Support to Maintain Research and Education at the La Selva Biological Station and to Enhance OTS' Database Management Program

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This award provides partial support for the operation and the improvement of the La Selva field station in Costa Rica, one of three stations in Costa Rica owned and operated by the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS), a U.S. nonprofit consortium of 58 universities and research institutions in the United States, Costa Rica, Peru and Australia. The La Selva station encompasses 1,515 hectares of classic lowland tropical rain forest in northeastern Costa Rica where it adjoins Braulio Carrillo National Park. This allows the station to offer access to protected forests from near sea level within the La Selva reserve to the summit of Barva Volcano (2,906 m) within the park. The station's research potential has been noted by the Committee on Research Priorities in Tropical Biology of the National Research Council, which has recommended La Selva as one of four tropical forest sites in the world where ecosystem-level studies should be focused. In the 48 years since its establishment, La Selva has hosted 3,000 research projects, resulting in over 2,000 scientific publications and 160 theses and dissertations, and a number of important books. In 2000 alone, La Selva hosted 282 researchers and research staff working on 118 separate projects, representing over 9,000 person-days. Use of the station for education and training of high school, undergraduate and graduate students is as significant as its research use, with nearly 10,000 person-days distributed among 3,000 students and faculty in 2000. A major focus of the support provided with this award will be provisions and planning for modern, high speed computer and communications infrastructure that will significantly improve outside access to data acquired and stored at the station, and also improve the ability of researchers and students to organize and save such data while at the station or in the field.