Tropical dry forests (TDF) in Mesoamerica are highly endangered by the expansion of human activities (e.g., agriculture and cattle ranching). In contrast, TDF in Costa Rica have experienced outstanding restoration due to changes in economic and conservation policies. Currently TDF landscapes in Costa Rica are a mosaic of different successional stages. Tree breeding systems and pollination and dispersal syndromes are key elements for understanding restoration processes in TDFs. In this study we describe and compare tree species composition and diversity in three TDF successional stages (early, intermediate and late) in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. We describe for the first time tree species breeding systems and pollination and dispersal syndromes for the largest and most significant TDF remnant in Mesoamerica. We set up nine plots, three per successional stage, and we measured and identified 1,072 trees from 96 species. Species richness and diversity indices were higher for the intermediate stage. Monoecy was the most common breeding system, as in other tropical life zones. Insects were the dominant pollinators, facilitated by the trees' small inflorescences. Wind was found to be not only the next most influential pollinator, mainly in open and disturbed early forests, but also it was also a good seed dispersal agent. As TDF age increases so does the relevancy of birds and mammals as dispersers; the late stage therefore has more tree species with adaptations to these dispersers.
Calling activity in terrestrial frogs can be used as a measure of habitat suitability for reproduction. We evaluated the calling activity of the common tink frog Diasporus diastema (Eleutherodactylidae) in 12 secondary forest sites that vary in age of recovery, and three old growth sites in the Caribbean of Costa Rica. We used visual and acoustic surveys along transects, and we identified only 26 individuals in a total of 12 hours of censuses for each site. We also used automated species identification from recordings, and we detected D. diastema in 10,605 of 49,273 recordings. The peak of the daily calling activity occurred from 2100h to 0100h, and the peak of monthly activity occurred in May. Calling activity did not vary among the different forest sites, suggesting that secondary forests can provide suitable habitat for D. diastema reproduction.
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