Activities:La Selva Biological Field Station
Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui, Costa Rica
Activities:
Guided natural history of rain forest organisms.
Bird-watching.
Night walks with the troops.
Assist students with research projects.
Faculty: Dr. J. E. Armstrong, Dr. S. Juliano, Dr. W. Perry
La Selva is an outstanding example of the biological diversity to be found in the Central American wet tropics. Costa Rica is about the same size as West Virginia or Denmark (51,000 square kilometers) and is known to have over 12,000 species of vascular plants. About 90% of the La Selva reserve is undisturbed tropical rainforest including several swamps and creeks. For its area La Selva is one of the richest areas in the world for diversity of bats (63 species), birds (407 species), and palms (29 species). There is also impressive diversity in trees (460 species), butterflies (143 species), reptiles and amphibians (122 species), and fish (42 species). Field trip participants have recorded well over 100 species of birds. The 1999 Christmas bird count recorded 237 species in one day.