REU Site: Eco-Hydrology Of A Tropical Montane Cloud Forest

Texas A&M University, College Station TX

Investigators

Abstract

This Research Experience for Undergraduates will provide undergraduate students with an opportunity to develop essential skills in the design, execution and dissemination of original research that quantifies the hydrologic and biogeochemical fluxes in the watershed of a tropical montane cloud forest. Students will work on field and laboratory research under the guidance of faculty mentors at the newly constructed Texas A&M Soltis Center for Research and Education near San Isidro in central Costa Rica. The REU site will provide a unique international opportunity for students to be immersed in the practice of active inquiry and research on: (1) multi-scale climate feedbacks and climate change, (2) hydro-meteorological transfers through the canopy, (3) hydrologic pathways and fluxes, and (4) biogechemical cycling of carbon and water. Students will be selected through a regional and national recruitment and advertising plan that targets underrepresented groups at schools with limited opportunities for international field research. With grounding in the scientific method, faculty mentors will assist students in developing research questions, and to collect and analyze rich data sets using sophisticated field and laboratory equipment. Participating students will join a multidisciplinary faculty from Atmospheric Science, Ecosystem Science and Management, Environmental and Water Resources Engineering and Geography with a unifying focus on the hydrology and biogeochemical fluxes within a watershed of a tropical montane cloud forest. While it is generally accepted that cloud forest vegetation is important to the interception of cloud-water, the quantity of water intercepted, the hydrologic pathways and the impact on biogeochemical cycles remain poorly understood. Since cloud forests are in the headwaters of most watersheds in Costa Rica, the results of the student research will quantify the role of cloud forests on downstream water availability. In this respect, the student-led research will provide much needed baseline information to recognize the importance of cloud forests to regional hydrology and biogeochemical cycling. Over the length of the REU program, students will contribute to a broader project to consider the impact of climate and land-cover change on cloud forest hydrology through field experiments in the mature, immature, recently logged and completely cleared areas. This level of understanding is critical to predicting the impact and response of cloud forests to a changing climate and regional land-use change. The outcomes of the REU will include joint faculty-student publications in leading research journals, seminars at host institutions in the United States and at the University of Costa Rica, and studies to assess the success of international field experiences.