A guide to important forestry tree species native to the Atlantic Slope of Costa Rica

The world's tropical lands confront increasing human demand and are being degraded and converted at unprecedented rates.Expanding human settlements, intensified mechanization, timber harvests and desire for more agricultural and pastureland contribute to the conversion.Unsustainable land use practices frequently result in loss o f productivity and subsequent land abandonment.In fact, the area o f degraded tropical land is now comparable to the amount o f forested tropical land.Anthropogenic disturbances, particularly fire and altered edaphic conditions, retard the natural regenerative processes m many areas.Recent research has identified practical, cost-effective methods to establish native, species-rich forests on formerly degraded sites.Tree plantations managed as "foster canopies" or "foster ecosystems" have successfully restored indigenous tree species in a wide variety o f environments, including even highly degraded mining sites.The primary constraint to increased use o f foster ecosystems is the lack o f information available on native tree species.This document provides basic information for important native tree species o f the Atlantic zone o f Costa Rica.The tree species included are either locally important, ecologically significant or very scarce throughout their range and in most cases all three.For each species I provide information regarding diagnostic field characteristics, seed production and germination, potential use and value, and basic ecology.The information was gathered through village nursery trials conducted in La Alegria, Costa Rica and a thorough review o f related English and Spanish literature.It is hoped that this guide will assist in the identification and greater use o f these valuable but over-looked indigenous tree species in reforestation efforts.