Plan II Costa Rica Maymester - Next Offered 2013

• Plan II Honors (and the UT Study Abroad Office) will offer this Costa Rica Maymester experience again in 2011 and 2013.
  

• The 2010 Costa Rica students maintained a blog, contributing posts about their experiences in Costa Rica.

• See the (spring 2010) course web site.

Exploring land use in Costa Rica is a study of the 'other side' of conservation. Many conservation studies involve the biology of an ecologically important region, but this course is dedicated to examining the other aspects of conservation-- the more 'real world' considerations. These include socio-economic, political, and scientific factors.  Students study the wide range of issues that Costa Rica faces in its efforts towards sustainable conservation, gaining a real-world understanding of ecological research, agricultural and ecotourism development, and the complexity of conservation issues in a field setting. The range of topics covered include: sustaining tropical ecosystems and agricultural systems, economics of tourism and land usage for renewable resources and conservation, societal implications of cross-cultural “ownership” of world heritage lands, and commercial applications of natural resources.

The spring 2011 Maymester course, offered by The Plan II Program to students interested in understanding the complex issues surrounding the conservation of some of the worldʼs most treasured natural resources. This course is designed by the Plan II program with a focus on interdisciplinary studies. The issues of land use in Costa Rica have global implications and are quite complex. These concerns are well-suited for study by students with diverse disciplinary interests.

Land Use Issues in Rainforest Conservation is designed to expose students to many of the concerns that must be addressed when establishing public policy regarding conservation and sustainable land use, both locally and at a national scale, in a country renown for its biodiversity and its extensive system of public and private reserves.   Students from a wide-range of disciplinary backgrounds (including business, political science, economics, anthropology, sociology, environmental science) will find a direct application of their interests in this course. The course provides hands-on experience as well as immersion into the context of the question. Students will interact with the local population and governmental agencies, as well as with visiting international students and researchers. This course will lay the ground work for subsequent in-depth study abroad and for some of studentsʼ honors theses.

The course has three components:

• preparatory lectures during spring semester; and
• a survey of habitat diversity across Costa Rica, followed by group projects and presentations; and
• an individual report due at the end of the summer. 

Costa Rica is known worldwide for its conservation efforts with more than 25% of its land under protection, thus safeguarding more than 5% of the entire world's biodiversity in an area about the size of West Virginia. This phenomenon has attracted millions of tourists to Costa Rica's parks and reserves, and tourism can strain the park system and the neighboring human communities. Agricultural practices are changing as Costa Ricans, on small farms as well as national and multi-national corporations, work to achieve economic growth and sustainable practices The overall socio-political issue is to find tenable land use plans that maintain the goals of conservation and sustainability. Costa Rica is a unique setting for biological field studies. The country has a long history of support for visiting scholars and students and for development of local scientists and agricultural experts. Costa Rica is a model for collaboration between governmental and private programs in conservation. As students will see, in this small country there is a unique juxtaposition of remote wilderness and developed areas, complete with the infrastructure for their instruction, transportation, services and safety.

See the course web site.

 The Costa Rica itinerary will include:

• San Jose, the capital of Costa RIca
• Cerro de la Muerte
• The Mangrove Swamps of Sierpe
• Parque Nacional Corcovado
• Golfito, Osa Peninsula
• Parque Nacional Palo Verde
• The Pacific beaches of Guanacaste
• Parque Nacional Santa Rosa
• P.N. Rincon de la Vieje
• Monteverde Cloudforest Reserve
• Volcan Arenal
• Refugio Cano Negro
• Turrialba
• Tirimbina Rainforest Center

Prerequisites:

This course is recommended for students who have completed either Bio 301E (Problems in Modern Biology) or Bio 311D (Introductory Biology II). We welcome students with broad academic interests who can collaborate in group work and enjoy walking in forest or fields and willing to tolerate mosquitos, belligerent monkeys, and rain.

A small list of suggested readings:  This will expand throughout the school year.

• T. T. Ankersen, K. E. Regan, S. A. Mack. 2006. Towards a bioregional approach to tropical forest conservation: Costa Rica’s Greater Osa Bioregion. Futures 38 (2006) 406-431.
• Celia A. Harvey, O. Komar, R. Chazdon (and nine others). 2008. Integrating Agricultural Landscapes with Biodiversity Conservation in the Mesoamerican Hotspot. Conservation Biology 22 (1): 8-15.
• Martha Honey. 1999. Ecotourism and Sustainable Development: Who Owns Paradise? Island Press.
• John Kricher. 1999. A Neotropical Companion, 2nd edition. Princeton University Press.
• J. Langhholz, J. P. Lassoie and J. W. Schelhas, 2000. Incentives for biological conservation: Costa Rica’s private wildlife refugee program. Conservation Biology, 14, 1735-1743.
• R. O. Lawton, U. S. Nair, R. A. Pielke, R. M. Welch. 2001. Climatic Impact of Tropical Lowland Deforestation on Nearby Montane Cloud Forests. Science 294: 584-587.
• S. M. Whitfield, K. E. Bell, T. Philippi, M. Sasa, F. Bolaños, G. Chaves, J. M. Savage, and M. A. Donnelly. 2007. Amphibian and reptile declines over 35 years at La Selva, Costa Rica. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 104 (20): 8352-8356.

See the (spring 2010) course web site.

The 2010 Costa Rica students maintained a blog, contributing posts about their experiences in Costa Rica.

UT Study Abroad Office