I teach Ecology and Coordinated Science at University High  School.  I have taught for 5 years and look forward to teaching many more. Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation (WWNFF) provided 52 of us with the unique opportunity to experience the rainforest first-hand.  In addition, we designed 3 different research projects using a 50 Questions method which promotes inquiry.  We also created our own web page and explored the culture, history and biodiversity of Costa Rica.  Everyone we worked with from local guides to published PhD's were extremely knowledgeable, engaging and kind.  We visited a variety of sites in Costa Rica including an active volcano and 3 OTS (Organization for Tropical Studies) research stations.  This experience was funded by the National Science Foundation.

	When we think of Tropical forest, we tend to think of rainforest, and we did visit 2 sites that preserved rainforest: La Selva and Las Cruces.  In addition however, there is an even more endangered tropical forest:  less than 1% of the original Dry forest here in Costa Rica remains.  Both types of forest have high biodiversity and intricate, sensitive communities that deserve consideration.  At La Selva, my research team studied how species diversity differed from primary to secondary forest.  Primary forest is original forest while secondary forest is forest that has regrown after disturbance, like slash and burn (which is not commonly practiced here because the population density is too high) or conversion to pastureland. See results.
At Palo Verde, which contained both dry forest and wetlands, we examined restoration projects and management.  My group studied the Pochota tree which has huge spines all over it trunk and branches.  We examined relationships between spine density and a number of abiotic and biotic measurements looking for factors effecting spine density.  The results indicated some interesting relationships between spine density and altitude, canopy cover and soil type.
	Our final project at Las Cruces, which is in part a Botanical garden containing tropical species from all over the world, involved comparing the species diversity of birds in a small fragment to a larger fragment.  We also looked at the distribution of bird types.  This project was conducted as a 2 day part of a long term data collection with the help of Cagan Sekercioglu and Deniz Aygen.
I cannot describe the feeling of awe to be learning so much in such a short time.  I have had the opportunity to see a myriad of graceful birds, mammals, insects and even some snakes, as well as some not so graceful (and very smelly) peccaries.  What a thrill to hold a Chunk head snake (a descriptive name that does not reflect the creatures beauty).  It is difficult to express the beauty of Costa Rica, not only the aesthetic beauty in the sound of the rain and unceasing varieties of frog and bird song, but in the intimate ecological balance that is all around you.  It may seem difficult to imaging walking through the rainforest for the first time and taking notes, but for me, this enhances the beauty.  The fact that a beautiful little strawberry poison dart frog (little larger than your thumbnail) has parental care is extraordinary.  The little amphibians carry each of their individual youngsters to a different bromeliad, where they will survive in the water trapped there, fed by infertile eggs from mom and protected from predators.
	Also, imagine that you are an Acromyrmex (a leaf cutting ant) .  You cut and carry leaves to your home where they will be food for a fungus which you farm and eat.  YUM!  On your way home you must avoid the parasitic wasp which will land on your head and lay an egg that will develop into a larvae that will feast on your brains!  (Sounds like something from aliens, but it's true!)  How do you watch out for parasitic wasps and still accomplish your job of lugging home this tremendously large piece of leaf?  Well, you have guard buddies, much smaller than you, which ride along on the leaf and protect you.
Everything depends on something else.  Hummingbirds depend on the Heliconia flowers (below, left) for food, the flowers depend on the birds for reproduction, tiny little mites depend on the hummingbirds for transportation from flower to flower.  All this may not be written very poetically, but it reflects a very poetic process.
	The challenge for us all is to protect these diverse and intricate relationships.  For example, using shade tolerant coffee species rather that the newer sun coffees can increase species diversity and help maintain many bird species that might otherwise become endangered.  As original landscapes are encroached upon by man and fragmented into smaller and smaller species, certain species become increasingly threatened.  It only takes the removal of one species (such as a top predator) to shift a food web in favor of different different organisms.  This results in the loss of diversity.  Diversity is important for a variety of reasons including aesthetic and ethical values, but also commercial values like providing medicine, timber and healthy food crops, and finally indirect values like sequestering carbon to reduce global climate change, reducing erosion and allowing water to percolate rather than runoff.  These just list a few of the reasons we need to carefully consider our decisions and actions now and in the future. ichlup@iusd.k12.ca.us