Laguna de Apoyo Nature Reserve (Spanish: Reserva Natural Laguna de Apoyo) is a nature reserve

Nature reserve

A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...

 located between the departments of Masaya

Masaya (department)

Masaya is a department in Nicaragua. It is the country's smallest department by area and has a population of 317,500 . The capital is the city of Masaya.-Municipalities:# Catarina# La Concepción# Masatepe# Masaya# Nandasmo...

 and Granada

Granada (department)

Granada is a department in Nicaragua. It covers an area of 929 km² and has a population of 190,600 . The capital is the city of Granada, one of North America's oldest cities- Municipalities :# Diria# Diriomo# Granada# Nandaime...

 in Nicaragua

Nicaragua

Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...

. Lake Apoyo was declared a nature reserve in 1991 and is managed by the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (MARENA) and comprises one of 78 protected areas of Nicaragua.

Flora and fauna

The reserve houses a tropical dry forest

Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests

The tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest biome, also known as tropical dry forest, is located at tropical and subtropical latitudes. Though these forests occur in climates that are warm year-round, and may receive several hundred centimeters of rain per year, they have long dry seasons...

 ecosystem

Ecosystem

An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....

, within the reserve the flora

Flora

Flora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animals is fauna.-Etymology:...

 consists of over 500 species of plants and tropical dry trees, such as pochote, black rosewood, mahogany

Mahogany

The name mahogany is used when referring to numerous varieties of dark-colored hardwood. It is a native American word originally used for the wood of the species Swietenia mahagoni, known as West Indian or Cuban mahogany....

, hogplum

Spondias

Spondias is a genus of flowering plants in the cashew family, Anacardiaceae. The genus consists of 17 described species, 7 of which are native to the Neotropics and about 10 are native to tropical Asia...

 and guacuco, as well as a large variety and amount of orchids. The fauna

Fauna

Fauna or faunæ is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess shale fauna"...

 consists of mammals such as Variegated Squirrel

Variegated Squirrel

The variegated squirrel is a tree squirrel in the genus Sciurus endemic to Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, southern Mexico, Nicaragua, and Panama.-Subspecies:In alphabetical order except for nominate species....

s, opossums, anteater

Anteater

Anteaters, also known as antbear, are the four mammal species of the suborder Vermilingua commonly known for eating ants and termites. Together with the sloths, they compose the order Pilosa...

s, pacas, jaguarundis, Howler

Howler monkey

Howler monkeys are among the largest of the New World monkeys. Fifteen species are currently recognised. Previously classified in the family Cebidae, they are now placed in the family Atelidae. These monkeys are native to South and Central American forests...

 and White-faced Capuchin monkey

Monkey

A monkey is a primate, either an Old World monkey or a New World monkey. There are about 260 known living species of monkey. Many are arboreal, although there are species that live primarily on the ground, such as baboons. Monkeys are generally considered to be intelligent. Unlike apes, monkeys...

s. As well as a variety of reptiles such as green iguana

Green Iguana

The Green Iguana or Common Iguana is a large, arboreal herbivorous species of lizard of the genus Iguana native to Central and South America...

s and common boas. Over 200 species of birds have been documented in the reserve, oropendola

Oropendola

The oropendolas comprise two or three genera of South and Central American passerine birds in the New World blackbird family.All the oropendolas are large birds with pointed bills, and long tails which are always at least partially bright yellow...

s, falcon

Falcon

A falcon is any species of raptor in the genus Falco. The genus contains 37 species, widely distributed throughout Europe, Asia, and North America....

s, hummingbird

Hummingbird

Hummingbirds are birds that comprise the family Trochilidae. They are among the smallest of birds, most species measuring in the 7.5–13 cm range. Indeed, the smallest extant bird species is a hummingbird, the 5-cm Bee Hummingbird. They can hover in mid-air by rapidly flapping their wings...

s, and 65 species of migratory birds are present. Two-hundred twenty species of butterflies have been documented in the reserve, including 25 first records for Nicaragua and dozens of mollusks. Lake Apoyo also contains a variety of fish

Fish

Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...

 species, including six species of mojarras

Amphilophus citrinellus

Amphilophus citrinellus is a large cichlid fish endemic to the San Juan River and adjacent watersheds in Costa Rica and Nicaragua. In the aquarium trade A. citrinellus is often sold under the trade name of Midas cichlid. A. citrinellus are omnivorous and their diet consists of plant material,...

, which are to be found exclusively in the lagoon. One of these species is the arrow cichlid (Amphilophus zaliosus), discovered in 1976. Three additional species were discovered in 2008, by the multinational research team directed by the Nicaraguan NGO, FUNDECI/GAIA, which manages a research station on the shore of the lake. Two additional species were discovered in 2010.

Tourism

Lake Apoyo attracts tourists with various tourist attractions such as dark sand beach

Beach

A beach is a geological landform along the shoreline of an ocean, sea, lake or river. It usually consists of loose particles which are often composed of rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles or cobblestones...

es for swimming, kayaking, hiking, SCUBA diving, birdwatching, paragliding

Paragliding

Paragliding is the recreational and competitive adventure sport of flying paragliders: lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched glider aircraft with no rigid primary structure...

, boating

Boating

Boating is the leisurely activity of travelling by boat, or the recreational use of a boat whether powerboats, sailboats, or man-powered vessels , focused on the travel itself, as well as sports activities, such as fishing or water skiing...

, and nature

Nature

Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general...

. Recently, petroglyphs and artifacts

Artifact (archaeology)

An artifact or artefact is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest"...

 of indigenous peoples

Indigenous peoples

Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....

have been found in the reserve. Strict laws limiting human activity exist in the reserve, and several residential construction projects have been stopped and many landowners have been engaged in legal processes by the Ministry of Natural Resources inside the Reserve, in accordance with the laws regarding Nature Reserves in Nicaragua

External links

• FUNDECI/GAIA
• Laguna de Apoyo Nature Reserve blog
• In Defense of Nature
• AMICTLAN.com Asociación de Municipios Integrados por la Cuenca y Territorios de la Laguna de Apoyo de Nicaragua.
• Posada de la Abuela, Hotel at the Lagoon
• (http://www.elnuevodiario.com.ni/nacionales/13115) 'Hallan nuevas mojarras (El Nuevo Diario, 14 April 2008)'