Collaborative Research: US - Costa Rica International Research Experiences for Students: Tropical Ecology Mentorship Program of Southern California

这个为期三年的奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的，将支持本科生、研究生和K-12教师在热带雨林环境中进行国际合作研究。在PIs和哥斯达黎加生态学家Marcelo博士Ardón和Javier Espeleta博士的联合指导下，参与者将在夏季花8周的时间调查有关能量和营养物质在营养水平上转移的当代假设。项目将包括陆生昆虫对河流食物网的影响、物种多样性对凋落叶分解的影响、追踪草食动物的叶面积损失以及凋落叶分解在碳循环中的作用。这些实验将与热带研究组织的Liana Babbar博士合作，在哥斯达黎加的La Selva生物保护区进行。每组参与者至少包括一名研究生、四名本科生和一名市中心高中生物老师。这些小组还将加入几名研究新兵（来自代表性不足的群体的有才华的学生，他们无法投入一个完整的暑假，但将从接触科学研究中受益）和一名公民科学家（具有科学政策背景的学生，他们同样将从实践研究经验中受益）。

This three-year award, funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5), will support undergraduate students, graduate students, and K-12 teachers in doing international collaborative research in a tropical rainforest setting. Under the joint mentorship of the PIs and Costa Rican ecologists Dr. Marcelo Ardón and Dr. Javier Espeleta, participants will spend 8 weeks in the summer investigating contemporary hypotheses regarding the transfer of energy and nutrients across trophic levels. Projects will include the impact of terrestrial insects on stream foodwebs, the effects of species diversity on leaf litter breakdown, the tracking of leaf area loss to herbivores, and the role of leaf litter decomposition in the carbon cycle. These experiments will take place at La Selva Biological Reserve in Costa Rica, in cooperation with Dr. Liana Babbar of the Organization for Tropical Studies. Each of the three participant cohorts will include at least one graduate student, four undergraduate students, and an inner-city high school biology teacher. The groups will also be joined by several research recruits (talented students from underrepresented groups who are unable to commit for a full summer, but would benefit from exposure to scientific research) and a citizen scientist (student from a science policy background who would similarly benefit from a hands-on research experience).