Casa Orquideas, Golfo Dulce, Costa Rica
After navigating the whole night leaving Panamanian waters behind, the Sea Voyager, entered one of the few tropical fjords in the world. It is known as a fjord because the entrance is very shallow (60 ft) but the center can reach up to 500 ft, the difference from temperate fjords is that, this one was not carved by glaciers, instead is was created by tectonic plates moving apart from each other, making the center area collapse. This fjord is better known as the Golfo Dulce or Sweet Water Gulf, a reference to the many rivers that empty their waters into it. Navigating through Golfo Dulce is like traveling on a lake framed with tropical rain forest and coconut palm trees.
When we thought we were in the “middle of nowhere”, the boat dropped anchored in front of a black pebbly beach with a decorated sign “Casa Orquideas”. The owners, Ron and Trudy Macallister (expats from New Hampshire and Tennessee) welcomed us to their well-groomed botanical garden. Botanical gardens are like going through the fanciest French fashion show. The plants evolved through countless regeneration to finally acquire their desired dress to attract the perfect pollinator. Although, most of the flowers in a rain forest are not as colorful as the ones in a garden, due to the fact that the main pollinators in a rain forest are insects. After them, the bats play an important role.
The insects’ attraction to the plants is caused by ultraviolet colors, or carrion smelling plants, or pheromones released by some orchids, among other tricks. Bat-pollinating plants evolved beige-white flowers with strong smells and hummingbird-pollinating plants will undoubtedly require bright colors. One of the best tricks used by these plants is attracting the bird to a brightly colored modified leaf that will last much longer than a normal petal-flower and will give the plant a much longer period for cross-pollination.
The masters of disguise are the heliconias, cousins of the well known birds of paradise, in which the inflorescence can hand down or stand erect for several months. The orchids, instead, spend a lot of energy making a high-maintenance flower where the sepals and petals look alike, but in some cases one of the petals has been modified into a landing platform for the bees and wasps.
We could keep talking about adaptations from the tropical plants to their pollinators, but the main idea is to understand that nothing within the tropics is static, actually completely the opposite, the dynamism within this ecosystem is constant and almost visible to the naked eye. Today we were introduced to the majesty of the Tropical Rain Forest.
After navigating the whole night leaving Panamanian waters behind, the Sea Voyager, entered one of the few tropical fjords in the world. It is known as a fjord because the entrance is very shallow (60 ft) but the center can reach up to 500 ft, the difference from temperate fjords is that, this one was not carved by glaciers, instead is was created by tectonic plates moving apart from each other, making the center area collapse. This fjord is better known as the Golfo Dulce or Sweet Water Gulf, a reference to the many rivers that empty their waters into it. Navigating through Golfo Dulce is like traveling on a lake framed with tropical rain forest and coconut palm trees.
When we thought we were in the “middle of nowhere”, the boat dropped anchored in front of a black pebbly beach with a decorated sign “Casa Orquideas”. The owners, Ron and Trudy Macallister (expats from New Hampshire and Tennessee) welcomed us to their well-groomed botanical garden. Botanical gardens are like going through the fanciest French fashion show. The plants evolved through countless regeneration to finally acquire their desired dress to attract the perfect pollinator. Although, most of the flowers in a rain forest are not as colorful as the ones in a garden, due to the fact that the main pollinators in a rain forest are insects. After them, the bats play an important role.
The insects’ attraction to the plants is caused by ultraviolet colors, or carrion smelling plants, or pheromones released by some orchids, among other tricks. Bat-pollinating plants evolved beige-white flowers with strong smells and hummingbird-pollinating plants will undoubtedly require bright colors. One of the best tricks used by these plants is attracting the bird to a brightly colored modified leaf that will last much longer than a normal petal-flower and will give the plant a much longer period for cross-pollination.
The masters of disguise are the heliconias, cousins of the well known birds of paradise, in which the inflorescence can hand down or stand erect for several months. The orchids, instead, spend a lot of energy making a high-maintenance flower where the sepals and petals look alike, but in some cases one of the petals has been modified into a landing platform for the bees and wasps.
We could keep talking about adaptations from the tropical plants to their pollinators, but the main idea is to understand that nothing within the tropics is static, actually completely the opposite, the dynamism within this ecosystem is constant and almost visible to the naked eye. Today we were introduced to the majesty of the Tropical Rain Forest.
