Estación Biológica La Suerte and Omtepe information packet

LA SUERTE BIOLOGICAL FIELD STATION

This lowland Neotropical region remains one of the most biologically diverse in the world. The field station encompasses 700 acres containing a wealth of habitats including primary and secondary forests, swamps, marshes and pasture. In addition, much of the property lies along the Río La Suerte, a beautiful flowing river that empties into the Caribbean at Tortuguero National Park. The area is home to thousands of plant and insect species as well as hundreds of species of amphibians, reptiles, birds (222 species: see our web site for the bird list at La Suerte) and mammals. The list of animals include three monkey species (white-face capuchins, mantled howlers and spiders), pacas and aguotis, jaguars, keel-billed toucans, white-crowned parrots, great green macaw, strawberry poison-dart frogs, eyelash vipers and green iguanas.

The Research Station and surrounding forests and farm were purchased by the Molina family in 1987. Since then the Molina's have been looking for ways to utilize their property, known as Finca La Suerte ("Lucky Farm" in Spanish), that would be ecologically responsible and preserve Costa Rica's rich natural heritage. The result is La Suerte Biological Field Station which is being developed exclusively for research, education, and conservation.

The Field School offers broad undergraduate and graduate training in Neotropical field ecology. Classes are limited to around 22 students. With one senior faculty and three graduate teaching assistants per course, the small class size insures an optimal student:faculty ratio of 1 to 6.

Courses include primate ecology and behavior, rainforest ecology, ornithology, herpetology, rainforest art, biology of neotropical fishes and embryo transfer. Designed to be "classrooms in nature", these hands-on courses get students into the field, designing and conducting individualized research projects. In previous years, students at La Suerte have chosen to study a wide range of topics such as positional and feeding behavior of capuchin monkeys, plant diversity between artificial and natural forest gaps, inter- and intrasexual territoriality in northern jacanas, effects of ultraviolet radiation on leaf-breeding frog eggs, activity patterns and diet in giant bala ants, and attitudes in the local community toward conservation. Additionally, several long-term research projects are ongoing at La Suerte, including primate behavior, poison-dart frog territoriality, ant distribution and abundance, and bird-mediated plant succession in pastures.

Each day, professors and teaching assistants give lectures and provide background information to help students develop a conceptual framework for understanding the remarkable diversity of the neotropical rainforest community. Lectures, group projects and exposure to real examples of plant-animal interactions are designed to help students develop their own original research projects. Our goals at the Field School are twofold: We want to challenge students intellectually and provide them with the problem-solving skills and academic background needed to address key issues in tropical ecology, environmental studies, and conservation. At the same time, we hope to foster in students a love of inquiry, exploration, and learning about their natural world. This is accomplished by having the students actively participant in science.

Since it was established in 1993, La Suerte has attracted over 350 students from across the United States, Canada, Latin America, India and Japan to study tropical rainforest ecology and conservation.

GOALS OF LA SUERTE AND OMETEPE BIOLOGICAL FIELD STATIONS

1. To offer field-oriented courses that are available to both undergraduate and graduate students.
2. Provide instruction on various field techniques in primatology and ecology, to think critically, and how to ask appropriate, testable questions about the environment.
3. Educate students from all parts of the globe about the need to protect and conserve tropical rainforests and the natural heritage of our planet.
4. Census and inventory the flora and fauna of Isla de Ometepe/La Suerte and develop a plan for the sustained management of their forests.
5. Inventory the plant, amphibian, reptilian, avian, and mammalian species present at the sites.
6. Initiate long-term ecological projects on the flora and fauna.
7. Develop within the next 10 years 9 protected research and educational centers throughout Nicaragua, each station will be situated within a different environmental zone across the country and will be located in a way to best preserve the flora and fauna of that area.
8. To help educate and train Costa Rican and Nicaraguan students in ecology, conservation, field ecology.
9. Individually mark and monitor howler monkey and capuchin monkey populations on Isla de Ometepe and at La Suerte. This indicates obtaining information on demography, reproductive success, pattern of habit utilization and ecology.
10. Initiate long-term research to obtain scientific information for management, conservation decisions and identify key properties for forest habitat purchases (biological corridors).
11. To convert land into biological corridors 550 acres of land were purchased in Sept. 1997 in Costa Rica (saving the land from loggers) and 170 acres in Maderas volcano Nicaragua. These properties are adjacent to the existing stations and are protected from deforestation.