Tropical Field Ecology in Ecuador

Students will fly into Quito, Ecuador and take a cable car to Pichincha. By bus students will arrive at 18,000 feet glacial Antisana. The journey continues to Amazonia, Bellavista, Machalilla, and outbound from Guayaquil.

Students will enroll in BIO 4333: Tropical Field Ecology, a course which has been previously held in Costa Rica, and Eleuthera, Bahamas. Participants will be undergraduates from the Departments of Biology, and Chemistry (especially those from the Environmental Science Program). Priority will be given to students who have taken BIO 3330 (formerly 301 Ecology).

Learning outcomes include

• Appreciation for the biodiversity in tropical ecosystems
• Recognition and identification of important tropical plant and animal taxa
• Increased knowledge of the biology and ecology of tropical organisms
• Better understanding of ecological connections between organisms and their habitat
• Holistic view of species interactions in the tropical communities, including mutualisms, commensalisms, parasitism, and predator/prey relationships etc.
• Awareness of distinct tropical habitats and the physical and biological factors affecting the distribution of organisms
• Recognize evolutionary behavioral strategies and morphological adaptations among tropical organisms
• Familiarization with food webs and energy flow in tropical ecosystems

Students will travel to different Ecuadorian ecosystems including alpine grasslands, glacial streams, rainforests, cloud forests, sandy intertidal, rivers and riparian forests. We will have a dedicated bus for the trip, as well as an interpretive Ecuadorian guide.