Costa Rica

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

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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

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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

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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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Paying for Biodiversity Conservation Services in Agricultural Landscapes

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This document describes the genesis for the World Bank GEF project from 2002-2007 to implement payments for ecosystem services for silvo-pastoral systems in Colombia, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. The payments were designed to compensate for biodiversity services: international donor money would be exchanged for the international environmental service of biodiversity.

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Amelioration of degraded rain forest soils by plantations of native trees

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While much has been studied about the ability of tree growth to improve degraded soils in temperate zones, less is known about the impacts of tree growth on degraded soils in tropical zones.

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This study looks at the effects of trees planted in abandoned pasture land in northeastern Costa Rica, 25 years after that land had been cleared of rainforest. The soil was sampled before tree planting and 4 years after the trees became established. 

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Tree species effects on soil properties in experimental plantations in tropical moist forest

Background

Forest soil properties are influenced by the complex interactions of vegetation, soil type, geology, management, and climactic patterns. Tree species can differ in their long-term effects on soils. This study resamples one of the earliest replicated experimental sites at La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica, used to examine the effects of native tropical tree species on soil properties, to examine longer term effects on soil properties.

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Trade-offs between tree cover, carbon storage and floristic biodiversity in reforesting landscapes

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The multiple benefits of reforestation projects for carbon sequestration, biodiversity, and other ecosystem services are taken as a given. Yet not all forests are equal. Plantation-type reforestation projects typically undertaken for carbon sequestration are known for low species richness and inadequate provision of other ecosystem services. This study explores the relationships between an increase in tree cover area and changes in forest carbon storage and the potential of a landscape to provide habitat for native floristic biodiversity.

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Trade-offs between tree cover, carbon storage and floristic biodiversity in reforesting landscapes

Background

The multiple benefits of reforestation projects for carbon sequestration, biodiversity, and other ecosystem services are taken as a given. Yet not all forests are equal. Plantation-type reforestation projects typically undertaken for carbon sequestration are known for low species richness and inadequate provision of other ecosystem services. This study explores the relationships between an increase in tree cover area and changes in forest carbon storage and the potential of a landscape to provide habitat for native floristic biodiversity.

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Domesticación y fitoquímica de Quassia amara (Simaroubaceae) en el trópico húmedo de Costa Rica (Domestication of Quassia amara in Costa Rica)

En el Jardín Agroecológico Bougainvillea, ubicado en la zona atlántica de Costa Rica, se desarrolla un proceso de domesticación de Quassia amara L., con la finalidad de contribuir a la disminución de la recolección de poblaciones de plantas naturales del bosque y de promover una mayor conservación del ambiente, mediante prácticas de cultivo apropiadas, basadas en un modelo agroecológico.

Los autores describen algunas características de Quassia amara, tales como taxonomía, distribución, usos, farmacognosia y algunas actividades biológicas.

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Restauración de la cobertura vegetal en la reserva forestal Monte Alto. Hojancha, Guanacaste (Restoration of vegetation cover in Monte Alto, Costa Rica).

Los autores realizaron un estudio sobre el proceso sucesional en áreas de potrero en recuperación a bosque primario en la parte alta de la cuenca del Río Nosara, cantón de Hojancha, provincia de Guanacaste.

Se identificaron cuatro tipos de fases sucesionales: potrero en recuperación, bosque pionero, bosque secundario y bosque primario intervenido. Estas áreas se encontraron en dos zonas de vida: bosque húmedo tropical y bosque muy húmedo premontano.

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