Professional Documents
Culture Documents
, 30(2): 1 78-179, 1 98 2
Resumen: El hallazgo de una Tortuga Lora (Lepidochelys olivacea) ciega desovando en Playa Ostíonal,
Guanacaste, Costa Rica sugiere que estas tortugas utilizan seftales olfativas para el reconocimiento de su playa
de nacimiento. Alternativamente a este sistema de impronta , este -comportamiento puede explicarse por el
"modelo de facilitación social". Sin embargo, otros datos respaldan la impronta como el factor más
significativo.
Various theories have been offered to The obvious question is how did this turtle
explain homing in marine turtles; Carr ( 1 967) locate the nesting beach and how did it
has sugge ste d tha t the turtles learn recognize an arribada date. AIso of interest is its
characteristics of their natal beach on hatching feeding mechanism. An olfactory recognition
which are later used for recognition by adults of the local water could be important . AI
returning to nest. Olfactory and other signs tematively, sorne type of social interaction may
may be used by sea turtles to retum to their have guided her. The processing of odor
hatching beaches (Owens et al., 1 982). information has been investigated in land
The pr.esence of certain anatomical features t u r t l e s b y B e ue r m an ( 1 9 7 5 ) . B o t h
and the occurrence of massive nesting discrimination and intensity components were
"arribadas" constitute supporting evidence for found. The fact that there is insignificant
an imprinting mechanism in the Olive Ridley inte rchange of nesting females between
(Lepidochelys olivacea), which we are currently Ostional and Nancite Beach, sorne 90 km away
investigating. An alternative hypothesis is that (Cornelius & Robinson, 1982) weakens the
of t he " so cial facilitation model" of "social facilitation model", since turtles from
Hendrickson ( 1 958). This hypothesis suggests these beaches are known to mix during
that turtles that nest for the frrst time are non-reproductive periods or along migratory
guided by other experienced turtles after routes.
chance encounters provoked by increased
random movements at sexual maturity. We b e lieve this isolated improbable
On October 14, 1 9 82 at 0 1 30 hours, during observations strenghthens the case for, and
a t y p ic al a rribada at Ostional Beach, lirnits the means of an imprinting mechanism
Guanacaste, Costa Rica, one of us (J.M.M.) for philopatric behavior, and poses new
found a blind female L. olivacea laying. This q u e st i o n s regarding synchronous nesting
turtle did not excavate a nest but rather simply behavior .
laid its eggs on the sand, near the high tide We thank Anny Chaves for help in the field.
mark (the tide was low). Density of nesting This report was partially fmanced by World
turtles was approximately one per four square Wildlife Fund and U.S. Fish and Wildlife
meter area. Cause of blindness is unknown. The Service grants to Stephen E. Cornelius, and
right orbit was completely covered with skin. a dm in i s t e r e d in p art un der Proj e ct
The left orbit possessed a rudimentary aperture, 02-07 -08-95, Vicerrectoría de Investigación,
clearly nonfunctional. Actual presence of Universidad de Costa Rica by Douglas C.
eyeballs was not deterrnined. Robinson.
178
COMUNICACIONES Rev. Biol. Trop. , 30(2) : 1 79, 1 982
Richard W. Pohl
Department of Botany, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 500 1 1 , U.S.A. Fulbright Scholar, Museo Nacional de
Costa Rica, 1 9 8 2
Abstract: Blooming of Bambusa vulgaris Schrad. ex Wendl., var. striata Gamble in Costa Rica.
El bambú común sin espinas , Bambusa floreció y murió; pero otras matas adyacentes
se cultiva extensamente en áreas tropi
vulgaris, estaban floreciendo y aún retenían sus hojas.
cales húmedas. Es probablemente de origen En ambos casos las anteras, con excepciones
asiático, pero ha sido cultivado en América muy raras , permanecieron dentro de las flóscu
tropical por lo menos 1 70 años . El cultivar o las. Las anteras, examinadas en lactofenol,
clon usual es var. striata, caracterizado por estaban vacías o con muy pocos granos aborti
.
rayas longitudinales amarillas y verdes en los vos de pólen ; no se abrieron, tampoco se
entrenudos de los culmos y ramas. La floración observó crecimiento de los ovarios ni produc
es muy rara. Muestras del herbario de ción de senúllas .
Smithsonian Institution indican que ha habido
floración en las Américas en los años 1 8 1 4- 1 7,
1 846, 1892, 1 903 , 1 92 1 , 1 929, 1 953, 1959, CUADRO I
1 79