Abstract:
Many biologists are now studying natural history in
Costa Rica. Many more will do so. This book is an
attempt to write down some of what we already know, in
a form that can be quickly digested by the newcomer to
Costa Rican field biology. I shudder to think that this
book might become a definitive statement about Costa
Rican natural history. It is neither that nor a thorough
review of the literature on the subject. It is, however, an
introduction to that literature, and it should give the
newcomer a starting point for inquiries into the biology
of Costa Rican organisms. I hope this book will be out of
date in ten or twenty years; some sections were out of
date as they were being written. Those who read it are the
ones who will make it obsolete. In editing these various
contributions from 174 authors, I have been impressed
with how fragmentary is the knowledge each of us has
even of our own areas of specialization and of the
organisms we are supposed to be familiar with. Rather
than be scornful of this sorry state of tropical biology,
however, I encourage the reader to work doubly hard to
rectify it.
