SYLLABUS
FOR 295 (3 credits)
Tropical Forest Ecology: Diversity, Structure, and Function
CE Study Abroad Course in Costa Rica
UVM J-term, Sat., Dec. 28, 2013-Sat., Jan. 11, 2014
http://learn.uvm.edu/study-abroad/study-abroad-programs/costa-rica-tropical-forest-ecology/
Co-instructors: Bryan Foster, Ph.D.
bryancfoster1@gmail.com
Susan Moegenburg, Ph.D.
susan.moegenburg@uvm.edu
PREREQUISITES:
BCOR 102 (Ecology and Evolution), or ENVS 151 (Intermediate Environmental Studies), or
NR 103 (Ecology, Ecosystems, and Environment)
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course will provide a foundation in tropical forest ecology primarily for undergraduate juniors
or seniors. Graduate students and sophomores may also enroll with permission from the
instructors.
This course is intended for those who have a serious interest in field-based tropical forest
ecology. This course is neither a recreational course traveling through Costa Rica nor a multi- or
interdisciplinary course regarding tropical forest conservation.
The course will be based at two world-class Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS) stations in
wet tropical forests with an average of 4000mm precipitation per year and temperatures
averaging between 20-25 degrees C: Las Cruces (300 HA, 1000 masl) and La Selva (1600 HA,
35 masl). Internet is available in the main buildings at both stations and healthy food is served
three times per day.
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
Students who take this course should expect to obtain concrete knowledge during the course
including: understanding how tropical forests are defined; identifying a number of tropical trees to
the family level; understanding plant-plant and plant-animal interactions; understanding the 3/2
power law of self-thinning; understanding the relationship between successional trajectories and
disturbances; and gaining the skills to develop and test hypotheses regarding carbon storage in
multi-species forests.
The first week of the course in Las Cruces led by Susan Moegenburg will include a visit to
Amistad National Park (Las Alturas Biological Station) and the Wilson Botanical Garden. This
section of the course will also include a dendrology short course focused on identifying primarily
trees to the family level led by OTS dendrologists.
Week 1: Composition and structure of tropical forests
(a) tropical life zone and ecosystem classification;
(b) variations in tropical community types based on climate, topography, soils and disturbance
history;
(c) tropical tree and plant identification to the family level;
(d) origin, maintenance and scales of tropical forest diversity;
(e) plant-plant community interactions including mutualism and competition; and
(f) plant-animal community interactions including defense, herbivory, pollination, and seed
dispersal.
The second week of the course in La Selva led by Bryan Foster will include a canopy tower tour,
boat ride in Rio Sarapiqui, night walk, and evening lectures by researchers at La Selva. This
section of the course will involve extensive field data collection regarding forest carbon
sequestration in the Huertos single and mixed species plantation plots.
Week 2: Structure and function of tropical forests
(a) self-thinning and size-density relationships
(b) tropical forest successional trajectories
(c) biogeochemical cycling in tropical forests
(d) net primary productivity
(e) field hypothesis generation, data collection and data analysis on carbon storage
GRADING:
Quizzes: 25%
Midterm exam: 25%
Final exam: 25%
Laboratory assignment and field dendrology quiz: 25%
Graduate level credit will reduce these percentages to 20% and add a graded research paper.
STUDENT BEHAVIOR:
Since the course is only two weeks for three credits, students are expected to attend all lectures
and evening talks and to actively participate in all class activities and laboratories, absent of
legitimate medical excuses.
This course is drug and alcohol free for its entirety from leaving the U.S. to returning to the U.S.
In addition, students are expected to be polite and respectful citizens to one another, and to
everyone with whom they interact in Costa Rica.
Students are expected to follow the UVM Code of Academic Integrity. All work for this course
must be the original work of the student and students may not cheat or plagiarize.
Violations of this student behavior code will result in penalties ranging from a verbal warning from
the instructors to an immediate return to the U.S. at the student’s expense, depending on the
frequency and severity of the transgression.
INSTRUCTOR BIOS:
Bryan Foster is an expert on forest management and carbon certification systems. He earned a
master’s degree at Yale University and his Ph.D. at the Rubenstein School of the Environment
and Natural Resources at UVM. He has travelled widely (primarily neotropics, secondarily
paleotropics) auditing and developing forest carbon projects.
Susan Moegenburg has studied the ecological sustainability of managing Amazonian forests for
non-timber forest products and is an expert on the açaí palm. She earned her Ph.D. at the
University of Florida, and is a lecturer at Rubenstein School of the Environment and Natural
Resources at UVM. She took a graduate course with the Organization for Tropical Studies in
Costa Rica and conducted her doctoral research in Brazil.
Date
Sat., Dec. 28
Morning
Travel individually to
JFK airport, NYC,
USA
ITINERARY
Afternoon
Fly together to San
Jose, Costa Rica.
American Airlines JFK
to SJO (3:45 PM to
8:25 PM)
Stay at Hotel Catcs in
San Jose
Reading
Pre-course reading will include
selections from:
Naturalist in Nicaragua by
Thomas Belt, Tropical Nature by
Adrian Forsyth, The Cloud
Forest by Peter Matthiessen, and
Walking the Amazon by Ed
Stafford.
Montagnini and Jordan 2005:
Chapter 2: Characteristics of
tropical forests
Montagnini and Jordan 2005:
Chapter 3: Classification of
tropical forests
Ghazoul, J. and Sheil 2010
Chapter 7: Many rain forests:
formations and ecotones
Kricher, 2011: Chapter 1, What
and where are the tropics
Sun., Dec. 29
Travel to Las Cruces
OTS station via van
Orientation walk
Mon., Dec. 30
Ground transfer to
Las Alturas remote
OTS research station
in La Amistad
international park
Tues., Dec. 31
Lecture:
Tropical biodiversity
origin and
maintenance
Lecture:
Tropical forest
classification and
characteristics:
rainforests, dry
forests,
montane/cloud
forests, and flood
plain/gallery forests.
Afternoon field walk to
illustrate lecture
principals
Ghazoul, J. and Sheil 2010
Chapter 8: So many species, so
many theories
Kricher, 2011: Chapter 2,
Biogeography and evolution in
the tropics
Kricher, 2011: Chapter 4, Inside
tropical rain forests, biodiversity
Weds., Jan. 1
Ground transfer back
to Las Cruces
OTS guest lecture
and practicum on tree
dendrology
Kricher, 2011: Chapter 5, A
study in biodiversity, rainforest
tree species richness
Selections from: Zomlefer, 1994,
Gentry, 1996, and SanchezVindas et al., 2005
Thurs., Jan 2
OTS guest lecture
and practicum on tree
dendrology
OTS guest lecture
and practicum on tree
dendrology
Selections from: Zomlefer, 1994,
Gentry, 1996, and SanchezVindas et al., 2005
Friday, Jan. 3
Morning field exam on
tropical tree
dendrology in Wilson
botanical garden
TBD
Sat., Jan. 4
Lecture:
Plant-plant
interactions
Guest lecture by Dr.
Zak Zahawi, OTS:
Reproductive ecology
and its use in
restoration
(pollination, seed and
fruit production and
dispersal)
Lecture:
Plant-animal
interactions
Sun., Jan. 5
Ground transfer
toward La Selva
Monday, Jan. 6
Early morning birding
walk with guides at
Albergue Mirador
(oak forest with
bamboo understory,
transitioning into
paramo habitat with
stunted vegetation at
high elevations)
Tues., Jan. 7
Lecture:
Self-thinning sizedensity relationships
and impact on tropical
forest structure
Lecture:
Tropical forests over
time and space:
Succesional dynamics
and disturbance
histories
Weds., Jan. 8
OTS field assistant
Orlando Vargas
provides intro to lay-
Albergue Mirador de
Quetzales
(Pharmachrus
mocinno) Carretera
Interamericana Sur
Km 70, Cartago, CR
Arrival at La Selva
OTS station
Introduction to OTS
station by Carlos Luis
de La Rosa, PhD.,
director
Boat ride in Rio
Sarapiqui
Lecture:
Biogeochemical
cycling in tropical
forests
Lecture:
Net primary
productivity, carbon
fluxes and stocks, and
climate change
impacts on forests
Leigh, Jr. ,E. G. 1999. Chapter 7:
The seasonal rhythms of fruiting
and leaf flush and the regulation
of animal communities
Take mid-term exam in evening
Summaries of current research
in La Selva including: Carbono
landscape-scale net primary
productivity, Ecos species effects
on carbon balances, Team
biodiversity/ecosystem function,
Towers leaf area and
photosynthesis, and Trees
annual growth and survivorship
Kricher, 2011: Chapter 3, Inside
tropical rain forests: Structure
Kricher, 2011: Chapter 6, A
Shifting Mosaic: Rain Forest
Development and Dynamics
Kricher, 2011: Chapter 9, Carbon
Flux and Climate Change in
Tropical Ecosystems
Leigh, Jr. E.G. 1999.
Chapter 6: Biomass and
productivity of tropical forests
Begin data collection
of carbon storage in
multi and single
Guest evening lecture: Diego
Salazar Amoretti, Ph.D.,
University of Missouri-St. Louis,
Janzen-McConnell hypothesis
and herbivory on dominant shrub
Summaries of Huertos plots
research
out of OTS trail
system and guidance
in conducting
research data at OTS
Thurs., Jan. 9
Fri., Jan. 10
Sat., Jan. 11
OTS field assistant
Ricardo Bedoya
provides introduction
to Huertos plots in the
field
Continued data
collection
Presentation of lab
group results
Fly together to JFK,
New York, USA
American Airlines JFK
to SJO (9:20 AM to
3:25 PM)
species Huertos plots
Guest evening lecture: Erin
Kuprewicz, Ph.D., The effects of
large terrestrial mammals on
seed fates, hoarding, and
seedling survival in a Costa
Rican rain forest
Data analysis
Night naturalist walk
Tree canopy tower
climb
Ground transfer to San Jose to
stay in Hotel Catcs
Take final exam on
plane