FREE ESSAY ON COSTA RICA

COSTA RICA

Greg Coffta 
Bio190/Costa Rican Adventures
11/30/1999
Part I
Banana: Bananas were most likely picked up by the European traders in Southeast Asia when
in search for spices. Soon, as the discovery of the Tropics arrived, traders took bananas
to Central America.
Breadfruit: this fruit commonly grows among the southern Pacific islands, and it probably
found its way to Costa Rica when the natives started to explore on boat.
Chocolate: as far as I could find, chocolate is native to Central America. It comes from
the fruit of the Cacao Tree, and was traditionally used by the Aztecs.
Coconuts: Coconuts also come from Tropical Pacific islands, and the actual coconut itself
probably floated across the ocean, only to land on the shores of Costa Rica.
Coffee: Coffee is speculated to have grown initially somewhere around Arabia. Its first
recorded use was in 675 B.C., by the Red Sea. Most likely picked up along spice trading
expeditions, the Europeans once again brought coffee to the Americas. Finding it grows
well in that particular climate, the commercial cultivation began.
Mango: Another fruit Native to the eastern part of the world, traders such as Columbus
and Vespucci also brought this to the Americas.
Papaya: During the slave trade, Slave traders often picked up some of the fruit from
southern Africa. Possibly on accident, this fruit was spread to Central America and is
now commercially grown.
Quinine: Being a Tropical country, Costa Rica had its problems with malaria. One of the
drugs used to treat malaria was Quinine, derived from the South American Cinchona trees.
Traded by natives throughout the region, Quinine was used as a natural remedy before
Europeans discovered it.
Sugar Cane: Sugar cane is native to the Middle East, Kazakhstan and India, used by
Europeans as a sweetening agent, it soon was commercially grown and exported from many of
the newly discovered Tropical nations, most likely by slave labor.
Tomatoes: Indigenous to South America, the Tomatoes was once though by the Patagonians to
be poisonous. After discovering they were not, it became a widely traded commodity
throughout the world. Growing best is warm, humid regions of the earth with sandier soil,
there is no doubt as to why tomatoes are cultivated in Costa Rica.
Material Sited From Includes: Encarta Interactive Encyclopedia 1998, and various Internet
search engine results.
PART II
Arboreal: Of or living in the trees.
Biome: A major regional biotic community, such as a grassland or desert.
Biodiversity: each biome being different
Canopy: the uppermost layer in a forest
Carbon Cycle: only a certain amount of carbon is circulated throughout the environment,
appears in many different forms.
Climax Community: An established ecosystem in which the area allows for the maximum
animal occupation.
Community: A group of plants and animals living together in an area.
Consumer: a buyer of goods and services, or crops produced especially for consumption
Decomposer: any organism that breaks down organic matter into its basic elements.
Decomposition: the process of breaking organic matter down into its basic elements.
Ecology: the science of the relationship between organisms and their environments
Ecosystem: an ecological community together with its environment functions as a unit.
Epiphyte: a plant such as Spanish moss or a Tropical orchid living on an independent
plant.
Erosion: washing away the topsoil of the region either by wind or water.
Ethnobotany: studying the relationship between a race of people and the plants they use.
Forest: a growth of trees, plants and underbrush that cover a large area, living
symbiotically with other organisms.
Habitat: the area or environment in which an organism lives.
Hydrologic Cycle: only a certain amount of water is circulated throughout the
environment, takes many different phases, very little water has been created or
destroyed.
Leaching: water running off of the topsoil, carrying many different chemicals and
sediment
Liana: vines
Litter: discarding waste products carelessly
Monoculture: the cultivation of a single crop in an area
Niche: an animal's best-suited environment
Photosynthesis: the process carried out by a plant that turns sunlight and water into
energy
Pollination Vector: pollen from plants being distributed throughout the environment by
other living organisms
Producer: one who creates or produces something, consumer goods
Rain Forest: a dense evergreen forest usually in tropics with an annual rainfall of at
least 2.5-m.
Sedimentation: settling of the sediments in a liquid, like soil in water.
Species: narrowest group, to which an organism can be classified, produces similar and
fertile offspring.
Stratification: soil depositing in distinct layers.
Subsoil: layer of earth beneath the topsoil.
Primary Succession: a group of people following things in order.
Secondary Succession: subordinate things that follow Primary Succession.
Sustainability: the ability of an ecosystem to sustain itself, or preserve its
existence.
Topsoil: the foremost and upper part of the soil.
Tropical Rain Forest: a forest lying in a Tropical region of the earth that is very
dense, with high rainfall and humidity
Vine: a weak stemmed plant that derives its support from a solid surface.
Part III
The isthmus of Central America, formed by the tectonic movements of the plates of the
earth, is the stretch of land between the Americas. When Pangea, the ultimate single
continent started to fissure, the Americas were thought to be one unit. But by slowly
moving apart, the two lands became increasingly more isolated, only connected by the
thread of land called Central America.
The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been increasing by 0.4 percent a year
because of the use of fossil fuels such as oil, gas, and coal. The slash-and-burn
clearing of tropical forests has also been a contributing factor. Other gases that
contribute to the greenhouse effect, such as methane and chlorofluorocarbons, are
increasing even faster. The net effect of these increases could be a worldwide rise in
average global temperature of 1.0 to 3.5 Celsius degrees (1.8 to 6.3 Fahrenheit degrees),
with a best estimate of 2.0 Celsius degrees (3.6 Fahrenheit degrees), by 2100. Warming of
this magnitude would alter climates throughout the world, affect crop production, and
cause sea levels to rise significantly. If this happened, millions of people would be
adversely affected by major flooding.
The Standing forest plays an essential role in filtering the rain fall, letting the water
trickle down the leaves and branches of the trees and other plants found in the forest.
The absence of the fauna in any forest is destructive in many ways. Erosion occurs when
little or no plants exist to provide root support. Soon, the topsoil is washed away into
nearby bodies of water, which is a pollutant to the aquatic life, putting many nitrogen
and carbon compounds into the water.
Some examples of medically important rain forest plants are Quinine, Hemp, Laudanum,
Aspirin, and Coconut Root. Quinine comes from cinchona trees and plants, and is used to
treat malaria. Many native tribes used cannabis as mild anesthetic or pain reliever.
Laudanum, an opium derivative, was used to treat severe pain, and used possible for its
narcotic characteristics. Another pain reliever manufactured from the bark of willow
trees is Aspirin. Natives used this to treat fever and mild pain. The form they used
contained salicylic acid, which irritated the gastrointestinal tract to the extent of
ulcers. This form also tasted even bitterer than the modern form. Coconut root is another
form of a narcotic, Natives often make chew the root or make a tea from the root to
relieve pain, and give a feeling of euphoria.
Material was solely taken from Encarta Interactive Encyclopedia 1998