. The Conservation Atlas of Tropical Forests: the Americas. Costa Rica. Lt\i;,i;iiix III ilu Cdllii UiiUc Riscivc. Usa Peninsula. (WWF/OlgaSheean) home to between four and five per cent of the world's terrestrial animal and plant species (Quesada, 1990). Many of Costa Rica's species, both plants and animals, have still not been described and. with the current rate of habitat destruction, it is likely that they will disappear before they are known (MIRENEM/SPN. 1992). The tropical moist and wet forests have the highest biodiversity in the country and these ecosystems are vanishing rapid
. The Conservation Atlas of Tropical Forests: the Americas. Costa Rica. Lt\i;,i;iiix III ilu Cdllii UiiUc Riscivc. Usa Peninsula. (WWF/OlgaSheean) home to between four and five per cent of the world's terrestrial animal and plant species (Quesada, 1990). Many of Costa Rica's species, both plants and animals, have still not been described and. with the current rate of habitat destruction, it is likely that they will disappear before they are known (MIRENEM/SPN. 1992). The tropical moist and wet forests have the highest biodiversity in the country and these ecosystems are vanishing rapidly. For its size. Costa Rica may have the most diverse plant life in the world (Davis et ah. 1986). For instance. La Selva Private Reserve, an area of only 14 sq. km, contains as many as 1740 vascular plants (Hammel, 1990). Gentry (1978) estimated that a total of 8,000 species occur in the country, while Gomez (1984. cited in Davis et 1986) considers that 10,000 occur. Of these. 1393 are believed endemic (Davis er a/.. 1986). Forty-five commercial timber species are threatened, nine of these are endemic (, 1991: MIRENEM. 1992). Among the threatened species are the mahoganies Swietenia humilis and S. macrophylla, cocobolo Dalbergia retusci, bal- samo Myroxylon balsamum. Belize yellowwood Podocaipiis giialemalensis. Conlia gerascanthiis. Paikici pendiila and Mora oleifera (MIRENEM. 1992). The 1994 lUCN Red List of Threatened Animals (Groombridge. 1993) contains 37 species (12 mammals, seven birds, seven reptiles, one amphibian and ten invertebrates) that are found in Costa Rica. Few, however, are restricted to the country. The threatened non-endemics include the Central American squirrel monkey Saimiri oerstedii. the giant anteater Myrmecophaga tridaetyla. the Central American tapir Tapirus bairdii and the American crocodile Crocodylus acutiis: these are all relatively widespread. In contrast, the threatened mountain squirrel Syntheosciurus brochiis and eight-s
Size: 1980px × 1262px
Photo credit: © The Book Worm / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bhlconsortium, bookcentury1900, bookcollectionbiodiversity, bookl
