One of the things that surprised me the most the first time I visited Monteverde was the biodiversity. Since Monteverde is famous around the world for just that, my statement probably doesn’t make a lot of sense, but let me explain.
People who don’t grow up in a tropical landscape judge it based on what they see in advertisements or images and videos shared on the internet, and right or wrong, for the most part, these mediums tend to concentrate on the most popular creatures.
Log onto any Costa Rican tourism site and you will likely see images of toucans and scarlet macaws next to lizards, sloths, and monkeys. Of course, those animals are popular and many people visit the country expressly to see animals that they can’t see in their home countries, but in many ways putting the focus on these animals alone does the country a disservice.
Biodiversity encompasses so many more creatures and the ecosystems are so much more complex and interconnected than we perceive from the media. Don’t get me wrong, I still love to see monkeys swinging from tree to tree, and I still stop and stare every time a macaw flies overhead, but I have also learned to look deeper into the world around me, and appreciate the intricately woven tapestry of living things, big and small, that work together to survive.
Put aside the idea that the food chain is linear and that the creatures at the top eat the ones below them because that (while partially true) doesn’t provide a very good understanding of what’s really going on. And it doesn’t present how sometimes the smallest, unnoticed lifeforms provide support for the apex predators, and how sometimes the apex predator is helping prey to thrive by… well… eating it.
I can hear you saying “What???”
Here are some examples that may surprise you.
Fungus, Bacteria, and Microorganisms
While we seldom think about things like bacteria or microorganisms, they are absolutely essential to the health of the rainforest. In fact, whether you realize it or not, the smell that pervades the rainforest, the damp, rich, mossy smell that we stop and breathe in the moment we step under the canopy… that is fungi, bacteria, and the microorganisms you can’t see — all hard at work.
Think about it for a minute. Not only do they help break down organic matter that is no longer contributing to the health of the forest and then recycle it into compost which then provides nutrients for the towering trees that house thousands of lifeforms, but they also keep those dead trees and animals from littering the forest floor. It might not be exciting, but it is necessary.
Here is a fun fact. Did you know that leaf-cutter ants (the ones you see marching along carrying bits of leaves or flowers above their heads) don’t actually eat those leaves? They don’t! They are actually farmers in a sense.
This is because the ant’s digestive systems can’t break down the leaves… but lepiotaceae fungus can, so the ants cultivate the fungus and feed it leaves. Once the fungus has broken down the leaves, the ants eat the fungus and they are able to get the nutrients from the leaves even though they can’t eat them directly. How cool is that? Learn more here.
Keystone Species
As I mentioned in a previous post, every ecosystem has living organisms that are considered keystone species. Without them, the delicate balance that makes the ecosystem thrive would fall apart.
I was surprised to learn that the Costa Rican Jaguar is, in fact, a keystone species. We don’t normally think of apex predators in that way because they don’t normally feed other animals (or at least not while they are alive). However, without their impact on the population of subspecies lower down on the food chain, those species (that include everything from snakes and caimans to deer and tapirs) would flourish to the point that their food source would be decimated, eventually causing starvation and potential extinction.
There are so many unexpected interactions and symbiotic relationships within the ecosystems of the world that sometimes it takes generations of study for us to understand the effect these extinctions could have on the planet and that's why we must work so hard to prevent it.
The Struggle for Light in the Forest
Let’s step away from the animal life in the forests for a moment and discuss the flora.
Wandering through the cool and damp of a Costa Rican forest is a truly awe-inspiring activity, and it's easy to get a kink in your neck gazing up into the canopy of dense intertwined branches, but we don’t always take the time to understand the delicate balance that also exists amongst the trees themselves.
Monteverde’s 50,000 hectares of protected forests are all relying on a very limited set of resources, so while we look around in wonder at the dense foliage and the massive tree trucks, we don’t always understand that life in a forest is a constant battle for water and sunlight. In order for the trees and other plants to thrive, they must have sufficient food and nutrients, and they must often work together to make that happen.
The tall trees with their huge spreading branches covered in leaves obviously have the advantage when it comes to finding sunlight but they also depend on nutrients in the dirt that come from the microorganisms and fungi that we mentioned earlier.
Within the forest, sunlight is limited and so plants that cannot grow tall enough to find it on their own have evolved to rely on other methods. Air plants and epiphytes such as orchids use the wind and the movement of animals to carry their seeds high up into the canopy where they land on the large trees to gather sunlight. They absorb water from the air and nutrients from the debris that collects on the supporting trees without having to draw nutrients from the trees themselves.
In contrast, plants like the fig, which also begin their lives in the branches of other trees, eventually send tendrils down, along the host tree, sucking nutrients from it as they make their way down to the soil. They can often be seen as a network of intertwined branches wrapped around other trees, and over time they will kill the host tree, which slowly decomposes leaving the overlapped fig branches with a hollowed-out center.
In some cases, when this happens, the host tree will fall over, leaving a gap in the canopy high above, and allowing smaller trees further down access to more sunlight in the process. When this occurs, juvenile trees will race to fill the space, vying for their place in the sun before their neighbors can. The winner gets a chance to grow tall and strong while the loser must take whatever sunlight can filter through the canopy above.
The Water Cycle
Since water is such an essential resource when it comes to the survival of a rainforest, it's important that we understand the water cycle and how it works.
The water cycle has 4 different stages, and each stage plays its part in the wellness of the ecosystems within the forest.
- Condensation- When hot air meets cold air condensation occurs. The condensation then turns into water vapor. The water vapor becomes droplets, and the droplets clump together to form clouds.
- Precipitation- When enough droplets clump together, the cloud becomes saturated and releases droplets in the form of rain or snow depending on the surrounding temperature.
- Runoff- Some of the rain will evaporate, and some will seep into the ground to be used by the plants and trees. The rest becomes runoff and will flow along the easiest path and eventually gather in rivers, ponds, and lakes.
- Evaporation- As the sun heats the water in the rivers, lakes, and ponds, some of the water will evaporate into vapor which then rises up into the air and then condenses to form clouds and then the cycle begins again.
Until the runoff water gathers into lakes and ponds, it is relatively free of organisms, but at that point, it can become home to many kinds of organisms that provide nutrients and/or food sources for other organisms within the ecosystem. The rivers and ponds also provide water for the many animals that call the forest home.
In the case of rainforests and cloud forests, much of the water is absorbed by the plants and trees either in the form of water droplets and mist or during precipitation.
It is also stored by the dense groundcover and various mosses that grow in the shady areas of the forest which provides for the growth of the fungi which, as we discovered, helps to create the compost that feeds the trees. It's all part of the interconnectivity of the forest.
And, in ecosystems such as ours, with extremely high rainfall amounts, this interconnectivity doesn’t end in the forest. Some of these rivers flow downhill for huge distances, eventually flowing into the all-important mangroves which support populations of aquatic species and waterfowl, and from there into the sea, where it reconnects with the source of all life on earth, the ocean! Nature really is amazingly efficient.
The Food Web
Let’s take a look at the food web, or the food chain as some of us know it, to see how each part plays its part.
Keep in mind though that the ecosystem is far from linear, as I mentioned before. While it is true that herbivores eat plants and other animals eat herbivores, there are so many other ways in which these organisms interact. Instances when a by-product of one interaction provides an essential food source or habitat for another lifeform within the same ecosystem.
Our Connected World
I could write pages about the intricate symbiosis that exists, and I highly recommend taking the time to explore the natural world and learn for yourself because it is fascinating. But it’s also worth doing because by understanding how so many different creatures — each with their own individual needs and features — can work together to create the beauty and majesty of the forest can help us rethink our own role in the world.
If thousands of animals can coexist peacefully and efficiently, so too should man as a species, not only with each other but with the creatures that share our planet. Perhaps having such an amazing example in our own backyard is part of the reason that Monteverde is making such strides toward building a community that works together and supports each other in ways very similar to the forest ecosystem.
From the farmers that provide fresh organic produce and livestock for the town, to the support personnel who care for the infrastructure and keep everything running smoothly, to the service people who take care of our personal needs and healthcare, and on to the hospitality people who provide us gastronomical delights, culture, and adventure. Each part of the community is essential to the whole.
Our world is just as symbiotic and interconnected as the rainforest when you think about it, so when we take the time to do our part for the community along the way, we too can thrive- together.
If you would like to spend your vacation exploring the interconnected world of Monteverde’s forests, just click here, we would love to host you and your family here at the Ocotea Boutique Hotel and show you the beauty that exists all around us.
