12.6. Conclusions
Restoration ecology, which deals with efforts to re-
claim or rehabilitate degraded habitats (Hobbs and
Norton 1996), is in its infancy in the tropics. We need
tools to evaluate the vulnerability of species and habi-
tats at local, regional, and global scales, so that man-
agement efforts can be prioritized (Dinerstein et al.
1995). For example, ridgetops in Monteverde harbor
plant species found nowhere else in Monteverde,
often with perilously low population sizes; such habi-
tats deserve special protection (see Chap. 3, Plants).
Increasingly, molecular techniques must be applied
to evaluate the genetic structure and distinctiveness
of populations, an approach that is just beginning at
Monteverde (Gibson and Wheelwright 1995).
Tropical biological field stations such as Costa
Rica's La Selva Biological Station, which is operated
by the Organization for Tropical Studies, or Panama's
BCI, operated by the Smithsonian Tropical Research
Institute, have a legacy of multicollaborator projects
supported by major grants. The productivity of those
field stations, as reflected in the scientific literature,
is in a different league than Monteverde's: a new pub-
lication about the biology of La Selva currently ap-
pears on average every 84 hr (B. Young, pers. comm.).
A crucial difference is that Monteverde has never had
funding support or an institutional infrastructure for
research comparable to La Selva or BCI. Investigations
in Monteverde have traditionally been led by graduate
students or small teams of researchers pursuing their
own research and educational objectives. How can
Monteverde provide future opportunities for scientists
to ask questions that are theoretically challenging and
intellectually broadening, while encouraging them to
generate information useful for conservation? In the
1970s and 1980s, the residents of Monteverde gener-
ously opened up their homes and farms for visiting bi-
ologists. In the face of the explosion of tourism in the
area, however, such support for research is no longer
realistic. One of the most crucial challenges for conser-
vation in Monteverde will be to develop physical facili-
ties, institutions, and financial resources for biological
research to take the place of old informal Monteverde
traditions. Encouragingly, the MCFP began plans in
1997 to construct a research facility and completed a
new laboratory in 1999 (B. Carlson, pers. comm.).
Human-altered landscapes are here to stay (Orians
1994, Janzen 1998). How do we manage them to main-
tain the maximum number of species, especially those
that are endemic or endangered? Research in Monte-
verde should widen its focus to include biological
processes at habitat "boundaries" and on altered habi-
tats such as plantations, and we should ask a broader
set of questions. How do populations of different spe-
cies respond to edge effects? How do their interac-
tions with other species such as brood parasites, preda-
tors, herbivores, competitors, or mutualists change in
human-modified landscapes? More research is needed
on the restoration of degraded landscapes, especially
as Monteverde's traditional dairy economy shifts.
Which native tree species are most effective in enrich-
ing soils, reducing soil erosion, supporting a diversity
of wildlife, and providing products that are useful to
humans?
Only with planning and the development of conser-
vation policies based on the strongest possible science
will habitats such as the lower montane forests of
Monteverde be protected over the long term (Eisner et al.
1995). The Tropical Rainforest Programme of the Inter-
national Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
is a promising monitoring campaign that is designed to
collect and exchange information on tropical montane
cloud forests. If such international programs serve to
coordinate studies in the tropics using methods that are
similar enough to allow meaningful comparisons among
sites, they will achieve the important objective of repli-
cation. Chemical prospecting (Eisner 1991) is an excit-
ing approach which highlights economic incentives for
conserving tropical forests and which can complement
other arguments for saving tropical species (see Wheel-
wright, "Enduring Reasons," p. 432). The search for
medical compounds in the plants of Monteverde has
begun, with some promising results (see Setzer, "Search
for Medicines," p. 452).
In the rush toward research that is "relevant" to
conservation, we must remember that conceptual
breakthroughs in conservation have typically been
born out of simple curiosity about the natural world.
Research driven by basic theoretical questions must
continue to play an important role in providing base-
line data and exposing subtle threats to biodiversity
that may be hidden from the narrower view of strict
applied science (Wheelwright and Smith 1994). Sys-
tematics is an example of a seemingly arcane field that
is playing a growing role in conservation biology by
clarifying taxonomic relationships and distinguishing
cryptic species (Avise and Nelson 1989), and draw-
ing attention to lineages that are unique or whose life
history features predispose them to extinction. Like-
wise, delimiting the geographical distributions and
demography of species will allow us to determine
whether a particular species in Monteverde is en-
demic to the area, or whether it serves as an impor-
tant source for colonists that help sustain other
populations. Other populations in Monteverde may
act as sinks, persisting tenuously on the periphery
of the species' range or occupying unsuitable habi-
tat (Pulliam 1988), in which case working to save
them may be a poor conservation investment.431 Conservation Biology