4/9/08 Written while sitting in a meeting in San Jose, Costa Rica after spending a day, hiking and soaring via aerial tram through the tropical rain forest.

The tropical rain forest is so rich (rain, sun, temperature) that much food is available for life. Finding food is not really a limiting factor as in other, harser climates. Due to this richness, many many species are trying to live in the tropical rain forest. The challenge to survival is not the limited availability of resources but rather the competition for those resources by other species. Competition is so fierce in every possible ecological niche.