Overview
Located approximately 120 miles from San Jose on the Pacific Coast, the Manuel Antonio National Park in Costa Rica is recognized as one of the most biodiverse national parks in the world. This national park exhibits a wonderful combination of a lush tropical rainforest, sandy beach, and lagoons that are all home to 109 species of mammals and 184 species of birds. Manuel Antonio is the smallest national park that is located in Costa Rica; however, the abundance of fauna and flora in this ecosystem undoubtedly make up for its small acreage. It is home to the adorable squirrel monkeys, two-toed and three-toed sloths, white-faced and howler monkeys, iguanas, and many more (1).
This is a map of the Manuel Antonio National Park. Multiple hotels that are available to stay at while visiting the park are labeled. Rivers, islands, and restaurants are also labeled for your convenience (1).
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The left image above is a photograph of three rhinoceros hornbill birds in the rainforest of Borneo, Indonesia (3a). The right image is of the French Guiana rainforest with a rainbow arcing over the forest (3b).
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Manuel Antonio National Park could be considered as an ecosystem within the tropical rain forest biome. An ecosystem is the sum of all the organisms living within its boundaries and all the abiotic factors with which they interact (2a). Ecosystems such as Manuel Antonio Park are located in biomes, which are major types of ecosystems found in broad geographic regions (3). This national park is located within the tropical rainforest biome, which primarily exist in South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia. With well over 15 million different species of plants and animals in this biome, tropical rainforests are extremely biodiverse. Plants and animals that live in the tropical rainforest must adapt to be able to survive with the limited amount of sunlight that actually reaches the ground. Regarding the climate, must tropical rainforests are located very close to the equator; therefore, approximately 12 hours of sunlight is received daily and about 50-260 inches of rain is received annually. The range of temperature exists between 68 to 93 degrees Fahrenheit (4).
Check out this informational video for a brief overview of Manuel Antonio National Park (33).
View the table of contents for an overview of all of the information about this ecosystem on this website. Start your experience now!