COS 191-4 - The influence of conservation scenarios on forest structure, recruitment, and primate species presence across protected areas and private land in Costa Rica

Background/Question/Methods

The ways tropical forests are managed directly affect biodiversity and provisioning of ecosystem services on a global scale, thus it is necessary to evaluate examples of successful tropical forest conservation scenarios that include protected areas, Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) Programs, and ecotourism. To examine the effectiveness of specific approaches within these scenarios we examined differences in forest structure and tree recruitment, including canopy cover, canopy height, seedling, sapling, and adult tree density, and average and total diameter at breast height (DBH), across 78 plots in 18 forests in Costa Rica representing protected areas, private forest utilizing PES and/or ecotourism, and private forests not utilizing these incentives. Further, effectiveness of these approaches in enhancing primate habitat suitability was measured by conducting primate censuses in line transects across these 18 forests to detect the presence and abundance of three primate species: Alouatta palliata, Ateles geoffroyi, and Cebus capucinus.

Results/Conclusions

Only canopy height was significantly different across these three approaches, with protected areas conserving the tallest and likely oldest forests. Incentivized and protected forests also had higher primate species richness and group count than non-incentivized forests. Nonetheless, all three approaches demonstrated forest conservation potential: while protected areas were critical, incentivized and non-incentivized privately-owned forests shared many similar characteristics to protected forests, including recruitment potential. Given enough time without disturbance, it is expected that they will grow to obtain similar canopy heights and provide similar ecosystem services and biodiversity potential. To ensure less disturbance, we recommend a conservation scenario that incorporates more non-incentivized forests into incentive programs and connects incentivized forests to protected areas when and where possible.