All about our trip!

My name is Marci, and I am one of the 12 students that will be traveling to Costa Rica over winter break along with Biology faculty Professor Hope and Professor Lewins for this year's Tropical Ecology study tour class. We are all very excited to explore the different rain forests we will visit, see first-hand the amazing biodiversity present at these sites, and experience a different culture!

We are departing for Costa Rica on December 29th, and will spend 12 days in the country visiting three different types of rain forest ecosystems: a lowland rain forest, a tropical cloud forest, and a transitional zone premontane wet to seasonal moist forest. When we visit these sites we will take guided hikes to observe the plants and animals that live there, conduct field work for short research projects on topics we are interested in, and many other awesome things. We are excited to share our experiences with you, and I and the other students going on the trip will be blogging while we are in Costa Rica!

To give you a preview of some of the experiences we will have in Costa Rica, here are some pictures and descriptions from Professor Hope taken on previous Tropical Ecology study tour trips!

Group shot from the first SMC trip January 2004 at La Roca at Palo Verde in the 
dry tropical forest area with extensive marshes

From Monteverde (the first site we will visit) from the January 2007 trip (the second SMC trip) with a couple students on the canopy bridge 

The monkey tail tree fern from Monteverde

It's going to be an amazing experience, and I know everyone is really looking forward to the trip! Talk to you again from Costa Rica!

-Marci