and government settlement projects. Location La Selva Biological Station is located in the Central Conservation Area (91,000 ha) in the north-eastern lowlands of Costa Rica (10°26´ N, 83°59´ W). It encompasses 1,536 ha of classic-lowland tropical rain forest. The Sarapiquí and Puerto Viejo Rivers border the Station to the north, the Peje River to the west, and the Sábalo-Esquina creeks to the east. Braulio Carrillo National Park (47,000 ha) is adjacent to the southern border of the Station and is connected via a 4–6 km wide protected corridor. The closest communities to the Station are La Flamínea (at its north-eastern border) and El Tigre (7 km south-east). Each of these communities has approximately 500 residents and they were established as recently as 1985. Puerto Viejo, the capital of the Cantón Sarapiquí in the province of Heredia, is the nearest major town, with approximately 1,163 residents, and is located seven kilometers north-east of La Selva. La Selva Biological Station is only 2 hours by car from San José airport. Environment Of the total La Selva property (1,536 ha), 55% is characterized as species-rich, multilayered communities of primary forest. These forests contain impressive trees, lianas, epiphytes, palms, and many other broad-leaved monocots. The remaining areas of the reserve consist of abandoned pastures and plantations in various stages of succession, selectively logged secondary forest, or plots designated for experimental use. The reserve is located at the physiographic transition from the low, steep foothills of the Central Volcanic Cordillera to the vast Caribbean coastal plain in northeastern Costa Rica. At the northern end of the property the elevation is about 35 meters above sea level, but it quickly gives way to steep hills that reach up to 137 meters elevation at the southwest corner. The altitudinal transect connecting La Selva Biological Station to the main body of Braulio Carrillo National Park (approximately 55 km) extends from La Selva to Barva Volcano and includes tropical wet, premontane rain, lower montane rain, and montane rain forest ecosystems. Located at the confluence of the Puerto Viejo and Sarapiquí Rivers, which meet at the station's northern border, the preserve is surrounded on three sides by the natural barriers created by these rivers and their tributaries. The soils along the rivers are composed of Holocene and Pleistocene alluvia and consist primarily of inceptisols with occasional entisols. La Selva's uplands, on the other hand, begin several hundred meters inland from