Lindsay A. Stallcup

• Executive Director at Monteverde Conservation League

The Monteverde-Arenal Bioregion (MAB), located in the Tilarán Mountains of north-central Costa Rica, contains some of the most biodiverse habitats in Costa Rica and also provides the backbone for some of Costa Rica’s most important ecotourism destinations. Several national parks and private preserves protect a large area of habitat in the region, b...

The Monteverde-Arenal Bioregion (MAB), located in the Tilarán Mountains of north-central Costa Rica, contains some of the most biodiverse habitats in Costa Rica and also provides the backbone for some of Costa Rica’s most important ecotourism destinations. Several national parks and private preserves protect a large area of habitat in the region, b...

Monteverde, Costa Rica represents an example of dynamic processes shaping an ever-changing, landscape-scale biodiversity island. Monteverde is internationally renowned for biodiversity conservation efforts initiated by non-governmental organizations and private citizens that led to the creation of the Monteverde Reserve Complex—a network of reserve...

Habitat loss and increases in habitat isolation are causing animal population reductions and extirpations in forested areas of the world. This problem extends to protected areas, which, while often well-conserved, can be too small and isolated to maintain species that exist at low densities and require large contiguous areas of habitat (e.g. some l...

Protected areas have been important in reducing tropical forest biodiversity loss. Costa Rica has been a model country in protecting forests and promoting conservation. However, many Costa Rican protected areas are surrounded by highly modified habitat and may be losing species, either because they are too small to support viable populations or are...

1. We examined effects of nutrients on leaf breakdown in interior forest streams at La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica. We tested the hypothesis that dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) becomes limiting when ambient phosphorus (P) concentration is high. We also compared the breakdown of relatively ‘low quality’ leaves (lower C : N, Trema intege...

1. Lowland tropical streams have a chemically diverse detrital resource base, where leaf quality could potentially alter the effect of high nutrient concentrations on leaf breakdown. This has important implications given the extent and magnitude of anthropogenic nutrient loading to the environment. 2. Here, we examine if leaf quality (as determined...

Stream ecosystem function is dependent on organic matter inputs from surrounding forests. The rate of leaf breakdown is determined by stream water quality, such as prevailing nutrient concentrations, as well as characteristics of organic matter. We tested the effects of phosphorus (P) in driving leaf breakdown processes in headwater streams drainin...