Nat Geo Scientist
Investigates Guanacaste
Forests
(Infocom) — The bio
geographer and
investigator for
National Geographic,
Sally Horn is studying
the impact of human
activity and climate
change on forests in
Costa Rica. Her studies
have mainly concentrated
on the high mountain
ranges in Talamanca, San
Vito and Buenos Aires of
Puntarenas and
Guanacaste.
Horn is North American
and a professor from the
University of Tennessee
in the United States.
With special equipment,
she extracted sediments
from the lagoons and
then determined from
that and other aspects
what they used the soil
for as much as 10,000
years ago. For example,
she concluded that in
Guanacaste, they have
planted corn for 5,450
years.
The scientist said that
she chose Costa Rica due
to it being “famous
world wide for its
biological diversity.”
Horn came for the first
time to the country to a
course in 1982. Later
she did her graduate
project in Costa Rica.
“More than 30 students
and professors have come
with me (to Costa Rica)
to help me with
investigation
expeditions or do their
own studies about the
impact of humans on the
landscape and climate
change,” she commented.
Horn came to find out
the results of years of
investigations done in
Costa Rica. With the
base of the sediments
accumulated from some
hundred lagoons, the
scientist figured out
the history of the soil
of our country.
In addition, she
concluded that in Costa
Rica as well as in other
parts of the world,
there was a drought
crisis in the
pre-conquest period and
later with the arrival
of the Europeans, they
changed how they used
the land.
According to her
studies, 5,000 years ago
Costa Rica was more
humid, especially in the
Caribbean and in the
mountainous areas. She
expressed that the fires
are not necessarily
negative; some can
happen and not affect
the soil, what has to be
done is control its
expansion.
“There are other
investigations that
sustain these views.
Studies by Karen
Masters, a scientist
residing in Monteverde,
reveal that in this area
there is less rain,
higher night
temperatures and mini
droughts from 2 to 10
days,” declared Horn.
Her work determined that
in Chirripo, the water
temperature of the
lagoons has also
increased; it went from
10 and 11 degrees in
1965 to 15 and 16
degrees in 2005.
Also, she prognosticates
that in the slopes of
the Caribbean there will
be more rain and in the
South Pacific less, in
this sense, the known
popular epiphit like
parasites, will be
harmed more.
“There are studies from
Vargas and Trejos in
1984 that indicate that
the Caribbean will be
rainier and the Pacific
more dry,” expressed
Sally Horn.
She added that in
Guanacaste the water
level will increase a
little, but there will
be danger in building in
low lying areas if they
take into account the
possibility of more
hurricanes.
“Yes, the temperature
will continue to
increase, it will affect
potato, apple and other
plantations; you can say
that with the climate
change, it could be that
production decreases up
to 25 percent,”
concluded Horn.
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