Turtles, cats, and restoration on the Osa peninsula

We're wrapping up a week-long excursion to the coast, culminating in a four - day stay at the Piro Biological Station on the Osa peninsula. Here we have had a chance to patrol beaches for turtle nests, help gather and analyze motion-sensor camera data for big cats and their prey, and hike in old growth rainforest. Tomorrow we trek back to Mastatal for our last week of the course!

Costa Rica Field Studies - Winter 2015

Ready for adventure in Alajuela

Hiking in Mastatal












Off to a good start to our month-long Neotropical field ecology course in Costa Rica! Participating in this year's course are ten students from both the Tacoma and the Seattle campuses; after several days in the highlands in the coffee-growing area of Tarrazu, we are now settled in the farming community of  Mastatal, nestled in the rainforest below La Cangreja National Park on the Pacific slope. Students are hard at work on their independent research projects - this year they include studies on frog/toad, spider, and ant diversity, water quality assays of local rivers, and the anti-microbial properties of leaf-cutting ants. We are spending a few weeks here before heading to the coast and then further south to the Osa peninsula, after which we'll spend our final week in late February here wrapping up research projects and giving presentations on results. More updates to follow!



Tour of CoopeDota coffee mill

Preparing for tree planting, Los Altos de Copey de Dota

At the "lab", Rancho Mastatal



Rancho Mastatal




Blue-crowsned motmot