- Title Pages
- In Memory of Dr. Luis Diego Gómez Pignataro (1944–2009)
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Presentation
- Preface
- Chapter 1 Costa Rica’s Ecosystems: Setting the Stage
- Chapter 2 Climate of Costa Rica
- Chapter 3 Geology, Tectonics, and Geomorphology of Costa Rica: A Natural History Approach
- Chapter 4 Soils of Costa Rica: An Agroecological Approach
- Chapter 5 The Pacific Coastal and Marine Ecosystems
- Chapter 6 The Gulf of Nicoya Estuarine Ecosystem
- Chapter 7 Isla del Coco: Coastal and Marine Ecosystems
- Chapter 8 Isla del Coco: Terrestrial Ecosystems
- Chapter 9 The Northern Pacific Lowland Seasonal Dry Forests of Guanacaste and the Nicoya Peninsula
- Chapter 10 Biodiversity Conservation History and Future in Costa Rica: The Case of Área de Conservación Guanacaste (ACG)
- Chapter 11 The Central Pacific Seasonal Forests of Puntarenas and the Central Valley
- Chapter 12 The Southern Pacific Lowland Evergreen Moist Forest of the Osa Region
- Chapter 13 The Montane Cloud Forests of the Volcanic Cordilleras
- Chapter 14 The Montane Cloud Forests of the Cordillera de Talamanca
- Chapter 15 The <i>Páramo</i> Ecosystem of Costa Rica’s Highlands
- Chapter 16 The Caribbean Lowland Evergreen Moist and Wet Forests
- Chapter 17 The Caribbean Coastal and Marine Ecosystems
- Chapter 18 Rivers of Costa Rica
- Chapter 19 Lakes of Costa Rica
- Chapter 20 Bogs, Marshes, and Swamps of Costa Rica
- Chapter 21 Costa Rican Ecosystems: A Brief Summary
- Acronyms
- Subject Index
- Systematic Index of Common Names
- Systematic Index of Scientific Names
Lakes of Costa Rica
Lakes of Costa Rica
- Chapter:
- (p.656) Chapter 19 Lakes of Costa Rica
- Source:
- Costa Rican Ecosystems
- Author(s):
Sally P. Horn
Kurt A. Haberyan
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
Costa Rica has an abundance of lakes, distributed from sea level to the nation’s highest peaks and within each of the major terrestrial ecosystems and exemplifying nearly every natural process of lake formation, including volcanic activity, fluvial dynamics, glaciation, and landslides. This chapter focuses on permanent, predominantly freshwater bodies of all sizes. The chapter begins with a short history of research on Costa Rican lakes and a consideration of lake distribution in the country as a whole. The authors then present a regional survey of Costa Rican lakes, following the classification of terrestrial ecosystems used throughout the book. For each of the seven principal terrestrial ecosystem regions the authors describe the common mechanisms of lake formation, and highlight two to five lakes that are particularly well known, including information about characteristic species and ecosystem functioning. The authors draw information both from their own published work and observations by themselves and others on aquatic biology and other lake characteristics, and summarize the contributions that paleolimnological studies have made to understanding ecosystem and environmental history in each region.
Keywords: Costa Rica, lake formation, ecosystem, aquatic biology, freshwater, species
Chicago Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
- Title Pages
- In Memory of Dr. Luis Diego Gómez Pignataro (1944–2009)
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Presentation
- Preface
- Chapter 1 Costa Rica’s Ecosystems: Setting the Stage
- Chapter 2 Climate of Costa Rica
- Chapter 3 Geology, Tectonics, and Geomorphology of Costa Rica: A Natural History Approach
- Chapter 4 Soils of Costa Rica: An Agroecological Approach
- Chapter 5 The Pacific Coastal and Marine Ecosystems
- Chapter 6 The Gulf of Nicoya Estuarine Ecosystem
- Chapter 7 Isla del Coco: Coastal and Marine Ecosystems
- Chapter 8 Isla del Coco: Terrestrial Ecosystems
- Chapter 9 The Northern Pacific Lowland Seasonal Dry Forests of Guanacaste and the Nicoya Peninsula
- Chapter 10 Biodiversity Conservation History and Future in Costa Rica: The Case of Área de Conservación Guanacaste (ACG)
- Chapter 11 The Central Pacific Seasonal Forests of Puntarenas and the Central Valley
- Chapter 12 The Southern Pacific Lowland Evergreen Moist Forest of the Osa Region
- Chapter 13 The Montane Cloud Forests of the Volcanic Cordilleras
- Chapter 14 The Montane Cloud Forests of the Cordillera de Talamanca
- Chapter 15 The <i>Páramo</i> Ecosystem of Costa Rica’s Highlands
- Chapter 16 The Caribbean Lowland Evergreen Moist and Wet Forests
- Chapter 17 The Caribbean Coastal and Marine Ecosystems
- Chapter 18 Rivers of Costa Rica
- Chapter 19 Lakes of Costa Rica
- Chapter 20 Bogs, Marshes, and Swamps of Costa Rica
- Chapter 21 Costa Rican Ecosystems: A Brief Summary
- Acronyms
- Subject Index
- Systematic Index of Common Names
- Systematic Index of Scientific Names