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Costa Rican Ecosystems$
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Costa Rican Ecosystems

Maarten Kappelle

Print publication date: 2016

Print ISBN-13: 9780226121505

Published to Chicago Scholarship Online: September 2016

DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226121642.001.0001

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The Montane Cloud Forests of the Volcanic Cordilleras

The Montane Cloud Forests of the Volcanic Cordilleras

Chapter:
(p.415) Chapter 13 The Montane Cloud Forests of the Volcanic Cordilleras
Source:
Costa Rican Ecosystems
Author(s):

Robert O. Lawton

Marcy F. Lawton

R. Michael Lawton

James D. Daniels

Publisher:
University of Chicago Press
DOI:10.7208/chicago/9780226121642.003.0013

The Cordillera de Tilarán and the Cordillera de Guanacaste create a landscape with dramatic relief, strong climatic contrasts, and extraordinary biodiversity. On the fertile volcanic soils of these Cordilleras, biodiversity in the flora and fauna, community composition, forest structure, and ecosystem function depend in large part on variation in dry season cloud moisture inputs. The authors provide a biogeographic framework emphasizing the topographically dictated climatic constraints that underlie the biological richness of northern Costa Rica’s montane forests. The critical importance of topography and elevation is demonstrated by the life zones they create, which are not strictly defined but include distinctive habitats and species. The chapter includes a description of the richness and diversity of plant and animal species, and of the various ways in which species interact, both competitively and symbiotically. More broadly, the authors give a high level overview of the function and dynamics of the region’s ecosystems, including a discussion of nutrient cycling, trophic structure, and energy flow. The chapter ends with a history of land use and conservation in the region.

Keywords:   Costa Rica, Cordillera, cloud forest, montane, biodiversity, topography, Tilarán, Guanacaste

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