Tesis para optar al grado de Doctor en Estudios Latinoamericanos / No autorizada su publicación a texto completo, según petición de su autor. / Esta investigación realizada entre los años 2009-2013 es de carácter cualitativo. Su objetivo es develar las transformaciones en la intimidad de las familias chilenas y costarricenses de estratos medios. Específicamente, los ámbitos de la intimidad investigados son amor y sexualidad, parentalidad/marentalidad y ámbito doméstico. Se utilizaron como técnicas de recolección de información, la entrevista en profundidad y los grupos de discusión. El análisis de éstos, se realizó a través de análisis de discurso y como forma de validación, se utilizó la saturación de los discursos. En cuanto a los resultados, es posible señalar que en la actualidad coexisten distintas visiones de familia en ambos países, una más apegada a la tradición y otra más liberal que sostiene un discurso más igualitario entre los géneros. Son los adultos mayores quienes están más aferrados a la visión de familia tradicional, sin embargo, sus visiones también permean a las generaciones más jóvenes, especialmente a adultos y adultas de ambos países, quienes sufren más contradicciones en torno a los cambios vividos. Por su parte, los y las jóvenes de ambas sociedades, sostienen discursos más liberales, aunque -en el caso de los hombres- no exentos de imaginarios que refieren a la superioridad masculina y subordinación femenina. Existe una visión más conservadora tanto en hombres como en mujeres costarricenses que en chilenos y chilenas, con una marcada influencia religiosa, y una fuerte connotación machista en las relaciones de amor y sexualidad, así como también en los aspectos inherentes a la crianza y cuidado de los hijos. Especialmente arraigada se encuentra esta visión, en el aspecto de doméstico. Los resultados de la investigación están cruzados por diferencias de género y generacionales, siendo estas últimas las que resaltan.

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There is a paucity of data on dry forests, the most threatened biome in the tropics. The Nandamojo is a tropical dry forest watershed in Western Costa Rica that has been impacted by varying degrees of human induced modifications. This research was conducted to examine the influence of land use and channel characteristics on invertebrate communities within a sub basin of the Nandamojo watershed. This study addressed three hypotheses: (1) sites with low tree cover and small riparian buffer zones will have high erosion, (2) macroinvertebrate abundance will be lower at sites with low channel stability values, and (3) benthic macroinvertebrate abundance will be higher in years of high rainfall and flow regimes. Sites were established along three tributaries, which were surveyed in 2013 and 2015. Data were compared (1) along the length of respective tributaries and their elevation gradients, and (2) between survey years. Although Nandamojo is a mixed land use watershed, two of the four land uses were dominant; pasture and forest. Macroinvertebrate counts were statistically different across survey years and seasons. The abundance of macroinvertebrates was greatest on Tributary 3, where the dominant land use was forest. Regional interannual rainfall is suggested as a driving factor for interannual differences in macroinvertebrate abundance. Although results suggest that this sub basin is in good health, taking preventative action by developing a subbasin management plan is needed. As tropical dry forest is the most threatened forest biome, educating local residents not only about the numerous risks of human induced modifications such as forest to pasture land conversion, but also the corresponding importance of maintaining riverbank vegetation in headwater streams should be a foremost priority.

Swamp-breeding treefrogs form conspicuous components of many tropical forest sites, yet remain largely understudied. The La Selva Biological Station, a rainforest reserve in Costa Rica, harbors a rich swamp-breeding treefrog fauna that has been studied in only one of the many swamps found at the site. To understand if the species composition of treefrogs at La Selva varies over space or time, frogs were censused in 1982-83, 1994-95, 2005 and 2011 at two ponds located in the reserve. Data on treefrog habitat utilization were also collected. Species composition varied spatially only in 2011. Temporal variation was observed at both ponds for all groups tested. Habitat use varied among species and between swamps. The pattern of variation suggests that temporally dynamic systems such as temporary Neotropical forest swamps will converge and diverge in species composition over time.

A high proportion of amphibian species are threatened with extinction globally, and habitat loss and degradation are the most frequently implicated causes. Rapid deforestation for the establishment of agricultural production is a primary driver of habitat loss in tropical zones where amphibian diversity is highest. Land-cover change affects native assemblages, in part, through the reduction of habitat area and the reduction of movement among remnant populations. Decreased gene flow contributes to loss of genetic diversity, which limits the ability of local populations to respond to further environmental changes. The focus of this dissertation is on the degree to which common land uses in Sarapiquí, Costa Rica impede the movement of two common amphibian species. First, I used field experiments, including displacement trials, and a behavioral landscape ecology framework to investigate the resistance of pastures to movement of Oophaga pumilio. Results from experiments demonstrate that pastures do impede movement of O. pumilio relative to forest. Microclimatic effects on movement performance as well as limited perceptual ranges likely contribute to reduced return rates through pastures. Next, I linked local processes to landscape scale estimates of resistance. I conducted experiments to measure habitat-specific costs to movement for O. pumilio and Craugastor bransfodrii, and then used experimental results to parameterize connectivity models. Model validation indicated highest support for resistance estimates generated from responses to land-use specific microclimates for both species and to predator encounters for O. pumilio. Finally, I used abundance and experiment-derived resistance estimates to analyze the effects of prevalent land uses on population genetic structure of the two focal species. While O. pumilio did not exhibit a strong response to landscape heterogeneity and was primarily structured by distances among sites, C. bransfordii genetic variation was explained by resistance estimates from abundance and experiment data. Collectivity, this work demonstrates that common land uses can offer different levels of resistance to amphibian movements in Sarapiquí and illustrates the value of investigating local scales processes to inform interpretation of landscape-scale patterns.

The aim of this diploma thesis is to analyse position of selected Central American countries in the world economy. Selected countries are Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. The thesis is divided into five main chapters. The first chapter provides general information about Central America. The second, third a fourth chapter characterize general and economic information, international trade, foreign direct investments and future possibilities and perspectives of selected countries. In the last part I describe socioeconomic comparison of selected countries.

Peccaries are known to play a significant role in shaping the diversity of habitats and structure of plants in rain forests. However, very little is known about their roles in regulating animal populations. I review the ways peccaries increase disturbance, create habitat diversity, provide resources, act as predators, and might otherwise directly and indirectly affect other animals. To determine effects of simulated peccary extirpation on the detrital food web, I examined the hypotheses that a reduction of peccary density on fenced exclusion plots would cause changes in the amount and quality of leaf litter as habitat for leaf litter reptiles and amphibians. I found that compared to open controls, exclusions had significantly deeper litter and more rapid cellulose decomposition. Exclusions were thus expected to provide more habitat and prey for litter amphibians and reptiles than control plots, but, paradoxically, encounters of reptiles and amphibians were greater on controls.

The relationship between international commerce and sustainable development is the subject of much controversy that is exacerbated by geographic boundaries that are co-jointly developed, shaped, and sustained by regional trade agreements. The outcomes of three Americas trade agreements - NAFTA, CAFTA, and USPTPA - are analyzed across three dimensions: economic, ecological, and labor. The three dimensions collectively form for each trade region a specific ECOL niche that is concurrently subject to national variation. We propose and find that low-ECOL niches in the Americas appear to attract more foreign trade with investment. Nevertheless, this tentative finding seems not to hold for those corporations that seek out strong ECOL niche countries like Costa Rica.

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ABSTRACT TRADITION AND RUPTURE IN THE POETRY OF CARLOS DE LA OSSA FEBRUARY 2009 GUSTAVO ADOLFO CHAVES B.A., UNIVERSITY OF COSTA RICA M.A. UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS-AMHERST Directed by: Professor Márgara Russotto, Ph.D. The present thesis examines the seven poetry books by Costa Rican poet Carlos de la Ossa (San José, 1946) entitled Imprimatur. This author is of one of Costa Rica’s post avant-garde poets who most clearly expresses the coexistence of a traditional lyric style (centered around the themes of love, God and loneliness, for instance) and everyday language (through records of political facts and personal experience) in his poetry. The purpose of this work is to analyze the distinctive features of Carlos de la Ossa’s poetics considering his formal particularities, his aesthetic and ideological sources, and his historical context. We attempt to explain how his poetry presents a mixture of traditional and innovative poetic languages, as well as the importance of this mixture in his poetry. Furthermore, we discuss the relationship of these characteristics with similar literary processes within both the Costa Rican and Latin American poetries. The central hypothesis of this study is that, in the poetry of Carlos de la Ossa, it is possible to identify an organic coexistence of traditional poetic registers with constant appearances of rupture elements. The study identifies a connection between Carlos de la Ossa’s poetry, romantic and existentialist ideas, and modernista aesthetics. In order to meet these objectives, this thesis revisits the literary criticism on the poetry of Carlos de la Ossa, especially the labels applied to his work (such as metaphysical, mystical, difficult and existentialist), and connects it to other studies of the historical context in both Costa Rican and Latin American literature. Methodologically speaking, this thesis presents a theoretical and critical approach based on non-linear categories, and it studies the specific characteristics of the author’s poetry. The methodology consists mainly of a close reading of the poems of Carlos de la Ossa, and a theorization of the sequential character of the Imprimatur books, intended to underline both the traditional and the innovative elements in his poetry and its general significance in contemporary poetics.