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Student Activities

Jannet spent her summer travelling across Costa Rica with the Organization of Tropical Studies’ (OTS) Tropical Biology: An Ecological Approach field course. In the six-week intensive course she conducted five different research projects, working with a variety of taxa, including bats, frogs, and plants. In the high-altitude forests of Cerro de la Muerte and Cuerici, she used camera traps to assess mammal diversity across sites with different protection statuses. In the legume dominated dry forests of Palo Verde, she measured seedling properties of legumes and non-legumes to investigate whether seedling functional traits contributed to legume dominance. She not only improved her field techniques, but also her writing, presentation, natural history knowledge and science communication skills. In the lowland rainforests of La Selva Biological Research Station, she worked with her peers to film and produce an educational short video on the anti-predatory behavior of the red-eyed tree frog, which accompanied their research. In Las Cruces Wilson Botanical Gardens, located in South, she conducted community surveys to assess local knowledge on the effects of pesticides on the environment. She plans on returning to Costa Rica to study the effects of environment patterns on the spatial structure and dynamics of wildlife populations and is currently coordinating with field site managers she met over the summer to plan her fieldwork.