Isthmian–Pacific Moist Forests
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The Isthmian–Pacific moist forests
ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) is an ecological and geographic area that exists on multiple different levels, defined by type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and c ...
(WWF ID: NT0130) covers the lowland tropical evergreen forests on the Pacific side of the central mountains of southern
Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...
and western
Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...
. As the meeting zone between North and South American floral communities, the area is one of very high biodiversity. Much of the rainforest has, however, been cleared for
subsistence agriculture Subsistence agriculture occurs when farmers grow crops on smallholdings to meet the needs of themselves and their families. Subsistence agriculturalists target farm output for survival and for mostly local requirements. Planting decisions occu ...
and cattle grazing.


Location and description

The ecoregion is bounded on the west by the
Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...
and on the east by the central mountains of Costa Rica and Panama: the
Cordillera Central Central Cordillera refers to the New Guinea Highlands. Cordillera Central, meaning ''central range'' in Spanish, may refer to the following mountain ranges: * Cordillera Central, Andes (disambiguation), several mountain ranges in South America ** ...
in Costa Rica at the northern end, extending into Panama as the
Cordillera de Talamanca The Cordillera de Talamanca is a mountain range that lies in the southeast half of Costa Rica and the far west of Panama. Much of the range and the area around it is included in La Amistad International Park, which also is shared between the two ...
. The mean elevation in the ecoregion is , reaching from sea level to heights of . The strip of lowlands runs for 500 km west to east, and typically only 50 km wide. The higher elevations in the mountains to the east are in the
Talamancan montane forests The Talamancan montane forests ecoregion, in the tropical moist broadleaf forest biome, are in montane Costa Rica and western Panama in Central America. Setting The Talamancan montane forests cover a discontinuous area of in Cordilleran mount ...
ecoregion. The mountains are an active volcanic zone, and most of the soils are derived from the parent basalt bedrock.


Climate

The climate of the ecoregion is ''
Tropical monsoon climate An area of tropical monsoon climate (occasionally known as a sub-equatorial, tropical wet climate or a tropical monsoon and trade-wind littoral climate) is a tropical climate subtype that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification category ' ...
'' (
Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...
(Am)). This climate is characterized by relatively even temperatures throughout the year (all months being greater than average temperature), and a pronounced dry season. The driest month has less than 60 mm of precipitation, but more than (100-(average/25) mm. This climate is mid-way between a tropical rainforest and a tropical savanna. Rainfall averages 2,500 mm/year in Panama, higher in Costa Rica.


Flora and fauna

The region is one of high biodiversity, as the area is the meeting zone where North and South American floral and fauna communities mixed when the continents were connected three million years ago. The ecoregion's cover is about one-third closed broadleaf evergreen forest, one-third open forests of various types, and one-third converted to agriculture. Much of the original forest has been disturbed by human activities in the past 100 years, particularly fragmentation of habitat. The region is warmer than most forests to the north, and there are seasonal swamp forests in the lower elevations, grading into mangroves nearest the coast. Biodiversity of fauna in the ecoregion is high, with 811 vertebrate taxa recorded. Native mammals include the
white-lipped peccary 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 ...
(''Tayassu pecari''),
jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large felidae, cat species and the only extant taxon, living member of the genus ''Panthera'' that is native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the biggest cat spe ...
(''Panthera onca''),
margay The margay (''Leopardus wiedii'') is a small wild cat native to Mexico, Central and South America. A solitary and nocturnal felid, it lives mainly in primary evergreen and deciduous forest. Until the 1990s, margays were hunted for the wildl ...
(''Leopardus wiedii''), Central American spider monkey (''Ateles geoffroyi''),
Central American squirrel monkey The Central American squirrel monkey (''Saimiri oerstedii''), also known as the red-backed squirrel monkey, is a squirrel monkey species from the Pacific coast of Costa Rica and Panama. It is restricted to the northwestern tip of Panama near the ...
(''Saimiri oerstedii''),
Panamanian night monkey The Panamanian night monkey or Chocoan night monkey (''Aotus zonalis'') is a species of night monkey formerly considered a subspecies of the gray-bellied night monkey of the family Aotidae. Its range consists of Panama and the Chocó region ...
, (''Aotus zonalis''),
giant anteater The giant anteater (''Myrmecophaga tridactyla'') is an Insectivore, insectivorous mammal native to Central America, Central and South America. It is the largest of the four living species of anteaters, which are classified with sloths in the or ...
(''Myrmecophega tridactyla''),
Handley's tailless bat Handley's tailless bat (''Anoura cultrata'') is a species of bat in the family Phyllostomidae. It is found in Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, ...
(''Anoura cultrata''),
Talamancan yellow-shouldered bat The Talamancan yellow-shouldered bat (''Sturnira mordax'') is a species of bat in the family Phyllostomidae. It is found only in Costa Rica and Panama, and there are no subspecies. Description The bat is relatively small, with adults measuring ...
(''Sturnira mordax''),
spectral bat The spectral bat (''Vampyrum spectrum''), also called the great false vampire bat, great spectral bat, American false vampire bat or Linnaeus's false vampire bat, is a large, carnivorous leaf-nosed bat found in Mexico, Central America, and Sout ...
(''Vampyrum spectrum''), and
yellow isthmus rat The yellow isthmus rat (''Isthmomys flavidus'') is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is found only in Panama. It was discovered by W. W. Brown Jr. on the southern slope of Volcan de Chiriqui (8° 49' N, 82° 32' W). He found it co ...
(''Isthmomis flavidus''). Endemism in mammals is relatively low.
Underwood's pocket gopher Underwood's pocket gopher (''Heterogeomys underwoodi'') is a species of rodent in the family Geomyidae. It is endemic to Costa Rica. Some authors classify it in the genus '' Orthogeomys'', but recent research has allowed this and its related spec ...
(''Heterogeomys underwoodi'') is endemic to the ecoregion. The ecoregion overlaps the South Central American Pacific slope
endemic bird area An Endemic Bird Area (EBA) is an area of land identified by BirdLife International as being important for habitat-based bird conservation because it contains the habitats of restricted-range bird species (''see below for definition''), which are th ...
, which also covers portions of the adjacent Costa Rican seasonal moist forests ecoregion to the west and the Panamanian dry forests ecoregion to the east. Some near-endemic birds are altitudinal migrants, moving between the ecoregion and the higher-elevation
Talamancan montane forests The Talamancan montane forests ecoregion, in the tropical moist broadleaf forest biome, are in montane Costa Rica and western Panama in Central America. Setting The Talamancan montane forests cover a discontinuous area of in Cordilleran mount ...
to the north. Endemic and near-endemic birds include the
brown-backed dove The Azuero dove or brown-backed dove (''Leptotila battyi'') is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is endemic to Panama. Taxonomy and systematics The Azuero dove, the grey-fronted dove (''Leptotila rufaxilla'') and pallid dove ( ...
(''Leptotila battyi''),
Costa Rican swift The Costa Rican swift (''Chaetura fumosa'') is a species of bird in subfamily Apodinae of the swift family Apodidae.HBW and BirdLife International (2021) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the bi ...
(''Chaetura fumosa''), Veraguas mango (''Anthracothorax veraguensis''), white-crested coquette (''Lophornis adorabilis''), charming hummingbird (''Polyerata decora''), Baird's trogon (''Trogon bairdii''), fiery-billed araçari (''Pteroglossus frantzii''), golden-naped woodpecker (''Melanerpes chrysauchen''), black-hooded antshrike (''Thamnophilus bridgesi''),
Coiba spinetail The Coiba spinetail (''Cranioleuca dissita'') is a member of the family Furnariidae (ovenbirds) that is endemic to Coiba and Ranchería Islands, Panama. Taxonomy and systematics The Coiba spinetail was originally described as a subspecies of ...
(''Cranioleuca dissita''), orange-collared manakin (''Manacus aurantiacus''), turquoise cotinga (''Cotinga ridgwayi''), riverside wren (''Cantorchilus semibadius''), spot-crowned euphonia (''Euphonia imitans''), black-cheeked ant tanager (''Habia atrimaxillaris''), and Cherrie's tanager (''Ramphocelus costaricensis'').BirdLife International (2023)
Endemic Bird Areas factsheet: South Central American Pacific slope
Accessed 1 February 2023.
The mangrove hummingbird (''Amazilia boucardi'') and
yellow-billed cotinga The yellow-billed cotinga (''Carpodectes antoniae'') is a species of bird in the family Cotingidae. It is found in the Pacific lowlands of Costa Rica and Panama. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical o ...
(''Carpodectes antoniae'') are mostly endemic to the adjacent
Moist Pacific Coast mangroves The Moist Pacific Coast mangroves ecoregion (WWF ID:NT1423) covers a series of disconnected mangrove sites along the Pacific Ocean coast of Costa Rica and Panama. These sites occur mostly on coastal flatlands around lagoons, particularly where ri ...
, but occasionally range into coastal forests and shrublands. Endemic amphibians include the Airstrip caecilia ('' Oscaecilia osae''), so-called because it is only found near the La Sirena airstrip on the
Osa Peninsula The Osa Peninsula () is a peninsula located in southwestern Costa Rica, in the Puntarenas Province, with the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Gulf of Dulce, Golfo Dulce to the east. The peninsula was formed geologically by a Geologic fault, faul ...
, the critically endangered Golfito robber frog ('' Eleutherodactylus taurus''), and the endangered Golfodulcean poison frog ('' Phyllobates vittatus'').


Protected areas

11% of the ecoregion is officially protected. These protected areas include: *
Chirripó National Park Chirripó National Park is a national park of Costa Rica, encompassing parts of three provinces: San José, Limón and Cartago. It was established in 1975. It is part of the Talamanca Range-La Amistad Reserves/La Amistad National Park UNESCO W ...
*
Corcovado National Park Corcovado National Park () is a National Park on the Osa Peninsula, in Osa (canton), Osa Canton, located on the southwestern regions of Costa Rica (9° North, 83° West), which is a part of the Osa Conservation Area. Corcovado National Park was ...
*
Volcán Barú The Volcán Barú (also Volcán de Chiriquí) is an active stratovolcano and the tallest mountain in Panama, at high. It lies about off the border of Costa Rica. It is also the twelfth highest peak in Central America. Due to its height and the ...
*
Manuel Antonio National Park Manuel Antonio National Park () is a small national park in the Central Pacific Conservation Area located on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, just south of the city of Quepos, Puntarenas Province, Puntarenas, and from the national capital of San ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Isthmian-Pacific moist forests Ecoregions of Costa Rica Ecoregions of Panama Neotropical tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests