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La Selva Biological Station
La Selva Biological Station is a protected area encompassing 1,536 ha of low-land tropical rain forest in northeastern Costa Rica. It is owned and operated by the Organization for Tropical Studies,Matlock, R., & Hartshorn, G. (1999). La selva biological station (OTS). Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America, 188-193. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/20168346 a consortium of universities and research institutions from the United States, Costa Rica, and Puerto Rico.Moorman, R. (2006). Benefits of local residents visiting La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica. Environmental Conservation, 88-99 Recognized internationally as one of the most productive field stations in the world for tropical forest research and peer-reviewed publications, La Selva hosts approximately 300 scientists and 100 university courses every year. The primary goal of La Selva Biological Station is to preserve and protect an intact forest, as well as providing laboratory facilities for tropical r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Costa Rica
Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, and Maritime boundary, maritime border with Ecuador to the south of Cocos Island. It has a population of around five million in a land area of . An estimated 333,980 people live in the capital and largest city, San José, Costa Rica, San José, with around two million people in the surrounding metropolitan area. The sovereign state is a Unitary state, unitary Presidential system, presidential Constitution of Costa Rica, constitutional republic. It has a long-standing and stable democracy and a highly educated workforce. The country spends roughly 6.9% of its budget (2016) on education, compared to a global average of 4.4%. Its economy, once heavily dependent on agricultu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epiphytes
An epiphyte is an organism that grows on the surface of a plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphytes grow are called phorophytes. Epiphytes take part in nutrient cycles and add to both the diversity and biomass of the ecosystem in which they occur, like any other organism. They are an important source of food for many species. Typically, the older parts of a plant will have more epiphytes growing on them. Epiphytes differ from parasites in that they grow on other plants for physical support and do not necessarily affect the host negatively. An organism that grows on another organism that is not a plant may be called an epibiont. Epiphytes are usually found in the temperate zone (e.g., many mosses, liverworts, lichens, and algae) or in the tropics (e.g., many ferns, cacti, orchids, and bromeliads). Epiphyte species make good houseplants due to their minimal wat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pentaclethra Macroloba
''Pentaclethra macroloba'' is a large and common leguminous tree in the genus ''Pentaclethra'' native to the wet tropical areas of the northern Neotropics, which can form monoculture, monocultural stands in some seasonally flooded habitats. It has giant, bipinnate leaves shaped like feathers. It uses seed dispersal#Water, seed dispersal by water to establish itself in new areas, having floating seeds that are left behind after the waters recede after floods or tides. It has hard timber which is not very resistant to rot in the tropics, but it can be treated, has a pretty pink-red colour when dry, and has a number of uses. Oil used in cosmetics is extracted from the large seeds. In the northern Amazon rainforest, Amazon region the bark is used in herbal medicine as an antivenom, and in the Guianas the bark has been used as a fish poison. Despite their toxicity, the seeds are eaten by variegated squirrels, parrots and macaws, and serve as the nurseries of the larvae of the moth ''Car ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Socratea Exorrhiza
''Socratea exorrhiza'', the walking palm or cashapona, is a Arecaceae, palm native to rainforests in tropical Central America, Central and South America. It can grow to 25 metres in height, with a stem diameter of up to 16 cm, but is more typically 15–20 m tall and 12 cm in diameter. It has unusual stilt roots, the function of which has been debated. Many species of epiphyte have been found growing on the palms. The palm is pollinated by beetles, and various organisms eat its seeds or seedlings. Function of stilt roots E. J. H. Corner in 1961 hypothesised that the unusual stilt roots of ''S. exorrhiza'' were an adaptation to allow the palm to grow in swampy areas of forest. No evidence exists that stilt roots are in fact an adaptation to flooding, and alternative functions for them have been suggested. John H. Bodley suggested in 1980 that they in fact allow the palm to "walk" away from the point of germination if another tree falls on the seedling and knocks it ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Welfia
''Welfia'' is a genus of palms found in Central America (Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua) and northwestern South America (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru). Only two species are currently recognized: ''Welfia regia'' and ''Welfia alfredii ''Welfia'' is a genus of Arecaceae, palms found in Central America (Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua) and northwestern South America (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru). Only two species are currently recognized: ''Welfia regia'' and ''Welfia alfred ...''.Nelson Sutherland, C.H. (2008). Catálogo de las plantes vasculares de Honduras. Espermatofitas: 1-1576. SERNA/Guaymuras, Tegucigalpa, Honduras. References Geonomateae Flora of Central America Flora of South America Arecaceae genera {{palm-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Araceae
The Araceae are a family of monocotyledonous flowering plants in which flowers are borne on a type of inflorescence called a spadix. The spadix is usually accompanied by, and sometimes partially enclosed in, a spathe (or leaf-like bract). Also known as the arum family, members are often colloquially known as aroids. This family of 140 genera and about 4,075 known species is most diverse in the New World tropics, although also distributed in the Old World tropics and northern temperate regions. Many species display very decorative leaves and flowers, and they are widely used for gardening; popular as indoor plants and also outdoor plants where climates are mild, and winter freezes will not generally occur. However, some temperate species are also very popular in Mediterranean-climate gardening, or in moderately cool temperate zones, such as ''Zantedeschia''. Description Species within Araceae are often rhizomatous or tuberous, and the leaves nearly always contain calcium oxa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paraponera Clavata In La Selva
''Paraponera'' is a genus of ants and the only genus in the subfamily Paraponerinae. The name means "near-''Ponera''". It consists of two species: the extant ''Paraponera clavata'', also known as a bullet ant, found in the Neotropics, and the very small fossil species ''Paraponera dieteri'' known from Dominican amber (Early Miocene; 16-19 million years ago). Bullet ants are so named for the pain caused by their venomous stings. The intensely painful sting is toxic to invertebrates as well as vertebrates and a major component is the neurotoxic peptide poneratoxin. Species * ''Paraponera clavata'' (Fabricius, 1775) * †''Paraponera dieteri ''Paraponera dieteri'' is an extinct species of Miocene ant Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from vespoid wasp ancestors in ...'' Baroni Urbani, 1994 References External links * Paraponerinae Ant genera Messini ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tayassu Tajacu In La Selva
The white-lipped peccary (''Tayassu pecari'') is a species of peccary found in Central and South America and the only member of the genus ''Tayassu''. Multiple subspecies have been identified. White-lipped peccaries are similar in appearance to pigs, but covered in dark hair (except on certain regions, such as the throat, where it is cream). The range of ''T. pecari'', which extends from Mexico to Argentina, has become fragmented, and the species's population is declining overall (especially in Mexico and Central America). They can be found in a variety of habitats. Social animals, white-lipped peccaries typically forage in large groups, which can have as many as 300 peccaries. They are an important part of their ecosystem and multiple efforts are being made to preserve them in the wild. Not all disappearances are explained, but human activities play a role, with two major threats being deforestation and hunting; the latter is very common in rural areas, although it can be dange ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Entisols
Entisols are soils defined in USDA soil taxonomy that do not show any profile development other than an A horizon. An entisol has no diagnostic horizons, and most are basically unaltered from their parent material, which can be unconsolidated sediment or rock. Entisols are the most abundant soil order, occupying about 16% of the global ice-free land area. Because of the diversity of their properties, suborders of entisols form individual Reference Soil Groups in the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB): Psamments correlate with Arenosols and Fluvents with Fluvisols. Many Orthents belong to Regosols or Leptosols. Most Wassents and aquic subgroups of other suborders belong to the Gleysols. In Australia, most entisols are known as rudosols or tenosols. Causes of delayed or absent development * Unweatherable parent materials – sand, iron oxide, aluminium oxide, kaolinite clay. * Erosion – common on shoulder slopes; other kinds also important. * Deposition – continuou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inceptisols
Inceptisols are a soil order in USDA soil taxonomy. They form quickly through alteration of parent material. They are more developed than Entisols. They have no accumulation of clays, iron oxide, aluminium oxide or organic matter. They have an ochric or umbric horizon and a cambic subsurface horizon. In the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB), most Inceptisols are Cambisols or Umbrisols. Some may be Nitisols. Many Aquepts belong to Gleysols and Stagnosol A Stagnosol in the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) is soil with strong mottling of the soil profile due to redox processes caused by stagnating surface water. Stagnosols are periodically wet and mottled in the topsoil and subsoil, ...s. Suborders * Aquepts – with a water table close to the surface * Gelepts – in very cold climates * Cryepts – in cold climates * Udepts – in humid climates * Ustepts – in semiarid and sub-humid climates' * Xerepts – in areas with very dry summers and moist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alluvia
Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluvium is also sometimes called alluvial deposit. Alluvium is typically geologically young and is not consolidated into solid rock. Sediments deposited underwater, in seas, estuaries, lakes, or ponds, are not described as alluvium. Floodplain alluvium can be highly fertile, and supported some of the earliest human civilizations. Definitions The present consensus is that "alluvium" refers to loose sediments of all types deposited by running water in floodplains or in alluvial fans or related landforms. However, the meaning of the term has varied considerably since it was first defined in the French dictionary of Antoine Furetière, posthumously published in 1690. Drawing upon concepts from Roman law, Furetière defined ''alluvion'' (the Fre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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