The La Selva Biological Research Station in Sarapiqui, Costa Rica was established in 1968 as the first private rainforest reserve in Costa Rica. This lowland tropical forest posesses over 1,600 hectacres of primary forest and is home to a variety of endagered species such as jaguars, ocelots, white bats and tapirs. Overall, there are over 2,077 species of plants that have been identified here as well as over 775 species of mammals, reptiles, amphibians and birds that have been identified. One of the main purposes of the research station is to conduct ecological and biological research on tropical terrestrial and tropical aquatic ecosystems.
In this field note, I will be focusing on talking about epiphytes. For more photos from this journey, please refer to my album titled "La Selva"!
Epiphytes are plants that grow on top of other plants such as trees in tropical ecosystems. These plants are not parasitic. Rather, they have mutualistic or symbiotic relationships with their host plants. Because the rainforest is highly competitve for nutrients like water and sunlight, these plants have adapted and evolved to grow on top of other plants in order to compete for these nutrients.
