Think for a second about the natural environment where you live. What sorts of trees, bushes and flowers do you see on your way to school? What birds, insects and rodents do you see scurrying throughout your neighborhood? When you visit the city, how do these things change? Costa Rica's capital city, San Jose, is a bustling heap of concrete. Like New York, Houston or Los Angeles, every inch is coated with a layer of asphalt. Still, the natural environment seeps through the cracks, with ants, weeds and oppossums all making a home for themselves in a new, seemingly impossible ecosystem. This is just one of the many biomes that make up Costa Rica. How do you feel about cities as ecosystems? Do they count?
Costa Rica is incredibly "biodiverse", meaning there is a rich variety of species (including both plants or animals) that live and thrive in its various ecosystems. A lot of people have the assumption that Costa Rica is a country filled with lush rainforests and tropical beaches from head to toe, but there are a multitude of other equally fascinating ecosystems throughout the nation. For example, a craggy mountain range runs through the center of Costa Rica, so the capital city, San Jose, has an elevation of a little over 3,800 feet!
