The 5 Forest Types of Costa Rica

People, rightfully, consider Costa Rica to be a green, lush and tropical oasis. In their minds, a jungle is a jungle and such a small country should not be expected have too much variety within her forests. Being under 500 kilometers long and under 300km wide (at her widest point), Costa Rica can be compared to similarly sized countries like Slovakia, Croatia or the Dominican Republic. It is about 15% smaller than West Virginia and 10% smaller than Lake Michigan – so a small place indeed.

But while taking up 0.03% of the world’s land mass, Cost Rica is home to 5% of the world’s species. And a big reason for this comes down to our geography and topography. With Pacific & Caribbean shores, 8 climate zones, and a spine of towering mountains, Costa Rica is a haven of contrasts. And these contrasts include five very unique types of forests which, together, cover just over 50% of Costa Rica.  Below are the five basic forest types and approximate coverage of the Costa Rican territory:

MANGROVE FORESTS

Only about 1% of Costa Rican forests are Mangroves – however they are critical in protecting shorelines from erosion, creating a buffer from the surges and devastation of tropical cyclones or tsunamis, and providing habitat for a very diverse and unique community of plants and animals. Of the 70 species of Mangroves, seven are found along Costa Rica’s Atlantic and Pacific shores, bays, lagoons, salt water swamplands and estuaries.

These trees are a marvel of nature. They have adapted to live in saline environments with low quality, oxygen-poor soils. Some can even survive in waters that are twice the salinity of oceans (these super-salty waters are found in areas where a closed water body increases its salt concentration via evaporation). Complex salt filtration systems help the trees bypass or eliminate the dissolved ocean salt, while complex roots help with oxygen absorption in thick, salty, oxygen-poor muds & soils.

There are many species of Mangroves – some are closely or distantly related, and some are a result of convergent evolution, where different unrelated plants find the same adaptations to specific conditions – and thus evolve towards very similar forms with similar functions.

Mangrove Critters

Mangroves provide very unique and biologically diverse habitats. Many animal species cannot be found anywhere else. American Crocodiles, Spider & Squirrel Monkeys, White Ibis and River Otters are some of the animals that thrive in Costa Rican Mangrove forests. But below are two of the lesser known critters that are fully dependent on Mangrove forests: the Pacific Mangrove Tree Crab and Mangrove Hummingbird:

TROPICAL DRY FORESTS

While southern Costa Rica, with Monsoon and Rainforest climates, receives plentiful precipitation even in the dry season, the Savannah areas to the north and west of the country experience many hot and dry months every year. For this reason the lush & towering Tropical Rain Forests are replaced by sparser vegetation of the Tropical Dry Forests. The trees are much smaller, thinner, and many drop their leaves during the dry season when greenery is temporarily replaced by dust.

But don’t let that fool you – these habitats are very rich in biodiversity, populated by plants and critters that have learned or evolved to tolerate the prolonged dry seasons. It still rains A LOT here, it is just that the rain is very concentrated into the rainy season.

Tropical Dry Forest Critters

Most of the animals that Costa Rica is famous for can be found in the Dry Forests – Toucans, Monkeys, Sloths, Anteaters, Tapirs, Scarlet Macaws, and even Jaguars make their homes in the Tropical Dry Forests of Nicoya, Guanacaste and northern Costa Rica. Two special critters that prefer the dry and semi-arid savannah forests are the Collared Aracari and Plain Chacalaca.

TROPICAL CLOUD FORESTS

Only 1% of the world’s woodlands consist of Cloud Forests – but Costa Rica punches far above its weight in terms of our Cloud Forest coverage, with about 3% of our forests being classified as Tropical Cloud Forests. The remaining 10% of Costa Rica’s high altitude forests are Montane Forests which are forests that also grow at higher elevations but do not meet the Cloud Forest criteria.

While exact definitions are blurry, Tropical Cloud Forests can be found at higher elevations where frequent clouds & mists, together with cooler temperatures, create a very unique, mysterious and enchanting biome. These are the places where sun & blue skies are rather rare and a warmer jacket, hat, windbreaker and umbrella are best kept within reach. In Costa Rica, cloud forests cover the slopes of coastal mountains, hills & valleys of the interior highland areas, towering volcanoes, and the central mountainous spine.

Tropical Cloud Forest Critters

Our cloud forests are world famous for their beauty and biodiversity – Monteverde is one of the top tourist attractions. These forests are especially famous as they present the perfect habitat for Costa Rica’s seven species of Poison Dart Frogs  and the elusive Resplendent Quetzal.

MONTANE FORESTS

Costa Rica’s Montane (or Mountain Forests) include the Cloud Forests. The definition between the two can be fuzzy but the remaining Montane Forests can be classified as those that are colder or drier than the classical Cloud Forests. Some of these forests climb along the highest of our peaks, reaching 3,000 meters or almost 10,000 feet in elevation.

As the forests climb higher & higher, the trees tend to become smaller as species of Oaks take over from more tropical Cloud Forest tree varieties. Higher still, the Oaks give way to shrubs and dwarf bamboos as the forests transition into alpine shrublands and finally alpine grasslands. With so much variation, the biodiversity of Montane Forests is astounding!

Montane Forest Critters

Because of the variation in terms of climate, elevation, and forest cover, the Montane Forests are extremely rich in species, both animal and plant. Two special critters that can only be found in the higher Montane Forests are the Yellow-Thighed Brushfinch and the Costa Rican Pygmy Owl.

TROPICAL RAIN FORESTS

Lastly, we pay homage to out Tropical Rain Forests which can be found around lowland areas of the country – they are only missing from the higher elevations along the tops and slopes of the central spine and the dry and hot areas in parts of Guanacaste, where Dry Tropical Rainforests reign supreme.

These forests are ever-green, lush, and teeming with life. Some trees tower 60 meters or 200 feet above the ground, home to countless species of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and insects that make their homes from the roots to the tops of the crowns. They are joined by vines and orchids which hitch a free ride (and sometimes a free meal) courtesy of the helpless tree! Rain is plentiful year round, with the dry seasons being dryer but never the arid scorchers that can be found just a bit further to the north. These are the world’s best growing & living environments, and the variety of plants and animals found here fully attest to these perfect conditions.

Tropical Rain Forest Critters

With these forests hosting so many of the iconic creatures that attract tourists from around the world, let’s mention a pair of opposites – the Jaguar, a powerful and mystic symbol of the jungles revered by native peoples throughout its range and the Sloth, a chilled out and sluggish creature which watches the world roll by as it lazily chews on Cecropia leaves. Corcovado National Park, a world-famous stretch of lowland Tropical Rain Forests, presents the perfect oasis for these creatures (although they can be found all over Costa Rica too).

SECONDARY GROWTH FORESTS 

These forests sprout from cleared areas – cattle ranches and farms that are left to their natural devices soon wear a growth of secondary forests. In fact most of the flats and hills surrounding Ojochal and Tres Rios are draped with secondary forest growth – our entire area used to be covered in cattle ranches not too long ago. Some animals prefer these types of forests as they offer a thick bush and plentiful hiding places. It may take 100-150 years for secondary growth forests to reach an ‘old growth forest’ status – meaning the high canopy of towering trees, variety of species and a complex understory. Some researchers feel that it may take many hundreds of years for a forest to truly regenerate.

PALM OIL PLANTATIONS

Since the 1960s, Costa Rica’s Palm Oil Plantations have really taken off – huge swaths of the country are now covered in neat rows of the African Palm, as we are more than aware of while driving north on the Costanera. Native to areas between Angola and the Gambia, these palms are alien to our land yet their canopies stretch for 150,000 acres or 113,000 football fields’ area of a monocrop (or TEN Manhattan Islands)! And unfortunately, like any monocrop, the Oil Palm Forests are very lacking in biodiversity. Thankfully awareness of the issues associated with Oil Palm Plantations is getting louder and louder – the practice may not be as ‘green’ as it appears after all.

Costa Rica is indeed one of the most biodiverse countries in the world. We are home to over 500,000 species, which represent nearly 5% of the species estimated worldwide – and one of the reasons is the diversity of different forest types that are home to very different types of animals! We are waiting for you to move here and be AMAZED by the variety of life and energy of this magical place! RE/MAX WE SELL PARADISE is your trusted local real estate partner – while we patiently wait for your call, feel free to browse our local area listings – ocean view, jungle view, riverside, or high up in the coastal mountain cloud forests – whatever you are looking for, you are sure t find!