Cocha Cashu Biological Station
Cocha Cashu Biological Station (Estación Biológica Cocha Cashu or EBCC) is a tropical biological research station located at 11° 54'S and 71° 22'W in Manú National Park, Peru. It was established in 1969-70, predating the founding of its containing national park (est. 1973). Though only 10 km2 in area, the site has provided valuable research. The station is situated on the shore of an oxbow lake, from which it takes its name. "Qucha" (in hispanicized spelling cocha) is the Quechua word for lake. "Cashu" is derived from the English word "cashew" and refers to the shape of the lake.
The area is geographically diverse, consisting of grasslands bordering the Andes, gorges, and plains where climate is more variant and drier. The oxbow lake itself contributes areas of marsh and brushland. This is a nutrient-rich site, the soil consisting of silt and sand, and turnover along the riverbank occurs generally within 1000 years. The annual rainfall average is somewhat over 2000 mm, most of this falling from November to May. A marked dry season is from June to August. These factors combined lend to a relatively rapidly changing landscape.
Those areas which lie outside the path of the Rio Manu's meandering edges have vegetation much older than those closer to the river, but due to common treefall, the forest canopy is low. Much of the forest is only 25–30 meters tall, with a number of trees extending outside this range at 50 meters tall or more. An extensive network of lianas extends across the understory. Patches of bamboo, totaling almost a third of the locality, are marked by a scarcity of trees.
Along with La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica and Barro Colorado Island (BCI) managed by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama, Cocha Cashu is one of the best-studied ecological sites in the tropics. However, unlike La Selva or BCI, Cocha Cashu is in an area minimally impacted by humans, surrounded by millions of hectares of virgin forest, and thus provides critical insights into the organisms and processes found in a healthy, natural tropical rainforest. Over 500 articles, books, and other publications have resulted from field research conducted at Cocha Cashu. Studies related to those done at Cocha Cashu has been conducted at nearby Pakitza, on the same bank of Rio Manu, 21 km ESE. The two areas are very similar in makeup, reside at nearly the same elevation, and are not disconnected to impede species movement.
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