Introduction to Tropical Ecosystems
Not offered in 2010
Dr.
Gabriel Blouin-Demers
Department of Biology
University of Ottawa
337 Gendron, 30 Marie-Curie
Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5
Phone:
613-562-5800 x6749
Fax: 613-562-5486
Email Web |
Dr.
David Currie
Department of Biology
University of Ottawa
351 Gendron , 30 Marie-Curie
Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5
Phone:
613-562-5800 x6355
Fax: 613-562-5486
Email Web |
Thank
you for deciding to take our field course. The course will be
offered from 10 to 24 February 2009 in Costa Rica. This website should
provide all the information that you will require. Please do
not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
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Course description
This
course provides students with an introduction to major tropical ecosystems
in Costa Rica. Costa Rica is unusual in having
local protected areas that represent biomes from Mexico to the Amazon.
Typically, we visit 4-5 areas that represent the major ecosystems in Costa Rica (see below for a list of the sites). We should be able to see numerous tropical birds
and a good selection of neotropical mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and
arthropods. Concepts of animal behaviour, diversity, tropical nutrient
cycling, plant-animal interactions, tropical agriculture, etc. are emphasized.
Opportunities for brief field projects include behavioural observations
on animals, plant-insect interactions, diversity studies, chemical ecology,
plant taxonomy, and aquatic ecology. We also do class projects in animal
behaviour and biodiversity. Those projects form the basis for the reports
to be submitted after the course. Each student is asked to research
a specific topic before the beginning of the course and she/he makes
a presentation to the class on the subject and leads discussions on these
topics during the course.
A
valid passport is required. If you are not a Canadian citizen,
you may require a visa to enter Costa Rica; please check with the
Costa Rican consulate. Students MUST contact
their physician regarding inoculations, allergies, medication, and other
health issues. Students MUST familiarize
themselves with the risks of travel abroad (very
carefully read our advice
for travel abroad). Students MUST
be fit: we have very long days
(up at 500-600h and down at 2200-2400h) and we hike in hilly terrain
under very hot (and often wet). For example, we have hiked up a volcano (7 km and 800 elevation up, 7 km and 800 m elevation down); it was 34C and sunny at the bottom and 10C and pouring rain at the top.
Logistics
Typically, we require one travel day on our bus getting
to the park or reserve and making brief visits along the way. During
travel, we have an opportunity to see typical examples of tropical agriculture
and agroforestry as well as some ecosystems that we will visit only briefly
(e.g., high altitude paramo). We often use this 'free bus time' for presentations.
After arriving at the site, a day is spent walking the trails to observe
wildlife and vegetation. Identification is undertaken with appropriate
field guides. The
third day is spent undertaking field ecology studies (see evaluation below).
Itinerary
The following will
be close to our itinerary, but the details may change somewhat, depending
on the availability of hotels. You can view slide shows of photographs from previous
trips. You may find this map of Costa Rica useful to follow the itinerary.
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2005
Costa Rica (4 MB, 3 min, canción "Hasta siempre" por el Buena Vista Social Club): Pictures from OUPFB field course in Costa Rica.
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2007
Costa Rica (5 MB, 3 min, canción "El carretero" por el Bueana Vista Social Club): Pictures from OUPFB field course in Costa Rica.
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Canada
to San José in the morning and visit National Museum in the afternoon. |
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Drive 5 h to Rincon de la Vieja National Park and visit park in afternoon. |
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All day in Rincon de la Vieja National Park. |
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Drive 1 h to Junquillai Beach and work on the beach in the morning, the drive 2 h to La Pacifica. |
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All day in Palo Verde National Park. |
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Fieldwork at La Pacifica in the morning and then drive 3 h to Santa Elena. |
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Visit Monteverde reserve in the morning, and do canopy walk in the afternoon. |
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Visit Monteverde reserve in the morning and then drive 4.5 h to Arenal. |
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Fieldwork at Rancho Margot all day. |
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Fieldwork at Rancho Margot in the morning, visit Ecothermales hot springs in the afternoon. |
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Drive 4.5 h to Carara National Park and visit park in the afternoon. |
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Beach work in the morning, fieldwork in Punta Leona in the afternoon. |
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Fieldwork in Punta Leona in the morning, then drive 2.5 h to San José. |
Day
14 |
Visit Irazu volcano in the morning and Tapanti National Park in the afternoon. |
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Return
to Canada. |
Sites that are often visited during this course (4-5 in a given year)
| Parque Nacional Rincon de la Vieja |
One of the most beautiful parks in Costa Rica. The park derives its name from the 9-crater volcano that shapes its topography. The park goes from 600 to nearly 2000 m in elevation, which produces drastic changes in vegetation and offers amazing vistas. We find dry forest up to about 1200 m and then wet forest between 1200 and 1400 m. Above 1400 m is a tropical tundra that is called paramo. The park is situated in the hot and dry Guanacaste province. |
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Reserva
La Pacifica
Parque
Nacional Palo Verde |
Deciduous
forest typical of the Pacific slope north to Mexico where the dry
season is 4-7 months in length. This area is a hot and dry which
provides an opportunity for observing insects, iguanas, and howler
monkeys. Bird life is concentrated in marsh areas of Palo Verde
during the dry season. The park is situated in the hot and dry Guanacaste province. |
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| Monteverde |
Home
to the famous World Wildlife Fund reserve. A high altitude
cloud forest marked by abundant epiphytes, epiphylls, and other
species adapted to the high humidity, cool environment. It is
home to well publicized species like the resplendent Quetzal
(we might see it) and golden frog (probably extinct). We will
have an opportunity to visit the WWF reserve, work in the Santa
Elena reserve and enter the forest canopy through a canopy walkway
system. |
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| Parque
Nacional Carara |
Lowland
semi-evergreen tropical forest of the Pacific slope with a short
dry season and long wet season. It has high diversity and many
animals including parrots, crocodiles, sloths and several
species of monkeys, including white-faced capucins. |
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| Rio
Sierpe |
An
opportunity to see an impressive mangrove forest and crocodiles.
This river marks the transition between the dry north and the
wet south of Costa Rica. |
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| Parque
Nacional Corcovado |
Spectacular protected area
of lowland tropical evergreen rainforest characterized by Amazonian
species with enormous primary rainforest trees.
Research projects will be undertaken at Corcovado. |
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Parque
Nacional de la Isla Cano |
Cano island is a marine island
with a distinct flora, coastal ecosystems, and aboriginal sites.
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What
to bring
Transportation,
beds, and three meals per day will be provided. The food is good and
filing, but simple and not very diverse (lots of rice and beans). The
fruits are outstanding. Often, there are hot showers and modern toilets,
but not always. Be warned that accomodations in the tropics regularly
do not meet 'North American Standards'. You will find creatures (e.g.,
lizards, insects, frogs, scorpions) sharing your space. It is part
of the charm of travelling abroad...
Be prepared to work
in all types of weather because we will experience the extremes: it
will be 40C and sunny in Guanacaste, 35C and rainy in Monteverde, and
5C and cloudy in the paramo. You must provide your own:
- Toiletry
items (soap, toothbrush, etc.)
- Insect
repellent and sun screen
- Alarm
clock
- Flashlight/headlamp
(with extra batteries)
- Binoculars
- Hiking
boots/shoes
- Clothing
for hot/cold/dry/wet weather
- Bathing
suit
- Any
required medications
- A
hardcover field book that is easy to carry in hand
- Pens
and pencils (ink runs when it gets wet and your field book
will most likelty get wet)
- Although
not absolutely essential, we recommand that you bring a camera
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Punta Marenco Lodge
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You may find Gabriel's packing list useful.
Advance reading
There
is no mandatory textbook. We will provide you with most of the basic
concepts and theories in lecture and this will be supplemented with
presentations. David has prepared a handout that you should print and bring with you to Costa Rica. This handout will help illustrate the informal lectures.
If you would like to get an advance flavour for
travel in tropical ecosystems, below is a selection of books about Costa Rica that we have found interesting and useful. We will bring some of them as reference material on the course. There are several other recent books on
Costa Rican ecology as well.
- Beletsky L. 2004. Costa Rica (Traveller's Wildlife Guides). Arris Books.
- Forsyth A & K Miyata. 1984. Tropical Nature. Charles Scribner’s Sons.
- Forsyth A. 1987. Tropical Nature: Life and Death in the Rain Forests of Central and South America. Touchstone.
- Guyer C & Donnelly MA. 2005. Amphibians and Reptiles of La Selva, Costa Rica, and the Caribbean Slope. University of California Press.
- Henderson CL. 2002. Field Guide to the Wildlife of Costa Rica. University of Texas Press.
- Hervé-Bazin C. 2004. Costa Rica. JPM Publications. (en français)
- Janzen DH. 1983. Costa Rican Natural History. University of Chicago Press.
- Leenders T. 2001. A Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles of Costa Rica. Zona Tropical Publications.
- Savage JM. 2005. The Amphibians and Reptiles of Costa Rica: A Herpetofauna between Two Continetns, between Two Seas. The University of Chicago Press.
- Sánchez-Vindas P, Poveda Alvarez LJ & Arnason JT. 2005. Guía Dendrológica Costarricense. Heredia.
- Solórzano A. 2004. Serpientes de Costa Rica: Distribución, Taxonomía e Historia Natural / Snakes of Costa Rica: Distribution, Taxonomy, and Natural History. INBio.
- Stiles FG, Skutch AF & Gardner D. 1989. A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica. Cornell University Pres.
- Whitmore TC. 1998. An Introduction to Tropical Rain Forests, Second Edition. Oxford University Press.
Cost
and Registration
The
total course cost is $3800 if you are leaving from Toronto and $4000 if you are leaving from Ottawa. All cheques should be made
out to the University of Ottawa.
The
cost of the course covers food, lodging, local transportation in
Costa Rica, San José airport tax, and return airfare from Ottawa or Toronto. The exact cost
always depends upon the final airfare, the Canadian-U.S. dollar exchange
rate (prices in Costa Rica are quoted in U.S. dollars), and local
lodging costs. The cost of this trip is high relative to some others
in tropical systems because we will visit many different systems,
rather than remain in one place. We work hard to keep costs as low
as possible. Students should specify whether they prefer to leave from
Toronto or Ottawa. Once air tickets have been purchased, no refund
is possible because tickets are issued to each indiviudal, not for
the group.
In
addition, everybody should sign the University of Ottawa waiver
form and fill the emergency contact
form and return them to Dr Blouin-Demers with the balance payments.
Evaluation
Updated
14-Déc-2009 12:25
