Environment in Costa Rica

By: Stefan Sadock, Darcie Mather, Amanda Karpa

Introduction:

Costa Rica has a lavish environment full of unimaginable species

of plants and animals. Below is a little bit more information about

what Costa Rica is like, a little geography about the area, some

pictures of the plants and animals found in Costa Rica, how the

environmentally advanced people of Costa Rica are affected by

their lifestyle, and ultimately some problems/statistics about Costa

Rica's environment.

Topics Covered:

• Physical Geography of Costa Rica

• Flora and Fauna in Costa Rica
• State of Environmentalism in Costa Rica
• How the environment shaped life in Costa Rica

Words to know (For definition or pictures of some of the words below check out the PowerPoint at the bottom of the page)

Animals found in Costa Rica

Howler Monkey                         Leatherback Turtle                   Iguana                            Peccaries                           Tapir

Spider Monkey                          Squirrel Monkey                       Two-toed Sloth                Three-toed Sloth               Coati

Respledant Quetzal                  Tree Frog                                 Agouti                              Harpy Eagle                       Silk Anteater

Banded Armadillo                      Jaguar                                     Kinkajou                           Poison Arrow Frog             Morpho Butterfly

Olive Ridley turtle                      Ameiva                                    Basilisk Lizard                  Leaf Cutter Ants                Tamandua

Giant Anteater

Plants found natively in Costa Rica

Orchids                                      Bromeliads                                Osa Pulchra                   

Trumpet Vine                             Poro                                          Balsa

Terms to know

Biodiversity                                Ecosystems                               Deforestation

Flora                                          Fauna                                        Biome

Ecotourism                                Volcano                                      Rainforest

Waterfowl                                 Costa Rica

Information:

Landscape-

• Rocky mountain ranges
• Active Volcanoes
• Rainforest (about .1% of the land on earth)

          Accounts for the largest amounts of biodiversity between

          animals/plants on earth

Weather-

• Rainy/Dry seasons
  May to August is the rainy season (winter)
  September to April is the dry season
• Tropical Climate
  70 to 80 degree average

Environmental Organization at work in Costa Rica

• The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation
• National Biodiversity Instute of Costa Rica
• National Bamboo Project of Costa Rica
• The Fund for Costa Rica
• FUNDECOR
  (Foresta Project of the Foundation for the Development of the Central Volcanic Mountain Range)

Rainforest

• Over 1 million hectares of forest
• 10,000 wildlife species/ sq km
• 0.1% of landmass
• Contains 5% of the world's biodiversity
• 25% Protected area
• 26 Protected forests
• 20 national parks
• 9 forest reserves
• About 16 refuges and sanctuaries

Wildlife

• 35,000 species of known insects
• 160 species of amphibians
• 220 species of reptiles
• 850 species of birds
• 205 species of mammals
• At least 1,200 species of orchids
• At least 10,000 species of plants and trees

Animals

• Greatest biodiversity among all the biomes in the world Rainforest has the most biodiversity among plants/animals
• Worlds largest species of sea turtles (Leatherbacks)
  • Average 772 lbs

Deforestation

• Deforestation is a major environmental problem in Costa Rica
• Deforestation of the rainforest kill/threatens many species of animals
• An environmental organization called The Bamboo Project helps reduce the amount of deforestation
• Farmers in Costa Rica are taught safer agricultural methods to farm/create new farms
• Methods of Deforestation:
  1. Slash/Burn method: which kills the ground in the process
  2. Commercial Logging: chopping down trees for wood
  3. Firewood: chopping down trees to make firewood
  4. Clear-cutting: when they shift the cultivation out of the way so that they can chop all the trees down
  5. Creating farm: Farmers at one time cut out huge section of the rainforest to create their farms
      

Effects of Environmentalism

• There is not much driving in Costa Rica only in the cities
  • It is too mountainous to drive everywhere
• Farming
  • Even in farming they are respectful of the environment and everything they do to their land
• Diets
  • Their diets are high in fruit
  • Bananas
  • Coffee Beans are their main drink
• Tourism
  • The rainforest brings in mass amounts of tourist and they cannot harm it in anyway
  • Preservation/Conservation of the rainforest is therefore mandatory
• Trade
  • They trade what they farm and their produce depend completely on the environmental conditions.

Tourism

• Costa Rica's biggest industry is ecotourism
  • They have a high standard of living because of the tourism
• They have many National Parks
  • Bird Watchers are drawn to the National Parks
  • Butterflies are prominent
• Their main tourist are Americans (Hippies)
• They are an extremely peaceful country
  • No wars
  • No army
  • Low crime rate

 Copy of PP info.ppt

Animal Pics.ppt

Work Cited: