Life at La Selva

La Selva is a biological research facility not far from Saripiqui in Costa Rica.  It is run by the Organization for Tropical Studies and is also one the TEAM network sites.  Scientists and students come here for short or long amounts of time and stay while they go out into the forest to do their own individual research.  Birders and tourists also come and naturalists and guides are available for day and night hikes.  

I was informed, that as far as field stations go, this one is the equivalent of a five star Hilton.  The main dining hall has beautiful wooden ceilings with both inside and outside seating options.  

There are various sleeping options available.  Professors are placed in more prestigious houses, but as students, we were assigned to dorms which were similar to those used for summer camps.  There was a shared bathroom and a fan to help keep things cool.  Most of the time, rain kept the temperatures pleasant, but on the few days it didn't rain, it could get a little sticky.  There was no glass in the windows, just screens to keep out the bugs.  

A suspension bridge allowed us to cross over the river to get to the trails and classroom area.  It was about a mile round trip each time we went out, so we tried to take everything we would need each day, coming back only for meals.  Closed toed shoes were required on the trails, and we never went anywhere without an umbrella and a flashlight.  

We were in the Jaguar classroom for most of our time.  Peggy, Steve, and Jimmy each gave different presentations while we were there, and they brought computers and a projector with them.  

 Meal times brought us all together back at the main hall.  The menu was posted both in Spanish and English each day.  We were left to wonder what "mixed meat" meant, but there was a nice variety each day.

Meals were centered around beans and rice with a meat and a vegetable or starch.  There was also a salad bar with local fruits and a juice dispenser.  Coffee, tea and water were available 24-7, but the food was there only during scheduled meal times.  Scientists could request a bag lunch if they were going to be in the field all day.  

Here is a view of the serving line, all the food was cafeteria style, allowing you to choose what you would like at each meal.  The ladies were always willing to give you "mas" is you wanted more of a specific food.  Dinner even had dessert available!

 One thing we all noticed was how focused on recycling they were not just at La Selva, but everywhere we visited.  Plastic, paper and organics were all separated into different containers.  

Meals were a time to sit and relax, sharing stories of what we did during the day.  Most of the talk was centered around the research we were doing or the animals we had seen that day.  

Dr. Smiley was one of the scientists we shared several meals with.  He is a retired professor who always wanted to return to an unanswered question about beetles he found while working on his doctorate in 1971.  So after his retirement, he decided to come down and spend some time doing further study.  We would see him out on the trails going out to the succession plots, or at dinner excited about what he had found.  

First Full Day at La Selva

Today was our first full day at La Selva.  After breakfast we started the day in the classroom with icebreakers and introductions to TEAM protocols and Conservation International.  

The lesson was quickly interrupted with our first sighting of a peccary.  It is a hoofed mammal, rare most places, but plentiful here.  By the end of the day we were really used to seeing them roaming around the field station. Still, we all had to go out for a photo opportunity.  

We also saw this Great Curossow while we were out.  This one is a male, though we saw a female later in the day and she was a much lighter shade of brown.  Apparently this bird tastes like turkey and is therefore most common in preserves.   

Next we had time to go out and start placing our camera traps.  We placed 4 in old growth forest and 4 in new growth.  Working together, we marked the trail location and GPS coordinates of each camera as we put it out in the jungle.  

At one point while we were busy working on the project a peccary shot out of a hollowed log, kicking up mud and scaring us all as he sprinted across the trail.  I can't remember the last time I was so startled.  After getting past the jumping and screaming we all thought it was hilarious.  

When the traps were all in place we slowed down to enjoy the hike back to lunch.  That is when we started spotting the blue jean frog.  Once we got the hang of it we saw them almost everywhere we looked.  He is also called the Strawberry Poison Dart Frog, though he isn't poisonous enough to be toxic to humans.  

We also spotted a few butterflies like this Great Owl Butterfly.  The inside of his wings were a bright blue color, though he seemed happy enough to sit with them closed while we waited.  

On the way back to the classroom after lunch, we saw a family of Howler Monkey's.  This was one of the babies hanging out in a tree next to the bridge.  

His dad was sitting on one of the cables holding up the bridge.  He didn't seem at all disturbed to have us stopping and taking pictures of him.  

We did vegetation sampling after that and a classroom quadrat sampling activity.  We were going to have a movie night tonight, but instead we has a special guest speaker.  The former GIS coordinator of the property was back to visit and spoke about his research project doing hyperspectral analysis of carbon sequestration in peat moss ecosystems.  It is only 9 here, but it is already 11 back home and we are all ready to call it a night.  Teachers in our district go back to school for preplanning tomorrow.  Instead we will be out climbing a canopy tower and learning more about camera traps.  

La Selva

Here is a google maps image of La Selva Biological Preserve where we will be studying ecosystem monitoring and TEAM protocols in August.  The site is called Volcan Barva.  We were fortunate to win a competitive application process for ECO Classroom sponsored by Northrop Grumman. After assembling a team of 4 teachers from Brevard Public Schools, we decided on a group project idea and wrote a proposal as to how we apply what we would learn in Costa Rica to our own classrooms.  We chose to focus on camera traps.  Camera traps are motion activated devices which monitor animal activity remotely.  Our proposal was submitted along with applications, essays, and letters of recommendation.