Search

Introduction: Since the beginning of its republican life, the development of biological sciences in Costa Rica has been strongly influenced by hundreds of foreign naturalists and scientists who have carried out exploration, research, and publication activities in relation to its biodiversity. Objective: To better understand their contributions, in this paper we take an historical tour, with emphasis on the last century and a half, regarding the motivations that attracted these people to Costa Rica, as well as their specific scientific contributions. Methods: Six criteria were followed to address this issue: a) whether they were residents or itinerants; b) if they had a frequent relationship with Costa Rica; c) if they collected specimens; d) the type of publication; and e) whether to implement teaching or institutional management. Results: Therefore, the information is organized into six large sections, structured chronologically as follows: the first inventories of the biodiversity of Costa Rica (1513-1842), the recognition of biological sciences in Costa Rican culture (1839-1848), the insertion of biological sciences in Costa Rican culture (1854-1886), the institutionalization of the biological sciences in Costa Rica (1886-1900), Costa Rica as a mecca for biological explorations (1900-1957), and the training of professionals in biological sciences (1940-2021). Conclusion: This periodization allows us to contextualize the contributions of those naturalists or scientists in time, as well as to better visualize the economic, social and political events and circumstances that conditioned their scientific work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Environmental compensation is a technical-legal instrument of environmental management used to offset damage due to non-reversible and unavoidable impacts. Usually, offset regulations are included in national environmental legislations. This paper summarizes environmental compensation legislation in Costa Rica, a country with a recognized conservation tradition and environmental awareness. Our goal is to describe how compensation is formulated in that country and identify possible regulations gaps. Methods: We carried out a systematic review of environmental legislation through the Costa Rican Legal Information System (http://www.pgrweb.go.cr/scij/avanzada_pgr.aspx), considering both regulations and pronouncements on compensation measures and mitigation. Results: The Political Constitution of Costa Rica recognizes a healthy environment as a fundamental right for all citizens. At least seven laws dealing with environmental issues and their respective regulations are currently enforced. This bulky legislation aims to protect natural resources by regulating their use and creating an assemblage of protected wild areas. However, the legislation is somewhat repetitive and open to interpretation, facilitating confusion. Actions requiring compensation are regulated in a general way, making it difficult to establish when and how to apply them. In addition, compensation is considered based on when the damage is identified and not on its level of environmental impact. Furthermore, the regulations do not make explicit the principles and goals that support the compensatory measures or how they should be carried out, briefly mentioning some actions that do not ensure that the net environmental loss is zero. Conclusions: This review reveals the need to standardize the mechanisms to determine compensatory measures at the regulatory level, also analyzing the strategies that will be followed to ensure proportionality and ecological equivalence. The legislation must emphasize the importance of compensation as a positive practice, which must be incorporated within the guidelines of the Environmental Impact Study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Coffee is a highly mycotrophic plant, its interaction with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi has been studied among different tropical countries. The majority of the published works indicates that coffee is benefited from the mycorrhizal association, where the AMF confers protection against pathogens and diseases, increases water absorption, as well as it increases the adaptation of the plant at transplant from nurseries to the main plantation. Objective: A review was made where we summarized and analyze the research reports of AMF with coffee from at least the past 10 years, focused on AMF global species distribution, nutritional benefits of the association and interaction with pathogens. Methods: We retrieved available bibliographic data from coffee producer countries in public databases. We considered published works from 2000 to 2019, nevertheless, we included classic papers on the topic, outside that period, mainly the ones performed in Brazil since 1986. We organized the number of reported species per country, we look for synonyms, grouped them by family, genera and species. The reports that only reported genera or where ambiguous were used as reference but not considered for the final analysis. We summarized the reports of the benefits of the AMF interaction in coffee, as well as pathogen tolerance. Results: The collected data shows that there are more than 100 AMF species associated with coffee, which represents more than a third part of the total of reported species worldwide. We found that Colombia has the highest richness, but it also has the highest number of published reports. Conclusions: This information shows the benefits of the incorporation of AMF to coffee plantation programs, because these fungi are a key element in coffee plant nutrition, nevertheless, the coffee variety should be considered when introducing AMF, as not all associations has been efficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Isla del Coco (also known as Cocos Island), Pacific Costa Rica, has been visited and written about since the 16th Century, and since the late 1800's many expeditions and scientists have carried out research in the Island. Here I compiled publications on marine biological, geological, oceanographic and atmospheric research done at Isla del Coco. A list of 599 scientific papers and chapters were compiled, together with 41 books, reports, Special Issues, theses and web sites, and ten historic books with descriptions of marine animals or environments. A mayority of the publications (425 or 66.4%) are related to marine biodiversity topics (species descriptions and lists of species); the most published groups are gastropods (81 papers), decapods (67) and bony fishes (66). There are no publications of several groups of animals that have been observed in the Island, for example free-living flat worms, parasites and nemerteans among others. Other topics with a large number of publications are, biogeography with 65, ecology (61) and geology (48); the most studied ecosystem are coral reefs with 14 papers. More publications are needed on many topics, such as impact of illegal fishing and climate change on Isla del Coco National Park marine flora and fauna. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]