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rainforest plant & our guide
resplendent quetzal
bridges
zipping ad looking rather calm12 Zones-30 Kinds of Rain Forest
In 1947, the biologist L.H. Holdridge introduced a system of classifying vegetation types or "zones" by analyzing combinations of temperature, rainfall, and seasonality. Each zone has a distinctive natural vegetation and ecosystem. Costa Rica has 12 such zones, ranging from tidal mangrove swamps to subalpine paramó, with its stunted dwarf plants above the timberline atop the high mountains
You can obtain a life zone map from the Tropical Science Center (Calle 1, Avenidas 4/6), a private nonprofit organization which operates the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve.
Within the rainforest area, botanists have made distinctions between 30 or so different types of rainforest. The species that live and grow in each type is determined by temperature and rainfall. Tropical evergreen rainforest exists in areas of high rainfall (at least 200 cm) and regular high temperatures averaging no less than 77deg. F. In Costa Rica, the lush tropical evergreen rainforest of the Caribbean lowlands gives way on the Pacific side to a seasonally dry evergreen forest in the well-watered south, and tropical deciduous forest--dry forest--in the northwest.. The Children's Eternal Rain Forest has three forest types: seasonal evergreen forest, cloud forest and a seasonal rain forest.
Each of the areas has plants and animals in common, but slightly different amounts of rain and temperature (partly due to differences in elevation) means that the animals and plants are different in distribution. Each different trail and area has it's own plants and animals to look at.
