In collaboration with scientists of Costa Rica's National Biodiversity Institute, Drs. Barry Hammel and Michael Grayum of the Missouri Botanical Garden are beginning the second phase of an extensive inventory of the ca. 12,000 species of ferns, conifers, and flowering plants of that tropical country. This second phase is transitional, with continued field collecting in targeted regions throughout the country and with increasing development of computerized databases and of selected publications. One eventual goal is a comprehensive identification guide, or manual, in both Spanish and English versions, to the plant resources of Costa Rica. Training of host-country students to serve as field collectors and "parataxonomists" is a novel aspect of the enterprise; these individuals usually work in Costa Rica's extensive system of national parks and refuges, where they gain first-hand knowledge of the flora and fauna. Reciprocal visits between U.S. and Costa Rican botanists, as well as visits by contributing European scientists, make this an international effort; the parallel exchange of herbarium specimens is helping to develop Costa Rica's natural history collections. The current taxonomic inventory and the resulting computer databases will be of lasting utility to conservation and resource management interests, in a country with proven ability to put such information to effective use. The Manual Project, in becoming fully integrated with and contributing significantly to the development of Costa Rica's new Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad, answers the need for urgency in collecting, maintaining and distributing biodiversity information.
