Tropical Biology: An Ecological Approach (Costa Rica)
The course that started it all! Since 1963, this OTS course has trained ecologists and evolutionary biologists using an active learning approach, which engages students in a fun and fast-paced research environment.
This OTS “fundamentals course” is an intensive, field-based experience in tropical biology for graduate students. With guidance from expert scientists, students will gain experience in critical thinking, research design, data analysis, analytical tools, science communication, ecological modeling, and collaborative research—all in the beautiful tropical setting of Costa Rica.
We guarantee you will come away from the course a better scientist with new skills and ideas to carry into your future research and career.
Tropical Plant Systematics (Costa Rica)
Tropical Plant Systematics is an intensive graduate-level field course focused on the identification, inventory, classification, and phylogenetic analysis of tropical vascular plants. All activities are carried out in Costa Rica over five weeks, during which time the course will be based at biological stations and nature reserves.
This course is not solely aimed at botanists who work in systematics. We encourage students from other disciplines (such as agronomy, ecology, and conservation biology), whose research requires a high degree of knowledge of the classification and identification of tropical plants.
Course participants are eligible to apply for a pilot research grant or OTS thesis support upon completion of the course. More information is available in the scholarship section on our website.
