Course Syllabus
USAC San Ramón
Costa Rica
Summer I-15
Field Studies on Tropical Conservation
COURSE INFORMATION
1 credits, 400-level, Biology
Prerequisite: general Biology with laboratory
PROFESSOR
Sonia Gamboa Alvarado / marinebiosg@gmail.com / 89866710
OBJETIVES
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Understand the tropical rain forest
FIELD TRIP 1
Where: Estación Biológica La Selva
http://www.ots.ac.cr/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=162&Itemid=348
When: June 6th-7th
Chronogram:
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Saturday June 6th:
7: 00 pm: Night hike
7:00 am: We leave form Central Park. San Ramón.
Bring breakfast
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9:30 am: Arrival to La Selva
Sunday June 7th
9:00 am: Observation of organisms, diversity study
and answering questions
7: 00 am: Breakfast
12:00 pm: Lunch
8: 00 am : We leave for a boat trip in Sarapiqui
river
1: 30 pm: Natural history guided hike
12: 00 pm: Lunch
5: 00 pm: Free time
1:
6: 00 pm : Dinner
00
pm:
back
to
San
Ramón
What to bring
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Breakfast for Saturday
Rain jacket or poncho
Rubber boots (USAC can provide)
Flashlight (very important) and extra batteries
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Comfortable walking shoes
Long pants
Socks
Personal Hygiene products (soap-shampoo etc…)
Umbrella
Pencils (at least 2 regular pencils )
Eraser
Field note book (students should take notes all the time)
Mosquito Repellent
Sunblock
Light, comfortable clothes (expect warm and humid weather)
Snacks
Water bottle
Hat
Small backpack, fanny pack or similar
plastic bags to keep film/paper dry
Recommended :
Binoculars
Camera
Lodging and main meals are covered by the course but bring some extra money to buy water and other
individual needs.
If you have any specific medical condition, bring your medicine and tell the professor about it
Evaluation:
I field trip: 50 %
(20% participation, 30 % report)
Report
Answer the answer the attached questionnaire and email it to: marinebiosg@gmail.com before Monday June
15th
Introduction:
1- Describe the biological characteristics of La Selva Biological station
2- Describe the OTS, the main goal and facilities
3- We are going to do the same exercise of diversity of insects that we did on San Ramón, in 2 different
places in la Selva
a. What is organisms did you observed in the leaf litter?, in each of the places
b. What is your Shannon index for each place?
c. How do you explain the different results?
d. How do you explain the differences between la Selva and San Ramón?
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Natural history guided hiking:
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What are the main characteristics of a rain forest
Which organisms did you observed during the hike (plants and animals)
Describe some of the research projects that happen in La Selva related with conservation
What is the function of the canopy towers
What is the biological importance of La Selva
Describe what kind of land use there is around La Selva and the effects that these uses can have in a
protected area
7- Select 3 species of plants and include their name and how people used it or use to use this plant
8- Select 3 organisms form La Selva (plants or animals) that can be vulnerable because of human activities.
Night hike
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What organisms did you observed during the night that didn´t observed during the day
How do you describe the differences of hiking in the day vs. the night?
Boat trip
1- Explain the importance of these activities like boat trips and rafting in relationship with conservation?
2- What organisms you were able to observe from the boat
Conclusions
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What did you learned about biodiversity in this trip?
What did you learned about conservation in this trip?
What was our favorite organism and explain why?
Finally provided any feedback and recommendations that we can use for future trips.
DISABILITY POLICY
Every effort will be made to accommodate students with disabilities or special learning needs. If you have a
documented disability for which you have already requested accommodations through the USAC Central office,
your teacher will have been notified so that arrangements can be made early in the term.
ACADEMIC HONESTY POLICY
Plagiarism, cheating, submitting work of another person or work previously used and other forms of academic
dishonesty will lead to lowered course grades, failure of the course or more severe measures, depending on
judgments of the gravity of the individual case.
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