List of ecoregions in Costa Rica explained

The following is a list of ecoregions in Costa Rica. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural communities and species. The biodiversity of flora, fauna and ecosystems that characterise an ecoregion tends to be distinct from that of other ecoregions. Ecoregions are grouped into larger bioregions, which in turn form the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth's surface. Costa Rica is a country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west, and the Caribbean Sea to the east. It contains 5% of the world's biodiversity.

Terrestrial ecoregions

Costa Rica is in the Neotropical realm and Central America bioregion, and divided into the following terrestrial ecoregions, organized by biome:^{[1] [2]}

• Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests
  • Central American Atlantic moist forests^[3]
  • Cocos Island moist forests^[4]
  • Costa Rican seasonal moist forests^[5]
  • Isthmian–Atlantic moist forests^[6]
  • Isthmian–Pacific moist forests^[7]
  • Talamancan montane forests^[8]
• Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests
  • Central American dry forests^[9]
• Montane grasslands and shrublands
  • [Talamanca Paramo]
• Mangrove
  • Bocas del Toro–San Bastimentos Island–San Blas mangroves^[10]
  • Moist Pacific Coast mangroves^[11]
  • Rio Negro–Rio San Sun mangroves^[12]
  • Southern Dry Pacific Coast mangroves^[13]

Freshwater ecoregions

• Chiriqui^[14]
• Estero Real–Tempisque^[15]
• Isthmus Caribbean^[16]
• San Juan (Nicaragua/Costa Rica)^[17]

Marine ecoregions

Costa Rica's Pacific coast is in the Tropical Eastern Pacific marine realm, and the Caribbean coast is in the Tropical Atlantic marine realm.

Tropical Atlantic

• Southwestern Caribbean^[18]

Tropical Eastern Pacific

• Chiapas-Nicaragua^[18]
• Nicoya^[18]
• Cocos Island^[18]

Notes and References

1. Book: Bermúdez M., Mariela . Joaquín Sánchez G. . Identificación de vacíos de información botánica en Centroamérica . 2000 . WWF Centroamérica, Museo Nacional de Costa Rica, Red de Herbarios de Mesoamérica y el Caribe . 17 . Spanish.
2. http://www.inbio.ac.cr/osa/paginas/definicion-carac.html Programa de monitoreo ecológico del área de conservación Osa, Costa Rica. El sitio Osa: definición y caracterización.
3. Web site: Central American Atlantic moist forests. World Wildlife Fund. 2013-09-23.
4. Web site: Cocos Island moist forests . World Wildlife Fund. 2013-09-23.
5. Web site: Costa Rican seasonal moist forests . World Wildlife Fund. 2013-09-23.
6. Web site: Isthmian-Atlantic moist forests . World Wildlife Fund. 2013-09-23.
7. Web site: Isthmian-Pacific moist forests . World Wildlife Fund. 2013-09-23.
8. Web site: Talamancan montane forests . World Wildlife Fund. 2013-09-23.
9. Web site: Central American dry forests . World Wildlife Fund. 2013-09-23.
10. Web site: Bocas del Toro-San Bastimentos Island-San Blas mangroves . World Wildlife Fund. 2013-09-23.
11. Web site: Moist Pacific Coast mangroves . World Wildlife Fund. 2013-09-23.
12. Web site: Rio Negro-Rio San Sun mangroves . World Wildlife Fund. 2013-09-23.
13. Web site: Southern Dry Pacific Coast mangroves . World Wildlife Fund. 2013-09-23.
14. "Chiriqui". Freshwater Ecoregions of the World. Accessed 19 June 2021. https://www.feow.org/ecoregions/details/206
15. "Estero Real–Tempisque". Freshwater Ecoregions of the World. Accessed 19 June 2021. https://www.feow.org/ecoregions/details/204
16. "Isthmus Caribbean". Freshwater Ecoregions of the World. Accessed 19 June 2021. https://www.feow.org/ecoregions/details/207
17. "San Juan (Nicaragua/Costa Rica)". Freshwater Ecoregions of the World. Accessed 19 June 2021. https://www.feow.org/ecoregions/details/205
18. Web site: Marine Ecoregions (Spalding 2007). [Map by] GEOMAR, University of Seville, Department of Human Geography. ]. Marine ecoregions . jpg . marineplan.es . 2013-09-26 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170212110426/http://www.marineplan.es/ES/fichas_kml/mapasfichas/ecoregions.jpg . 2017-02-12 . dead .