{"id":62,"date":"2015-01-28T03:05:22","date_gmt":"2015-01-28T03:05:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mbgecologicalrestoration.wordpress.com\/?p=62"},"modified":"2015-01-28T03:05:22","modified_gmt":"2015-01-28T03:05:22","slug":"talking-ecological-restoration-on-the-osa-peninsula-costa-rica","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nher.blog\/index.php\/talking-ecological-restoration-on-the-osa-peninsula-costa-rica\/","title":{"rendered":"Talking Ecological Restoration on the Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the weekend, thirty scientists and land managers met in a rainforest clearing on Costa Rica\u2019s Osa Peninsula. We discussed tropical, ecological restoration. Among the attendees were some of the luminaries of tropical biology and conservation. Expertise ranged from forestry to power grid infrastructure to loan financing to mangrove snails. Here are a few thoughts that I took from the gathering.<\/p>\n

\"Red-lored<\/a>
Red-lored Parrot (Amazona autumnalis<\/em>) in a royal palm (Raphia taedigera<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tropical forest restoration isn\u2019t just tree planting. Planting trees is a standard restoration practice, but it can become impractical at the enormous spatial scales needed to preserve hundreds of thousands of organisms and their interactions. Moreover, forests are made of more than just trees; fruit-eating animals (like spider monkeys) and meat-eating animals (like jaguars) are vital for maintaining ecologically intact tropical forests. Even flies can do the grunt work of restoration.<\/p>\n