Much is written about Costa Rica’s biodiversity of plants and animals.  One of the primary examples is the variety of orchid species one can find in the county.  The orchid is the largest family of flowering plants with as many as 25,000 different species.  In Costa Rica 1,500 of those can be found.  Well that list continues to increase as botanists from the University of Costa Rica have recently discovered three new species in Parque Nacional Tapanti located in Paraiso de Cartago.  The species were found at high altitudes (2,500 meters or more) and are of the family Lepanthes, which contain miniature orchid varieties.  The first is the Lepanthes graciosa with translucent yellowish petals.  The second is the Lepanthes machogaffensis, which has a reddish flower that blooms throughout the year, but only for periods lasting three day.  The third is the Lepanthes pelvis, which has the largest flower of the three and which the scientists described as having no similar apparent relative except in the high Andes mountains of South America.

Link to Article in La Nacion

I have written many times in the past year or more about how the Turrialba volcano has been acting up, belching out tons of sulfuric gases and turning the usually deep green vegetation on its slopes to a ghastly yellow hue.  Well, Turrialba stepped it up a notch recently by showering the inhabitants of its slopes with a curtain of ash.  It seems a new pattern of natural disaster occurrence to begin every new year is emerging (as you may remember, on January 8th of 2009, we had the horrible earthquake that virtually destroyed the community of Cinchona).  The inhabitants of the farming villages along the slopes of the volcano have been evacuated, along with most of the livestock.  All that remains are a patch of domestic animals left behind and those are being rounded up as well.  Will Turrialba really “blow its lid?”  That is the question on the mind of the experts who are hard at work studying its every move of late, and lately there has been a lot of movement, both above and below ground.  There is no doubt that the magma is rising, just how far will it rise is the burning (pardon the pun) question.  New fissures and fumaroles seem to be opening up every passing day.  One of the biggest threats is that the volcano may erupt “laterally” as opposed to vertically and thus pose a much larger threat to nearby communities.  So far there has been little in the way of human physical injury (I did read that one man was overcome with an attack of asthma brought on by the ash) and analysis has shown that the ash, while irritating, poses no immediate physical threat.  But all that could change if things heat up a notch or two above what is already occurring.  Government officials have warned the curious not to try to get close to the colossal for a view, but it sure is tempting.  At just over 11,000 feet in altitude, Turrialba is Costa Rica’s second highest volcano, behind its twin big brother, Irazu.  I have always been intrigued by the enormity and beauty of it.  It used to be one of my favorite weekend getaway places (much like Cinchona used to be).  I also ran tours where I lead tourists down into the crater (Turrialba was the only volcano where you could actually descend into the crater).  I can remember having a friend take me and my bike to the top and the exhilarating feeling of breezing to the bottom with the cool wind in my face and views that seemed to encompass the entire country.  I hope that I will get to enjoy those experiences once again.

This according to experts from the Asociación Ornitológica Costarricense (AOCR) as announced in the most recent edition of their magazine, Zeledonia.  These species aren’t new in the sense that they weren’t before known to science.  They are “new” in the sense that none of them had ever before been seen in Costa Rica.  The first is the “pardela de pascua (scientific, Puffinus nativitatis).  This bird is normally seen around the Hawaiian islands and it is estimated that only around 5,000 remain in existence.  The species was observed in April of this year flying above the ocean surface some 50 kilometers to the west of Cabo Blanco in Puntarenas.  The second is the “azor ventigrís” (scientific, Accipiter poliogaster).  This is a bird of prey and is usually found in tropical forests of low lying areas.  They are found in many parts of South America.  It is known to have a grayish colored breast.  Experts observed this specie in a secondary forest of the river Puerto Viejo, in Sarapiquí.  The third is the “gaviota tridáctila” (scientific, Rissa tridactyla).  This specie is charaterized by its large yellow beak, white head and body, and greyish colored back and wings. This is a bird always found near the ocean, normally of the Northern Hemisphere.  However, bird experts observed this specie in the mouth of the river Tortuguero located in Tortuguero National Park.  The last two birds new to Costa Rica are colibris.  The first is the “veraguan mango” (scientific, Anthracothorax veraguensis).  Previously thought to be unique to Panama, this specie was observed in a garden in Golfito, Puntarenas.  The vergaun mango is listed as a specie in danger of extinction.  The fifth is the specie of colibri (or hummingbird) with the scientific name, Lepidopyga coeruleogularis.  This specie was observed in the same general area as the veraguan mango.  Both species of colibris are generally found feeding on the red flower known as the Erythrina and have a green metalic color with beaks almost as large as their bodies.

Link to Article in La Nación

Costa Rican authorities plan to present their shining example to the world during next weeks World Summit on Climate Change to be held in Copenhagen.  An example of how to achieve economic development along with protecting the environment.  However, such plans may fly in the face of a recent report that Costa Rica is not developing all that sustainable after all.  This according to the country’s own internally developed report entitled Estado de la Nación that was the subject of a recent post in the blog, Strictly Business Costa Rica.  Nevertheless Costa Rica can present some action to back up all the talk, which is more than can be said for many who will be attending, like the U.S. and China for example.  What has Costa Rica done to put some walk into the talk?  Well the creation of multiple areas of environmentally protected territory, which has elevated Costa Rica’s status as a world-class eco-tourism destination.  The Payment for Environmental Services (or PSA) program is another specific measure Costa Rica has taken in which landowners are paid to re-forest instead of de-forest.  A means by which the country has “protected” another 11% of of national territory that is privately owned, or some 626,498 hectares covered by 85 million trees.  All this makes Costa Rica one of the few tropical countries that have been able to reverse the trend of deforestation to the extent that now some 48% of the entire country is covered with forests.  Since 1997 the coverage of territory by forest growth has been increasing at a rate of 0.66% per year.  Finally, the committee that will present at the summit can boast that in Costa Rica 76% of electrical energy is produced with renewable sources (water, wind and geothermal), making the country much less dependent on oil than most others.  Costa Rica has expressed a future commitment to world climate change by vowing to be “carbon neutral” by the year 2021, the so-called program of Paz con la Naturaleza (Peace with Nature). With all that said, I guess Costa Rica does have room to talk.  The President of the Republic, Oscar Arias, is schedule to do just on the 16th of December, the day prior to the summit’s closing.

Link to Article in La Nación

The level of the crater lake of Volcán Poás in Alajuela has this month reached the lowest level recorded in the last 15 years, decreasing by some 20 meters.  This has occurred despite the fact that the area has recently received persistent rainfall.  Expert Raúl Alberto Mora stated that this year the lake has lost some 700,000 cubic meters in total volume.  This fall was only superseded by that in 1994, when the lake completely dried up.  The main problem is that the water in the lake prevents much of the gases from escaping into the atmosphere.  So when the level gets too low the gases cause more problems to the inhabitants of surrounding areas, both to vegetation and potentially to human respiratory systems.  Cited as the main factor for the decrease in the lake level is the high temperature of the water.  On the 25th of November that temperature reached almost 50 degrees Centigrade, whereas the average temperature for volcanic crater lakes is 45 degrees Centigrade.  According to experts when a volcano located in the tropics has a crater lake whose temperature exceeds 45 degrees Centigrade it presents a thermal disequilibrium that signifies a more than normal contribution of gases and heat from within the depths of the volcano.  The result is that the lake may completely dry up, or there may be the phenomenon of Phreatic eruptions (or water and lake sediments), as actually occurred at Poás the 18th of September this year.

Link to Article in La Nación

The web site is the project of MINAET (Ministry of Energy, Environment and Telecommunications), INBio (National Institute of Biodiversity), OET (Organization for Tropical Studies), the Costa Rican National Museum, and SINAC (National System of Areas of Conservation).  The address is www.crbio.cr.  On the site, you can simply key in a search using the common name of any documented plant, animal or insect species and retrieve a wealth of data.  The data includes scientific name, as well as those of closest relatives, where the species can be found, its eating and sleeping habits, and other information.  Quality photos are also displayed.  The site also provides information about Costa Rica’s protected areas, their specific dimensions and existing legislation providing for their restricted use.  The web site is in Spanish, but is written so that lay people, not just scientists, can understand the information.

Link to Article in La Nación

The Instituto Nacional de BIodiversidad (INBio) celebrates this week the 20th anniversary since its founding in 1989.  Since then INBio has worked to catalogue and save the distinct species that exist within Costa Rica and learn what knowledge this vast array of life might impart to the benefit of humanity.  The goal for the next twenty years?  According to Rodrigo Gámez, the organization’s acting president, it is to convert the theme of biodiversity into the axes of Costa Rican culture, including its educational and business processes.  INBio was began by a group of concerned Costa Ricans in an old warehouse located on a coffee farm in Santo Domingo de Heredia.  Over the years that initial humble operation was converted into a highly sophisticated research center as well as a “biodiversity theme park” of sorts, which thousands of locals and tourists now visit annually.  In addition, over the last 20 years, the researchers of INBio have catalogued over 3.5 million different species of flora and fauna.  All this can be viewed at the INBio web site (http://darnis.inbio.ac.cr/).  INBio has also been instrumental in certain legislative processes such as the Ley de Biodiversidad.  Over the years INBio and its programs have been given numerous awards, such as the Príncipe de Asturias en Investigación y Técnica in 1995.  INBio is now recognized around the world for the level of its researce and efforts to protect Costa Rica’s rich biodiversity.  Gámez cited global warming as one of the future centers of focus, as well as “biomimetismo,” which he described in La Nación as the immitation of natural processes without actually extracting anything from nature.

Link to Article in La Nación

Sustainable tourism experts from around the world are gathering this week at the Hotel Herradura in San Jose, Costa Rica for the First International Conference for Sustainable Tourism.  Costa Rica was chosen since it is a model for developing a robust tourism industry that is in harmony with the environment that spawned it.  Topics that will be discussed include the role that tourism related businesses play in combating global warming, management of protected areas, sustainable construction and environmental certifications. The conference is this week from the 26th to the 29th at the Hotel Herradura and was organized by the Cámera Nacional de Ecoturismo de Costa Rica (Canaeco).  Other organizations involved include ICT (Costa Rican Tourism Ministry), CANATUR (Costa RIca Chamber of Tourism), The Association of Professionals in Tourism and The International Ecotourism Sosciety.  The conference is meant to enlighten hoteliers, tour operators and others linked with tourism about concepts related to sustainable tourism.  One of the topics will be the CST certification (Certificate in Sustainable Tourism) that Costa Rica has had in place for a decade.  Currently 101 tourism related businesses (mostly hotels) in Costa Rica have the certification.  That number has more than doubled in the last six years.  The CST is awarded to those establishments that can demonstrate a level of proficiency in such areas as use of water and energy, programs for waste management, and implementation of good practices in protecting the environment.  Other countries that seek to implement similar programs are looking to the CST program in Costa Rica as a solid working model that has exhibited great success.

Link to Article in La Nación

According to an article that appeared in La Nación that details a study done by scientific researchers at the University of Costa Rica, Universidad Nacional and Universidad de Ciencias Médicas.  The researches first began studying the monkeys in 2001 and since then have studied 1,000 individuals.  The research reveals that in estimation there are 104,000 monkeys in Costa Rica of the four species endemic to the country.  Those are the Congo, Cariblanco, Araña and Tití.  The researchers estimate that of the 104,000 total, there are remaining 34,000 Congos, 7,000 Arañas, 9,000 Titís and 54,000 Cariblancos.  The scientists noted that while it helps that 25% of the country’s territory is environmentally protected, the problem is that the protected areas are dispersed in segments that are almost completely autonomous from one another.  They are like small islands in themselves.  This means that monkeys residing in one area have virtually no contact with monkeys in another.  The result is less genetic variability and this can lead to serious health threats as the monkeys have little immunity against new diseases.  The scientists found cases of malaria, yellow fever, and various parasites.  In many areas, such as Manuel Antonio, the monkeys live in close proximity to humans and can easily pass diseases and parasites along to their human neighbors.  The animals also exhibit a high level of immunity to antibiotics, which makes treatment of diseases difficult.  The scientists are sure that what is occurring in Costa Rica is likely happening in other countries as well and stressed the need for a network throughout Central America with the goal of helping these primates get back to good health.

Link to Article in La Nación

If you have been to Costa Rica and haven’t visited INBioparque in Santo Domingo de Heredia, you should.  It is a Costa Rican biological theme park.  One can spend hours learning about the various flora and fauna of Costa Rica.  It is truly a remarkable place for someone who really has a desire to learn about the biodiversity of this little country.  Now the folks who brought you the park have added a room dedicated to explaining the reasons behind global climate change.  The new exhibit opened its doors to the public just this week.  Costa Rica invested $40,000 in creating the exhibit, which is geared toward explaining to folks in simple terms the reasons behind climate change, the looming threat imposed by it and simple things that we can do in everyday life to combat it.  The exhibit features three dimensional figures and a documentary film prepared specially for INBioparque that shows the way climate change is particularly affecting Costa Rica biodiversity.  Recently the Sapo Dorado, one of Costa Rica’s most celebrated rain forest frogs was declared extinct from the cloud forests of Monteverde.  Scientists attribute its disappearance, as well as the threat to many such amphibians, to climate change.  The documentary ends by suggesting various ways you and I can fight against the effects of climate change.  Acts such as reforestation, using less paper and plastic products, turning off electric appliances when not in use, walking more and driving less, changing incandescent bulbs for new varieties that consume far less energy, are among the specific actions mentioned.  There is even a song dedicated to fighting climate change featured in the film that is performed by some of Costa Rica’s most celebrated musicians.

Link to Article in La Nación