Module 3

University of Ottawa
Ontario Universities Program in Field Biology

Course Title :
Introduction to Tropical Ecosystems
Instructor(s) : David Currie & François Chapleau
Date(s) : Tentatively, Saturday April 28 – Friday May 11.  Exact dates may be a day earlier, or a few days later, depending on flight availability.
Location :

Costa Rica
Cost : Approximately $3500. Final price to be announced in January, depending on the final arrangements and exchange rate with the US dollar.  Includes airfare from Ottawa or Toronto to Costa Rica, and room, board, class activities, and transportation within Costa Rica.  A fixed number of seats will be available from each departure point.  We cannot guarantee that everyone will be able to get the departure point they prefer.  At the time of registration, please indicate whether you prefer to depart from Toronto or Ottawa, or better yet, if you are flexible.
Prerequisites :

One year of university-level introductory biology, and a one-semester course in introductory ecology.

Enrollment : 16 students
Description :

Costa Rica has an amazing array of different tropical ecosystems.  Participants will visit several (four or five) different sites.  These may include upland Atlantic rainforest (near Sarapiquí), primary succession on recent lava flows (Arenál NP), dwarf premontane forest on the edge of the crater of Poás volcano, cloud forest (e.g., Monteverde), seasonally dry forest in Guanacaste, RAMSAR wetland in Palo Verde NP, alpine tundra at Cierro de la Muerte, or mangrove forest and intertidal areas on the Pacific coast.  At each site, we describe and quantify forest structure, and the biodiversity of plants and birds in relation to physical environmental conditions.  Participants will also carry out small studies of animal beheviour and basic ecological theory such as island biogeography. 

Participants must be prepared for moderately strenuous hiking.  Hikes may take several hours, sometimes up steep slopes, in hot, humid weather. 
Evaluation :

Students are required to have read, before the course, Tropical Nature: Life and Death in the Rain Forests of Central and South America by Adrian Forsyth and Ken Miyata (1987).  There will be a quiz on the book, probably en route to Costa Rica (5%).  During the course, students will make an oral presentation on a subject chosen by the student, and prepared in advance of the field work (15%).  A final exam will be written in the field (15%).  Participation (25%).  Two written reports, to be submitted within one month of returning to Canada are also required, based on projects carried out during the course (40%).