Costa Rica

Sixty-Seven Years of Land-Use Change in Southern Costa Rica

Background

Habitat loss and fragmentation of forests are among the biggest threats to biodiversity and associated ecosystem services in tropical landscapes. This paper uses the vicinity of the Las Cruces Biological Station in southern Costa Rica as a regional case study to comment on seven decades of land-use change in one of the most intensively studied sites in the Neotropics.

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Neotropical Secondary Forest Succession: Changes in Structural and Functional Characteristics

Background

This paper reiviews the main biotic and abiotic factors that influence patterns of secondary forest succession in the Neotropics after complete forest clearance due to human activities.

Research Goals & Methods

The authors look at patterns of species replacement and various processes that occur during succession and suggest that the sequence of processes may be predictable even if species composition is not.

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Testing Applied Nucleation as a Strategy to Facilitate Tropical Forest Recovery

Background

This study considers applied nucleation, or the intensive planting of small patches of a mixture of successional species, as a degraded tropical forest restoration strategy. This approach catalyzes the natural regeneration of the surrounding matrix and larger landscape and could provide a less expensive alternative to the more common, and expensive, plantation-style approach. This study claims to be the first to directly compare tree recruitment beneath these two restoration approaches.

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Seed rain under tree islands planted to restore degraded lands in a tropical agricultural landscape

Background

Planting native tree seedlings is the predominant restoration strategy for accelerating forest succession on degraded lands. However, planting tree “islands” is less costly and labor intensive than establishing larger plantations and simulates the nucleation process of succession. Tree islands can attract seed dispersers to gradually spread restoration patterns from the islands. Restoration design can be informed by assessing the effect of potential planting arrangements on seed dispersal by birds and bats and determining the influence of surrounding forest cover.

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Effects of Dry Tropical Forest Fragmentation on the Reproductive Success and Genetic Structure of the tree Samanea saman

background

Tropical trees are particularly vulnerable to forest fragmentation due to low population densities and reproductive self-incompatibility. Forest fragmentation is likely to decrease gene flow, increase endogamy, and eventually produce a high differentiation among remnant populations.

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Efecto de la zona de vida y la altitud en la mortalidad y adaptabilidad al primer año de especies forestales en la Cordillera Volcánica Central de Costa Rica

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Antecedentes

El entendimiento comprensivo de la restauración de bosques requiere de la comprensión del fenómeno de la mortalidad incluyendo su magnitud y ubicación espacial. En Costa Rica, no existe suficiente información capturando los efectos de climas pluviales sobre la mortalidad de especies forestales, especialmente en zonas altas.

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Resilencia en Bosques Tropicales Húmedos: Reensamblaje de las Comunidades en Bosques Secundarios (Resilience in tropical humid forests: Reassemblies of the communities in secondary forests)

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Migratory Bird Species in Young Tropical Forest Restoration Sites: Effects of Vegetation Height, Planting Design, and Season

background

This study examines the difference in habitat preference of four migratory birds in restored forests in southern Costa Rica.

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Avian Communities in Forest Fragments and Reforestation Areas Associated with Banana Plantations in Costa Rica

Background

This study evaluates the avian diversity value of reforested and secondary forest fragments in a matrix of banana plantations in Caribbean Costa Rica. In Costa Rica, banana producers (Dole and Delmonte) retain riparian buffer forests in addition to reforestation on lands removed from production. Zygia longifolia dominated reforested and secondary forest fragments. 

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Patch Size Effects on Avian Foraging Behaviour: Implications for Tropical Forest Restoration Design

background

This study looks at bird behavior in restoration sites in southern Costa Rica. While multiple studies examine the presence of birds in restored forest, few studies examine behavior in these sites.

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