Impact of Climate
on
Biodiversity, Community Interactions, & Ecosystem Functions
in
Neotropical Forests

Overview

In June, 1997, the Mellon Foundation sponsored a workshop on multi-trophic interactions that was held at the La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica. As a follow-up to this workshop, a group of individuals associate with the Area de Conservacion de Guanacaste (ACG), the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS), and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) are organizing a multi-site collaboration to study the impact of climate on Neotropical forests. We will place information about this collaboration on the Web as it becomes available. Below is information on a planning workshop that we are organizing.

Planning Workshop

The ACG will host a workshop 12-15 January, 1998. The workshop's goals are to gain a broad spectrum of input, seek consensus, detail a research plan, and draft grant proposals. The workshop will be at the ACG's Santa Rosa field station in Guanacaste, Costa Rica, starting after lunch on Monday, 12 January. We intend for participants to assemble for dinner in San Jose on the 11th. We will take ground transportation to Santa Rosa, leaving the capital city at 7:30AM.

The workshop is limited by space to 50 participants. Currently we anticipate attendance by representatives from the ACG, ACOsa (Area de Conservacion de La Osa, Costa Rica), ECOSUR (El Colegio de La Frontera Sur, Chiapas, Mexico), INBio (Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad, Costa Rica), NSF (U. S. National Science Foundation), OTS, STRI, the Universidad of Costa Rica, the Universidad de Panama, and faculty and graduate students from other universities. Click here for a partial list of invitees.

Proposal for a Mellon Workshop in Tropical Biology

The following proposal to help cover the planning workshop's expenses is pending. If it is successful, we will cover participants' costs within Costa Rica and contribute to the travel expenses of selected individuals to and from Costa Rica, including individuals who are unlikely to attend without support. Nevertheless, because enough individuals are committed to participating even without support, we will hold the workshop regardless of whether it is sponsored.

Title:
Multi-site collaboration to study the impact of climate on biodivesity, community interactions, and ecosystem functions in Neotropical forests.

Co-organizers:
Lissy Coley, Julie Denslow, Gary Hartshorn, Dan Janzen, Deborah Letourneau, John Pickering and Joe Wright

Text:
Proposal e-mailed to OTS-STRI Mellon Grant Steering Committee, 2 September, 1997.

Please Contact Us

If you are interested in joining this collaboration or wish to obtain more information about it, please contact John Pickering or any of the other co-organizers.