Osa Peninsula in the Sierpe region (Térraba-Sierpe National Wetlands). M. saccifera shares this habitat with the palms A. alatum and Euterpe spp., with the most common broad-leaf trees being Calophyllum brasiliense, Symphonia globulifera, Carapa guianensis and Dialium guianense. Astrocaryum mexicanum takes the place of A. alatum in otherwise extremely similar Manicaria swamp in Belize to the north of the range of A. alatum. Manatees often move into the deeper channels found in these swamps in order to feed on aquatic plants (Ludwigia and Hydrilla). There are no species endemic to such habitats, overall herpetofauna biodiversity is low and similar to surrounding lands, but larger mammals may frequently briefly forage in these areas when the ground dries. Sangrillo swamp forests are one of the most common habitats in Costa Rica. The land is flat, near sea level and often floods. Soils are alluvial, black in colour and rich in organic material. Fresh water covers the land for up to nine months a year, it drains continuously but the ground is always wet. Trees usually have buttress roots. In this forest type A. alatum is the third most common species by basal area, after Pterocarpus officinalis and then Carapa guianensis, but these statistics are exactly opposite when one looks at mature individuals per hectare, with A. alatum being present at an average density of 143 stems/ha. Less commonly found trees here are Pentaclethra macroloba and Virola multiflora. In these forests A. alatum is part of the canopy. The palms share the land with giant herbaceous plants such as Heliconia spp. and Maranta spp. There is ample ground-cover. It grows together with Virola sebifera in the lowland forest of Barbilla National Park in Costa Rica. A 2002 World Bank report classified and mapped Central America into some 90 ecosystems/ecoregions. In this system A. alatum is a frequent species, but never a dominant, in four main types of lowland forests, including the two ecosystems discussed above. The other mentioned ecosystems are well-drained, and moderately drained, tropical evergreen broad-leaved lowland rainforest. A well-drained, tall-growing, ground-cover-poor rainforest characterised along the Térraba River at 800m elevation near Pacific coast of Costa Rica, on a substrate of latosols, soil from marine sediments and some inceptisols, found A. alatum to be a frequently occurring species, along with Ardisia spp., Aspidosperma myristicifolia, Caryocar costaricense, Coccoloba padiformis, C. standleyana, C. tuerckheimii, Cordia gerascanthus, Cryosophila guarara, Eleagia auriculata, Genipa americana, Gustavia angustifolia,