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OBFS Conference 2023 held at La Selva Andres Mendez, Marketing & Communications Manager
(Photo: Phillipe Cohen) |
This year OTS had the pleasure of co-organizing and hosting the 58th Annual Meeting of the Organization of Biological Field Stations (OBFS). For over a week, La Selva Research Station was full of workshops, presentations, plenaries, tours, and more than 160 people from 12 different countries who are passionate about field stations. Instead of writing a normal recap of the event, I want to highlight my impressions of the event as a first-time participant and a community “outsider.”
A highly passionate community. After five days and many conversations, I can assure you that the OBFS community loves what it does. I cannot describe how rewarding it was to see how freely each and every person shared their knowledge, experience, and capabilities to achieve the common goal of support for the community – just because they love what they do, the stations, and promoting science.
Integral approach. I have never imagined the number of conversations that could revolve around field stations. Although it was impossible to attend to all of them, the meetings I did attend prompted discussions about virtual field stations; human resource management; donors and fundraising; cultural and indigenous heritage; and diversity, equity and inclusion; among many others. That showed the integrality of the event as well as the varying approaches that a group can have related to the broader topic.
Human touch. If the warmth of midday temperatures at La Selva was not enough, the warmth emanating from interactions among conference participants was amazing. Every person was open to sharing their story, no matter the field of work, age, or language. I am sure that this opened the door to new projects and joint initiatives. However, the most valuable thing from my perspective was meeting so many people working in communications and outreach, making sure our work is heard and publicized. That, in particular, made me feel like there was a place for me in OBFS, and I am sure that others felt the same.
The conference was an amazing experience! The photos and stories are there to prove it. Nonetheless, I am anticipating joint initiatives and projects as a result of the meeting in the next couple of months. And why not? Hopefully, I will be able to meet with the OBFS community in South Carolina for the next meeting! |
Touring South Africa with OTS Guest Contributor: Michael Breed, Professor Emeritus, University of Colorado Boulder (Photo: Carlos Silva) |
Have you sent your child or one of your students on an OTS study abroad program? Have you been working at one of the research stations when an OTS study abroad program was at the station? Or, maybe you’ve just seen a program advertisement and thought, “If only this had been an option when I was student…”
Seventeen very fortunate participants, all older than the typical undergraduate, had the opportunity in August to sample the OTS experience in South Africa, spending seven nights in Kruger National Park and four nights in Cape Town. The trip, hosted by OTS stalwart Laurence Kruger, Director of the South Africa program, gave parents of course alumni, faculty from U.S. universities, and ardent naturalists the experience of a lifetime in South African National Parks (SANParks) as well as a window into the extraordinary adventure provided to OTS study abroad students.
At Skukuza, the site of the OTS research station, participants were treated to an overview of OTS South Africa programs, of OTS’ partnership with SANParks, and tours of the OTS facilities. Most importantly, game drives into the surrounding areas of the park yielded numerous sightings of giraffes, hippos, zebras, elephants, impala, kudu, and too many bird species to list. OTS South Africa operations serve as an incubator, not just for engaging African students in academia, but also for encouraging entrepreneurship. The occasion of this trip allowed a catering business, launched by OTS former staff, to showcase its work, providing excellent meals during the program in Kruger. Seeing the astounding richness of wildlife in the park was extremely rewarding but also an important reminder of the crucial nature of conservation efforts and the significance of the role of OTS in training future conservation biologists, as well as the noteworthy impacts of OTS staff on sustaining conservation efforts through work at the research stations. Predator sightings included lions, leopards, hyenas, and crocodiles. We were treated to the sight of a leopard lounging in a tree and a group of three sleeping lions, perhaps satiated by a large meal.
After three nights at Skukuza, the group moved north in the park to Mopani Rest Camp for a two-night stay, then to Shingwedzi Rest Camp, and finally to Olifants Rest Camp. The camps feature clusters of bungalows that provide very comfortable accommodations. Mopani overlooks the Tsende River, giving a beautiful view of a valley occupied by abundant wildlife including elephants, hippos, and buffalo.
One day was spent driving north to Crooks Corner, so named because outlaws could come here to choose among South Africa, Mozambique, or Zimbabwe, depending on which police they were evading. These countries' borders come together here along a delightful stretch of the Limpopo River. This drive also featured baobab trees and a stop at the Thulamela iron age cultural site. The last night in Kruger, at Olifants Rest Camp, was a group favorite as this is one of the most beautiful camps. Outstanding river views and abundant wildlife capped off our week in Kruger National Park.
Our first day in Cape Town featured a journey to West Coast National Park, which was in full spring bloom. The fynbos landscape has the highest plant species richness outside the tropics and enthralled the group with its diversity and beauty. The park includes pristine beaches and a rugged shoreline. Next up was Table Mountain National Park and the Cape Point Nature Reserve. A real highlight was a stop in Simon’s Town to visit a beach populated by African penguins.
Our travels featured the beauty and drama of nature in Africa but also made us mindful of the critical importance of OTS and its programs in championing conservation, environmental education, and the wise use of natural resources. Michael Breed was a researcher at La Selva from the 1970s to the early 2000s, served as a member of the La Selva Advisory Committee, and was a member of the OTS Board of Directors, which he chaired for two years. His daughter participated in the OTS South Africa program while she was student at Colby College. |
It is with heavy hearts that we share the passing of the following esteemed members of the OTS community. |
José Ángel "Tosti" Sánchez Ruiz
Guest contributor: Carissa Ganong, Assistant Professor, Missouri Western State University, and Coordinator, OTS-LSAMP REU at La Selva (Photo: Carissa Ganong)
José Ángel "Tosti" Sánchez Ruiz passed away on September 15, 2023, in an auto accident in Montana, where he was a Ph.D. student in ecology in the Cross Lab at Montana State University. Tosti was a 2014 participant in the OTS-LSAMP Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program, based at La Selva, while he was an undergraduate at the University of Puerto Rico. He returned to La Selva in 2019 as the REU teaching assistant. He was an outstanding field biologist, an exceptional student, and colleague who was always ready to lend a helping hand and make new friends. He will be remembered for his ready smile, keen sense of humor, kindness to everyone, and contagious enthusiasm for his research.
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Peter August Beck
Elizabeth Braker, President and CEO (Photo: Scientia)
Dr. Peter August Beck, 59, passed away on June 22, 2023, in Austin, Texas. Peter earned a Master’s Degree at Yale and a Ph.D. at Indiana University, interspersed with five years working in Africa. He loved his career teaching undergraduate students in the Environmental Science and Policy program and graduate students in the Professional Science Masters in Environmental Management and Sustainability at St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas. Peter’s connection to OTS lay in years of service as an institutional representative from St. Edwards, as well as codirecting diverse programs with his colleague Dr. Michael Wasserman from Indiana University. A 2019 publication from Peter and Mike, along with Indiana University Ph.D. student Erich Johnson and Las Cruces biologist Rodolfo Quiros, used OTS research stations as a case study for promotion of North-South collaborative networks for teaching and research. In May 2023, Peter and Mike traveled with an OTS group to visit the African Ecology and Conservation program in South Africa. We will remember Mike for his love of nature and people, and his steadfast support of OTS.
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Paul Opler
Guest contributor: David L. Wagner, Professor, University of Connecticut (Photo: Evi Buckner-Opler)
Long-time friend to OTS, Dr. Paul Opler, known for his research on insect host relationships of Lepidoptera and tropical ecology, died this year at age 85. He received his B.A. in Entomology from the University of California, Berkeley in 1960. Paul continued his education in 1963 at San Jose State University with an M.A. in Biological Sciences in 1965. He returned to Berkeley and received his Ph.D. in Entomology in 1970. He did postdoctoral research with OTS in Costa Rica until 1974, after which he was hired by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as the first entomologist in the Endangered Species Program. Opler's major career accomplishments centered on his intense interest in Lepidoptera and have resulted in major publications on the species-area effects on leaf-miner species richness of host oak geographic distributions in California. His books include field guides to both eastern and western butterflies, his contribution to Moths of Western North America, and his role as scientific editor of "Status and Trends of our Nation's Biological Resources." He was elected a Fellow of the Ecological Society of America in 2018.
Paul Opler’s contributions to tropical biology began during his postdoctoral years working with OTS. Our understanding of biodiversity and species interactions and the role of physical factors in setting resource availability in more and less-seasonal tropical environments are important contributions from Opler and colleagues. Two of those colleagues, Dr. Gordon Frankie and Dr. Kamal Bawa, offer their recollections of Paul Opler and his work.
Gordon Frankie shares, “Paul was an inspirational naturalist. In the early 1970s, OTS, through support from a large NSF grant, initiated a comparative ecosystem study of wet forest plants (La Selva) and dry forest plants (in the Tempisque region near Bagaces). The major researchers in the program were Herbert and Irene Baker, Gordon Frankie, Paul Opler (all from UC Berkeley), together with researchers from the University of Washington and other institutions, including Kamal Bawa, Gary Hartshorn, and Ray Heithaus. Paul was a very important part of this assemblage. In fact, Paul took it upon himself to organize regular seminars of interested biologists to share their findings and stories. Paul had developed this skill as a graduate student at UC Berkeley when he was president of the graduate student organization in the Department of Entomology. These casual seminars were well attended and served to solidify interrelationships that developed among tropical biologists.
"Paul Opler was one of the key people in the dry forest site, which started out at Finca La Pacifica and later moved to Bagaces. He was the inspirational naturalist of the group and helped to coordinate others who became involved in the early research on the reproductive biology of plants in both Atlantic and Pacific slopes of Costa Rica. Paul had a special knack for making researchers feel welcome and important as they launched their work. He was part of the first phenological study of the plants of both sides of the country and of the first known study on the mark-recapture of bee species moving between individual trees of the self-compatible Andira inermis. Both studies were published in well-known journals.
"Paul had a diverse range of interests ranging from natural history and systematics of tropical insect pollinators to plant reproductive biology. He had a great influence on my work on sexual systems and pollination mechanisms, and I learned much about pollinators from Paul. Although butterflies were his favorite group of insects, he was equally knowledgeable about moths as well as bees. One of Paul's loves as a naturalist was to keep lists of organisms that we worked with in Guanacaste. He was active in gathering plant names, bird names, and bee names. These were names that we all gathered as we did fieldwork and sent our specimens off to experts in the states, such as the Chicago Field Museum. These inventories later were turned into volumes of knowledge, still of great benefit to researchers and conservationists today.
"Paul's interests as a naturalist continued after he left Costa Rica. Among other accomplishments, Paul published a valuable book on butterflies and was a coauthor with Dr. Jerry Powell (UC Berkeley) on a classic book on microlepidoptera that was published during the past several years. In later years, Paul continued to be an active and engaged colleague. For example, he helped promote our new Cornell University Press book on the bees of Costa Rica, due out in October or November of this year.”
Dr. Kamal Bawa adds, “When Paul collaborated with me in the early 1970s, we established a productive routine by dividing our day into three parts. In the mornings, we would go to the field, where I would do controlled pollination experiments, and Paul observed pollinators. The afternoons were devoted to marking flowers for pollination and pollinator observations to observe the next day, and to exchange information about our observations and speculate about the possible underlying reasons or evolutionary trends. In the evenings, we would venture out to observe nocturnal pollinators. During all this time, we discussed our observations and results thoroughly. Together, we published four papers over a one-year period in Evolution. With Gordon Frankie, we worked on plant phenology, detailed studies on pollination biology of individual species, and the movement of pollinators between trees.”
Paul Opler was highly regarding among tropical ecologists, lepidopterists, and conservation biologists. He spent much of his life promoting insect biodiversity, especially through his butterfly books, leading summer classes and workshops, developing the Butterflies and Moths of North America (BAMONA) website, and working to get many lepidopterans federally protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. He was an ardent collector and field biologist – inimitable, indefatigable, and indomitable – whose collections contributed mightily to the California Insect Survey (UC Berkeley) and Gillette Museum of Entomology (Colorado State University). These will be an invaluable legacy to posterity, as many of the areas where he collected have been developed or are currently under threat from climate change and its knock effects. Paul’s loved ones, friends, colleagues, lepidopterology, tropical biology, and Mother Nature will long mourn the passing of this great champion of the little things that have been running this world.
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Orlando Vargas receives Local Hero Award at OBFS conference |
At the OBFS conference, La Selva biologist Orlando Vargas received the Local Hero Award from OBFS. The OBFS Local Hero Award recognizes individuals who support research, education, and outreach through personal and professional actions, particularly in the areas of biology, conservation, and ecology.
OTS President and CEO Elizabeth Braker in announcing the award commented, "The person receiving this recognition from OBFS is a person who sincerely speaks for the trees, the bushes, the fungi, the tepesquintles, the monkeys, and, of course, the grasshoppers. This individual is completely identified with La Selva and is in intimate conversations with environment ministers, with BBC stars, and with leading international scientists. He has more publications than many of these scientists, because everyone wants to collaborate with him.
"A true story: this person worked with some of us when he was just 15 years old. When we walked in the woods, I taught him how to identify a species of grasshopper that feeds exclusively on palm trees — it has a unique pheromone. Like any boy of this age, he was always hungry. He told me, 'Oh, of course, yes, this is like the smell of the tortillas that my grandmother makes.' And with this story, we see the reason that our awardee is an incomparable naturalist: he identified with the forest until, for him, the forest is part of his daily life.
"In presenting this award, we remember the words of the author Bertolt Brecht, 'There are people who fight one day and are good. There are others who struggle a year and are better. There are those who struggle for many years, and they are very good. But there are those who fight all their lives: those are the essential ones.' "Orlando Vargas, it is a great honor to present you with the 2023 OBFS Local Hero Award." |
New OTS course: Nature Journaling (Photo: Lena Struwe / Art: Nikki Shevera) |
Nature Journaling is a course for advanced students, researchers, and anyone who wants to learn how to record nature observations through careful study, illustration, and written annotations. Through the process of nature journaling, participants in this 7-day course will develop skills and techniques to improve their observation abilities in the stunning environment of the La Selva Research Station.
Nature journaling is about immersing yourself in nature, learning how to see and think, observing the real world outdoors, and letting your curiosity lead to new questions and answers. It is not about making fine art or collecting detailed research data – instead it is mental creativity and learning how to see and think. The process involves sketching, writing, and gathering information of many kinds on a blank page by hand. How and what you focus on is up to you. Nature journal pages are personal explorations, incorporating sketches, words, and numbers, all in many different forms. The course will follow John Muir Laws’ curriculum setup of ‘I notice, I wonder, and It reminds me of…’ being present on each journal page.
You will be exploring nature journaling as a way to study nature, guided by five professional instructors: scientific botanical illustrator Bobbi Angell (Vermont), art teacher and illustrator Barbara DiLorenzo (Princeton, New Jersey), professional nature journaler and teacher Marley Peifer (California), science communicator Mary Nucci (professor at Rutgers University, New Jersey), and botanist and naturalist Lena Struwe (professor at Rutgers University). Our instructors are active nature journalers and artists who depict natural phenomena and organisms. Mary Nucci and Lena Struwe teach nature journaling at Rutgers University, and Marley Peifer offers nature journaling classes to the public around the world with his own YouTube channel.
Willing to let nature come to you, and you to nature, you will sketch with pencil on paper outdoors. This is not photography nor digital art, and you don’t need to have known how to draw in the past. You will learn methods and techniques in art and journaling, from pencil, ink, and watercolor, from graphing numbers, mapping, to sketch noting, and to landscape perspective to measuring organisms. As an immersive, hands-on course, a large part of the course will be outdoors in the rain forest, observing, sketching, and journaling, and then sharing with everyone each day what was seen and put on paper. The course will be at La Selva Research Station in a lowland rain forest in Costa Rica with a wonderful variety of habitats and organisms.
Students will be able to explore and develop their own styles. There will be hikes with guides in the rain forest, activities such as waterdrop microscopy and moth sheets at night, free time to explore, and discussions on human health improvements associated with journaling. Instructors will not focus on good/bad (those words are banned in this course) but will instead focus on interesting questions, observations, thoughts, and science and art exploration. The instructors are 100% committed to an inclusive learning environment where differences are celebrated and accepted as the norm. The course will end with a discussion on how to teach nature journaling to others so that students are ready to share what they have experienced and learned.
The course will take place at La Selva Research Station on January 6-12, 2024. The deadline for applications is October 22, 2023. For more information or to apply online, go to the OTS website.
Please direct questions to graduate@tropicalstudies.org. (This course is open to all, with preference for graduate and undergraduate students). |
OTS facilitates the University of Minnesota's academic group visit (Photo: Pablo Muñoz) |
Simone Gbolo, Statewide Director of the Louis Stokes North Star STEM Alliance at the University of Minnesota (UM), recently contacted OTS with the possibility of facilitating a 10-day REU experience for 8 students from UM at the La Selva Research Station.
The program included four exploration walks (a birding walk, La Selva facilities tour, natural history walk, and a night walk) and an array of lectures. Students were introduced to the OTS work and education model before starting the scientific and academic sections of the program with a short and interactive talk on "how great ideas arise," based on Alejandro Farji´s paper. Every night there were academic lectures conducted by the student mentors. We learned about bat ecology and behavior, urban ecology and frog activity, and mixed-species flocks.
Then, the fieldwork started. For five days, the students worked alongside their mentors formulating hypothesis, predictions, and experimental design. Mentor Silvia Chaves focused on the foraging behavior of solitary and grouped golden orb-weaver spiders, Ana Gutiérrez on the territorial behavior of strawberry poison dart frogs, and Pablo Muñoz, OTS Education Coordinator, focused on the behavioral response of scarlet-rumped tanagers to the playbacks of conspecifics and congeners depending on their phylogenetic distance.
By Saturday, the students finished their projects, and the group embarked on Costa Rica’s Best Chocolate Cacao Tour. Here, the students learned about conservation, local business development, and, obviously, the cacao process. The program ended on Sunday with a symposium in which students presented their projects, followed by a question-and-answer session. It was a lightning-fast experience that put everyone to the test, but we all enjoyed it!
If you are interested in building a program similar to this one for your institution, or if you have a question about any other educational or academic experience, please contact Kattia Mendez (in Costa Rica) or Laurence Kruger (in South Africa).
References: Farji-Brener, A. (2022). ¿Plantear o no plantear hipótesis? Sugerencias para estudiantes, directores y revisores. Ecología Austral, 32(2), 434-443. Farji-Brener, A. G. (2007). Una forma alternativa para la enseñanza del método hipotético-deductivo. Interciencia, 32(10), 716-720.
Farji-Brener, A. G. (2021). ¿Cómo surgen las ideas? Algunas sugerencias para estimular la generación de proyectos originales en ecología. Ecología Austral, 31(2), 216-224. |
Inside the African Ecology and Conservation program Liezl Retief, Junior Lecturer, OTS South Africa (Photos: Julio Tozetto and Liezl Retief) |
Our Fall 2023 study abroad program in South Africa, African Ecology and Conservation (AEC), is almost a quarter of the way through, and we have certainly had some amazing experiences so far. Our first week was spent getting to know each other at Pullen Farm. Our students learned about the course, had the opportunity to traverse the savanna landscape for the first time, and learned more about the rich history of the people of this country when our history and culture academics took us on a field trip to see some rock art in Nelspruit and the surrounding area.
The arrival in Kruger National Park (KNP) marked the first time this semester our students have had the opportunity to participate in some of our long-term research projects. The project for this semester? Assessing biodiversity around ephemeral pools in this water-scarce landscape to gain baseline data for understanding the role of these dynamic and changing systems within KNP. Students deployed camera traps, recorded frog calls, and collected invertebrates, as well as fish, and are currently hard at work analyzing the data they generated. This data will contribute to informing decision-making for the management plans of KNP in future.
While the academics have certainly been at the forefront these last two weeks, we have undoubtedly also had some incredible life-changing moments as well. Upon arriving in South Africa, student Julio Tozetto told us that one of the deciding factors to enroll in the AEC course was to fulfill a life-long dream of seeing the African big cats. Well, at AEC, we aim to please! Between seeing elephants, lions, a leopard, and four white rhinos on our very first day, watching cheetahs jump across a stream as we were driving back from fieldwork, or experiencing very rare bird sightings, including many secretary birds and ground hornbills, the long field days have flown by. Morale is high, and evenings are spent telling each other about the high-point (termed quite creatively by the Fall 2023 cohort as the "marula moment"), the low-point (aptly named the "malaria moment"), and the funniest moment (the "monkey moment") of each day. While we are all excited to relate our marula and monkey moments, I am happy to report that malaria moments are few and far between.
The next chapter of our journey involves traversing KNP and heading North to Letaba (where we will visit the famous elephant museum and learn more about some big tuskers), Shingwedzi (where we will learn more about termite mounds and how they may impact vegetation structure), and then to HaMakuya (where students will go on a homestay and learn more about the Venda community). With three quarters of the course still to go, we are excited to see what marula moments await.
If you know of any great students who would be interested in participating in our Spring 2024 African Ecology and Conservation semester program, please have them reach out to our Admission Counselor, Ian Crowell, or have them visit our website. Please keep an eye out for us at the Scripps College SAGE fair on October 24, the Grinnell College Study Abroad Fair on November 14, and our upcoming virtual information sessions. The Application Deadline for Spring 2024 is November 1!
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OTS-UConn update Nora Bynum, Dean of Academic Programs
(Photo: Laurence Kruger) |
In August 2023, OTS and the University of Connecticut (UConn) signed an agreement to extend our cooperative relationship for five years. The agreement will ensure that UConn will provide credit for OTS’ undergraduate semester and summer programs. The semester-long programs for which UConn will provide credit are African Ecology and Conservation in South Africa and Tropical Biology on a Changing Planet in Costa Rica (launching Fall 2024), and there is one summer credit-bearing program currently offered, Tropical Biology in Costa Rica. This noteworthy accomplishment follows a long history of association. UConn has been a consortium member of OTS for over 40 years and was the first permanent member of OTS. The agreement was preceded by extended discussions and site visits by administrators, staff members, and instructors from OTS and UConn, including those from the Institute of the Environment, Office of Global Affairs, and Office of the Provost. OTS looks forward to continuing and developing this productive relationship with University of Connecticut.
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Upcoming courses in Costa Rica |
Applications are currently being accepted for the following courses to be held in Costa Rica: Tropical Ecology and Conservation
Dates: January 8 - February 11, 2024 Deadline for applications: October 15, 2023 Language of instruction: Spanish
Locations: La Selva, Las Cruces, and Palo Verde Research Stations Coordinators: Dr. Edgardo Arévalo and Dr. Ignacio Escalante (This course is open to graduate students.)
Apply now! Nature Journaling
Dates: January 6 - 12, 2024 Deadline for applications: October 22, 2023 Language of instruction: English Locations: La Selva Research Station Coordinator: Dr. Lena Struwe (This course is open to all, with preference for graduate and undergraduate students.)
Apply here! Tropical Plants Systematics
Dates: June 3 - July 4, 2024 Deadline for applications: January 23, 2024 Language of instruction: Spanish
Locations: La Selva, Las Cruces, and Palo Verde Research Stations; Cerro de la Muerte; and herbariums in San José, Costa Rica Coordinators: Dr. Mauricio Bonifacino and Dr. Álvaro Idarraga (This course is open to graduate students.) Apply here! |
“Arraigo:” An exhibition by artist Deirdre Hyde Lianna Mora, Project Coordinator (Photo: Lianna Mora) |
Artist Deirdre Hyde continues to surprise and delight us with her versatile interpretation of nature. As part of OTS' 60th Anniversary celebrations, Didi, as the artist is known, has held three exhibitions of her work at different OTS locations in Costa Rica. The exhibition called "Arraigo" was first shown at the La Selva Research Station during the month of July. The exhibition was displayed at the Las Cruces Research Station and Wilson Botanical Garden during the month of August. Finally, most recently, the artist's exhibition arrived at OTS' Costa Rican Office (CRO) on the University of Costa Rica campus.
Didi states, "The three exhibitions of 'Arraigo' have varied and have developed differently at each of the stations. In this latest exhibition at OTS headquarters, urban issues are specifically addressed. With almost thirty years of living in San José, a great affection was born in me towards this city and its most hidden corners, where there is a great variety of biodiversity, and for me, being able to represent this in a single painting, 'City of the future,' has been the perfect opportunity to externalize the knowledge, memories, and experiences accumulated during all this time."
The artist's work will be open to the public through November 10, 2023. We cordially invite you to visit CRO, Monday to Friday (8 am to 5 pm). Guided tours of the exhibition will be announced on OTS' social media pages. |
Award Announcements: Maureen Donnelly and Paulina González-Gómez |
Maureen "Mo" A. Donnelly
Guest contributors: Ph.D. students Kelsey Reider, Michelle Thompson, Ralph Saporito, James Watling, Steven Whitfield, Justin Nowakowski, Cristina Ugarte Whelan, Rudolf von May, Lilly Linden, Michael Britton, Luke Linhoff, and Alessandro Catenazzi (Photo: John Geiger)
Dr. Maureen "Mo" A. Donnelly of Florida International University has been honored with the prestigious 2023 Henry S. Fitch Award for Excellence in Herpetology by the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. The award is granted to an individual for their long-term excellence in the study of amphibian and/or reptile biology and is based on the quality of the awardee's research as well as the educational impact of their career. This award recognizes Mo for her outstanding contributions in research and education that have transformed the field of tropical herpetology.
Mo’s scientific legacy is deeply linked to OTS and began with her early research in the 1970s on the poison frog Oophaga pumilio at La Selva Research Station, while a graduate student with Jay Savage at the University of Miami. Mo’s dissertation work pioneered the use of manipulative field experiments to understand the population dynamics of animals in tropical forests. Later, she conducted extensive inventories of the unique herpetofauna on table-top mountains of the Venezuelan tepuis that resulted in the description of 17 new species for science. Mo's collaborations with institutions such as the National Institutes of Health and the American Museum of Natural History also initiated groundbreaking research on poison frog chemical ecology. Her wide-reaching influence on the field is imprinted in over 135 peer-reviewed publications, and her work has been cited over 11,000 times, making her one of the most highly cited female herpetologists ever! Notably, she co-edited "Measuring and Monitoring Biological Diversity" – a seminal work that triggered a major shift towards the widespread use of rigorous field sampling methods in herpetology.
An even more important component of Mo’s contribution to tropical herpetology is her work as an educator and role model for young scientists. Her research has been a vehicle for collaboration with diverse students, including those who worked with her at Florida International University and hundreds of others on field courses around the world. Mo’s career began as a graduate student during the fundamentals tropical ecology course (OTS 79-3). She later coordinated an OTS course for the first time (89-3) after a decade of intense research at La Selva, and her first graduate students to join an OTS course closed the circle (OTS 99-3). Mo has served as a resource person on 23 OTS courses (including 18 times on Tropical Biology: An Ecological Approach!) in addition to several summers as an OTS REU program mentor and visiting professor for the undergraduate study abroad course. Many of Mo’s former Ph.D. students continue contributing to OTS as resource people for graduate courses, the REU program, and through herpetological research at La Selva.
Join us in celebrating Dr. Maureen A. Donnelly's extraordinary journey in herpetology, which has shaped our understanding of the natural world and a generation of tropical biologists! |
Paulina González-Gómez Elizabeth Braker, President and CEO
(Photo: Paulina González-Gómez)
Paulina González-Gómez has received a 2023 Field Biology Award from the Maxwell-Hanrahan Foundation. Paulina’s work focuses on how environmental variability shapes the integration of gene expression patterns, behavior, physiology, and life history of birds, especially of hummingbirds. Paulina has conducted fieldwork at OTS research stations in Costa Rica (she works also in Chile and California) and is a frequent visiting professor on OTS field courses. In the next months and in collaboration with other researchers at OTS, she will be working with migratory and resident hummingbirds throughout Costa Rica.
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Check out our science! (Photo: Laurence Kruger) |
Conservation future of iconic and rare cedar. OTS South Africa staff and colleagues authored two recent publications (White et al. and Midgley et al.), stemming from work done as part of OTS’ African Ecology and Conservation program. They assessed the conservation future of the rare fynbos tree species, Widdringtonia wallichi. Trees as a growth form in the fynbos are very rare, given resource limitation and frequent intense fires. The Clanwilliam Cedar was heavily logged in the Western Cape for building materials, furniture, and telephone poles. The researchers considered the issue of recruitment in Clanwilliam Cedar populations, and whether very low seedling abundance is an important factor for the overall rarity of this species. Two key messages from this work are: 1) although this tree is fire-adapted, the seeds must be scatter-hoarded (moved and buried) by the Cape spiny mouse (Acomys subspinosus) to avoid being eaten by non-dispersers and burnt in the fires, and 2) using prescribed burn as a management strategy for fynbos should be timed to come after cedar seed release and dispersal, counter to the accepted practice of burning early in the season to avoid catastrophic fires. Since the current prescribed burn management regimes are a mismatch for the cedar tree, the authors suggested that a simple solution would be to shift the fire ignition period to late summer/early autumn. This work demonstrates how OTS projects can effectively influence management policies.
High beetle diversity and abundance found in army ant refuse deposits. Christoph von Beeren and coauthors studied scavenging beetles living in army ant middens at La Selva. In 34 middens of Eciton burchelli, the researchers collected over 8,000 beetle adults and 500 larvae, comprising of at least 85 species. Two new species of water scavenger beetles were described. Some beetle species had both adult and larval specimens, leading the authors to suggest that waste piles are used by the beetles as nurseries. The number of adults per refuse deposit was highly variable, ranging from 10 to 2,705 specimens. The authors have ensured that specimens and photos are in the public domain as they continue the work to identify the remaining species.
Primates and conservation approaches. Led by University of Indiana Ph.D. student Eric Johnson, a new study links primate diversity and abundance with different conservation management approaches. The study examined forest metrics and conducted primate surveys in forest plots under different management in the vicinity of OTS research stations Las Cruces and La Selva. In protected areas, canopy height was greater, and the researchers encountered more groups of two of the three primate species studied. Forests managed under conservation incentive plans (including a formal payments for ecosystem services scheme and ecotourism) for all primate species was higher than in protected areas, but this trend was driven by two out of the three primate species studied, with one species actually more abundant in protected areas. The authors suggest that such conservation incentives are valuable tools to consider primate communities due to their effect on variation in forest structure, which, in turn, supports species varying dietary ecologies and group dynamics. Editor’s Note: The authorship on this paper includes OTS Board member Michael Wasserman, Institutional representatives Amy Concilio and Peter Beck (deceased, see the “OTS Remembrances” section in this issue of eCanopy), Las Cruces Research Station biologist Rodolfo Quiros, and others.
Frog escape behavior. Jeremy Klank et al. studied anti-predator behavior in the strawberry poison dart frog (Oophaga pumilio) at La Selva Research Station. The authors documented intraspecific variation in escape response in individuals from this single site and suggested a framework to compare field behavioral studies with behavioral studies in a controlled environment. Frog escape behavior was also featured by Gray et al., who conducted a comparative study between escape behavior of the aposematic O. pumilio at La Selva and the cryptic Craugaster fitzingeri at Cabo Blanco San Miguel Biological Station. They found support for their prediction that the aposematic and unpalatable O. pumilio would have slower, more predictable escape behavior than cryptic palatable C. fitzingeri.
Canopy soil is highly variable across landscape gradients. Jessica Murray et al. showed that the abundance and chemistry of canopy soil (or, soil “caught” on top of branches and in forks of trees) is influenced both by climate and by local processes. The authors surveyed canopy soil abundance and chemical characteristics across a broad tropical climate gradient, quantifying variation both within and among sites. They used both ground-based and canopy-based assessments of canopy soil abundance in six primary forests sites in Costa Rica, including La Selva and two higher elevation sites in Braulio Carillo National Park. The authors found that the abundance of canopy soil was greater in large trees in cool, cloudy sites, with the greatest mass of tree soil and, therefore, the largest reserves of carbon and nitrogen in tree soil. Across all sites, half of the biomass of tree soils consisted of carbon. Climate explained much of the variation in observed, indicating that the ecological roles of tree soils may vary between ecosystems.
Bird flight escape in open environments. OTS South Africa contributed data collected as part of a course-embedded research project (in OTS known as a “faculty-led field problem” or FFP) toward a global analysis of escape responses of birds in open tropical systems. The FFP was run over multiple years, with invited faculty Chevonne Reynolds and Dominic Henry. Additional work was contributed on flight initiative distances in shorebirds in West Coast National Park. OTS South Africa Field Director Donovan Tye is a coauthor on both the synthesis paper and an earlier publication.
Climate change internship. Lindokhule Motlale, a South African intern at the OTS Skukuza Research Station via the Groen Sebenza internship program, recently earned a SANParks Climate Change Adaptation Scholarship for her MSc project. Her research will focus on understanding the ecological significance of temporary water bodies for amphibian communities in semi-arid regions. She will employ passive acoustic monitoring methods and active surveys to assess amphibian populations across various habitats and will be co-supervised by OTS faculty Josephine Pegg and Donovan Tye. The Groen Sebenza Phase II program aims to place unemployed graduates nationally in different organizations (government and non-governmental) where they will be incubated (trained and mentored) to further develop their competence and confidence in the management of environment/biodiversity. The program is run through the South African Institute for Biodiversity (SANBI).
International science contributions in Costa Rica. A new monograph by friend of OTS Dr. Luko Hilje Quirós, “Influential foreign naturalists and scientists in the development of biological sciences in Costa Rica" (published in Spanish), recounts the contributions of international scientists to the biological sciences and natural history of Costa Rica over six historical phases. Of particular interest to OTS is the detailing of the contributions of OTS scientists and OTS educational and training programs, funding mechanisms, and research stations to the scientific development and knowledge of the country’s biodiversity. Hilje outlines the development of knowledge on the nation’s biodiversity and contributions. He suggests that the collaborative relationship between the national universities and three key institutions (IICA-CATIE, INBio, and OTS) for promoting and enabling international collaboration led to Costa Rica having a very well-documented flora and fauna.
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Wilson Botanical Garden and Gardens by the Bay sign an agreement of collaboration
Andres Mendez, Marketing & Communications Manager (Photo: Andres Mendez) |
Sofía Rodríguez, OTS Director of Academic Programs in Costa Rica, and Felix Loh, CEO, Gardens by the Bay |
In early October, OTS and Gardens by the Bay signed a Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen a mutual exchange of knowledge, conservation of nature, and promotion of tropical ecosystems. The document was signed at Las Cruces Research Station and Wilson Botanical Garden in Costa Rica by Felix Loh, CEO of Gardens by the Bay, and Sofía Rodríguez, OTS Director of Academics.
Before the event, Mr. Loh and his delegation were guided on a tour that illustrated the historic relationship between Las Cruces and Singapore – a relationship that resulted in the introduction of plant species, now a part of the Wilson Botanical Garden, including entries from Singaporean visitors in the 1980s. This agreement makes possible the sharing of resources, knowledge, and data between our organizations in Costa Rica and Singapore to support our shared goals of education and the sustainability of tropical ecosystems. |
Environmental Upgrades for OTS Costa Rica Urpi Castañeda, Assistant, Environmental Education |
Over the last few months, the OTS Costa Rica office in San José implemented environmentally friendly practices and environmental education initiatives. In efforts to reduce negative impacts, we made improvements to waste management, such as purchasing and installing a new composter, developing educational material, and implementing workshops and activities to learn how to make compost at home. New recycling collection bins are within easy reach for all.
We joined national campaigns to reduce wastes, such as collecting bottle caps that will be used to build all-access ramps at beaches and collecting plastic waste in empty plastic bottles as “eco-blocks” to be used in new structures like tables and chairs. It is also important to increase our positive impact by bringing life back to urban ecosystems. We installed window stickers to help prevent collision by birds and renewed the interior and exterior gardens with representative plant species from each of our field stations in Costa Rica.
None of this would have been possible without the commitment of our staff and alliances with academia, municipalities, the Transition to an Urban Green Economy UNDP project (TEVU), and many others. Look for more greening and environmental education efforts by OTS as we connect people with the tropics for the future of our planet! |
This year marks the 60th Anniversary of OTS in Costa Rica. It is also the year in which you will have the unique opportunity to visit all three OTS Research Stations – the remote and rugged Palo Verde Research Station in northern Costa Rica, the lush Las Cruces Research Station in southern Costa Rica and home of the historic Wilson Botanical Garden, and, of course, the iconic La Selva Research Station – OTS’ flagship facility in central Costa Rica.
To learn more about the OTS Research Stations please visit: Research Stations in Costa Rica. Trip Details Date: December 4-15, 2023
Cost: $2,925 per person – covers all in-country transportation, lodging, academic services (seminars, field lectures, and field visits), and meals. The price does not include airfare to and from Costa Rica. Deposit: $500 deposit, due on October 13, 2023
To Register: 60th Anniversary Tour Registration Trip Highlights
Experience a unique opportunity to visit all three research stations in Costa Rica: Palo Verde, Las Cruces, and La Selva. Immerse yourself in the incredible biodiversity of Costa Rica with a chance to see all four species of monkeys found in Costa Rica. Expand your understanding of Costa Rica's natural history and culture with a trained OTS guide. Explore the Palo Verde National Park and the Manuel Antonio National Park.
Make time to create memories, make friends, and expand your horizons.
For more information contact Jim Boyle. Safe Travels! |
Will you help provide scholarships to 20 highly motivated and qualified Central and South American postgraduate students to attend the OTS course Ecología Tropical y Conservación? Your gift of $1,500 could fully fund a student for the experience that will launch their professional career.
This Spanish-language course is conducted in three contrasting ecosystems. Students conduct research projects in a complex system of wetlands and dry forest at Palo Verde. The rain forest of La Selva will be the perfect environment to get immersed in the amazing biodiversity of the tropics. Learning about the restoration projects in Las Cruces will start the discussion on conservation. Finally, students will learn to communicate scientific information to different audiences at the Wilson Botanical Garden. These future field researchers, ecologists, and conservation scientists will be challenged and inspired. They will leave having gained foundational knowledge to help shape their careers, as well as a lifelong network of colleagues. They will go on to become top scientists, conservation thought-leaders, activists, and educators. Their writings will be published in both scientific journals and lay publications in Columbia, Brazil, Peru, and elsewhere. Perhaps more importantly, their research and writings will help shape public policy and inform politicians, media, and the general population about tropical conservation, what is at stake, and how the tropics can benefit humankind. Their voices will speak for the imperiled forests, creatures, and ecological systems that stretch from southern Mexico to central Chile and beyond.
Your donation will go directly to fund scholarships for students who will otherwise be unable to participate. To donate, please visit the Scholarship Fund page. We accept Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Discover, and PayPal. Thank you so much for helping — your gift is deeply appreciated! Jim Boyle |
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