Die Tropenstation La Gamba

Die „Tropenstation La Gamba“ in Costa Rica – Wissenschaftlicher Bericht
WEBER, A., HUBER, W., WEISSENHOFER, A., ZAMORA, N., ZIMMERMANN, G., 2001:
An introductory Field Guide to the Flowering Plants of the Golfo Dulce Rainforests -
Corcovado National Park and Piedras Blancas National Park ("Regenwald der
Österreicher"). – Linz: OÖ Landesmuseum Stapfia 78.
The rainforests of the Golfo Dulce area in southeast Costa Rica belong to the most
interesting and species-rich forests in Central America. About fifty years ago, the
American botanist Paul H. Allen (1956) carried out pioneering work in the region, and
described the vegetation and plant diversity in the book The Rain Forests of Golfo
Dulce. A proper flora covering the estimated 3000 species or more is still lacking. A first
step towards such a flora was the booklet “Árboles de la Península de Osa” by QUESADA
& al. (1997) which presents a brief survey on the most common trees of the Osa
peninsula (with line drawings).
The present "Introductory Field Guide" is an effort to make a further step. It is
not restricted to trees, but covers all the commoner flowering plants, including shrubs,
lianas, epiphytes, ground herbs and aquatic plants, and it is not restricted to the Osa
Peninsula, but covers the whole Golfo Dulce region. This area is is now home to two
National Parks: the "Corcovado National Park" (on the Osa peninsula) and the "Piedras
Blancas National Park" (Esquinas Forest, including the “Regenwald der Österreicher”).
For a proper flora more collecting work (especially in the more remote areas of the
parks) and intensive study of special plant groups is needed.
The production of the Field Guide is intimately connected with the conservation
efforts of the Esquinas Rainforest and is the result of many fortuitous events. About ten
years ago I became involved in the fascinating project aimed to protect a tropical
rainforest. Michael Schnitzler, a distinguished musician and professor at the University
of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, had started an initiative to save the “Esquinas
Rainforest” from destruction. Though the area of this forest was declared on paper as a
national park (now Piedras Blancas National Park) there was still uncontrolled logging
by land owners. Prof. Schnitzler founded the association “Regenwald der Österreicher”,
collected over many years money in Austria and conveyed it to the Costa Rican
government. With that money the government bought tracts of forest from landowners
thereby saving the forest from clearance.
Prof. Schnitzler showed remarkable far-sightedness in his vision for the
"Regenwald der Österreicher". Not only did he promote forest protection, but he also
encouraged scientific work in the forest. He first bought a small hut located at the edge
of the Esquinas forest. This hut was the start of the Field Station La Gamba
("Tropenstation La Gamba"), which is located today in another, larger and much more
comfortable, building. In Austria, Prof. Schnitzler established an advisory board
consisting of Austrian scientists interested in tropical biology. I was invited to join the
advisory board and so I started to search for students interested in tropical botany.
Eventually I found two students who were enthusiastic and adventurous enough to tackle
botanical work in the Esquinas forest: Werner Huber and Anton Weissenhofer. They
used the hut as a base camp and from there they carried out studies on the floristic
composition and structure of a selected plot as part of their diploma theses. In 1996 they
finished their theses, but continued to work scientifically until now.
Nearby the field station the Esquinas Rain Forest Lodge was constructed for
eco-tourists. Thus also student excursions into the Esquinas forest became possible.
During that time, the plan to produce an identification guide for common plants of the
Esquinas forest was born. Initial work for the project was funded by the Austrian
National Bank (Österreichische Nationalbank). Enthusiastic students joined the project
and worked out some of the major families as parts of their diploma theses: Thomas
Baumgartner (palms), Eva Schembera (legumes), and Sabine Will (Rubiaceae). Another
diploma thesis, by Dominik Lautsch was devoted to ferns and fern allies. The results will
be published separately, as we had to restrict the Field Guide to flowering plants. Apart
from these floristic theses, scientific work on many more aspects of the rainforest was
performed during the years. A report on these activities, covering the years from the
beginning (1993) until the end of 1999 can be obtained by the editors or consulted in the
Internet (http://www.regenwald.at).
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