Rainforest Ecology and Conservation
(Syllabus Session #3 La Suerte)


Instructor: Dr. LaRoy Brandt


Email: laroy.brandt@gmail.com


Course Description

The course is a hands-on field experience to familiarize students with the diversity of life in the rainforest while developing a deeper understanding of tropical forest ecology and conservation. With a combination of lectures and fieldwork, time is spent on studying the diverse fauna in a tropical forest through various ecological sampling methods. Through on-site research projects students will build a foundation of skills and knowledge that are applicable to more specialized coursework or field research in primates, botany, herpetology, entomology, etc. We will focus on ecological research, behavior, and quantitative natural history of the more commonly encountered organisms.


During the first week of your stay, we will do quite a bit of hiking with some informal lectures/discussions about the area in which we will be studying and working. We will also have some reading assignments of classic published literature on Tropical Forest Ecology. Articles from EO Wilson, Bates, and Dobzhansky just to name a few. We will also have some classroom time on basic biogeography, plate tectonics, ecological succession, and other ecological topics important to studying in a lowland wet forest of Costa Rica. Some of this will also be geared at learning to recognize some of the local fauna and flora.


In the second week, we will begin coursework on ecological sampling and statistics, especially as it relates to projects evaluating various measures of population and community ecology.  It is my intent to let student interests determine which sampling methods are covered.  Essentially, this course will be a field ecology and natural history course focused on and in the middle of a tropical rainforest. By the end of the second week students will be expected to have decided upon a project.  The project may be individual or in small groups of no more than three.


The last two weeks of the course will be focused on original field projects developed and conducted by the students.  Please note that you may be expected to assist each other in completing the project.  These projects will culminate in an on-site presentation to your classmates. As we approach the start of the class, I will contact students who have enrolled in this course, as well as any interested students, about preparing for the coursework.


Assessment/ Grading:

Your final grade/mark will be based on the following, and determined out of a total of 100 points:

  1. •field and Lab exercises (25 points) – 25%

  2. •a written report of your project (50 points) – 50%

  3. •an oral presentation of the project (25 points) – 25%


Coursework marking can be adjusted to accommodate non-US grading/marking systems.  If you wish to get college/university credit for this course, please contact me as we will need to make arrangements with your home institution.


The following book has been chosen to help develop supplementary understanding of tropical forest environments and ecological sampling methods. The book may be accessible through your university bookshop, but also on the internet at www.amazon.com.


Chazdon, R.L., and T.C. Whitmore (Eds.). 2001. Foundations of Tropical Forest Biology: Classic Papers with Commentaries.


Although not required, I would recommend that each student bring field guides for any flora and fauna in which they may be interested.  Please contact me for recommendations.