were those of this area. In 1957 Osa Productos Forestales, a Costa Rican company owned by North American timber interests, bought over 100,000 acres of the northern Osa Peninsula and began extensive logging and rice cultivation. The OPF proved inept at displacing the armed and aggressive squatters supported by the Communist Party of the United Fruit towns of Golfito and Palmar. The squatters only had to be on the land for three years before gaining legal title and the rights to use. Land disputes as these squatters set up shop lead to occasional shootings and murders. Their incursion onto OPF lands forced development pressures on the company in the early 1970s. A new OPF manager began promoting land sales to wealthy North Americans and planned major development projects such as the construction of retirement communities on the coast, dredging of the interior wetlands for an inland marina and the cutting of a road across the peninsula. Fortunately, around this time scientists and conservationists became aware of the biological richness of the area and a major push for the establishment of a National Park was successful. The Park decree was signed on October 31, 1975 by President Daniel Oduber and the Corcovado National Park was born.
Corcovado National Park has become the poster child for conservation within this region, with a system of other preserves and parks based around it. For example the Reserva Forestal Golfo Dulce (Golfo Dulce Forest Reserve) links Corcovado with the Piedras Blancas National Park to the east, the forests of Cabo Matapalo to the southeast and the extensive Sierpe River system to the north, creating an apparent biological corridor. The area encompasses the largest intact mangrove ecosystem in Pacific Mesoamerica (the Terraba-Sierpe system), the most significant remaining areas of lowland Pacific tropical rainforest, and one of only four tropical fjords on the planet, the Golfo Dulce. These ecosystems, and numerous others, provide habitat that is essential for the Osa’s plentiful wildlife. The high level of biological diversity of the Golfo Dulce coupled with its unique combination of distinct tropical ecosystems has made it a high global conservation priority (7), and as history shows, with tangible results. The threats, however, are still imminent and globally relevant. For example, major development in the Upper Sierpe system has recently been halted and the global trend of amphibian extinctions has been well recorded within Costa Rica.
Much survey work is needed to quantify the obvious, yet unspecified richness of the region. The principal goal of these projects, therefore, is the assessment of baseline numbers, abundance and distribution for the groups noted, with the inclusion of more taxa to come with future projects. Data of this sort is lacking from our region of research, yet it is fundamental to further research and in the assessment of the areas health. For specific objectives of each project and tour details please contact us. We plan to kick off the surveys early December 2008 with a Black-headed bushmaster survey. The possibilities in the realm of citizen science are endless and we are working towards the establishment of a research network within the Golfo Dulce region.
Ps…
‘Endangered species’ and ‘Extinctions’ are terms supplied to describe the worldwide trend we plan to look into. The terms have been so excessively used that a numbness to their underlying reality has anesthetized the awareness and acceptance of our responsibilities. It is important that this global phenomenon does not spur a sense of hopelessness amongst us, for this would only lead to inaction and further the losses. As humans, we must recognize that we are the governing body for those that cannot vote, for those that cannot speak our tongue in justification of their persistence, for those we aspire to help. So polish up your dusty jungle boots, muster your sense of adventure and hop on board this ever growing project!
- Conservation International. www.biodiversityhotspots.org (May 5, 2008)
- Coates, A. G. Central America: A Natural and Cultural History. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1997.
- Savage, J. M. The Amphibians and Reptiles of Costa Rica: A Herpetofauna Between Two Continents, Between Two seas. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2002.
- Pearce, Fred. “Saved?” New Scientist March 2008: 36-39.
- Wallace, D. R. The Quetzal and the Macaw: The Story of Costa Rica’s National Parks. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1992.
- World Wildlife Fund. www.worldwildlife.org/science (May5, 2008)
- Friends of the Osa. www.osaconservation.org (May 8, 2008)
- Weber, A., et al. An Introductory Field Guide to the Flowering Plants of the Golfo Dulce Rainforests Costa Rica. Linz: Biologiezentrum des OÖ Landesmuseums, 2001.
Please contact Gareth Blakemore at gareth@osaaventura.com for tour specifics and any questions.