Description

This program is intended to provide upper-level undergraduate and graduate students with an intensive introduction to tropical biology and field research, with a focus on insect biodiversity. Insects are the largest group of animals known on earth and they are extremely important as pollinators, recyclers, and in food chains. One can study any biological question using insects. This program will explore the diversity of insects (e.g., How many species are there? Is the species rare, abundant, threatened or extinct?) and the problems involved in identifying them (How do we recognize new species?). Insect science is one those rare fields where even non-professionals can make real contributions to science.

Before departing for Peru, students will spend 3 days learning field methods in two temperate forests at the University of Kansas Field Station in Lawrence. We will then fly to Lima, Peru, for 3 days of orientation and tours before flying over the Andes to Puerto Maldonado, then traveling by boat up the Madre de Dios River to reach the Los Amigos Biological Station in the heart of the lowland Amazon forest in southeastern Peru. We will spend the next 1.5 weeks living and working at the station. While there, students will divide their time between guided walks and lectures focused on various aspects of tropical biology and conservation, field work contributing to a long-term insect biodiversity study (using methods learned during the first week of the course), and individual or group field research projects of their own choice.

The Amazon Conservation Association is a non-profit organization that works to protect habitat and biodiversity in the Amazon basin of Bolivia and Peru. We will reside at one of their field stations, The Los Amigos Biological Station, which is located in the Amazon basin between Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru. We will live in dormitories provided with single beds; we recommend bringing your own sleeping bags as nights might be cool. We will have lab and conference room space; we will also have access to the library which houses literature relevant to the region.

The large rivers crossing this region are headwater tributaries of the Amazon Riverwhatever occurs here affects those downstream. The region is poised for massive environmental changes due to the construction of the Trans-Oceanic Highway from Brazil, across Peru, to the Pacific, and industrial scale gold-mining.

Highlights

Program Activities

The group will spend 5 days in Kansas learning field methods, becoming oriented to working in forest habitats, and exploring how species are discovered, curated, and described. On arrival in Lima, Peru, the group will get an orientation to Peru and its extraordinary diversity. We will provide an advance reading list as well as pdfs reading via Blackboard.

During the program, the students will explore museum curation in the University of Kansas Museum of Natural History and in the Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (MUSM), Lima, Peru.

The stay at the Los Amigos Biological Station will provide intense exposure to the complexity of tropical forests, the influence of drainage and soils on different vegetation types, the astonishing diversity of tropical fauna and flora, and to field biological study, especially inventory methods that help scientists understand numbers of species, insect community ecology, and broader environmental and conservation issues in the Amazon basin.

Our daily activities will include hikes through spectacular forests, lectures and discussion on a variety of topics, photography, specimen collections, live animal study, and processing of field samples for laboratory study. Field clothes, physical fitness and an eagerness to learn about tropical forests are required.

Program Directors

Caroline Chaboo is an assistant professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and curator in the University of Kansas Natural History Museum. She has extensive field experience in Austral Asia, the Americas and southern Africa. She is a beetle specialist and is investigating arthropod community diversity in Peru.

Robert Hagen is an instructor for Undergraduate Biology and the Environmental Studies program and Courtesy Assistant Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. He teaches the course Field Ecology on the Lawrence campus.

Credit

Students will enroll in one of two courses for the program:

BIOL 418/701 Topics in Field Biology in Amazonian Peru (3 credits)
This course will introduce students to topics in tropical biodiversity, particularly insects. It will emphasize the methods used to sample and measure diversity,and evaluate the environmental and climatic influences on diversity. We will also examine conservation issues facing tropical habitats.

Or

EVRN 460/720 Field Ecology (3 credits)
This course is intended as an introduction to field research in environmental science. Four skill areas are emphasized: learning how to design and conduct ecological field studies; learning how to analyze and interpret results of these studies; learning how to read and understand scientific or technical reports describing other researcher's work; and learning how to effectively present your own work and results to others.

Degree Level

Bachelors Degree (Undergraduate)

Subject Areas

• Biology (general)
• Environmental Studies

Cost in US$:

Experience Required

yes

Minimum 2.5 GPA

This Program is open to

Worldwide Participants.

Participants Travel

Independently or in Groups

Typically Participants Work

Independently or in Groups

Scholarships are Available

Financial Aid KU students who qualify for summer financial aid in the form of Stafford and/or other loans, Pell or SEOG Grants, and scholarships may apply the aid to the cost of a Study Abroad Program. Limited KU Study Abroad supplemental scholarships are available to KU degree seeking students. Applications are available online. The scholarship application deadline is March 1 for summer programs. Application Procedures Final Application Deadline: March 1. Early application is strongly encouraged.

Application Process Involves

• Essay
• Letters of Reference
• Online Application plus Application Assessment
• Transcript

University of Kansas's Mission Statement

The university is dedicated to preparing its students for lives of learning and for the challenges educated citizens will encounter in an increasingly complex and diverse global community. Over 100 programs of international study and cooperative research are available for KU students and faculty at sites throughout the world. The university offers teaching and research that draw upon and contribute to the most advanced developments throughout the United States and the rest of the world. At the same time, KU's extensive international ties support economic development in Kansas.