Investigating the relationship between abiotic factors, canopy openness and understory plant diversity in three forest types of the Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica

The Neotropical region stands as one of the most diverse places on earth, housing nearly 50% of the world's biodiversity. Various biotic and abiotic factors within the Costa Rican environment have rendered growth conditions conducive to over ten thousand plant species. Because of the high plant diversity in this region, a need for inventorying of understory composition exists. We investigated the relationship between canopy openness, soil moisture, leaf litter and organic layer depth and understory plant diversity within the Osa Conservation area of Costa Rica. We hypothesized there would be a difference in understory composition across three different forest types: old growth, secondary, and gallery forests. Data were collected during the region’s dry El Niño season from February 12 - 24, 2016. Within each forest type, three 25m2 sampling plots were marked along a 100m transect. Understory plants were recorded and identified down to the family level. We constructed rank cover graphs and calculated diversity indices to assess family richness and evenness. We conducted one-way ANOVAs to test for any significant differences in plant abundances and abiotic factors across the forest types. The diversity indices indicated highest diversity in old growth forest. Soil moisture was significantly higher in gallery forest compared to old growth. Certain plant families were more common in secondary forest, suggesting they are early successional plants. We will discuss further in our prepared poster. We hope that our report will positively contribute to the knowledge of the Osa Peninsula understory.  *Indicates faculty mentor

Local abundance of leaf-nosed bats on the Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica

Leaf-nosed bats make up over half of Neotropical bat diversity and provide essential ecological services. They can be restricted to certain distributions and habitats due to factors such as roost selection, feeding habits and the structure of forests. Arita (1993) studied the average local abundance and distribution of bats across the Neotropics, using a rank abundance and rank distribution method to categorize rare species. Our study investigated the local abundance of leaf-nosed bats based on sampling efforts carried out at Piro Biological Research station on the Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica.   The purpose of this study was to (1) see how the abundance of leaf-nosed bats compared to the Neotropical average; (2) determine if trends existed among leaf-nosed bats within the same dietary group (frugivores, animalivores, nectarivores, sanguinivore); and (3) identify individual bats notably deviating away from what was expected. We created a rank local abundance vs. rank area of distribution graph. We did not observe any trends that appeared to be related to each dietary group, but seven individual species did show notable deviations. We concluded that the dietary groups often used for leaf-nosed bats are not an effective method for categorization. Individual bat species should be considered when determining reasons for rarity, considering individual dietary habits and other potential environmental factors such as moon phase.  Arita HT. 1993. Rarity in Neotropical bats: correlations with phylogeny, diet and body mass. Ecol App. 3(3): 506-517. *Indicates faculty mentor

The First Inventory of Katydids on the Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica

This study was undertaken to create the first inventory of katydids (Tettigoniidae) on the Osa peninsula, Costa Rica during the dry season. In addition to creating this first inventory we also collected data on environmental factors in order to allow for future comparison regarding patterns in katydid populations. We were able to sample 207 katydids using three different sampling methods and recording: time, temperature, humidity, GPS location, sex, and subfamily for each katydid found. We sampled three forest types: old growth, secondary, and riparian each three times. We organized each katydid with the help of our identification material first by subfamily and then by morphospecies using the photos we took of their distinguishing features. From this study we were able to come to the conclusion that our point sampling at night along a 200 meter transect was the most successful, as we collected data on 155 katydids using this method. We determined by our results that the subfamily Pseudophyllinae was the most abundant. Our inventory indicated that even during the dry season on the Osa peninsula it still showed a high diversity and evenness for these katydids based on our rank abundance graph. We have determined that this makes Osa peninsula an ideal location for sampling these insects, as there was such a healthy and stable katydid population. *Indicates faculty mentor

19. Evidence in Support of Removing Boundaries to Undergraduate Research Experiences

Undergraduate research is one of several high impact educational practices used by educational institutions to increase student engagement and success (Kuh, 2008). Many studies on the impact of undergraduate research have surveyed students or faculty on their personal experience and its influence on students’ subsequent degrees and employment (Brownell & Swaner, 2010). These studies have documented the ability of high impact educational practices to have the greatest influence on those students who self-identify as belonging to a minority or disadvantaged group. Few studies, however, have documented the impact on students with lower grades.  The privilege of being admitted to an undergraduate research experience (e.g., an independent studies course) is typically reserved for upper-year students who have proven themselves academically. This paper presents correlational data from our campus showing that academically weaker students have a greater increase in academic performance between prior grade point average (GPA) and final grade in an independent studies course than academically stronger students. In addition, student annual GPA data shows that the impact of undergraduate research serves to raise student GPA in the year of an independent studies course. Although the findings are based on data from one small campus, they do raise the question that if undergraduate research has the greatest impact on academically weaker students and accelerates academic maturity, is limiting registration into these courses on the basis of superior GPA and years of study placing inappropriate boundaries on student learning

BATS of the Golfo Dulce Region, Costa Rica - Field Guides

La región del Golfo Dulce está compuesta de bosque estacionalmente húmedo primario y secundario. Esta guía incluye especies representativas de las familias presentes en las tierras bajas de la región (< de 400 m.s.n.m), donde se puede encontrar c. 75 especies. La lista de especies fue preparada con base en capturas de los autores y desde: Lista y distribución de murciélagos de Costa Rica. Rodríguez y Wilson (1999); The mammals of Central America and Southeast Mexico. Reid (2012). Taxonomía de Simmons (2005).The Golfo Dulce region is comprised of old and secondary growth seasonally wet tropical forest. This guide includes representative species from all families encountered in the lowlands (< 400 masl), where ca. 75 species possibly occur. Species checklist for the region was compiled based on bat captures by the authors and from: Lista y distribución de murciélagos de Costa Rica. Rodríguez & Wilson (1999); The mammals of Central America and Southeast Mexico. Reid (2012). Taxonomy according to Simmons (2005).UCR::Sedes Regionales::Sede del Su

Foraging behavior of the Indian false vampire bat, Megaderma lyra (Chiroptera: Megadermatidae)

Using radiotelemetry, we studied the foraging behavior of 12 Megaderma lyra from 9 March to 5 April 1988 in South India. Tagged bats used individual but nonexclusive areas of ca 0.1 km2 located from &#60;500 m to 4 km from their day roost and 41 percent of the foraging activity of tagged individuals occurred &#8804;500 m from the roost. They spent the night away from the day roost alternating between flights of &#60;1 min to 45 min and perching bouts of &#60;1 min to 274 min. Females flew for up to 174 min nightly and males up to 306 min. Most flights (69.7% for males and 72.5% for females) recorded by telemetry lasted &#62; 1 min and fourteen of 16 prey captures (85%) that we observed visually, involved search flights of 10-200 m. Prey taken included insects (Orthoptera, Coleoptera), and small vertebrates (Amphibia, Reptilia). From these data we infer that M. lyra are flexible in their foraging strategies and catch prey from the ground