La Amistad International Park is a World Heritage Site, which comprises 401,000 ha of mainly upland continuous natural vegetation straddling the Costa Rica and Panama border. We present a first checklist of vascular plant diversity for the park and a brief discussion of how this diversity is distributed by elevation and vegetation type together with a superficial assessment of floristic affinities. The checklist recognises 3,046 vascular plant species, 26 of which are lycopods, 433 are ferns and 2,586 are seed plants. Of these, 16 are new records for Costa Rica and 39 are for the flora of Panama; 14 represent undescribed or new species to science and 73 are endemic to La Amistad or its buffer zone. For each species we document its presence within the Park by citing herbarium specimens and the associated elevational range, together with their global distribution, extinction risk assessments where undertaken, whether the taxon is exotic.
Effective vegetation classification schemes identify the processes determining species assemblages and support the management of protected areas. They can also provide a framework for ecological research. In the tropics, elevation‐based classifications dominate over alternatives such as river catchments. Given the existence of floristic data for many localities, we ask how useful floristic data are for developing classification schemes in species‐rich tropical landscapes and whether floristic data provide support for classification by river catchment. We analyzed the distribution of vascular plant species within 141 plots across an elevation gradient of 130 to 3200 m asl within La Amistad National Park. We tested the hypothesis that river catchment, combined with elevation, explains much of the variation in species composition. We found that annual mean temperature, elevation, and river catchment variables best explained the variation within local species communities. However, only plots in high‐elevation oak forest and Páramo were distinct from those in low‐ and mid‐elevation zones. Beta diversity did not significantly differ in plots grouped by elevation zones, except for low‐elevation forest, although it did differ between river catchments. None of the analyses identified discrete vegetation assemblages within mid‐elevation (700–2600 m asl) plots. Our analysis supports the hypothesis that river catchment can be an alternative means for classifying tropical forest assemblages in conservation settings.
In Central America, Family Farming (FF) is characterized by the fostering of endogenous development, self-sustaining economies, food safety and upholding the values of the agricultural landscape. However, government agricultural policies have promoted an external model of development based on industrial monocultures, which generates socioeconomic and environmental instability, deficient models of agroproduction commercialisation and the impoverishment of agricultural landscapes. This article details the case of 60 farms from 22 communities in the municipality of Buenos Aires, in the South Pacific region of Costa Rica, where biological/physical, socioeconomic, marketing and governance issues of a Multifunctional and Territorialized Agrifood System have been characterized based on the family unit of production. In addition, a differentiation was made between peasant and indigenous farmers as their cultural backgrounds may then lead to their adopting different attitudes and distinct actions. By analysing the productive diversification of the models, the behaviour of the local marketing channels and their associative potential, the socio-ecological characteristics of the region were identified, including the strengths and weaknesses that should influence the model of agroproductive development and regional governance.
No abstract
Dentro del contexto Centroamericano, la región Pacífico Sur de Costa Rica destaca por su riqueza cultural y biológica; pero también por la manifestación de los impactos negativos de la expansión agroindustrial. Históricamente, esta región se ha visto marginada respecto al núcleo geo-histórico del país, y se ha caracterizado por el rezago socioeconómico y deterioro ambiental. En este sentido, en la presente investigación interesa abordar el caso de la región del Pacífico Sur como una región periférica y transfronteriza, que evidencia el impacto que han tenido las políticas y estrategias del Estado costarricense para el desarrollo nacional, en la configuración de los sistemas productivos regionales. A partir de un trabajo de campo que comprendió entrevistas en profundidad y observación directa, más la consulta de fuentes bibliográficas, estadísticas de agroproducción e indicadores socioeconómicos diversos, se analiza la incidencia de los agromodelos vigentes en la región. Como resultado, se sintetizan las principales fuerzas centrífugas y centrípetas que se asocian al rezago socioeconómico y a los desequilibrios territoriales manifestados en el territorio. Finalmente, se proponen posibles rutas de acción para superar los desequilibrios imperantes, destacando la agricultura familiar como un modelo productivo más sostenible y acorde a las características socio ecológicas regionales.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.