LA SELVA, COSTA RICA SUMMER 2011
On the bus from San José to La Selva
On the trail over Cantarrana Swamp
On Thursday, May 26, 2011, Drs Terry McGlynn and John Thomlinson of the Biology Department at California State University Dominguez Hills flew from Los Angeles to San José Costa Rica with eight undergraduate biology students. We all arrived at the La Selva Biological Station the following day, where we were joined by a faculty member from the University of Arizona and an undergraduate from Loyola Marymount University.
The first day was spent on an orientation hike and discussions on the upcoming science. The trip was funded by the National Science Foundation - three students who would be staying all summer and five, who were there for two weeks, under the LS-AMP program.
The three long-term students started working on their own projects, while the LS-AMP students went out in the field each morning to measure vegetation structure at a number of sites around the forest, and they helped the long-term students and other researchers in the afternoons.
Termite nest, site STR 2350
Measuring the vegetation, site SAT 250
The vegetation measurements consisted of ground cover percentage (live and dead matter), vertical vegetation profile, canopy closure, and basal area. These data can then be related to a number of different community properties - this work is to follow.
An example foliage height profile
Death on the forest floor
New life on the forest floor
Howler on the bridge (movie)
Phorid fly trying to parasitize caterpillar (movie)
Going up the canopy tower
The (360°) view from the top
Sponsored by the National Science Foundation Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) Program Grant Number HRD-0802628
