Blog by: Arriana Basto, Wildlife Conservation Technician, Osa Conservation. Arriving in Costa Rica to work on the largest camera trap monitoring effort in Central America was a new, much bigger challenge than I am used to. I was excited for the experience ahead. I have worked as a tropical wildlife biologist in my home country Peru for a couple of years now, and my camera trapping experience only existed on small-scale projects at a single study location. Here in Costa Rica, over 200 camera traps were planned to be deployed...
Volunteers and Visitors / 01.07.2020
From University Students to Field Researchers: Augustana Takes the Piro Rainforest!
Blog by: Carolyn Cook and Makenzee Kruger. This January, our group of 10 undergraduate students and two faculty members from the Augustana Campus of the University of Alberta left the cold Canadian weather behind to visit Osa Conservation’s Piro Research Station on the Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica. There, we conducted research on plant survivorship and terrestrial invertebrate diversity within recently established restoration plots. After spending a semester prepping for the field course, we were ready to dive headfirst into the rainforest and put our study designs to the...
Community Outreach, Land Conservation and Forest Restoration / 01.07.2020
Osa Conservation celebrates “Día del Árbol,” or Day of the Tree
Blog by: María José Mata-Quirós, Restoration & Rewilding & Data Management Coordinator For 105 years on June 15, Costa Rica has celebrated “Día del Árbol,” or Day of the Tree. Former President Alfredo Gonzales Flores established this celebration to raise national awareness about the importance of trees. More than a Celebration Trees are one of the main sources of energy and matter in terrestrial ecosystems; They support a great diversity of animals, plants, fungi and algae. They are one of the most important carbon storages and climate regulators. They protect water...
Blog by: Rodrigo de Sousa, Ridge to Reef Restoration Network Implementation Manager As most of us are aware of, fragmentation of tropical forests is one of the biggest threats to the amazing biodiversity that exists in the tropics, and unfortunately, despite its good environmental policies and strategies, Costa Rica does not escape from this global trend. [caption id="attachment_18687" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Past and Predicted Land Use Trends in Southwest Costa Rica. Map by: NASA DEVELOP[/caption] Land use changes, especially those aimed at either stablishing pasture for beef production or stablishing monocrop plantations...
Blog by: Ing. Leonardo Álvarez, Associated botanist researcher, Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica Since I was a young boy, I have felt a great fascination toward natural life. I was eager to learn about everything that composes and occurs in its systems. Every time I had the chance, I asked my parents to go out to a National Park, and I would rather celebrate my birthday – or any important date – outside instead of at a party or in the city. Also, for me it was more fun...
Blog by Javier Rodríguez-González, Mangrove Restoration Project Coordinator Globally, mangrove ecosystems are being destroyed 3-5 times faster than terrestrial forests. The main threat is a change in land use caused by aquaculture, agriculture and over exploitation of resources; another threat is climate change, which results in rising sea levels and an increased impact from storms. [caption id="attachment_18644" align="aligncenter" width="348"] Aerial image of the HNTS showing fragmented areas of the ecosystem due to the fern (Acrostichium aureum). Photo by: Batsú Estudio.[/caption] The South Pacific of Costa Rica is home to the largest...
Community Outreach / 09.04.2020
Eight weeks in tropical paradise
Blog by Keylin Castro, student at the Tropical Ecology & Conservation Leadership For eight weeks I had the opportunity to live in the amazing Osa Peninsula. Every day I spent there I fell in love a little more with that impressive place and the desire to live and work there increased. I can confirm from direct experience that here is 2.5% of the world's biodiversity. Every day when I woke up I listened to the birds singing, different insects and all the primates on the peninsula. Every morning on...
Blog by Francine Guido, student at the Tropical Ecology & Conservation Leadership At the beginning of Osa Conservation's field course, I was expecting to learn about the conservation of wildlife and the rainforest in the Osa Peninsula. But what does it take to make conservation? Soon I realized it's all about the people. [caption id="attachment_18602" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Sharing information with people from the Osa communities about what makes a healthy river. Healthy Rivers Program’ stand for Alvaro Ugalde Day. Photo: Jonathan Navarro.[/caption] When you think about conservation, what do you picture?...
Blog by María José Álvarez, student at the Tropical Ecology & Conservation Leadership Course When I started the Tropical Ecology and Conservation Leadership course, I was excited to learn and share knowledge with conservation experts. Thanks to the teachers, I learned about strategies to investigate how the distribution of species changes according to their ecosystem through on-site techniques such as the use of trap cameras and remotely as with the use of aerial drones. In addition, I learned invaluable lessons on how to disseminate science to many different groups...
Uncategorized / 19.03.2020
My adventure in Osa!
Blog by Eblim Pereyra I am going to tell you how my adventure for Osa began. When I saw an announcement that there was a course that would give me the opportunity to spend 8 weeks in the Osa Peninsula, I didn't hesitate and send the request, because let's face it, who wouldn't want to spend 8 weeks in Osa? A notification that I had been accepted in the course and now if the dream was real, I were going to spend 8 weeks in Osa. The biggest adventure I...