Monteverde : Ecology and Conservation of a Tropical Cloud Forest

roaches, scorpions, and any insect that could not fly
away.
In the early 1960s, tropical biologists from the Organ-
ization for Tropical Studies arrived. The Golden Toad
(Bufo pereglenes) was identified not only as a new spe-
cies but also as endemic to a specific part of the Tilaran
mountain range. With this, Monteverde became known
to the scientific world. By then, the community boasted
a pension (inn), general store, dairy plant, school, com-
munity building, and all-weather access road.
Communities of people evolve. Like the flora and
fauna that surround us, they must adjust and adapt
to the multiple changes in their environment or be-
come extinct. Our desires are for only the best and

positive qualities to dominate. Yet negative factors

exist and challenge the community in our search for

peace and sensitive stewardship of our natural re-

sources. Strolling the trails through the various life

zones and tropical tangles, I often reflect on the hun-

dreds of Costa Ricans and the many thousands of

internationals who have contributed their granos de

arena (grains of sand) to create this protected area—

a gem, small, but of great value. I feel eternally grate-

ful to each person for his or her part. It has been a

privilege to have contributed to the many facets of the

preserve and to personally know the impressive list

of people contributing their knowledge.

SCOPE OF PAST WORK

Nalini M. Nadkarni

o understand the development and scope of
research in Monteverde, I counted the number
of journal articles, theses, and dissertations
produced by researchers working there (Fig. 1.9). For-
mal research output began in the late 1960s, steeply
increased in the early 1980s, peaked in the early
1990s, and declined sharply thereafter. One explana-
tion for this decline is the recently reduced activity
of the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS), which
administers graduate-level courses in tropical ecology
and has traditionally taken students to a number of
field stations in Costa Rica during their eight-week
courses. Until 1989, OTS courses regularly included
several weeks in Monteverde, where students carried
out group field projects and independent research,
many of which led to theses, dissertations, and long-
term research. In the early 1990s, however, OTS courses
no longer included a visit to Monteverde because of
the perception that the MCFP and community had
become more oriented toward ecotourism and under-
graduate education than research. There was no des-
ignated area for student research within the MCFP,
and access to private land became increasingly dif-
ficult. Although many undergraduate courses have
been conducted in Monteverde since the mid-1980s,
they have not directly led to the production of re-
search publications.
I also examined the types of studies reported in
the scientific record, following McDade et al. (1994).
Studies in Monteverde have been dominated by those
concerned with general ecology, followed by interspe-
cific ecology, community ecology, ecosystem studies,

and systematic work; very few publications have dealt

with applied ecology (Table 1.1). Research has con-

centrated on animals (mainly birds), followed by

plants and plant-animal interactions. A small num-

ber of studies have reported information on ecosystem

ecology, and only about 5% have dealt with human

interactions. Fields that are conspicuously absent in-

clude aquatic biology, microbial ecology, soils, atmo-

sphere/vegetation interactions, invertebrates (except

butterflies, beetles, and social insects), wildlife man-

agement, agroecology, large mammals, plant physi-

ology, mycology, and hydrology.

A comparison of the distribution of research with

that of the well-established lowland La Selva Biologi-

cal Station (McDade et al. 1994) shows that propor-

Table 1.1. Distribution of research publications by

category based on research in Monteverde (1966™

95) and La Selva Biological Station (1951-90).

% of Total

Category Monteverde La Selva

General ecology

Community ecology

Systematic biology

Interspecific ecology

Ecosystems ecology

Conservation and

applied ecology

Physiological ecology

26

26

16

13

8

6

5

29

14

26

15

6

7

3

Total number of publications for Monteverde is 253 and for La Selva

is 944. Categories follow McDade et al. (1994).

11 Introduction

T