IRES: An International, Interdisciplinary Student Research Program in a Biological Hotspot of Southern Ecuador

Regents Of The University Of Idaho, Moscow ID

Investigators

Abstract

The NSF-IRES program International, Interdisciplinary Student Research in a Biological Hotspot of Southern Ecuador will provide 8-week field research opportunities for students from the University of Idaho (UI) in collaboration with the Univesidad Técnica Particular de Loja, Ecuador. Six students (4-5 undergraduate, 1-2 graduate) per year will conduct team-based research at three main field sites in southern Ecuador including dry-forest, Amazonian lowlands and high Andes cloud forest and paramo ecosystems. Training will emphasize cross-disciplinary synthesis, sensitivity to varying cultural/political norms, and the flexibility to conduct rigorous scientific investigations in landscapes with uniquely varied research challenges. Participating students from the UI will work in interdisciplinary teams of 2-3 students addressing individual research questions within the scope of a broad unifying topic focused around our umbrella theme of biodiversity conservation. Six UTPL faculty with expertise in conservation biology, conservation genetics, mammalian ecology, limnology, insect ecology and phylogenetics, plant ecology and phylogenetics, and rural sociology will serve as local project mentors. Ecuadorian students from UTPL will collaborate with UI student team members to develop and implement research projects. UI faculty with expertise in landscape and organismal ecology, conservation biology, population ecology, conservation genetics, hydrology, limnology, watershed management, rural sociology, natural resource policy, and entomology will serve as co-mentors and collaborators. Educational activities will include a spring planning and proposal development course that emphasizes program logistics, the ecology, natural history and human dimensions (sustainable development, culture, indigenous issues) of southern Ecuador, interdisciplinary research methods, and the development of summer research proposals. After an 8-week field season collecting data in Ecuador, students will take a fall course designed to facilitate data analysis and manuscript preparation, in a continued interdisciplinary setting, and culminating in a final oral presentation and project report. Participating students will gain experience with a rich array of cultures, thus building a sophisticated, externalized perspective on science. Ultimately, graduates of this program should excel at addressing the critical, multi-facetted conservation dilemmas that face us as global citizens.