Lorea Ormazabal: May 2008 Archives

Enterolobium cyclocarpum

                Over the course of our research here at Leaves and Lizards, we have encountered one tree we feel has special significance.  The Guanacaste is a tree endemic to the tropics found in a number of the reforestation patches.  The tree has smooth bark, alternating feathery leaves, and can grow to be 35 meters tall.

                Guanacaste lends its name to the province in which we are staying.  The sampling we have done of this tree will be a good remembrance of the trip.  One of the first trees our guide Geovanni pointed out for us, its name has been locked in our minds since the second day.

Today, we realized that the plot of land that we were looking at had some impassable areas; that would not allow for the type of random sampling that we had originally planned to use.  Our focus will become more qualitative, emphasizing reforested areas.  

After realizing that there were certain difficulties with our original project, we toured El Silencio Reserve, a primary forest, and a secondary forest near the Arenal Volcano (the forest has been growing since 1968 and 1992). We walked across the lava field from 1992 and were able to see the lava flowing down the sides of the volcano; also, we heard the sounds of light thunder.