Costa Rica
BIO 383 Tropical Diversity and Conservation
BIO 480 Tropical Biomedicine in Costa Rica
Alternating Summers
Following a one-week preparatory phase at Berry College, this course will be an intensive three-week field experience at three contrasting tropical field sites in Costa Rica, directed and taught by a Berry biology faculty member.
Lectures will focus on the biology and conservation of tropical ecosystems, while permitting exposure to the politics, culture and language of a developing Central American country.
This course will also introduce the basic physical and ecological concepts and principles that are pivotal to the sustainable management of our earth's ecosystems. Following orientation days at each of the field sites, the primary focus of daytime activities will be instructor-led field projects that are carried out entirely within one day's time; that is, study design and data collection each morning, followed by data analysis and presentation of results each afternoon. Students will also be responsible for one independent research project to be carried out at one of the three field sites.