A Blueprint for Stimulating Tropical Research. DAVID B. CLARK ..... in addition, it guarantees the long-term survival of La Selva's biodiversi- ty. Secure research ...
Four Neotropical Rainforests Alwyn H . Gentry, editor with the editorial assislance of Myra Guzmán-Tcare, and coordination of avian and herpetological chapters by James R. Karr and William E. DucUman
Yale University Press New Haven and London
Copyright © 1990 by Yale University. All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, íncluding illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the pubhc press), without written permission from the pubHshers.
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Library ofCongress of Cataloging-inPublication Data Four neotropical rainforests / Alwyn H. Gentry, editor, p. cm. "Proceedings of a symposium, organized as part of the Association for Tropical Biology program at the 1987 meeting of the American Institute of Biological Sciences . . . co-sponsored by the Organization for Tropical Studies [and he!d] at Ohio State University in Columbuson 10-12 August 1987"— Pref.
Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-300-04722-3 (alk. paper) 1. Rain forest ecology— Congresses. 2. Rain forest fauna— Congresses. 3. Rain forest plants— The paper in this book meéis the guidelines Congresses. 4. Rain forests— Congresses. I. Gentry, Alwyn H. ofpermanence and durability ofthe n. Association for Tropical Biology. Commillee on Producíion Guidelines for III. American Institute of Biological Book Longevity ofthe Council on Library Sciences. IV. Organization for Resources. Tropical Studies. . QH541.5.R27F69 1990 - 574.5'2642—dc20 90-11909 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
La Selva Biological Station: A Blueprint for Stimulating Tropical Research DAVID B. CLARK
Imagine the volcanic backbone of Central A m e r i c a . Forest-clad volcanoes rise 3,000-4,000 m above the ever wet, ever warm Atlantic coastal plain. Descend the volcanoes' slopes to the point where the foothills meet the flat coastal plains. A t this juncture, in the Republic of Costa R i c a , sits L a Selva Biological Station. L a Selva is owned and operated by the Organization for Tropical Studies ( O T S ) , an international consortium of universities and research institutions (appendix 1.1) formed to provide leadership in education, research, and the wise use of natural resources in the tropics (Stone 1988). L a Selva is O T S ' s principal research and teaching facility in lowland tropical rainforests. The climate and vegetation of the área are described in Hartshorn (1983a). L a Selva is a relatively small station (fig. 1.1), but it has recently exerted a major influence on the progress of tropical biology. In the past five years researchers from ninety-five institutions have worked at L a Selva. Usage of the station has increased almost fourfold in the past decade (table 1.1), and the number of researchers increased 257% between 1982 and 1988 (table 1.2). The flow of publications and reports on L a Selva research has increased similarly. The 1987 A I B S meetings, for example, included twenty-three presentations on L a Selva-based research. The varied and numerous investigations carried on at L a Selva are an important reason why the tiny republic of Costa Rica is one of the world's most active research sites in tropical field biology (Clark 1985). H o w was an isolated country retreat transformed into a world-class I thank Deborah Clark, Lucinda McDade, Donald Stone, and Gary Hartshorn for numerous ideas and helpful editing.
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F I G U R E 1. L Component áreas of L a Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica.
TABLEl.l
Use of L a Selva Biological Station, 1978-1988 Year
Person-days
1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988
2,856 4,103 5,297 6,068 7,320 7,792 7,784 8,181 • 9,620 11,004 12,385
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