IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Baltensberger, A.P.; Brown, C.L. | |
| Mammalian biodiversity conservation at two biological stations in Nicaragua and Costa Rica | |
| 2015 Book Chapter | |
Central America is home to some of the world's most diverse landscapes including at least 20 life zones, 22 ecoregions, and five major tropical forest types (Holdridge et al. 1971). As a constricted, natural corridor between North and South America, Central America hosts a variety of mammalian species from both continents, and is also home to several endemic species. At least 17.8% of the world's known mammal species can be found only in Central America (Stoner and Timm 2004). The region's complex mosaic of ecosystems, populations of endemics, and its unique mixture of species from North and South America make Central America one of the most important mammalian biodiversity hot spots in the world. Historically, the existence of private landowners in natural areas has mostly been considered a conservation threat. However, a growing number of private landowners and local residents have become active participants in conservation and stewardship practices (Frankie et al. 2004, Janzen 2004). Some private landowners independently create their own nature reserves, while others work with government entities or NGOs to establish formal private protected areas (Frankie et al. 2004). In many cases, these protected reserves exist as islands of natural habitat surrounded by converted agricultural lands. Nevertheless, a collection of several of these areas may serve as valuable stepping stones and corridors that connect larger patches of critical habitat, and pockets of high mammalian biodiversity may still exist within some impacted areas (Daily et al. 2003, Genoways and Timm 2005). But despite their role in local conservation, there is usually less emphasis on promoting biological monitoring on private reserves (Herzog and Vaughan 1998, Hanson 2004). In this chapter, we focus on two such private conservation reserves in Nicaragua and Costa Rica that have initiated biodiversity inventory projects on their lands. We present the results of these inventories to date, placed within the context of region-wide mammalian distribution patterns, and the conservation status of terrestrial non volant mammals in Costa Rica and Nicaragua. While we recognize that these findings may be incomplete, this effort remains one of the most comprehensive and publically available collections of information available for the region. |
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