by Rod Hughes

So global warming is a myth, eh? Tell that to the frogs.
La Selva Biological Station at Sarapiquí, a humid tropical forest area due north of Costa Rica’s capital, has monitored a gradual but relentless rise in temperature that is blamed for the disappearance of three-quarters of the amphibians there during the last 35 years. This includes species of frogs found nowhere else in the world.
But the news gets worse. Scientists estimate that three-fourths of the forest itself might go the way of the frogs if the average temperature rises only three more degrees (Celsus), according to a report in the daily newspaper La Nacion.
La Selva is a private, nonprofit project, one of the oldest and most respected scientific facilities in the country. It covers 1,600 hectares of mostly primary rainforest in the Caribbean lowlands.
Since the 1980s scientists have observed a rise of 0.43 of a degree (Celsus) per decade when temperatures in the rest of the country have risen only 0.26 of a degree. This affects rain forest trees in that the higher the temperature, the less they grow, a fact that scientists confirm over decades by measuring trunk diameter. All these alarming figures were laid out to 30 fellow scientists last weekend at a special conference at the Organization of Tropical Studies in Costa Rica (OTS).
Besides amphibians and trees, birds are showing decreases in population in the area, although, unlike the frogs, they can at least move to a more hospitable place. The same 60 species inhabit the jungle but 33 of those species have lost more than half of their population.
La Selva (Spanish for “forest”) was created in 1954 and was taken over by OTS in 1968 as a private biological reserve. Of the area, 73% is primary forest and the rest secondary growth.
The implication for both the animals and people of Costa Rica is ominous. This country is one of the most biologically and botanically rich in the world and has become a favorite destination for nature tourism. A mass extinction would be a disaster economically as well as a sad event for the nature lovers of future generations.