News + Stories

Conservation Heroes / 31.10.2022

Please find an English translation of this text at the bottom of the page. Es de las especies más raras, de las más preciosas piedras, y de los minerales más valiosos que buscamos. Los Naturalistas poseen estos tesoros raros pues sabemos que tienen un valor excepcional. Ellos se han diferenciado del resto y de lo común, se han adaptado y especializado para llenar un nicho que nada más podría. Marvin López Morales era uno de esos tesoros.  A Marvin le importaba, más que a nadie que he conocido, los árboles...

Environmental Education, Science and Research, Volunteers and Visitors / 01.10.2020

Blog by: Mark Laidre, Dartmouth College professor and principal investigator of the Laidre Lab It’s fun to discover new things about nature. That’s why scientists like doing science. And when it comes to the science of animal behavior, I like to think of Osa as a sort of ‘magic well’. My students and I have conducted animal behavior research around the world, with much of our research focusing in Osa, where we’ve spent many years studying ‘social hermit crabs’. At the Animal Behavior Society’s conference in Chicago in 2019...

Community Outreach, Environmental Education, Land Conservation and Forest Restoration, Sustainable agriculture / 24.08.2020

Blog by: Hilary Brumberg, Ridge to Reef Program Interim Director Southern Costa Rica is home to two of the most important areas to conserve in Central America: the Osa Peninsula and the Talamanca Mountains. The Osa Peninsula is the most biodiverse region of Costa Rica and contains Corcovado National Park and Piedras Blancas National Park. Deemed one of Mesoamerica’s “5 great forests,” the Talamanca Mountains contain the largest altitudinal variation in a protected area complex in Central America. The mountain range hosts La Amistad International Park, which spans from...

Science and Research / 02.07.2020

Blog by: Arriana Basto, Wildlife Conservation Technician, Osa Conservation.  Arriving in Costa Rica to work on the largest camera trap monitoring effort in Central America was a new, much bigger challenge than I am used to. I was excited for the experience ahead. I have worked as a tropical wildlife biologist in my home country Peru for a couple of years now, and my camera trapping experience only existed on small-scale projects at a single study location. Here in Costa Rica, over 200 camera traps were planned to be deployed...

Volunteers and Visitors / 01.07.2020

Blog by: Carolyn Cook and Makenzee Kruger. This January, our group of 10 undergraduate students and two faculty members from the Augustana Campus of the University of Alberta left the cold Canadian weather behind to visit Osa Conservation’s Piro Research Station on the Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica. There, we conducted research on plant survivorship and terrestrial invertebrate diversity within recently established restoration plots. After spending a semester prepping for the field course, we were ready to dive headfirst into the rainforest and put our study designs to the...

Community Outreach, Land Conservation and Forest Restoration / 01.07.2020

Blog by: María José Mata-Quirós, Restoration & Rewilding & Data Management Coordinator For 105 years on June 15, Costa Rica has celebrated “Día del Árbol,” or Day of the Tree. Former President Alfredo Gonzales Flores established this celebration to raise national awareness about the importance of trees. More than a Celebration  Trees are one of the main sources of energy and matter in terrestrial ecosystems; They support a great diversity of animals, plants, fungi and algae. They are one of the most important carbon storages and climate regulators. They protect water...

Uncategorized / 11.06.2020

Blog by: Rodrigo de Sousa, Ridge to Reef Restoration Network Implementation Manager As most of us are aware of, fragmentation of tropical forests is one of the biggest threats to the amazing biodiversity that exists in the tropics, and unfortunately, despite its good environmental policies and strategies, Costa Rica does not escape from this global trend. [caption id="attachment_18687" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Past and Predicted Land Use Trends in Southwest Costa Rica. Map by: NASA DEVELOP[/caption] Land use changes, especially those aimed at either stablishing pasture for beef production or stablishing monocrop plantations...

Science and Research / 02.05.2020

Blog by: Ing. Leonardo Álvarez, Associated botanist researcher, Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica Since I was a young boy, I have felt a great fascination toward natural life. I was eager to learn about everything that composes and occurs in its systems. Every time I had the chance, I asked my parents to go out to a National Park, and I would rather celebrate my birthday – or any important date – outside instead of at a party or in the city. Also, for me it was more fun...

Uncategorized / 02.05.2020

Blog by Javier Rodríguez-González, Mangrove Restoration Project Coordinator Globally, mangrove ecosystems are being destroyed 3-5 times faster than terrestrial forests. The main threat is a change in land use caused by aquaculture, agriculture and over exploitation of resources; another threat is climate change, which results in rising sea levels and an increased impact from storms. [caption id="attachment_18644" align="aligncenter" width="348"] Aerial image of the HNTS showing fragmented areas of the ecosystem due to the fern (Acrostichium aureum). Photo by: Batsú Estudio.[/caption] The South Pacific of Costa Rica is home to the largest...

Community Outreach / 09.04.2020

Blog by Keylin Castro, student at the Tropical Ecology & Conservation Leadership For eight weeks I had the opportunity to live in the amazing Osa Peninsula. Every day I spent there I fell in love a little more with that impressive place and the desire to live and work there increased. I can confirm from direct experience that here is 2.5% of the world's biodiversity. Every day when I woke up I listened to the birds singing, different insects and all the primates on the peninsula. Every morning on...