Editing Cocos Island (section)

===Flora===

The island has 235 known species of [[flowering plant]]s, of which 70 are endemic. A good comprehensive study on the flora of the island is provided in the journal ''Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences''.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Trusty |first1=J.L. |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/126212 |title=Vascular flora of Isla del Coco, Costa Rica. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 4th series |last2=Kesler |first2=H.C |last3=Haug-Delgado |first3=G. |date=2006 |publisher=California Academy of Sciences |volume=ser.4:v.57:no.1-11 (2006) |location=San Francisco |pages=247–355 |access-date=2024-06-20 |archive-date=2024-05-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240511223258/https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/126212 |url-status=live }}</ref> Additionally, 74 species of [[fern]]s and [[fern allies]] ([[lycopodiophyte]]s and [[pteridophyte]]s<ref>Gomez, L.D. 1975. The Ferns and Fern-Allies of Cocos Island, Costa Rica. American Fern Journal 65 (4): 102–104.</ref>), 128 species of [[moss]]es and [[Marchantiophyta|liverwort]]s,<ref>Dauphin G. 1999. Bryophytes of Cocos Island, Costa Rica: diversity, biogeography and ecology. Revista de Biología Tropical. 47:309–328</ref> 90 species of [[fungi]] and 41 species of [[slime mold]]s<ref>Rojas, C. and Stephenson, S.L. 2008. Myxomycete ecology along an elevation gradient on Cocos Island, Costa Rica. Fungal Diversity 29: 119–129.</ref> have been reported. Nevertheless, more exhaustive investigations are expected to reveal many more species.

The island has three main plant communities. The coastal forests extend from the coast up to {{cvt|50|m|ft}} elevation. Purple coral tree (''[[Erythrina fusca]]''), coconut palm (''[[Cocos nucifera]]''), and pond-apple (''[[Annona glabra]]'') are the predominant trees, with an understory of ferns, shrubs of the [[Rubiaceae]] and [[Solanaceae]] families, sedges and grasses, and herbaceous plants of the [[Leguminosae]] and [[Malvaceae]] families.

The inland forests extend from {{cvt|50|to|500|m|ft}} elevation. "Palo de hierro" or huriki (''Sacoglottis holdridgei''), "avocado" (''Ocotea insularis'') and the endemic ''Cecropia pittieri'' are the most common canopy trees. The trees are festooned at all levels with [[epiphytic plant]]s, including [[orchid]]s, ferns, [[bromeliad]]s and mosses. The understory includes sedges such as ''Hypolitrum amplum'' and various species of ferns and [[tree fern]]s, including ''Cyathea armata'' and ''[[Danaea]] media''. The palm ''[[Euterpe precatoria]]'' is also common. Cloud forests are found at the highest elevations, over {{cvt|500|m|ft}}, where ''[[Melastoma]]'' spp. are predominant.

The general vegetation of Cocos Island has greatly changed since the island was first named and described by Europeans. Captain Wafer, who visited the island in 1685 and whose name was given to the landing place, describes extensive coconut groves extending inland into the interior of the island. [[Thor Heyerdahl]] posited that it was very unlikely that these groves developed naturally, and that pre-European man must once have cleared considerable areas in the ravine bottoms and interior plateaus and ridges, utilizing the clearings for coconut plantations of substantial extent. Heyerdahl theorized that these plantations were used to provide fresh liquid and food for pre-Columbian voyages (made by [[balsa]] [[raft]]s using ''guara'' navigation) between [[Guatemala]] and northwestern South America. After the Spanish conquest and its consequences, these voyages ended and the tropical jungle recovered the land that had been laboriously cleared by early human hands.<ref>Heyerdahl, T. 1978. ''Early Man and the Ocean''. Doubleday & Company, New York</ref>
There is, however, no concrete archeological evidence of human habitation before European contact.