Costa Rican Natural History

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 I hope this book will be out of date in ten or twenty years; some sections were out of date as they were being written.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.