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Flanked on either coast by contrasting ocean bodies and north and south by two continents, Central America is a unique and intriguing account of natural and cultural history (Coates, 1997). The Central American isthmus is a corridor of biological and cultural networks both between and within countries making it a diverse and complex region. Once a vast mosaic of diverse ecosystems, including coral reefs, savannas, semiarid lowlands, rain-forested foothills, cloud forest, and pine-forested volcanoes (Wallace, 1997), the ever-increasing pressures of human densities and economic practices of the 20th century threatened the survival of these fragile systems and the natural resources they supported (Heckadon-Moreno, 1997). The colonization into forested areas and their subsequent transformation into agro-forested lands resulted in a corridor of fragmented forest patches, often associated with continued land modification, human poverty, and political turmoil (Illueca, 1997). |
