m a r i n e advice 



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:pected Connections 



What do the mangroves of Costa 

 Rica have in common with the saltwater 

 marshes of North Carolina? More than 

 you might think. 



Lundie Spence, marine education 

 specialist for UNC Sea Grant, says the 

 threatened maritime shrubs are the 

 tropical equivalent of our salt marshes. 

 Both are sources of detritus or food for 

 marine life, nursery grounds 

 for juvenile fish and 

 sediment sinks that build up 

 the land. 



"And like salt marshes, 

 (the mangroves) have a bad 

 reputation as a breeding 

 ground for mosquitoes, full 

 of scary animals and 

 something to be removed in 

 order to make way for 

 development," Spence says. 



This summer, Spence 

 explored the parallels 

 between the North Carolina 

 environment and those in 

 Costa Rica and Peru, where she taught 

 marine ecology courses to American 

 teachers and students. 



The similarities she notes in 

 mangroves and salt marshes — from 

 their ecological roles to the threats they 

 face — are among many examples of 

 connections between North Carolina 

 and the tropics. 



In Peru, the clay soils in the 

 Amazon Basin are strikingly similar to 

 those in North Carolina. Both soils are 

 derived from long-eroded mountains 

 and both are poor in nutrients. 



And like the Amazon Basin, North 

 Carolina was once farmed in the slash- 

 and-burn technique by Native Ameri- 

 cans and early settlers, says Stan Buol, a 

 tropical soils expert at N.C. State 

 University. 



Research and technology have 

 provided new ways to maintain the soils 



and nurture crops in North Carolina, 

 but the tropics are still in a less 

 sophisticated farming mode. 



"We in North Carolina have 

 nourished and protected and fertilized 

 and cared for our soils, which costs 

 money," Spence says. "And the rain 

 forest destruction is pretty much 

 related to the economy in those 



Lundie Spence and American teachers explore tropical soils 

 on the Rio Napo in Peru. 



countries. So until they can provide 

 fertilization for existing agricultural 

 operations, they are being forced to 

 expand into the rain forests." 



In these ways, our hard-learned 

 lessons and technology can be applied 

 to problems in Central and South 

 America. But more than that, we can 

 make connections to the landscape of 

 these countries and appreciate how our 

 actions affect them, particularly as they 

 posture to become tourist destinations. 



Spence was a humid tropical soils 

 instructor in Iquitos, Peru, at a July 

 workshop for 90 American teachers 

 who wanted hands-on training in the 

 rain forest, using native guides and 

 instructors. 



"One of the highlights in this 

 experience was that this was the first 

 time teachers, or for that matter almost 

 any other group, were able to experi- 



ence a rain forest from a canopy 

 walkway," she says. 



The walkway, built in the treetops, 

 allowed educators to join researchers up 

 close to the array of virtually unexplored 

 wildlife that lives in the rain forest 

 canopy. 



These teachers will report back to 

 the program's designers how they used 

 this experience into their K-12 

 classrooms. The program will 

 be repeated in July 1993. 



In Costa Rica, Spence and 

 John Bort, an anthropologist 

 at East Carolina University, 

 teamed up to teach tropical 

 marine ecology and cultural 

 anthropology courses to 22 

 North Carolina undergradu- 

 ates. 



The June program, now in 

 its 15th year, was founded by 

 Bort and drew on the exper- 

 tise of faculty and graduate 

 students of the national 

 university in Heredia. Classes were 

 supplemented with trips to several 

 Pacific Coast sites, such as the Golfito 

 fishing community near Panama, a 

 national park near Quepos and a 

 recreational beach called Playa 

 Tamarindo. 



The northwest coast of Costa Rica 

 is experiencing the start of intense 

 development pressure for recreational 

 use. The students were able to see this 

 for themselves, to sample the culture 

 and to talk to residents about how the 

 changes will affect their lives. 



Educational experiences in natural 

 habitats, whether in North Carolina or 

 the tropics, provide a foundation for 

 further learning and sharing with 

 students, Spence says. As technology 

 shrinks our planet, we are challenged to 

 be more global in our educational 

 perspectives. Jeannie Faris 



COASTWATCH 21 



