Costa Rican Ecosystems
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Chapter 16 The Caribbean Lowland Evergreen Moist and Wet Forests Deedra McClearn1,*, J. Pablo Arroyo- Mora2, Enrique Castro3, Ronald C. Coleman4, Javier F. Espeleta5, Carlos García- Robledo6, Alex Gilman3, José González3, Armond T. Joyce7, Erin Kuprewicz8, John T. Longino9, Nicole L. Michel10, Carlos Manuel Rodríguez11, Andrea Romero12, Carlomagno Soto3, Orlando Vargas3, Amanda Wendt13, Steven Whitfield14, Robert M. Timm15 Introduction Rica’s border with Nicaragua) (Fig. 16.1). For this map, we define the upper altitudinal limit of the area as 300 m, The saying “geography is destiny” has been used by histori- although some sections of this chapter will use slightly dif- ans and economists to explain large- scale phenomena such ferent elevations, depending on the standards of a particular as human trading routes, migration patterns, technological innovation, spread of disease, and the motivation for and 1 Organization for Tropical Studies, Box 90630, Durham, NC 27708, USA 2 McGill University, Department of Geography, 805 Sherbrooke Street outcomes of wars. In the context of Costa Rican ecosystems, West, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 2K6, Canada one might also invoke the expression to frame more than 3 La Selva Biological Station, Organization for Tropical Studies, Apartado five million years of the history of Costa Rica’s Caribbean 676- 2050, San Pedro de Montes de Oca, Costa Rica 4 Department of Biological Sciences, California State University Sacra- lowlands. We do not imply that events have been or will be mento, 6000 J Street, Sacramento, CA 95819, USA predictable, but rather that geography has played a critical 5 Tropical Science Center, Apartado 8- 3870- 1000, San José, Costa Rica 6 Laboratory of Interactions and Global Change, Department of Mul- role in Costa Rica’s Caribbean lowlands with respect to titrophic Interactions, Institute of Ecology (INECOL), Mexico and National initial origin of the landmass, climate, patterns of vegeta- Museum of Natural History, Departments of Botany and Entomology, Smith- tion, sites of early human settlement, colonial expansion, sonian Institution, PO Box 37012, Washington, DC 20013, USA 7 1408 Eastwood Drive, Slidell, LA 70458, USA the construction of access roads, colonial and postcolonial 8 National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Depart- exploitation of natural resources, conservation efforts, and ment of Botany, PO Box 37012, Washington, DC 20013, USA 9 current political and environmental issues. In this chapter Department of Biology, University of Utah, 257 S 1400 E, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA we offer a brief overview of these topics, encapsulate major 10 University of Saskatchewan, Department of Animal and Poultry Sci- biological research efforts in the Caribbean lowlands over ence, 51 Science Place, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A6, Canada 11 Conservation International, Apartado 8- 3870, San José, Costa Rica the past 50 years, and look into the future— always within 12 University of Wisconsin- Whitewater, Whitewater, WI 53190, USA the framework of geography at different scales. 13 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Con- Today the Caribbean lowland portion of Costa Rica, necticut, 75 N. Eagleville Road, Unit 3043, Storrs, CT 06269, USA 14 Zoo Miami, Conservation and Research Department, Miami, FL broadly defined, includes the entire Province of Limón (with 33177, USA its Caribbean Sea margin), plus portions of the Provinces 15 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology & Biodiversity Insti- tute, University of Kansas, 1345 Jayhawk Drive, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA of Heredia, Alajuela, and Guanacaste (with their northern * Corresponding author. Current address: DKU Program Office, Duke edges along the Río San Juan and other stretches of Costa University, Box 90036, Durham, NC 27708, USA 527 You are reading copyrighted material published by University of Chicago Press. Unauthorized posting, copying, or distributing of this work except as permitted under U.S. copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. 528 Chapter 16 Fig. 16.1 Map of Costa Rica showing major roads, national population centers, as well as details of the Caribbean lowlands (shown in colors). The Pan- American Highway is shown as a thick yellow line. The northern edge of the zone is the border with Nicaragua (including the Río San Juan) and the eastern edge is the Caribbean Sea. Although the railway is no longer in use, its extent (solid black lines) is depicted here to illustrate the route taken by highland coffee from the Central Plateau to the port city of Limón during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Note that there are two towns labeled Puerto Viejo. One is in the canton of Sarapiquí (near La Selva Biological Station) and the other is near Limón. Unwary researchers heading to La Selva have been known to catch the wrong bus in San José and to end up on the Caribbean coast. The Caribbean lowlands have contributions from six of the country’s 11 conservation areas. ACG (Guanacaste), ACA- HN (Arenal- Huertar Norte), ACA- T (Arenal- Tilarán), ACCVC (Cordillera Volcánica Central), ACTo (Tortuguero), and ACLA- C (La Amistad- Caribe). The La Selva Biological Station and EARTH University are indicated by stars. field of study. At the northern end of the zone, we chose or about 27% of the terrestrial landmass of Costa Rica. The the watershed of the Río Sapoa as the boundary. This river major population center of this area is the port city of Limón, drains into Lake Nicaragua, whereas all the rivers to the Costa Rica’s second largest city, with a population of about north and west drain into the Pacific Ocean. A more readily 63,000 people. Other locations that receive frequent men- identifiable border is the northern stretch of the Panameri- tion throughout this chapter include the OTS-administered can Highway, which is virtually congruent with the Sapoa La Selva Biological Station and EARTH University (Escuela watershed boundary. de la Agricultura de la Región Tropical Húmeda). Six of The Caribbean lowlands cover approximately 13,760 km2 the country’s 11 conservation areas are represented in the You are reading copyrighted material published by University of Chicago Press. Unauthorized posting, copying, or distributing of this work except as permitted under U.S. copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. The Caribbean Lowland Evergreen Moist and Wet Forests 529 Caribbean lowlands, although three of them have only a between the oceans underwent a series of shoaling events small area represented in the lowlands. Fig. 16.2 shows the throughout the Miocene and into the Pliocene. The primary distribution of protected areas and indigenous reserves in engine for these changes has been tectonic activity for more the Caribbean evergreen, forested lowlands. than the past 70 my in one of the world’s most complex intersections of oceanic and continental plates (Alvarado et al. 2009, Van Avendonk et al. 2011, Buchs et al. 2010, Historical Overview Hoernle et al. 2002, Hoernle et al. 2008, Sadofsky et al. 2009, Wegner et al. 2011, Werner et al. 1999). We treat the history of the Costa Rican Caribbean lowlands The Caribbean seafloor (Caribbean Large Igneous Prov- in five sections: ince or CLIP) is generally (but not universally) acknowl- edged to be of Pacific origin and to have shoved its way 1. Early tectonic activity (70 million years ago [mya]) through the gap between North and South America about through the Miocene shoaling of the Central Amer- 65 mya. The Farallón Plate fractured 23 mya (Lonsdale ican Seaway (CAS) and incipient closure of the Isth- 2005), at which time the resultant Cocos Plate portion mus (from approximately 24 mya to 5.3 mya) but see began subducting beneath the Caribbean Plate along the Bacon et al. (2015) Middle American Trench (MAT), which is a stretch of Pa- 2. Post- Miocene development and closure of the Isthmus cific coast from Mexico to Panama. This subduction caused until human arrival (from approximately 5.3 mya to the lifting of the seafloor and the volcanic activity that 16,000 years before present [ybp]) created the Costa Rican and Panamanian portions of the 3. Early human (indigenous) settlement until the arrival isthmian land bridge between North and South America of the first Europeans (from 16,000 ybp to 1502 AD) (Sak et al. 2009). The convergence rate of the Cocos and 4. Colonial and postcolonial trends (from 1502 to the Caribbean plates has fluctuated over the millennia and is 1960s) currently about 90 mm/year offshore of Costa Rica (Harris 5. Recent history (from the 1960s on) et al. 2010, Hoernle et al. 2008). The thickened but buoyant The major topics considered for all of these time seg- section of the Cocos Plate identified as the Cocos Ridge is ments have been radically rethought in the past 25 years. positioned off the Osa Peninsula in southern Costa Rica New sites (geological, paleontological, archaeological, and (Hoernle et al. 2002). ecological), new techniques (high- resolution remote sens- The Talamanca Mountains represent the arc highlands ing, climate modeling, dated molecular phylogenies, in ad- and the Caribbean coast area around Limón is the back- dition to analysis of isotopes, phytoliths, and starch grains), arc basin of this ridge (MacMillan et al. 2004). The failure and new paradigms (origins of tropical agriculture, demo- of smooth subduction of this ridge has been implicated by graphic collapse, the pristine myth) have all influenced cur- some geologists as the cause of the highly destructive 1991 rent thinking. We cannot offer definitive answers to many of Limón/Cahuita earthquake on the Caribbean side of Costa the most engaging questions or even cover the complexities Rica (Fernández- Arce 2009; Cortés, chapter 17 of this vol- of the debates. Additionally, we are only too aware that our ume), but other authors consider that the slab subducting treatment now will seem woefully out of date in a few years.