Sounds from a Cloud Forest: The Research on Bird Songs and Anthropogenic Interference
Protected areas in Costa Rica comprise a variety of tropical habitats and make about one quarter of the country. Given this condition, one might expect that wildlife in those areas can be away and protected from human disturbances. However, road network is being expanded and consequently reaching proximity towards protected habitats. Currently, 70 protected areas in Costa Rica are located within a 2 km range of the road network. This road encroachment increases noise pollution affecting wildlife species, such as birds that use sounds for communication.
To better understand the dynamics of anthropogenic noise and bird song interactions, we are conducting a baseline research on bird species in the Villa Blanca cloud forest private reserve. We use mist netting and audio recording techniques to determine the presence of bird species and their bioacoustic activity in different habitats. This private reserve is situated in close proximity to a national road development project.
Two weeks ago, as part of our spring semester program, students involved in the tropical ecology directed research course collected valuable data on bird bioacoustics. The recorded samples of the soundscape are important to determine the effect of road noise after a major road is constructed. This is particularly important since a major road development is planned for the adjacent landscape. In addition, we banded some species to be used as focal subjects for experiments on the effect of noise and song emission.
Before the actual road is constructed, we run a serial of experiments on bird vocalization responses to an induced road noise playbacks stimulus. Our working hypothesis was that bird would modify their vocalization patterns in the presence of noise to minimize song interference.
We are now analyzing the acoustic material to find out about the outcome of the experiments. We seek to generate information as to how road noise affects bird communication and to use the information for informed decision making to minimize future road impacts on wildlife in protected areas.
To find out more about this study and support our research project, visit the project page at Experiment.com.
→ Sustainable Development Studies in Costa Rica
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Sounds from a Cloud Forest: The Research on Bird Songs and Anthropogenic Interference
Protected areas in Costa Rica comprise a variety of tropical habitats and make about one quarter of the country. Given this condition, one might expect that wildlife in those areas can be away and protected from human disturbances. However, road network is being expanded and consequently reaching proximity towards protected habitats. Currently, 70 protected areas in Costa Rica are located within a 2 km range of the road network. This road encroachment increases noise pollution affecting wildlife species, such as birds that use sounds for communication.
To better understand the dynamics of anthropogenic noise and bird song interactions, we are conducting a baseline research on bird species in the Villa Blanca cloud forest private reserve. We use mist netting and audio recording techniques to determine the presence of bird species and their bioacoustic activity in different habitats. This private reserve is situated in close proximity to a national road development project.
Two weeks ago, as part of our spring semester program, students involved in the tropical ecology directed research course collected valuable data on bird bioacoustics. The recorded samples of the soundscape are important to determine the effect of road noise after a major road is constructed. This is particularly important since a major road development is planned for the adjacent landscape. In addition, we banded some species to be used as focal subjects for experiments on the effect of noise and song emission.
Before the actual road is constructed, we run a serial of experiments on bird vocalization responses to an induced road noise playbacks stimulus. Our working hypothesis was that bird would modify their vocalization patterns in the presence of noise to minimize song interference.
We are now analyzing the acoustic material to find out about the outcome of the experiments. We seek to generate information as to how road noise affects bird communication and to use the information for informed decision making to minimize future road impacts on wildlife in protected areas.
To find out more about this study and support our research project, visit the project page at Experiment.com.
→ Sustainable Development Studies in Costa Rica
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[sub_header] => Sounds from a Cloud Forest
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[post_title] => J. Edgardo Arévalo Hernandez, Ph.D.
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[author_title] => Resident Lecturer in Tropical Ecology
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[post_content] => The rugged rainforests and sandy beaches of Costa Rica are brimming with life – from sloths and frogs to brightly colored toucans and hummingbirds. Costa Rica hosts an astounding 5 percent of Earth’s species despite covering only 0.03 percent of its area. Shaded coffee farms integrated into the rainforest constitute just one example of the sustainable conservation strategies for which the country is known.
These efforts to preserve the wild beauty of Costa Rica are recognized worldwide, but climate change and increased urban development bring new and unforeseen challenges. Conservation leaders, farmers, land managers, and policymakers must work together using regenerative strategies to build ecological resilience and minimize climate change impacts. Our research in Costa Rica contributes vital data to innovative efforts that balance conservation and development.
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[post_content] => After an exciting and intense trip to Nicaragua, the students and staff members are adjusting again to the routine here at the peaceful Atenas campus. This international trip to our neighboring country was an eye-opening experience for the students. During the first three days on the island of Ometepe, we studied in-depth some site-specific topics, getting a firsthand look at lake ecology, invasive species, and San Juan River bi-national watershed management.
The students also conducted a field exercise, performing GIS mapping of petroglyphs in Hacienda Magdalena Cooperative and of the trail to the summit of the Maderas Volcano. Ascending the Volcano from 150 to just over 1300 meters above the sea level was quite a challenge! However, the enchanted elfin forest and a lagoon at the crater made the strenuous hike highly rewarding. The final product of this adventure will be a map of the trail that can be used by the local guides in their future hikes in this marvelous place.
Leaving Ometepe, we then moved to the colonial city of Granada where we based ourselves for our daily trips to nearby interesting sites. This second part of the trip was full of cultural and outdoor activities. As part of a follow up research project on the peoples’ perception of climate change, the students conducted surveys in the cities of Rivas, Granada, Masaya, and Managua. Despite the language barrier for some students, all of them managed to complete their assigned number of surveys about which the students were very happy and proud. Further, the hikes and the amazing views along the trails of Masaya and Mombacho volcanoes made a great balance between city surveys and wilderness. Yes, we are back in Atenas to continue with the everyday life here at the campus, but carry with us the long-lasting good memories of our Nicaragua trip.
[post_title] => Excursion to Nicaragua
[post_excerpt] => After an exciting and intense trip to Nicaragua, the students and staff members are adjusting again to the routine here at the peaceful Atenas campus.
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[post_content] => The outdoor learning experience has been greatly emphasized in our recent field trips. Two and a half weeks ago we took a boat through the Tarcoles River to appreciate two contrasting aspects: the wilderness and pollution. From the boat we observed crocodiles, ospreys, herons, ibises and basilisks, to name a few members of the river basin wildlife. We continued to a mangrove forest patch where the students received a field lecture in situ on mangrove ecology.
After this wildlife expedition, we moved to a heavily polluted beach site where another field lecture on waste management was delivered by our professor of natural resource management. Shortly after, we were hiking through the wet-to-dry transition forest of Carara National Park. This park protects 5,242 hectares of primary and secondary forest with myriad micro-habitats. However, a segment of the forest edge is bordered by a trafficked road that emits pollutants and generates noise. Taking this condition as a case study, another field lecture on “road ecology” was delivered in the nearby forest.
At El Sur, a small rural community close to the northeast side of the park, the students interacted with community members and learned about various issues including the amount of community organization necessary to operate successful rural tourism, the relationship between the national park and the community, and the local recycling program. In addition, the students experienced the rustic method of obtaining “atado de dulce”, a brown sugar product processed by a sugar-mill powered by oxen.
After a short overnight break back at campus, two more field trips served to study the management of the most visited national park in Costa Rica and the use of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). In Poas Volcano National Park, the students hiked and observed one of the largest craters on earth. They also conducted a survey to assess the behavior of tourists and park service perceptions. Finally, at the University of Costa Rica, a guest lecturer delivered a talk on GMOs and the current situation of GMOs in Costa Rica.
[post_title] => Field Trips, Learning, and Sustainability
[post_excerpt] => The outdoor learning experience has been greatly emphasized in our recent field trips.
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[post_content] => After six days of field work at four different locations in Costa Rica, the students returned to the SFS campus to begin the analysis and interpretation of the data collected. Each student chose a specific topic within the general project lead by each of the professors. Last week, the group dynamic shifted away from supervised data collecting and into a mode of independent time management,with the students working on the variety of tasks needed to produce the final Directed Research report. Requiring lots of time and effort, this process is invaluable in that it provides students the opportunity to take an in-depth research project from its beginning as a research question, and following it through to completion. Being directly involved in the research every step of the way is an important learning experience, one that helps to prepare everyone for their future careers.
I personally enjoy the Directed Research course—particularly this project my group just conducted—as it represents new research in the most visited protected area in Costa Rica. Poas Volcano National Park receives about 300,000 visitors a year and has good infrastructure including roads, parking lots, a visitor center, viewpoints, and trails. Our task was to obtain baseline information on potential impacts from the highly trafficked roads, viewpoints, and trails on the plants and animals that inhabit the park.
Thus, my students examined topics like forest edge effects adjacent to the road; traffic noise transmission through habitats and its potential effects on bird bioacoustics; damage on vegetation and animal feeding induced by visitors; traffic of visitors affecting bird diversity; and assessment of plant phenology and density of salamanders in areas used by park visitors. This mutualistic research effort between the SFS students and park administrators will definitively enhance future collaboration with our stakeholders and will help to inform the management plan of the park. All of the students in this spring program greatly contributed to generating knowledge to further improve the conservation of protected areas throughout Costa Rica.
[post_title] => Results Improve Management of Protected Areas
[post_excerpt] => After six days of field work in Costa Rica, the students returned to campus to begin the analysis and interpretation of the data collected.
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[post_content] => When I first thought of coming to the Wet Tropics of Australia for my sabbatical, I knew that I was going to encounter hundreds of new species of animals and plants, very different than those of Costa Rica, where I work at the Center for Sustainable Development Studies (CSDS). On my arrival at that Center for Rainforest Studies (CRS) my excitement was fighting against the jetlag and the cool wet climate of the mountain where the center sits. After a delicious meal I walked to my room traversing a forested area in between buildings, and there, in the middle of the trail was my first new species: the Long-nosed bandicoot. Perhaps for many not a big deal, but for me it was such a great reward to initiate my stay here in Australia.
I came to CRS to work on the effects of traffic noise on bird bioacoustics, specifically on the structure of dawn chorus. Thus, to experience the dawn chorus in the Wet Tropics of Australia I got up the next day before sunrise and walked to the forest and wait for the event. Twenty six minutes after 6 am the first bird species commenced the incipient chorus. Shortly after, several species of birds joined in and the monotonous sound of the wind and light rain vanished from my ears. The monospecific chorus of Chowchillas and the individual songs of the Eastern Whipbirds captivated my brain. With this unforgettable experience I started to prepare the recording equipment to be used in our joint research across centers. While doing so, I was asked to brief the students on the research and to show them the recording devices to be used. After the briefing and demonstration of the equipment I felt even more motivated to continue with the investigation and monitoring of the natural soundscape.
It has been only four days since I arrived, and yet I have had time to check the potential study sites, put to work the first recording devices, share ideas with faculty members, show and tell on the techniques used in our research, spotlight for animals with students and faculty, enjoyed wonderful meals and, of course, to watch many new species.
[post_title] => Australia Impressions from a Visiting (Costa Rica) Faculty Member
[post_excerpt] => I came to Australia to work on the effects of traffic noise on bird bioacoustics, specifically on the structure of dawn chorus.
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[post_content] => We are just coming to the end of the second term and about to start our Directed Research (DR) course. The completion of the academic activities culminated with a combination of theory and a great field experience. We spent three days in a rather remote rural community called El Sur de Turrubares. Embedded in a landscape of agrosystems and protected areas, this small community faces development issues due to lack of economic incentives. A remarkable initiative of rural-based ecotourism led by a group of families inspired us to continue supporting these types of sustainable strategies. This grassroots project, known as “EcoSur,” possesses basic accommodation facilities and has recently added two new infrastructure modules for classes and a cafeteria. The setting was an excellent place to develop our classes in economics and ecology.
As part of the rural experience, we observed an authentic process of producing brown sugar with an oxen-powered sugar mill, appreciated wood craftsmanship, and milked cows. In addition, we hiked through basic rustic trails within a restricted sector of Carara National Park. This was possible due to the mutual agreement between EcoSur and the park. During the day, the students had the opportunity to observe colorful bird species such as the Chestnut-mandibled Toucan and the Cherrie’s Tanager. In the night, we explored clean forested streams to observed amphibians species like the Speckled Glass Frog and the Common Rain Frog.
Back at the Campus, the students are about to make a decision on the DR project they would like to work with. Four groups will be formed to start with each specific research dynamic that will be conducted in different parts of the country. This will undoubtedly be a major hands-on experience and an important research outcome for both the students and for the involved stakeholders.
[post_title] => Ecology and Economics in El Sur de Turrubares
[post_excerpt] => We spent three days in a rather remote rural community called El Sur de Turrubares.
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[post_content] => Last week we had our last field trip to Santa Rosa National Park. The goal of this trip was to learn about the management and conservation of a highly threatened tropical dry forest ecosystem. This park is located within the Guanacaste Conservation Area and comprises secondary growth, deciduous, evergreen and riparian forests, as well as coastal habitats. It receives 1500 mm of rain in a seasonal regime and the average temperature is 25 °C.
Because of long droughts and high temperatures, the park is susceptible to fires during the non-rainy season. Thus, park administrators maintain rigorous management plans to prevent and fight against fire events that threat wildlife and forest ecosystems. Our natural setting was ideal for the delivering of field lectures on dry forest management, mitigation and compensation for greenhouse gases emissions and the ecological consequences of forest fragmentation.
The first day we set up our camp in a shaded area with giant fig trees; students received field lectures and then we engaged on a night hike to spot wildlife. We observed the Mexican Borrowing Snake (Loxocemus bicolor), the Tropical Banded Gecko (Coleonix mitratus), the Central American Bark Scorpion (Centruroides margaritatus) and, among other crawling fauna, a tailless whip scorpion. The next day we moved our camping to Naranjo Beach, a fourteen kilometer hike to a secluded protected area of great scenic beauty. The beach is a nesting site to species of sea turtles such as the Olive ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea). Also, the area protects patches of mangrove forest and estuary habitats.
This outdoor experience complemented greatly the many aspects that compose our program and allowed the students to compare this rather pristine site with other highly touristy places. We are now moving into the research agenda component of our program to start with the Directed Research projects, a component that prepares the students for data collection and analysis to generate valuable information for conservation and management.
[post_title] => Santa Rosa National Park
[post_excerpt] => Last week we had our last field trip to Santa Rosa National Park. The goal of this trip was to learn about the management and conservation of a highly threatened tropical dry forest ecosystem.
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[post_content] => Road ecology is a relatively new discipline that focuses on the interaction between roads and wildlife. The negative effects of roads on forest ecosystems are determined by the density of the road network and traffic level. For instance, increasing traffic volume will correlate positively with the degree of emissions such as pollutants, wind turbulence, and noise.
Trafficked roads impact directly some protected areas in Costa Rica by either bisecting or limiting the forest. Carara, Santa Rosa, and Braulio Carrillo National Parks are three examples of road incidence on protected areas. In 2008, I initiated a baseline study on bird surveys and noise measurements in Carara National Park. We found that both bird density as well as species richness correlated negatively with increasing road noise. Although our results did not prove a cause and effect relationship, it is reasonable to think that noise is the number one factor. This is because traffic noise masks bird vocalizations. Noise level at the forest edge could reach 90 dB, and decreases with distance towards the forest interior.
In 2012, we used automated recording devises to record bird bioacoustics at different distances from the road. Locations near the road were typically at 100m whereas locations far from the roads were 500-700m. We determined that average bird bioacoustic time was significantly lower (34s/2min) near the road compare to that far from road (59s/2min). This finding clearly supports our hypothesis that bird species avoid noise near the road. We believe that habitat degradation not only includes habitat fragmentation and loss of species, but also alteration of the natural soundscape. Consequently, it is important to incorporate actions that could mitigate the effect of traffic noise on wildlife. We continue with this research in Carara and Santa Rosa National Park to generate important information to be used for informed decision making in protected areas.
[post_title] => Road Ecology
[post_excerpt] => Road ecology is a relatively new discipline that focuses on the interaction between roads and wildlife.
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[post_content] => The expected natural sounds of a given protected area should be composed of the inherent geophony and biophony sounds. The geophony includes wind, rain, or a flow of a river for example; whereas the biophony includes sounds produced by living organisms. Thus, the composition of the interacting sounds both in time and space form the soundscape.
Protected areas are designed to conserve biodiversity and the different ecological processes in a natural wild area. Costa Rica has set aside a series of protected areas, including national parks that protect 12% of the country’s territory. This category of protection allows tourism visitation with low impact activities such as trail hiking. However, roads limit or bisect some national parks creating negative impacts on their protected habitats. For instance, traffic noise can interfere with the natural sounds thereby degrading the soundscape of a protected area. This is the case of Carara National Park, where the coastal road highway is adjacent to the forest, which can create negative impacts on wildlife.
The focus of our research is to evaluate how road noise affects the natural soundscape of Carara National Park. In our most recent study during spring we found that the average traffic volume was 617 vehicles per hour. However, this volume exceeds 800 vehicles per hour during the weekends. Concomitantly, we found that the average level of traffic noise was 84.1 decibels (dB) at the road; this level decreased to 66.2 dB at 25 meters inside the forest, and to an average of 56.8 dB at 100 meters inside the forest.
Decreasing noise in relation to the distance is an expected phenomenon; however, noise attenuation depends on the density of the forest vegetation. For example, the noise can penetrate with higher levels during the dry season due to a decrease of the foliage by deciduous trees. It is important to mention that the traffic is not constant over time, so that the noise intensity can range from a minimum of 35 dB and a maximum of 92 dB. Another interesting aspect is that the noise varies in intensity depending on the configuration of the road. For example, noise is higher by compressing air brake motors by heavy vehicles when they descend slopes or before a curve.
We generated maps of noise distribution using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) through which we detected how the maximum noise levels mask the natural sound of the geophony, in this case the sound generated by a stream. In addition, we found that bioacoustic time decreases with road proximity, and that the composition of bird species changes closer to the road compared to composition away from the road.
We believe that maximum noise levels along roadsides interferes negatively on the bioacoustics of the species protected by national parks. Thus the conservation of ecosystems must take into account the inherent quality of the sound spectrum in protected areas.
[post_title] => Conserving the Natural Soundscape in Protected Areas
[post_excerpt] => The focus of our research is to evaluate how road noise affects the natural soundscape of Carara National Park.
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[post_content] => Anthropogenic climate change has a wide range of generalized impacts on biodiversity. Scientists have not only documented species extinctions but also geographic shifts of diverse taxa around the world. Hundreds of species are expanding their geographic range; some are colonizing habitats at higher altitudes and some moving toward the poles. Changes in species distribution have important implications on population dynamics at the community level. Thus, novel species interactions, such as competition for resources, predation, and parasitism, could alter ecosystem function and cause local population declines or even local extinction. One important component that is being altered but rarely mentioned is the change in soundscape composition.
The soundscape is composed of the different sounds produced by biotic and abiotic sources. For example, bird species produce unique sounds to communicate with other individuals of the same species, or even other species. However, these unique sounds would be emitted within a multispecies biophony bound in other natural sounds. The coexisting bioacoustic signs are the product of the evolutionary history of co-occurring species in a given habitat. Therefore, the new sound additions by the new colonizing species can compete for the acoustic niches both in time and space.
For example, research in Monteverde, Costa Rica, has shown that 15 cloud forest intolerant bird species, that normally nested below 1470 meters, have moved uphill to an elevation of 1540 meters. This means that the composition of the original biophony has changed, making the acoustic niche tighter. While some species are increasing their abundance at this new elevation range, other cloud forest inhabitants like the Resplendent Quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno) have declined.
With the help of our students, we are sampling the bioacoustics in some protected areas at different elevations to monitor potential changes in the biophony due to shift in species distribution and anthropogenic noise. We believe that the composition of the natural soundscape has an inherited signature composed by a diverse array of interacting sounds. Thus, we are increasing our soundscape data base, hoping to accumulate evidence of how climate change or the intrusive anthropogenic noise alters bioacoustics.
→ Sustainable Development Studies Semester Program in Costa Rica
[post_title] => Climate Change, Anthropogenic Noise, and the Bird Acoustic Niche
[post_excerpt] => With the help of our students, we are sampling bioacoustics in protected areas at different elevations to monitor potential changes.
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[post_content] => Located in Lake Nicaragua, Ometepe Island is formed by two adjacent volcanoes joined by a narrow isthmus. Despite its relatively small size of 276km2, the island encompasses a great variety of habitats including wetlands, dry forest, premontane transitional forest, and cloud forest. These landscape features allow the existence of many species of mammals, reptiles, and birds. Very likely, the diversity of animal species was higher before the major man-made land conversions on the island. The largest forest area is found in Maderas volcano, with an altitudinal gradient of habitats ranging from 33 to 1394 meters above sea level. The lower dry forest habitats have been reduced or fragmented due to agricultural practices, whereas the cloud forest in the top remains more continuous and conserved.
Dry forest, transitional forest and cloud forest of Maderas Volcano (Photo: E. Arévalo)
The bird species turnover within this gradient is high, particularly within the narrow habitat belts. Typically, one can find the Black-headed Trogon (Trogon melanocephalus) and the Banded Wren (Thryophilus pleurostictus) in dry forest habitats, and the Tropical Parula (Parula pitiayumi) and the Purple-throated Mountain-gem (Lampornis calolaemus) in cloud forest habitats. The avifauna is the richest of all vertebrate groups in the Island. According to the checklist of birds of Ometepe by Morales et al. (2007) there are 148 species; this represents 21% of all bird species in the country.
Since 2007, I have visited the Island twice a year with SFS students and staff members to carry out field exercises and lectures. Over these years I have recorded eight species of birds that are not documented in Morales et al. (2007). As the authors of this checklist state: “there remain areas of Ometepe Island that have yet to be surveyed,” so more species should be expected. The new records I report here are: American Coot (Fulica americana), Bat Falcon (Falco rufigularis), Common Gallinule (Gallinula chloropus), Gray-headed Yellow-throat (Geothlypis poliocephala), Least Grebe (Tachybaptus dominicus), Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis), Mangrove Cuckoo (Coccyzus minor), and Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata). These species were seen in the Charco Verde forest and wetland reserve and in a temporary swap in Merida.
It is important to continue surveying all habitat remnants to account for all the species present in the Island for future monitoring and conservation of the Ometepe Biosphere Reserve.
Bat Falcon, Hotel Charco Verde, Ometepe (Photo: E. Arévalo)Sustainable Development Studies in Costa Rica
[post_title] => New Avifauna Records of Ometepe Island
[post_excerpt] => A rich diversity of birds was spotted on an extended field expedition to Nicaragua.
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[post_content] => As we moved through the forest collecting data for our directed research in Carara National Park, we heard a high pitch crying sound in the canopy. Suddenly, there were spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) darting through the branches above us. Several individuals were vocalizing close to the noisy trafficked road as they were looking for leaves and fruits.
The spider monkey is an endangered species that needs relatively large tracks of mature forest to survive. Carara National Park is 5,242 ha in size and protects mature as well as secondary forest along an altitudinal gradient. The downside of this park is that it is limited by a segment of a paved road with a traffic volume ranging from 426 to 1199 vehicles per hour in the last 10 years. This high number of vehicles generates loud noise levels that penetrate the mature forest and meet with the natural sounds produced by wildlife.
We have been studying bird bioacoustics in this park over the years and have also heard many other animal species that also produce sounds, including spider monkeys. The most notorious of all is that produced by a howler monkey (Alouatta palliata). Different from the spider monkeys, howlers emit a loud low-frequency call that can be heard several kilometers away. This roaring sound is produced in response to neighboring groups to locate each other to minimize confrontation. However, the loud sound produced by the howler monkeys is challenged by similar anthropogenic sounds such as those produced by car engines. Thus, the interaction between sounds could interfere with the effective communication among monkey groups. Nonetheless, monkeys vocalize from the canopy which confers advantages in the long range propagation of their sounds. In any case, anthropogenic noise notably alters the quality of the natural soundscape and the appreciation of natural protected areas.
Spider monkeyHowler monkey→ Sustainable Development Studies in Costa Rica
[post_title] => Monkeys and Roads: When Sounds Meet
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[post_content] =>
Sounds from a Cloud Forest: The Research on Bird Songs and Anthropogenic Interference
Protected areas in Costa Rica comprise a variety of tropical habitats and make about one quarter of the country. Given this condition, one might expect that wildlife in those areas can be away and protected from human disturbances. However, road network is being expanded and consequently reaching proximity towards protected habitats. Currently, 70 protected areas in Costa Rica are located within a 2 km range of the road network. This road encroachment increases noise pollution affecting wildlife species, such as birds that use sounds for communication.
To better understand the dynamics of anthropogenic noise and bird song interactions, we are conducting a baseline research on bird species in the Villa Blanca cloud forest private reserve. We use mist netting and audio recording techniques to determine the presence of bird species and their bioacoustic activity in different habitats. This private reserve is situated in close proximity to a national road development project.
Two weeks ago, as part of our spring semester program, students involved in the tropical ecology directed research course collected valuable data on bird bioacoustics. The recorded samples of the soundscape are important to determine the effect of road noise after a major road is constructed. This is particularly important since a major road development is planned for the adjacent landscape. In addition, we banded some species to be used as focal subjects for experiments on the effect of noise and song emission.
Before the actual road is constructed, we run a serial of experiments on bird vocalization responses to an induced road noise playbacks stimulus. Our working hypothesis was that bird would modify their vocalization patterns in the presence of noise to minimize song interference.
We are now analyzing the acoustic material to find out about the outcome of the experiments. We seek to generate information as to how road noise affects bird communication and to use the information for informed decision making to minimize future road impacts on wildlife in protected areas.
To find out more about this study and support our research project, visit the project page at Experiment.com.
→ Sustainable Development Studies in Costa Rica
[post_title] => Sounds from a Cloud Forest
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NAME
SCHOOL
> MAJOR
SFS PROGRAM
> Spring '19
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[post_title] => J. Edgardo Arévalo Hernandez, Ph.D.
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[description] => Costa Rica is a resource-rich, wonderfully biodiverse country that is rapidly developing and increasingly recognized for its efforts to ensure conservation and the protection of natural resources. It is home to beautiful cloud forests, dry forests, volcanoes, lowland rainforests, and plantations. Students examine management schemes, identify the benefits of protected areas, and determine which systems offer the best option for economic development, the maintenance of cultural norms, and the preservation of biodiversity.
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[post_content] => The rugged rainforests and sandy beaches of Costa Rica are brimming with life – from sloths and frogs to brightly colored toucans and hummingbirds. Costa Rica hosts an astounding 5 percent of Earth’s species despite covering only 0.03 percent of its area. Shaded coffee farms integrated into the rainforest constitute just one example of the sustainable conservation strategies for which the country is known.
These efforts to preserve the wild beauty of Costa Rica are recognized worldwide, but climate change and increased urban development bring new and unforeseen challenges. Conservation leaders, farmers, land managers, and policymakers must work together using regenerative strategies to build ecological resilience and minimize climate change impacts. Our research in Costa Rica contributes vital data to innovative efforts that balance conservation and development.
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[post_content] => After an exciting and intense trip to Nicaragua, the students and staff members are adjusting again to the routine here at the peaceful Atenas campus. This international trip to our neighboring country was an eye-opening experience for the students. During the first three days on the island of Ometepe, we studied in-depth some site-specific topics, getting a firsthand look at lake ecology, invasive species, and San Juan River bi-national watershed management.
The students also conducted a field exercise, performing GIS mapping of petroglyphs in Hacienda Magdalena Cooperative and of the trail to the summit of the Maderas Volcano. Ascending the Volcano from 150 to just over 1300 meters above the sea level was quite a challenge! However, the enchanted elfin forest and a lagoon at the crater made the strenuous hike highly rewarding. The final product of this adventure will be a map of the trail that can be used by the local guides in their future hikes in this marvelous place.
Leaving Ometepe, we then moved to the colonial city of Granada where we based ourselves for our daily trips to nearby interesting sites. This second part of the trip was full of cultural and outdoor activities. As part of a follow up research project on the peoples’ perception of climate change, the students conducted surveys in the cities of Rivas, Granada, Masaya, and Managua. Despite the language barrier for some students, all of them managed to complete their assigned number of surveys about which the students were very happy and proud. Further, the hikes and the amazing views along the trails of Masaya and Mombacho volcanoes made a great balance between city surveys and wilderness. Yes, we are back in Atenas to continue with the everyday life here at the campus, but carry with us the long-lasting good memories of our Nicaragua trip.
[post_title] => Excursion to Nicaragua
[post_excerpt] => After an exciting and intense trip to Nicaragua, the students and staff members are adjusting again to the routine here at the peaceful Atenas campus.
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[post_content] => The outdoor learning experience has been greatly emphasized in our recent field trips. Two and a half weeks ago we took a boat through the Tarcoles River to appreciate two contrasting aspects: the wilderness and pollution. From the boat we observed crocodiles, ospreys, herons, ibises and basilisks, to name a few members of the river basin wildlife. We continued to a mangrove forest patch where the students received a field lecture in situ on mangrove ecology.
After this wildlife expedition, we moved to a heavily polluted beach site where another field lecture on waste management was delivered by our professor of natural resource management. Shortly after, we were hiking through the wet-to-dry transition forest of Carara National Park. This park protects 5,242 hectares of primary and secondary forest with myriad micro-habitats. However, a segment of the forest edge is bordered by a trafficked road that emits pollutants and generates noise. Taking this condition as a case study, another field lecture on “road ecology” was delivered in the nearby forest.
At El Sur, a small rural community close to the northeast side of the park, the students interacted with community members and learned about various issues including the amount of community organization necessary to operate successful rural tourism, the relationship between the national park and the community, and the local recycling program. In addition, the students experienced the rustic method of obtaining “atado de dulce”, a brown sugar product processed by a sugar-mill powered by oxen.
After a short overnight break back at campus, two more field trips served to study the management of the most visited national park in Costa Rica and the use of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). In Poas Volcano National Park, the students hiked and observed one of the largest craters on earth. They also conducted a survey to assess the behavior of tourists and park service perceptions. Finally, at the University of Costa Rica, a guest lecturer delivered a talk on GMOs and the current situation of GMOs in Costa Rica.
[post_title] => Field Trips, Learning, and Sustainability
[post_excerpt] => The outdoor learning experience has been greatly emphasized in our recent field trips.
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[post_content] => After six days of field work at four different locations in Costa Rica, the students returned to the SFS campus to begin the analysis and interpretation of the data collected. Each student chose a specific topic within the general project lead by each of the professors. Last week, the group dynamic shifted away from supervised data collecting and into a mode of independent time management,with the students working on the variety of tasks needed to produce the final Directed Research report. Requiring lots of time and effort, this process is invaluable in that it provides students the opportunity to take an in-depth research project from its beginning as a research question, and following it through to completion. Being directly involved in the research every step of the way is an important learning experience, one that helps to prepare everyone for their future careers.
I personally enjoy the Directed Research course—particularly this project my group just conducted—as it represents new research in the most visited protected area in Costa Rica. Poas Volcano National Park receives about 300,000 visitors a year and has good infrastructure including roads, parking lots, a visitor center, viewpoints, and trails. Our task was to obtain baseline information on potential impacts from the highly trafficked roads, viewpoints, and trails on the plants and animals that inhabit the park.
Thus, my students examined topics like forest edge effects adjacent to the road; traffic noise transmission through habitats and its potential effects on bird bioacoustics; damage on vegetation and animal feeding induced by visitors; traffic of visitors affecting bird diversity; and assessment of plant phenology and density of salamanders in areas used by park visitors. This mutualistic research effort between the SFS students and park administrators will definitively enhance future collaboration with our stakeholders and will help to inform the management plan of the park. All of the students in this spring program greatly contributed to generating knowledge to further improve the conservation of protected areas throughout Costa Rica.
[post_title] => Results Improve Management of Protected Areas
[post_excerpt] => After six days of field work in Costa Rica, the students returned to campus to begin the analysis and interpretation of the data collected.
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[post_date] => 2013-07-15 07:31:30
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[post_content] => When I first thought of coming to the Wet Tropics of Australia for my sabbatical, I knew that I was going to encounter hundreds of new species of animals and plants, very different than those of Costa Rica, where I work at the Center for Sustainable Development Studies (CSDS). On my arrival at that Center for Rainforest Studies (CRS) my excitement was fighting against the jetlag and the cool wet climate of the mountain where the center sits. After a delicious meal I walked to my room traversing a forested area in between buildings, and there, in the middle of the trail was my first new species: the Long-nosed bandicoot. Perhaps for many not a big deal, but for me it was such a great reward to initiate my stay here in Australia.
I came to CRS to work on the effects of traffic noise on bird bioacoustics, specifically on the structure of dawn chorus. Thus, to experience the dawn chorus in the Wet Tropics of Australia I got up the next day before sunrise and walked to the forest and wait for the event. Twenty six minutes after 6 am the first bird species commenced the incipient chorus. Shortly after, several species of birds joined in and the monotonous sound of the wind and light rain vanished from my ears. The monospecific chorus of Chowchillas and the individual songs of the Eastern Whipbirds captivated my brain. With this unforgettable experience I started to prepare the recording equipment to be used in our joint research across centers. While doing so, I was asked to brief the students on the research and to show them the recording devices to be used. After the briefing and demonstration of the equipment I felt even more motivated to continue with the investigation and monitoring of the natural soundscape.
It has been only four days since I arrived, and yet I have had time to check the potential study sites, put to work the first recording devices, share ideas with faculty members, show and tell on the techniques used in our research, spotlight for animals with students and faculty, enjoyed wonderful meals and, of course, to watch many new species.
[post_title] => Australia Impressions from a Visiting (Costa Rica) Faculty Member
[post_excerpt] => I came to Australia to work on the effects of traffic noise on bird bioacoustics, specifically on the structure of dawn chorus.
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[post_content] => We are just coming to the end of the second term and about to start our Directed Research (DR) course. The completion of the academic activities culminated with a combination of theory and a great field experience. We spent three days in a rather remote rural community called El Sur de Turrubares. Embedded in a landscape of agrosystems and protected areas, this small community faces development issues due to lack of economic incentives. A remarkable initiative of rural-based ecotourism led by a group of families inspired us to continue supporting these types of sustainable strategies. This grassroots project, known as “EcoSur,” possesses basic accommodation facilities and has recently added two new infrastructure modules for classes and a cafeteria. The setting was an excellent place to develop our classes in economics and ecology.
As part of the rural experience, we observed an authentic process of producing brown sugar with an oxen-powered sugar mill, appreciated wood craftsmanship, and milked cows. In addition, we hiked through basic rustic trails within a restricted sector of Carara National Park. This was possible due to the mutual agreement between EcoSur and the park. During the day, the students had the opportunity to observe colorful bird species such as the Chestnut-mandibled Toucan and the Cherrie’s Tanager. In the night, we explored clean forested streams to observed amphibians species like the Speckled Glass Frog and the Common Rain Frog.
Back at the Campus, the students are about to make a decision on the DR project they would like to work with. Four groups will be formed to start with each specific research dynamic that will be conducted in different parts of the country. This will undoubtedly be a major hands-on experience and an important research outcome for both the students and for the involved stakeholders.
[post_title] => Ecology and Economics in El Sur de Turrubares
[post_excerpt] => We spent three days in a rather remote rural community called El Sur de Turrubares.
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[post_content] => Last week we had our last field trip to Santa Rosa National Park. The goal of this trip was to learn about the management and conservation of a highly threatened tropical dry forest ecosystem. This park is located within the Guanacaste Conservation Area and comprises secondary growth, deciduous, evergreen and riparian forests, as well as coastal habitats. It receives 1500 mm of rain in a seasonal regime and the average temperature is 25 °C.
Because of long droughts and high temperatures, the park is susceptible to fires during the non-rainy season. Thus, park administrators maintain rigorous management plans to prevent and fight against fire events that threat wildlife and forest ecosystems. Our natural setting was ideal for the delivering of field lectures on dry forest management, mitigation and compensation for greenhouse gases emissions and the ecological consequences of forest fragmentation.
The first day we set up our camp in a shaded area with giant fig trees; students received field lectures and then we engaged on a night hike to spot wildlife. We observed the Mexican Borrowing Snake (Loxocemus bicolor), the Tropical Banded Gecko (Coleonix mitratus), the Central American Bark Scorpion (Centruroides margaritatus) and, among other crawling fauna, a tailless whip scorpion. The next day we moved our camping to Naranjo Beach, a fourteen kilometer hike to a secluded protected area of great scenic beauty. The beach is a nesting site to species of sea turtles such as the Olive ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea). Also, the area protects patches of mangrove forest and estuary habitats.
This outdoor experience complemented greatly the many aspects that compose our program and allowed the students to compare this rather pristine site with other highly touristy places. We are now moving into the research agenda component of our program to start with the Directed Research projects, a component that prepares the students for data collection and analysis to generate valuable information for conservation and management.
[post_title] => Santa Rosa National Park
[post_excerpt] => Last week we had our last field trip to Santa Rosa National Park. The goal of this trip was to learn about the management and conservation of a highly threatened tropical dry forest ecosystem.
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[post_content] => Road ecology is a relatively new discipline that focuses on the interaction between roads and wildlife. The negative effects of roads on forest ecosystems are determined by the density of the road network and traffic level. For instance, increasing traffic volume will correlate positively with the degree of emissions such as pollutants, wind turbulence, and noise.
Trafficked roads impact directly some protected areas in Costa Rica by either bisecting or limiting the forest. Carara, Santa Rosa, and Braulio Carrillo National Parks are three examples of road incidence on protected areas. In 2008, I initiated a baseline study on bird surveys and noise measurements in Carara National Park. We found that both bird density as well as species richness correlated negatively with increasing road noise. Although our results did not prove a cause and effect relationship, it is reasonable to think that noise is the number one factor. This is because traffic noise masks bird vocalizations. Noise level at the forest edge could reach 90 dB, and decreases with distance towards the forest interior.
In 2012, we used automated recording devises to record bird bioacoustics at different distances from the road. Locations near the road were typically at 100m whereas locations far from the roads were 500-700m. We determined that average bird bioacoustic time was significantly lower (34s/2min) near the road compare to that far from road (59s/2min). This finding clearly supports our hypothesis that bird species avoid noise near the road. We believe that habitat degradation not only includes habitat fragmentation and loss of species, but also alteration of the natural soundscape. Consequently, it is important to incorporate actions that could mitigate the effect of traffic noise on wildlife. We continue with this research in Carara and Santa Rosa National Park to generate important information to be used for informed decision making in protected areas.
[post_title] => Road Ecology
[post_excerpt] => Road ecology is a relatively new discipline that focuses on the interaction between roads and wildlife.
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[post_content] => The expected natural sounds of a given protected area should be composed of the inherent geophony and biophony sounds. The geophony includes wind, rain, or a flow of a river for example; whereas the biophony includes sounds produced by living organisms. Thus, the composition of the interacting sounds both in time and space form the soundscape.
Protected areas are designed to conserve biodiversity and the different ecological processes in a natural wild area. Costa Rica has set aside a series of protected areas, including national parks that protect 12% of the country’s territory. This category of protection allows tourism visitation with low impact activities such as trail hiking. However, roads limit or bisect some national parks creating negative impacts on their protected habitats. For instance, traffic noise can interfere with the natural sounds thereby degrading the soundscape of a protected area. This is the case of Carara National Park, where the coastal road highway is adjacent to the forest, which can create negative impacts on wildlife.
The focus of our research is to evaluate how road noise affects the natural soundscape of Carara National Park. In our most recent study during spring we found that the average traffic volume was 617 vehicles per hour. However, this volume exceeds 800 vehicles per hour during the weekends. Concomitantly, we found that the average level of traffic noise was 84.1 decibels (dB) at the road; this level decreased to 66.2 dB at 25 meters inside the forest, and to an average of 56.8 dB at 100 meters inside the forest.
Decreasing noise in relation to the distance is an expected phenomenon; however, noise attenuation depends on the density of the forest vegetation. For example, the noise can penetrate with higher levels during the dry season due to a decrease of the foliage by deciduous trees. It is important to mention that the traffic is not constant over time, so that the noise intensity can range from a minimum of 35 dB and a maximum of 92 dB. Another interesting aspect is that the noise varies in intensity depending on the configuration of the road. For example, noise is higher by compressing air brake motors by heavy vehicles when they descend slopes or before a curve.
We generated maps of noise distribution using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) through which we detected how the maximum noise levels mask the natural sound of the geophony, in this case the sound generated by a stream. In addition, we found that bioacoustic time decreases with road proximity, and that the composition of bird species changes closer to the road compared to composition away from the road.
We believe that maximum noise levels along roadsides interferes negatively on the bioacoustics of the species protected by national parks. Thus the conservation of ecosystems must take into account the inherent quality of the sound spectrum in protected areas.
[post_title] => Conserving the Natural Soundscape in Protected Areas
[post_excerpt] => The focus of our research is to evaluate how road noise affects the natural soundscape of Carara National Park.
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[post_content] => Anthropogenic climate change has a wide range of generalized impacts on biodiversity. Scientists have not only documented species extinctions but also geographic shifts of diverse taxa around the world. Hundreds of species are expanding their geographic range; some are colonizing habitats at higher altitudes and some moving toward the poles. Changes in species distribution have important implications on population dynamics at the community level. Thus, novel species interactions, such as competition for resources, predation, and parasitism, could alter ecosystem function and cause local population declines or even local extinction. One important component that is being altered but rarely mentioned is the change in soundscape composition.
The soundscape is composed of the different sounds produced by biotic and abiotic sources. For example, bird species produce unique sounds to communicate with other individuals of the same species, or even other species. However, these unique sounds would be emitted within a multispecies biophony bound in other natural sounds. The coexisting bioacoustic signs are the product of the evolutionary history of co-occurring species in a given habitat. Therefore, the new sound additions by the new colonizing species can compete for the acoustic niches both in time and space.
For example, research in Monteverde, Costa Rica, has shown that 15 cloud forest intolerant bird species, that normally nested below 1470 meters, have moved uphill to an elevation of 1540 meters. This means that the composition of the original biophony has changed, making the acoustic niche tighter. While some species are increasing their abundance at this new elevation range, other cloud forest inhabitants like the Resplendent Quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno) have declined.
With the help of our students, we are sampling the bioacoustics in some protected areas at different elevations to monitor potential changes in the biophony due to shift in species distribution and anthropogenic noise. We believe that the composition of the natural soundscape has an inherited signature composed by a diverse array of interacting sounds. Thus, we are increasing our soundscape data base, hoping to accumulate evidence of how climate change or the intrusive anthropogenic noise alters bioacoustics.
→ Sustainable Development Studies Semester Program in Costa Rica
[post_title] => Climate Change, Anthropogenic Noise, and the Bird Acoustic Niche
[post_excerpt] => With the help of our students, we are sampling bioacoustics in protected areas at different elevations to monitor potential changes.
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[post_date] => 2016-03-30 08:08:04
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[post_content] => Located in Lake Nicaragua, Ometepe Island is formed by two adjacent volcanoes joined by a narrow isthmus. Despite its relatively small size of 276km2, the island encompasses a great variety of habitats including wetlands, dry forest, premontane transitional forest, and cloud forest. These landscape features allow the existence of many species of mammals, reptiles, and birds. Very likely, the diversity of animal species was higher before the major man-made land conversions on the island. The largest forest area is found in Maderas volcano, with an altitudinal gradient of habitats ranging from 33 to 1394 meters above sea level. The lower dry forest habitats have been reduced or fragmented due to agricultural practices, whereas the cloud forest in the top remains more continuous and conserved.
Dry forest, transitional forest and cloud forest of Maderas Volcano (Photo: E. Arévalo)
The bird species turnover within this gradient is high, particularly within the narrow habitat belts. Typically, one can find the Black-headed Trogon (Trogon melanocephalus) and the Banded Wren (Thryophilus pleurostictus) in dry forest habitats, and the Tropical Parula (Parula pitiayumi) and the Purple-throated Mountain-gem (Lampornis calolaemus) in cloud forest habitats. The avifauna is the richest of all vertebrate groups in the Island. According to the checklist of birds of Ometepe by Morales et al. (2007) there are 148 species; this represents 21% of all bird species in the country.
Since 2007, I have visited the Island twice a year with SFS students and staff members to carry out field exercises and lectures. Over these years I have recorded eight species of birds that are not documented in Morales et al. (2007). As the authors of this checklist state: “there remain areas of Ometepe Island that have yet to be surveyed,” so more species should be expected. The new records I report here are: American Coot (Fulica americana), Bat Falcon (Falco rufigularis), Common Gallinule (Gallinula chloropus), Gray-headed Yellow-throat (Geothlypis poliocephala), Least Grebe (Tachybaptus dominicus), Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis), Mangrove Cuckoo (Coccyzus minor), and Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata). These species were seen in the Charco Verde forest and wetland reserve and in a temporary swap in Merida.
It is important to continue surveying all habitat remnants to account for all the species present in the Island for future monitoring and conservation of the Ometepe Biosphere Reserve.
Bat Falcon, Hotel Charco Verde, Ometepe (Photo: E. Arévalo)Sustainable Development Studies in Costa Rica
[post_title] => New Avifauna Records of Ometepe Island
[post_excerpt] => A rich diversity of birds was spotted on an extended field expedition to Nicaragua.
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[post_content] => As we moved through the forest collecting data for our directed research in Carara National Park, we heard a high pitch crying sound in the canopy. Suddenly, there were spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) darting through the branches above us. Several individuals were vocalizing close to the noisy trafficked road as they were looking for leaves and fruits.
The spider monkey is an endangered species that needs relatively large tracks of mature forest to survive. Carara National Park is 5,242 ha in size and protects mature as well as secondary forest along an altitudinal gradient. The downside of this park is that it is limited by a segment of a paved road with a traffic volume ranging from 426 to 1199 vehicles per hour in the last 10 years. This high number of vehicles generates loud noise levels that penetrate the mature forest and meet with the natural sounds produced by wildlife.
We have been studying bird bioacoustics in this park over the years and have also heard many other animal species that also produce sounds, including spider monkeys. The most notorious of all is that produced by a howler monkey (Alouatta palliata). Different from the spider monkeys, howlers emit a loud low-frequency call that can be heard several kilometers away. This roaring sound is produced in response to neighboring groups to locate each other to minimize confrontation. However, the loud sound produced by the howler monkeys is challenged by similar anthropogenic sounds such as those produced by car engines. Thus, the interaction between sounds could interfere with the effective communication among monkey groups. Nonetheless, monkeys vocalize from the canopy which confers advantages in the long range propagation of their sounds. In any case, anthropogenic noise notably alters the quality of the natural soundscape and the appreciation of natural protected areas.
Spider monkeyHowler monkey→ Sustainable Development Studies in Costa Rica
[post_title] => Monkeys and Roads: When Sounds Meet
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[post_content] =>
Sounds from a Cloud Forest: The Research on Bird Songs and Anthropogenic Interference
Protected areas in Costa Rica comprise a variety of tropical habitats and make about one quarter of the country. Given this condition, one might expect that wildlife in those areas can be away and protected from human disturbances. However, road network is being expanded and consequently reaching proximity towards protected habitats. Currently, 70 protected areas in Costa Rica are located within a 2 km range of the road network. This road encroachment increases noise pollution affecting wildlife species, such as birds that use sounds for communication.
To better understand the dynamics of anthropogenic noise and bird song interactions, we are conducting a baseline research on bird species in the Villa Blanca cloud forest private reserve. We use mist netting and audio recording techniques to determine the presence of bird species and their bioacoustic activity in different habitats. This private reserve is situated in close proximity to a national road development project.
Two weeks ago, as part of our spring semester program, students involved in the tropical ecology directed research course collected valuable data on bird bioacoustics. The recorded samples of the soundscape are important to determine the effect of road noise after a major road is constructed. This is particularly important since a major road development is planned for the adjacent landscape. In addition, we banded some species to be used as focal subjects for experiments on the effect of noise and song emission.
Before the actual road is constructed, we run a serial of experiments on bird vocalization responses to an induced road noise playbacks stimulus. Our working hypothesis was that bird would modify their vocalization patterns in the presence of noise to minimize song interference.
We are now analyzing the acoustic material to find out about the outcome of the experiments. We seek to generate information as to how road noise affects bird communication and to use the information for informed decision making to minimize future road impacts on wildlife in protected areas.
To find out more about this study and support our research project, visit the project page at Experiment.com.
→ Sustainable Development Studies in Costa Rica
[post_title] => Sounds from a Cloud Forest
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[post_title] => J. Edgardo Arévalo Hernandez, Ph.D.
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[post_content] => The rugged rainforests and sandy beaches of Costa Rica are brimming with life – from sloths and frogs to brightly colored toucans and hummingbirds. Costa Rica hosts an astounding 5 percent of Earth’s species despite covering only 0.03 percent of its area. Shaded coffee farms integrated into the rainforest constitute just one example of the sustainable conservation strategies for which the country is known.
These efforts to preserve the wild beauty of Costa Rica are recognized worldwide, but climate change and increased urban development bring new and unforeseen challenges. Conservation leaders, farmers, land managers, and policymakers must work together using regenerative strategies to build ecological resilience and minimize climate change impacts. Our research in Costa Rica contributes vital data to innovative efforts that balance conservation and development.
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[post_content] => After an exciting and intense trip to Nicaragua, the students and staff members are adjusting again to the routine here at the peaceful Atenas campus. This international trip to our neighboring country was an eye-opening experience for the students. During the first three days on the island of Ometepe, we studied in-depth some site-specific topics, getting a firsthand look at lake ecology, invasive species, and San Juan River bi-national watershed management.
The students also conducted a field exercise, performing GIS mapping of petroglyphs in Hacienda Magdalena Cooperative and of the trail to the summit of the Maderas Volcano. Ascending the Volcano from 150 to just over 1300 meters above the sea level was quite a challenge! However, the enchanted elfin forest and a lagoon at the crater made the strenuous hike highly rewarding. The final product of this adventure will be a map of the trail that can be used by the local guides in their future hikes in this marvelous place.
Leaving Ometepe, we then moved to the colonial city of Granada where we based ourselves for our daily trips to nearby interesting sites. This second part of the trip was full of cultural and outdoor activities. As part of a follow up research project on the peoples’ perception of climate change, the students conducted surveys in the cities of Rivas, Granada, Masaya, and Managua. Despite the language barrier for some students, all of them managed to complete their assigned number of surveys about which the students were very happy and proud. Further, the hikes and the amazing views along the trails of Masaya and Mombacho volcanoes made a great balance between city surveys and wilderness. Yes, we are back in Atenas to continue with the everyday life here at the campus, but carry with us the long-lasting good memories of our Nicaragua trip.
[post_title] => Excursion to Nicaragua
[post_excerpt] => After an exciting and intense trip to Nicaragua, the students and staff members are adjusting again to the routine here at the peaceful Atenas campus.
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[post_content] => The outdoor learning experience has been greatly emphasized in our recent field trips. Two and a half weeks ago we took a boat through the Tarcoles River to appreciate two contrasting aspects: the wilderness and pollution. From the boat we observed crocodiles, ospreys, herons, ibises and basilisks, to name a few members of the river basin wildlife. We continued to a mangrove forest patch where the students received a field lecture in situ on mangrove ecology.
After this wildlife expedition, we moved to a heavily polluted beach site where another field lecture on waste management was delivered by our professor of natural resource management. Shortly after, we were hiking through the wet-to-dry transition forest of Carara National Park. This park protects 5,242 hectares of primary and secondary forest with myriad micro-habitats. However, a segment of the forest edge is bordered by a trafficked road that emits pollutants and generates noise. Taking this condition as a case study, another field lecture on “road ecology” was delivered in the nearby forest.
At El Sur, a small rural community close to the northeast side of the park, the students interacted with community members and learned about various issues including the amount of community organization necessary to operate successful rural tourism, the relationship between the national park and the community, and the local recycling program. In addition, the students experienced the rustic method of obtaining “atado de dulce”, a brown sugar product processed by a sugar-mill powered by oxen.
After a short overnight break back at campus, two more field trips served to study the management of the most visited national park in Costa Rica and the use of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). In Poas Volcano National Park, the students hiked and observed one of the largest craters on earth. They also conducted a survey to assess the behavior of tourists and park service perceptions. Finally, at the University of Costa Rica, a guest lecturer delivered a talk on GMOs and the current situation of GMOs in Costa Rica.
[post_title] => Field Trips, Learning, and Sustainability
[post_excerpt] => The outdoor learning experience has been greatly emphasized in our recent field trips.
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[post_content] => After six days of field work at four different locations in Costa Rica, the students returned to the SFS campus to begin the analysis and interpretation of the data collected. Each student chose a specific topic within the general project lead by each of the professors. Last week, the group dynamic shifted away from supervised data collecting and into a mode of independent time management,with the students working on the variety of tasks needed to produce the final Directed Research report. Requiring lots of time and effort, this process is invaluable in that it provides students the opportunity to take an in-depth research project from its beginning as a research question, and following it through to completion. Being directly involved in the research every step of the way is an important learning experience, one that helps to prepare everyone for their future careers.
I personally enjoy the Directed Research course—particularly this project my group just conducted—as it represents new research in the most visited protected area in Costa Rica. Poas Volcano National Park receives about 300,000 visitors a year and has good infrastructure including roads, parking lots, a visitor center, viewpoints, and trails. Our task was to obtain baseline information on potential impacts from the highly trafficked roads, viewpoints, and trails on the plants and animals that inhabit the park.
Thus, my students examined topics like forest edge effects adjacent to the road; traffic noise transmission through habitats and its potential effects on bird bioacoustics; damage on vegetation and animal feeding induced by visitors; traffic of visitors affecting bird diversity; and assessment of plant phenology and density of salamanders in areas used by park visitors. This mutualistic research effort between the SFS students and park administrators will definitively enhance future collaboration with our stakeholders and will help to inform the management plan of the park. All of the students in this spring program greatly contributed to generating knowledge to further improve the conservation of protected areas throughout Costa Rica.
[post_title] => Results Improve Management of Protected Areas
[post_excerpt] => After six days of field work in Costa Rica, the students returned to campus to begin the analysis and interpretation of the data collected.
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[post_content] => When I first thought of coming to the Wet Tropics of Australia for my sabbatical, I knew that I was going to encounter hundreds of new species of animals and plants, very different than those of Costa Rica, where I work at the Center for Sustainable Development Studies (CSDS). On my arrival at that Center for Rainforest Studies (CRS) my excitement was fighting against the jetlag and the cool wet climate of the mountain where the center sits. After a delicious meal I walked to my room traversing a forested area in between buildings, and there, in the middle of the trail was my first new species: the Long-nosed bandicoot. Perhaps for many not a big deal, but for me it was such a great reward to initiate my stay here in Australia.
I came to CRS to work on the effects of traffic noise on bird bioacoustics, specifically on the structure of dawn chorus. Thus, to experience the dawn chorus in the Wet Tropics of Australia I got up the next day before sunrise and walked to the forest and wait for the event. Twenty six minutes after 6 am the first bird species commenced the incipient chorus. Shortly after, several species of birds joined in and the monotonous sound of the wind and light rain vanished from my ears. The monospecific chorus of Chowchillas and the individual songs of the Eastern Whipbirds captivated my brain. With this unforgettable experience I started to prepare the recording equipment to be used in our joint research across centers. While doing so, I was asked to brief the students on the research and to show them the recording devices to be used. After the briefing and demonstration of the equipment I felt even more motivated to continue with the investigation and monitoring of the natural soundscape.
It has been only four days since I arrived, and yet I have had time to check the potential study sites, put to work the first recording devices, share ideas with faculty members, show and tell on the techniques used in our research, spotlight for animals with students and faculty, enjoyed wonderful meals and, of course, to watch many new species.
[post_title] => Australia Impressions from a Visiting (Costa Rica) Faculty Member
[post_excerpt] => I came to Australia to work on the effects of traffic noise on bird bioacoustics, specifically on the structure of dawn chorus.
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[post_date] => 2013-11-15 08:28:50
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[post_content] => We are just coming to the end of the second term and about to start our Directed Research (DR) course. The completion of the academic activities culminated with a combination of theory and a great field experience. We spent three days in a rather remote rural community called El Sur de Turrubares. Embedded in a landscape of agrosystems and protected areas, this small community faces development issues due to lack of economic incentives. A remarkable initiative of rural-based ecotourism led by a group of families inspired us to continue supporting these types of sustainable strategies. This grassroots project, known as “EcoSur,” possesses basic accommodation facilities and has recently added two new infrastructure modules for classes and a cafeteria. The setting was an excellent place to develop our classes in economics and ecology.
As part of the rural experience, we observed an authentic process of producing brown sugar with an oxen-powered sugar mill, appreciated wood craftsmanship, and milked cows. In addition, we hiked through basic rustic trails within a restricted sector of Carara National Park. This was possible due to the mutual agreement between EcoSur and the park. During the day, the students had the opportunity to observe colorful bird species such as the Chestnut-mandibled Toucan and the Cherrie’s Tanager. In the night, we explored clean forested streams to observed amphibians species like the Speckled Glass Frog and the Common Rain Frog.
Back at the Campus, the students are about to make a decision on the DR project they would like to work with. Four groups will be formed to start with each specific research dynamic that will be conducted in different parts of the country. This will undoubtedly be a major hands-on experience and an important research outcome for both the students and for the involved stakeholders.
[post_title] => Ecology and Economics in El Sur de Turrubares
[post_excerpt] => We spent three days in a rather remote rural community called El Sur de Turrubares.
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[post_date] => 2014-04-04 09:44:17
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[post_content] => Last week we had our last field trip to Santa Rosa National Park. The goal of this trip was to learn about the management and conservation of a highly threatened tropical dry forest ecosystem. This park is located within the Guanacaste Conservation Area and comprises secondary growth, deciduous, evergreen and riparian forests, as well as coastal habitats. It receives 1500 mm of rain in a seasonal regime and the average temperature is 25 °C.
Because of long droughts and high temperatures, the park is susceptible to fires during the non-rainy season. Thus, park administrators maintain rigorous management plans to prevent and fight against fire events that threat wildlife and forest ecosystems. Our natural setting was ideal for the delivering of field lectures on dry forest management, mitigation and compensation for greenhouse gases emissions and the ecological consequences of forest fragmentation.
The first day we set up our camp in a shaded area with giant fig trees; students received field lectures and then we engaged on a night hike to spot wildlife. We observed the Mexican Borrowing Snake (Loxocemus bicolor), the Tropical Banded Gecko (Coleonix mitratus), the Central American Bark Scorpion (Centruroides margaritatus) and, among other crawling fauna, a tailless whip scorpion. The next day we moved our camping to Naranjo Beach, a fourteen kilometer hike to a secluded protected area of great scenic beauty. The beach is a nesting site to species of sea turtles such as the Olive ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea). Also, the area protects patches of mangrove forest and estuary habitats.
This outdoor experience complemented greatly the many aspects that compose our program and allowed the students to compare this rather pristine site with other highly touristy places. We are now moving into the research agenda component of our program to start with the Directed Research projects, a component that prepares the students for data collection and analysis to generate valuable information for conservation and management.
[post_title] => Santa Rosa National Park
[post_excerpt] => Last week we had our last field trip to Santa Rosa National Park. The goal of this trip was to learn about the management and conservation of a highly threatened tropical dry forest ecosystem.
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[post_date] => 2015-04-13 07:21:14
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[post_content] => Road ecology is a relatively new discipline that focuses on the interaction between roads and wildlife. The negative effects of roads on forest ecosystems are determined by the density of the road network and traffic level. For instance, increasing traffic volume will correlate positively with the degree of emissions such as pollutants, wind turbulence, and noise.
Trafficked roads impact directly some protected areas in Costa Rica by either bisecting or limiting the forest. Carara, Santa Rosa, and Braulio Carrillo National Parks are three examples of road incidence on protected areas. In 2008, I initiated a baseline study on bird surveys and noise measurements in Carara National Park. We found that both bird density as well as species richness correlated negatively with increasing road noise. Although our results did not prove a cause and effect relationship, it is reasonable to think that noise is the number one factor. This is because traffic noise masks bird vocalizations. Noise level at the forest edge could reach 90 dB, and decreases with distance towards the forest interior.
In 2012, we used automated recording devises to record bird bioacoustics at different distances from the road. Locations near the road were typically at 100m whereas locations far from the roads were 500-700m. We determined that average bird bioacoustic time was significantly lower (34s/2min) near the road compare to that far from road (59s/2min). This finding clearly supports our hypothesis that bird species avoid noise near the road. We believe that habitat degradation not only includes habitat fragmentation and loss of species, but also alteration of the natural soundscape. Consequently, it is important to incorporate actions that could mitigate the effect of traffic noise on wildlife. We continue with this research in Carara and Santa Rosa National Park to generate important information to be used for informed decision making in protected areas.
[post_title] => Road Ecology
[post_excerpt] => Road ecology is a relatively new discipline that focuses on the interaction between roads and wildlife.
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[post_date] => 2015-07-23 06:41:46
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[post_content] => The expected natural sounds of a given protected area should be composed of the inherent geophony and biophony sounds. The geophony includes wind, rain, or a flow of a river for example; whereas the biophony includes sounds produced by living organisms. Thus, the composition of the interacting sounds both in time and space form the soundscape.
Protected areas are designed to conserve biodiversity and the different ecological processes in a natural wild area. Costa Rica has set aside a series of protected areas, including national parks that protect 12% of the country’s territory. This category of protection allows tourism visitation with low impact activities such as trail hiking. However, roads limit or bisect some national parks creating negative impacts on their protected habitats. For instance, traffic noise can interfere with the natural sounds thereby degrading the soundscape of a protected area. This is the case of Carara National Park, where the coastal road highway is adjacent to the forest, which can create negative impacts on wildlife.
The focus of our research is to evaluate how road noise affects the natural soundscape of Carara National Park. In our most recent study during spring we found that the average traffic volume was 617 vehicles per hour. However, this volume exceeds 800 vehicles per hour during the weekends. Concomitantly, we found that the average level of traffic noise was 84.1 decibels (dB) at the road; this level decreased to 66.2 dB at 25 meters inside the forest, and to an average of 56.8 dB at 100 meters inside the forest.
Decreasing noise in relation to the distance is an expected phenomenon; however, noise attenuation depends on the density of the forest vegetation. For example, the noise can penetrate with higher levels during the dry season due to a decrease of the foliage by deciduous trees. It is important to mention that the traffic is not constant over time, so that the noise intensity can range from a minimum of 35 dB and a maximum of 92 dB. Another interesting aspect is that the noise varies in intensity depending on the configuration of the road. For example, noise is higher by compressing air brake motors by heavy vehicles when they descend slopes or before a curve.
We generated maps of noise distribution using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) through which we detected how the maximum noise levels mask the natural sound of the geophony, in this case the sound generated by a stream. In addition, we found that bioacoustic time decreases with road proximity, and that the composition of bird species changes closer to the road compared to composition away from the road.
We believe that maximum noise levels along roadsides interferes negatively on the bioacoustics of the species protected by national parks. Thus the conservation of ecosystems must take into account the inherent quality of the sound spectrum in protected areas.
[post_title] => Conserving the Natural Soundscape in Protected Areas
[post_excerpt] => The focus of our research is to evaluate how road noise affects the natural soundscape of Carara National Park.
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[post_date] => 2015-12-02 07:16:55
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[post_content] => Anthropogenic climate change has a wide range of generalized impacts on biodiversity. Scientists have not only documented species extinctions but also geographic shifts of diverse taxa around the world. Hundreds of species are expanding their geographic range; some are colonizing habitats at higher altitudes and some moving toward the poles. Changes in species distribution have important implications on population dynamics at the community level. Thus, novel species interactions, such as competition for resources, predation, and parasitism, could alter ecosystem function and cause local population declines or even local extinction. One important component that is being altered but rarely mentioned is the change in soundscape composition.
The soundscape is composed of the different sounds produced by biotic and abiotic sources. For example, bird species produce unique sounds to communicate with other individuals of the same species, or even other species. However, these unique sounds would be emitted within a multispecies biophony bound in other natural sounds. The coexisting bioacoustic signs are the product of the evolutionary history of co-occurring species in a given habitat. Therefore, the new sound additions by the new colonizing species can compete for the acoustic niches both in time and space.
For example, research in Monteverde, Costa Rica, has shown that 15 cloud forest intolerant bird species, that normally nested below 1470 meters, have moved uphill to an elevation of 1540 meters. This means that the composition of the original biophony has changed, making the acoustic niche tighter. While some species are increasing their abundance at this new elevation range, other cloud forest inhabitants like the Resplendent Quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno) have declined.
With the help of our students, we are sampling the bioacoustics in some protected areas at different elevations to monitor potential changes in the biophony due to shift in species distribution and anthropogenic noise. We believe that the composition of the natural soundscape has an inherited signature composed by a diverse array of interacting sounds. Thus, we are increasing our soundscape data base, hoping to accumulate evidence of how climate change or the intrusive anthropogenic noise alters bioacoustics.
→ Sustainable Development Studies Semester Program in Costa Rica
[post_title] => Climate Change, Anthropogenic Noise, and the Bird Acoustic Niche
[post_excerpt] => With the help of our students, we are sampling bioacoustics in protected areas at different elevations to monitor potential changes.
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[post_name] => climate-change-anthropogenic-noise-and-the-bird-acoustic-niche
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[post_date] => 2016-03-30 08:08:04
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[post_content] => Located in Lake Nicaragua, Ometepe Island is formed by two adjacent volcanoes joined by a narrow isthmus. Despite its relatively small size of 276km2, the island encompasses a great variety of habitats including wetlands, dry forest, premontane transitional forest, and cloud forest. These landscape features allow the existence of many species of mammals, reptiles, and birds. Very likely, the diversity of animal species was higher before the major man-made land conversions on the island. The largest forest area is found in Maderas volcano, with an altitudinal gradient of habitats ranging from 33 to 1394 meters above sea level. The lower dry forest habitats have been reduced or fragmented due to agricultural practices, whereas the cloud forest in the top remains more continuous and conserved.
Dry forest, transitional forest and cloud forest of Maderas Volcano (Photo: E. Arévalo)
The bird species turnover within this gradient is high, particularly within the narrow habitat belts. Typically, one can find the Black-headed Trogon (Trogon melanocephalus) and the Banded Wren (Thryophilus pleurostictus) in dry forest habitats, and the Tropical Parula (Parula pitiayumi) and the Purple-throated Mountain-gem (Lampornis calolaemus) in cloud forest habitats. The avifauna is the richest of all vertebrate groups in the Island. According to the checklist of birds of Ometepe by Morales et al. (2007) there are 148 species; this represents 21% of all bird species in the country.
Since 2007, I have visited the Island twice a year with SFS students and staff members to carry out field exercises and lectures. Over these years I have recorded eight species of birds that are not documented in Morales et al. (2007). As the authors of this checklist state: “there remain areas of Ometepe Island that have yet to be surveyed,” so more species should be expected. The new records I report here are: American Coot (Fulica americana), Bat Falcon (Falco rufigularis), Common Gallinule (Gallinula chloropus), Gray-headed Yellow-throat (Geothlypis poliocephala), Least Grebe (Tachybaptus dominicus), Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis), Mangrove Cuckoo (Coccyzus minor), and Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata). These species were seen in the Charco Verde forest and wetland reserve and in a temporary swap in Merida.
It is important to continue surveying all habitat remnants to account for all the species present in the Island for future monitoring and conservation of the Ometepe Biosphere Reserve.
Bat Falcon, Hotel Charco Verde, Ometepe (Photo: E. Arévalo)Sustainable Development Studies in Costa Rica
[post_title] => New Avifauna Records of Ometepe Island
[post_excerpt] => A rich diversity of birds was spotted on an extended field expedition to Nicaragua.
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[post_content] => As we moved through the forest collecting data for our directed research in Carara National Park, we heard a high pitch crying sound in the canopy. Suddenly, there were spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) darting through the branches above us. Several individuals were vocalizing close to the noisy trafficked road as they were looking for leaves and fruits.
The spider monkey is an endangered species that needs relatively large tracks of mature forest to survive. Carara National Park is 5,242 ha in size and protects mature as well as secondary forest along an altitudinal gradient. The downside of this park is that it is limited by a segment of a paved road with a traffic volume ranging from 426 to 1199 vehicles per hour in the last 10 years. This high number of vehicles generates loud noise levels that penetrate the mature forest and meet with the natural sounds produced by wildlife.
We have been studying bird bioacoustics in this park over the years and have also heard many other animal species that also produce sounds, including spider monkeys. The most notorious of all is that produced by a howler monkey (Alouatta palliata). Different from the spider monkeys, howlers emit a loud low-frequency call that can be heard several kilometers away. This roaring sound is produced in response to neighboring groups to locate each other to minimize confrontation. However, the loud sound produced by the howler monkeys is challenged by similar anthropogenic sounds such as those produced by car engines. Thus, the interaction between sounds could interfere with the effective communication among monkey groups. Nonetheless, monkeys vocalize from the canopy which confers advantages in the long range propagation of their sounds. In any case, anthropogenic noise notably alters the quality of the natural soundscape and the appreciation of natural protected areas.
Spider monkeyHowler monkey→ Sustainable Development Studies in Costa Rica
[post_title] => Monkeys and Roads: When Sounds Meet
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[post_date] => 2019-05-07 15:52:53
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[post_content] =>
Sounds from a Cloud Forest: The Research on Bird Songs and Anthropogenic Interference
Protected areas in Costa Rica comprise a variety of tropical habitats and make about one quarter of the country. Given this condition, one might expect that wildlife in those areas can be away and protected from human disturbances. However, road network is being expanded and consequently reaching proximity towards protected habitats. Currently, 70 protected areas in Costa Rica are located within a 2 km range of the road network. This road encroachment increases noise pollution affecting wildlife species, such as birds that use sounds for communication.
To better understand the dynamics of anthropogenic noise and bird song interactions, we are conducting a baseline research on bird species in the Villa Blanca cloud forest private reserve. We use mist netting and audio recording techniques to determine the presence of bird species and their bioacoustic activity in different habitats. This private reserve is situated in close proximity to a national road development project.
Two weeks ago, as part of our spring semester program, students involved in the tropical ecology directed research course collected valuable data on bird bioacoustics. The recorded samples of the soundscape are important to determine the effect of road noise after a major road is constructed. This is particularly important since a major road development is planned for the adjacent landscape. In addition, we banded some species to be used as focal subjects for experiments on the effect of noise and song emission.
Before the actual road is constructed, we run a serial of experiments on bird vocalization responses to an induced road noise playbacks stimulus. Our working hypothesis was that bird would modify their vocalization patterns in the presence of noise to minimize song interference.
We are now analyzing the acoustic material to find out about the outcome of the experiments. We seek to generate information as to how road noise affects bird communication and to use the information for informed decision making to minimize future road impacts on wildlife in protected areas.
To find out more about this study and support our research project, visit the project page at Experiment.com.
→ Sustainable Development Studies in Costa Rica
[post_title] => Sounds from a Cloud Forest
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NAME
SCHOOL
> MAJOR
SFS PROGRAM
> Spring '19
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[post_title] => J. Edgardo Arévalo Hernandez, Ph.D.
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[author_title] => Resident Lecturer in Tropical Ecology
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[description] => Costa Rica is a resource-rich, wonderfully biodiverse country that is rapidly developing and increasingly recognized for its efforts to ensure conservation and the protection of natural resources. It is home to beautiful cloud forests, dry forests, volcanoes, lowland rainforests, and plantations. Students examine management schemes, identify the benefits of protected areas, and determine which systems offer the best option for economic development, the maintenance of cultural norms, and the preservation of biodiversity.
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[post_content] => The rugged rainforests and sandy beaches of Costa Rica are brimming with life – from sloths and frogs to brightly colored toucans and hummingbirds. Costa Rica hosts an astounding 5 percent of Earth’s species despite covering only 0.03 percent of its area. Shaded coffee farms integrated into the rainforest constitute just one example of the sustainable conservation strategies for which the country is known.
These efforts to preserve the wild beauty of Costa Rica are recognized worldwide, but climate change and increased urban development bring new and unforeseen challenges. Conservation leaders, farmers, land managers, and policymakers must work together using regenerative strategies to build ecological resilience and minimize climate change impacts. Our research in Costa Rica contributes vital data to innovative efforts that balance conservation and development.
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[post_content] => After an exciting and intense trip to Nicaragua, the students and staff members are adjusting again to the routine here at the peaceful Atenas campus. This international trip to our neighboring country was an eye-opening experience for the students. During the first three days on the island of Ometepe, we studied in-depth some site-specific topics, getting a firsthand look at lake ecology, invasive species, and San Juan River bi-national watershed management.
The students also conducted a field exercise, performing GIS mapping of petroglyphs in Hacienda Magdalena Cooperative and of the trail to the summit of the Maderas Volcano. Ascending the Volcano from 150 to just over 1300 meters above the sea level was quite a challenge! However, the enchanted elfin forest and a lagoon at the crater made the strenuous hike highly rewarding. The final product of this adventure will be a map of the trail that can be used by the local guides in their future hikes in this marvelous place.
Leaving Ometepe, we then moved to the colonial city of Granada where we based ourselves for our daily trips to nearby interesting sites. This second part of the trip was full of cultural and outdoor activities. As part of a follow up research project on the peoples’ perception of climate change, the students conducted surveys in the cities of Rivas, Granada, Masaya, and Managua. Despite the language barrier for some students, all of them managed to complete their assigned number of surveys about which the students were very happy and proud. Further, the hikes and the amazing views along the trails of Masaya and Mombacho volcanoes made a great balance between city surveys and wilderness. Yes, we are back in Atenas to continue with the everyday life here at the campus, but carry with us the long-lasting good memories of our Nicaragua trip.
[post_title] => Excursion to Nicaragua
[post_excerpt] => After an exciting and intense trip to Nicaragua, the students and staff members are adjusting again to the routine here at the peaceful Atenas campus.
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[post_content] => The outdoor learning experience has been greatly emphasized in our recent field trips. Two and a half weeks ago we took a boat through the Tarcoles River to appreciate two contrasting aspects: the wilderness and pollution. From the boat we observed crocodiles, ospreys, herons, ibises and basilisks, to name a few members of the river basin wildlife. We continued to a mangrove forest patch where the students received a field lecture in situ on mangrove ecology.
After this wildlife expedition, we moved to a heavily polluted beach site where another field lecture on waste management was delivered by our professor of natural resource management. Shortly after, we were hiking through the wet-to-dry transition forest of Carara National Park. This park protects 5,242 hectares of primary and secondary forest with myriad micro-habitats. However, a segment of the forest edge is bordered by a trafficked road that emits pollutants and generates noise. Taking this condition as a case study, another field lecture on “road ecology” was delivered in the nearby forest.
At El Sur, a small rural community close to the northeast side of the park, the students interacted with community members and learned about various issues including the amount of community organization necessary to operate successful rural tourism, the relationship between the national park and the community, and the local recycling program. In addition, the students experienced the rustic method of obtaining “atado de dulce”, a brown sugar product processed by a sugar-mill powered by oxen.
After a short overnight break back at campus, two more field trips served to study the management of the most visited national park in Costa Rica and the use of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). In Poas Volcano National Park, the students hiked and observed one of the largest craters on earth. They also conducted a survey to assess the behavior of tourists and park service perceptions. Finally, at the University of Costa Rica, a guest lecturer delivered a talk on GMOs and the current situation of GMOs in Costa Rica.
[post_title] => Field Trips, Learning, and Sustainability
[post_excerpt] => The outdoor learning experience has been greatly emphasized in our recent field trips.
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[post_content] => After six days of field work at four different locations in Costa Rica, the students returned to the SFS campus to begin the analysis and interpretation of the data collected. Each student chose a specific topic within the general project lead by each of the professors. Last week, the group dynamic shifted away from supervised data collecting and into a mode of independent time management,with the students working on the variety of tasks needed to produce the final Directed Research report. Requiring lots of time and effort, this process is invaluable in that it provides students the opportunity to take an in-depth research project from its beginning as a research question, and following it through to completion. Being directly involved in the research every step of the way is an important learning experience, one that helps to prepare everyone for their future careers.
I personally enjoy the Directed Research course—particularly this project my group just conducted—as it represents new research in the most visited protected area in Costa Rica. Poas Volcano National Park receives about 300,000 visitors a year and has good infrastructure including roads, parking lots, a visitor center, viewpoints, and trails. Our task was to obtain baseline information on potential impacts from the highly trafficked roads, viewpoints, and trails on the plants and animals that inhabit the park.
Thus, my students examined topics like forest edge effects adjacent to the road; traffic noise transmission through habitats and its potential effects on bird bioacoustics; damage on vegetation and animal feeding induced by visitors; traffic of visitors affecting bird diversity; and assessment of plant phenology and density of salamanders in areas used by park visitors. This mutualistic research effort between the SFS students and park administrators will definitively enhance future collaboration with our stakeholders and will help to inform the management plan of the park. All of the students in this spring program greatly contributed to generating knowledge to further improve the conservation of protected areas throughout Costa Rica.
[post_title] => Results Improve Management of Protected Areas
[post_excerpt] => After six days of field work in Costa Rica, the students returned to campus to begin the analysis and interpretation of the data collected.
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[post_date_gmt] => 2013-07-15 07:31:30
[post_content] => When I first thought of coming to the Wet Tropics of Australia for my sabbatical, I knew that I was going to encounter hundreds of new species of animals and plants, very different than those of Costa Rica, where I work at the Center for Sustainable Development Studies (CSDS). On my arrival at that Center for Rainforest Studies (CRS) my excitement was fighting against the jetlag and the cool wet climate of the mountain where the center sits. After a delicious meal I walked to my room traversing a forested area in between buildings, and there, in the middle of the trail was my first new species: the Long-nosed bandicoot. Perhaps for many not a big deal, but for me it was such a great reward to initiate my stay here in Australia.
I came to CRS to work on the effects of traffic noise on bird bioacoustics, specifically on the structure of dawn chorus. Thus, to experience the dawn chorus in the Wet Tropics of Australia I got up the next day before sunrise and walked to the forest and wait for the event. Twenty six minutes after 6 am the first bird species commenced the incipient chorus. Shortly after, several species of birds joined in and the monotonous sound of the wind and light rain vanished from my ears. The monospecific chorus of Chowchillas and the individual songs of the Eastern Whipbirds captivated my brain. With this unforgettable experience I started to prepare the recording equipment to be used in our joint research across centers. While doing so, I was asked to brief the students on the research and to show them the recording devices to be used. After the briefing and demonstration of the equipment I felt even more motivated to continue with the investigation and monitoring of the natural soundscape.
It has been only four days since I arrived, and yet I have had time to check the potential study sites, put to work the first recording devices, share ideas with faculty members, show and tell on the techniques used in our research, spotlight for animals with students and faculty, enjoyed wonderful meals and, of course, to watch many new species.
[post_title] => Australia Impressions from a Visiting (Costa Rica) Faculty Member
[post_excerpt] => I came to Australia to work on the effects of traffic noise on bird bioacoustics, specifically on the structure of dawn chorus.
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[post_date] => 2013-11-15 08:28:50
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[post_content] => We are just coming to the end of the second term and about to start our Directed Research (DR) course. The completion of the academic activities culminated with a combination of theory and a great field experience. We spent three days in a rather remote rural community called El Sur de Turrubares. Embedded in a landscape of agrosystems and protected areas, this small community faces development issues due to lack of economic incentives. A remarkable initiative of rural-based ecotourism led by a group of families inspired us to continue supporting these types of sustainable strategies. This grassroots project, known as “EcoSur,” possesses basic accommodation facilities and has recently added two new infrastructure modules for classes and a cafeteria. The setting was an excellent place to develop our classes in economics and ecology.
As part of the rural experience, we observed an authentic process of producing brown sugar with an oxen-powered sugar mill, appreciated wood craftsmanship, and milked cows. In addition, we hiked through basic rustic trails within a restricted sector of Carara National Park. This was possible due to the mutual agreement between EcoSur and the park. During the day, the students had the opportunity to observe colorful bird species such as the Chestnut-mandibled Toucan and the Cherrie’s Tanager. In the night, we explored clean forested streams to observed amphibians species like the Speckled Glass Frog and the Common Rain Frog.
Back at the Campus, the students are about to make a decision on the DR project they would like to work with. Four groups will be formed to start with each specific research dynamic that will be conducted in different parts of the country. This will undoubtedly be a major hands-on experience and an important research outcome for both the students and for the involved stakeholders.
[post_title] => Ecology and Economics in El Sur de Turrubares
[post_excerpt] => We spent three days in a rather remote rural community called El Sur de Turrubares.
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[post_date] => 2014-04-04 09:44:17
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[post_content] => Last week we had our last field trip to Santa Rosa National Park. The goal of this trip was to learn about the management and conservation of a highly threatened tropical dry forest ecosystem. This park is located within the Guanacaste Conservation Area and comprises secondary growth, deciduous, evergreen and riparian forests, as well as coastal habitats. It receives 1500 mm of rain in a seasonal regime and the average temperature is 25 °C.
Because of long droughts and high temperatures, the park is susceptible to fires during the non-rainy season. Thus, park administrators maintain rigorous management plans to prevent and fight against fire events that threat wildlife and forest ecosystems. Our natural setting was ideal for the delivering of field lectures on dry forest management, mitigation and compensation for greenhouse gases emissions and the ecological consequences of forest fragmentation.
The first day we set up our camp in a shaded area with giant fig trees; students received field lectures and then we engaged on a night hike to spot wildlife. We observed the Mexican Borrowing Snake (Loxocemus bicolor), the Tropical Banded Gecko (Coleonix mitratus), the Central American Bark Scorpion (Centruroides margaritatus) and, among other crawling fauna, a tailless whip scorpion. The next day we moved our camping to Naranjo Beach, a fourteen kilometer hike to a secluded protected area of great scenic beauty. The beach is a nesting site to species of sea turtles such as the Olive ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea). Also, the area protects patches of mangrove forest and estuary habitats.
This outdoor experience complemented greatly the many aspects that compose our program and allowed the students to compare this rather pristine site with other highly touristy places. We are now moving into the research agenda component of our program to start with the Directed Research projects, a component that prepares the students for data collection and analysis to generate valuable information for conservation and management.
[post_title] => Santa Rosa National Park
[post_excerpt] => Last week we had our last field trip to Santa Rosa National Park. The goal of this trip was to learn about the management and conservation of a highly threatened tropical dry forest ecosystem.
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[post_date] => 2015-04-13 07:21:14
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[post_content] => Road ecology is a relatively new discipline that focuses on the interaction between roads and wildlife. The negative effects of roads on forest ecosystems are determined by the density of the road network and traffic level. For instance, increasing traffic volume will correlate positively with the degree of emissions such as pollutants, wind turbulence, and noise.
Trafficked roads impact directly some protected areas in Costa Rica by either bisecting or limiting the forest. Carara, Santa Rosa, and Braulio Carrillo National Parks are three examples of road incidence on protected areas. In 2008, I initiated a baseline study on bird surveys and noise measurements in Carara National Park. We found that both bird density as well as species richness correlated negatively with increasing road noise. Although our results did not prove a cause and effect relationship, it is reasonable to think that noise is the number one factor. This is because traffic noise masks bird vocalizations. Noise level at the forest edge could reach 90 dB, and decreases with distance towards the forest interior.
In 2012, we used automated recording devises to record bird bioacoustics at different distances from the road. Locations near the road were typically at 100m whereas locations far from the roads were 500-700m. We determined that average bird bioacoustic time was significantly lower (34s/2min) near the road compare to that far from road (59s/2min). This finding clearly supports our hypothesis that bird species avoid noise near the road. We believe that habitat degradation not only includes habitat fragmentation and loss of species, but also alteration of the natural soundscape. Consequently, it is important to incorporate actions that could mitigate the effect of traffic noise on wildlife. We continue with this research in Carara and Santa Rosa National Park to generate important information to be used for informed decision making in protected areas.
[post_title] => Road Ecology
[post_excerpt] => Road ecology is a relatively new discipline that focuses on the interaction between roads and wildlife.
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[post_date] => 2015-07-23 06:41:46
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[post_content] => The expected natural sounds of a given protected area should be composed of the inherent geophony and biophony sounds. The geophony includes wind, rain, or a flow of a river for example; whereas the biophony includes sounds produced by living organisms. Thus, the composition of the interacting sounds both in time and space form the soundscape.
Protected areas are designed to conserve biodiversity and the different ecological processes in a natural wild area. Costa Rica has set aside a series of protected areas, including national parks that protect 12% of the country’s territory. This category of protection allows tourism visitation with low impact activities such as trail hiking. However, roads limit or bisect some national parks creating negative impacts on their protected habitats. For instance, traffic noise can interfere with the natural sounds thereby degrading the soundscape of a protected area. This is the case of Carara National Park, where the coastal road highway is adjacent to the forest, which can create negative impacts on wildlife.
The focus of our research is to evaluate how road noise affects the natural soundscape of Carara National Park. In our most recent study during spring we found that the average traffic volume was 617 vehicles per hour. However, this volume exceeds 800 vehicles per hour during the weekends. Concomitantly, we found that the average level of traffic noise was 84.1 decibels (dB) at the road; this level decreased to 66.2 dB at 25 meters inside the forest, and to an average of 56.8 dB at 100 meters inside the forest.
Decreasing noise in relation to the distance is an expected phenomenon; however, noise attenuation depends on the density of the forest vegetation. For example, the noise can penetrate with higher levels during the dry season due to a decrease of the foliage by deciduous trees. It is important to mention that the traffic is not constant over time, so that the noise intensity can range from a minimum of 35 dB and a maximum of 92 dB. Another interesting aspect is that the noise varies in intensity depending on the configuration of the road. For example, noise is higher by compressing air brake motors by heavy vehicles when they descend slopes or before a curve.
We generated maps of noise distribution using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) through which we detected how the maximum noise levels mask the natural sound of the geophony, in this case the sound generated by a stream. In addition, we found that bioacoustic time decreases with road proximity, and that the composition of bird species changes closer to the road compared to composition away from the road.
We believe that maximum noise levels along roadsides interferes negatively on the bioacoustics of the species protected by national parks. Thus the conservation of ecosystems must take into account the inherent quality of the sound spectrum in protected areas.
[post_title] => Conserving the Natural Soundscape in Protected Areas
[post_excerpt] => The focus of our research is to evaluate how road noise affects the natural soundscape of Carara National Park.
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[post_date] => 2015-12-02 07:16:55
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[post_content] => Anthropogenic climate change has a wide range of generalized impacts on biodiversity. Scientists have not only documented species extinctions but also geographic shifts of diverse taxa around the world. Hundreds of species are expanding their geographic range; some are colonizing habitats at higher altitudes and some moving toward the poles. Changes in species distribution have important implications on population dynamics at the community level. Thus, novel species interactions, such as competition for resources, predation, and parasitism, could alter ecosystem function and cause local population declines or even local extinction. One important component that is being altered but rarely mentioned is the change in soundscape composition.
The soundscape is composed of the different sounds produced by biotic and abiotic sources. For example, bird species produce unique sounds to communicate with other individuals of the same species, or even other species. However, these unique sounds would be emitted within a multispecies biophony bound in other natural sounds. The coexisting bioacoustic signs are the product of the evolutionary history of co-occurring species in a given habitat. Therefore, the new sound additions by the new colonizing species can compete for the acoustic niches both in time and space.
For example, research in Monteverde, Costa Rica, has shown that 15 cloud forest intolerant bird species, that normally nested below 1470 meters, have moved uphill to an elevation of 1540 meters. This means that the composition of the original biophony has changed, making the acoustic niche tighter. While some species are increasing their abundance at this new elevation range, other cloud forest inhabitants like the Resplendent Quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno) have declined.
With the help of our students, we are sampling the bioacoustics in some protected areas at different elevations to monitor potential changes in the biophony due to shift in species distribution and anthropogenic noise. We believe that the composition of the natural soundscape has an inherited signature composed by a diverse array of interacting sounds. Thus, we are increasing our soundscape data base, hoping to accumulate evidence of how climate change or the intrusive anthropogenic noise alters bioacoustics.
→ Sustainable Development Studies Semester Program in Costa Rica
[post_title] => Climate Change, Anthropogenic Noise, and the Bird Acoustic Niche
[post_excerpt] => With the help of our students, we are sampling bioacoustics in protected areas at different elevations to monitor potential changes.
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[post_name] => climate-change-anthropogenic-noise-and-the-bird-acoustic-niche
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[post_date] => 2016-03-30 08:08:04
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[post_content] => Located in Lake Nicaragua, Ometepe Island is formed by two adjacent volcanoes joined by a narrow isthmus. Despite its relatively small size of 276km2, the island encompasses a great variety of habitats including wetlands, dry forest, premontane transitional forest, and cloud forest. These landscape features allow the existence of many species of mammals, reptiles, and birds. Very likely, the diversity of animal species was higher before the major man-made land conversions on the island. The largest forest area is found in Maderas volcano, with an altitudinal gradient of habitats ranging from 33 to 1394 meters above sea level. The lower dry forest habitats have been reduced or fragmented due to agricultural practices, whereas the cloud forest in the top remains more continuous and conserved.
Dry forest, transitional forest and cloud forest of Maderas Volcano (Photo: E. Arévalo)
The bird species turnover within this gradient is high, particularly within the narrow habitat belts. Typically, one can find the Black-headed Trogon (Trogon melanocephalus) and the Banded Wren (Thryophilus pleurostictus) in dry forest habitats, and the Tropical Parula (Parula pitiayumi) and the Purple-throated Mountain-gem (Lampornis calolaemus) in cloud forest habitats. The avifauna is the richest of all vertebrate groups in the Island. According to the checklist of birds of Ometepe by Morales et al. (2007) there are 148 species; this represents 21% of all bird species in the country.
Since 2007, I have visited the Island twice a year with SFS students and staff members to carry out field exercises and lectures. Over these years I have recorded eight species of birds that are not documented in Morales et al. (2007). As the authors of this checklist state: “there remain areas of Ometepe Island that have yet to be surveyed,” so more species should be expected. The new records I report here are: American Coot (Fulica americana), Bat Falcon (Falco rufigularis), Common Gallinule (Gallinula chloropus), Gray-headed Yellow-throat (Geothlypis poliocephala), Least Grebe (Tachybaptus dominicus), Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis), Mangrove Cuckoo (Coccyzus minor), and Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata). These species were seen in the Charco Verde forest and wetland reserve and in a temporary swap in Merida.
It is important to continue surveying all habitat remnants to account for all the species present in the Island for future monitoring and conservation of the Ometepe Biosphere Reserve.
Bat Falcon, Hotel Charco Verde, Ometepe (Photo: E. Arévalo)Sustainable Development Studies in Costa Rica
[post_title] => New Avifauna Records of Ometepe Island
[post_excerpt] => A rich diversity of birds was spotted on an extended field expedition to Nicaragua.
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[post_date] => 2017-05-03 14:12:20
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[post_content] => As we moved through the forest collecting data for our directed research in Carara National Park, we heard a high pitch crying sound in the canopy. Suddenly, there were spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) darting through the branches above us. Several individuals were vocalizing close to the noisy trafficked road as they were looking for leaves and fruits.
The spider monkey is an endangered species that needs relatively large tracks of mature forest to survive. Carara National Park is 5,242 ha in size and protects mature as well as secondary forest along an altitudinal gradient. The downside of this park is that it is limited by a segment of a paved road with a traffic volume ranging from 426 to 1199 vehicles per hour in the last 10 years. This high number of vehicles generates loud noise levels that penetrate the mature forest and meet with the natural sounds produced by wildlife.
We have been studying bird bioacoustics in this park over the years and have also heard many other animal species that also produce sounds, including spider monkeys. The most notorious of all is that produced by a howler monkey (Alouatta palliata). Different from the spider monkeys, howlers emit a loud low-frequency call that can be heard several kilometers away. This roaring sound is produced in response to neighboring groups to locate each other to minimize confrontation. However, the loud sound produced by the howler monkeys is challenged by similar anthropogenic sounds such as those produced by car engines. Thus, the interaction between sounds could interfere with the effective communication among monkey groups. Nonetheless, monkeys vocalize from the canopy which confers advantages in the long range propagation of their sounds. In any case, anthropogenic noise notably alters the quality of the natural soundscape and the appreciation of natural protected areas.
Spider monkeyHowler monkey→ Sustainable Development Studies in Costa Rica
[post_title] => Monkeys and Roads: When Sounds Meet
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[post_date] => 2019-05-07 15:52:53
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[post_content] =>
Sounds from a Cloud Forest: The Research on Bird Songs and Anthropogenic Interference
Protected areas in Costa Rica comprise a variety of tropical habitats and make about one quarter of the country. Given this condition, one might expect that wildlife in those areas can be away and protected from human disturbances. However, road network is being expanded and consequently reaching proximity towards protected habitats. Currently, 70 protected areas in Costa Rica are located within a 2 km range of the road network. This road encroachment increases noise pollution affecting wildlife species, such as birds that use sounds for communication.
To better understand the dynamics of anthropogenic noise and bird song interactions, we are conducting a baseline research on bird species in the Villa Blanca cloud forest private reserve. We use mist netting and audio recording techniques to determine the presence of bird species and their bioacoustic activity in different habitats. This private reserve is situated in close proximity to a national road development project.
Two weeks ago, as part of our spring semester program, students involved in the tropical ecology directed research course collected valuable data on bird bioacoustics. The recorded samples of the soundscape are important to determine the effect of road noise after a major road is constructed. This is particularly important since a major road development is planned for the adjacent landscape. In addition, we banded some species to be used as focal subjects for experiments on the effect of noise and song emission.
Before the actual road is constructed, we run a serial of experiments on bird vocalization responses to an induced road noise playbacks stimulus. Our working hypothesis was that bird would modify their vocalization patterns in the presence of noise to minimize song interference.
We are now analyzing the acoustic material to find out about the outcome of the experiments. We seek to generate information as to how road noise affects bird communication and to use the information for informed decision making to minimize future road impacts on wildlife in protected areas.
To find out more about this study and support our research project, visit the project page at Experiment.com.
→ Sustainable Development Studies in Costa Rica
[post_title] => Sounds from a Cloud Forest
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Sounds from a Cloud Forest: The Research on Bird Songs and Anthropogenic Interference
Protected areas in Costa Rica comprise a variety of tropical habitats and make about one quarter of the country. Given this condition, one might expect that wildlife in those areas can be away and protected from human disturbances. However, road network is being expanded and consequently reaching proximity towards protected habitats. Currently, 70 protected areas in Costa Rica are located within a 2 km range of the road network. This road encroachment increases noise pollution affecting wildlife species, such as birds that use sounds for communication.
To better understand the dynamics of anthropogenic noise and bird song interactions, we are conducting a baseline research on bird species in the Villa Blanca cloud forest private reserve. We use mist netting and audio recording techniques to determine the presence of bird species and their bioacoustic activity in different habitats. This private reserve is situated in close proximity to a national road development project.
Two weeks ago, as part of our spring semester program, students involved in the tropical ecology directed research course collected valuable data on bird bioacoustics. The recorded samples of the soundscape are important to determine the effect of road noise after a major road is constructed. This is particularly important since a major road development is planned for the adjacent landscape. In addition, we banded some species to be used as focal subjects for experiments on the effect of noise and song emission.
Before the actual road is constructed, we run a serial of experiments on bird vocalization responses to an induced road noise playbacks stimulus. Our working hypothesis was that bird would modify their vocalization patterns in the presence of noise to minimize song interference.
We are now analyzing the acoustic material to find out about the outcome of the experiments. We seek to generate information as to how road noise affects bird communication and to use the information for informed decision making to minimize future road impacts on wildlife in protected areas.
The students also conducted a field exercise, performing GIS mapping of petroglyphs in Hacienda Magdalena Cooperative and of the trail to the summit of the Maderas Volcano. Ascending the Volcano from 150 to just over 1300 meters above the sea level was quite a challenge! However, the enchanted elfin forest and a lagoon at the crater made the strenuous hike highly rewarding. The final product of this adventure will be a map of the trail that can be used by the local guides in their future hikes in this marvelous place.
Leaving Ometepe, we then moved to the colonial city of Granada where we based ourselves for our daily trips to nearby interesting sites. This second part of the trip was full of cultural and outdoor activities. As part of a follow up research project on the peoples’ perception of climate change, the students conducted surveys in the cities of Rivas, Granada, Masaya, and Managua. Despite the language barrier for some students, all of them managed to complete their assigned number of surveys about which the students were very happy and proud. Further, the hikes and the amazing views along the trails of Masaya and Mombacho volcanoes made a great balance between city surveys and wilderness. Yes, we are back in Atenas to continue with the everyday life here at the campus, but carry with us the long-lasting good memories of our Nicaragua trip.
[post_title] => Excursion to Nicaragua
[post_excerpt] => After an exciting and intense trip to Nicaragua, the students and staff members are adjusting again to the routine here at the peaceful Atenas campus.
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[post_date] => 2013-03-15 13:10:44
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[post_content] => The outdoor learning experience has been greatly emphasized in our recent field trips. Two and a half weeks ago we took a boat through the Tarcoles River to appreciate two contrasting aspects: the wilderness and pollution. From the boat we observed crocodiles, ospreys, herons, ibises and basilisks, to name a few members of the river basin wildlife. We continued to a mangrove forest patch where the students received a field lecture in situ on mangrove ecology.
After this wildlife expedition, we moved to a heavily polluted beach site where another field lecture on waste management was delivered by our professor of natural resource management. Shortly after, we were hiking through the wet-to-dry transition forest of Carara National Park. This park protects 5,242 hectares of primary and secondary forest with myriad micro-habitats. However, a segment of the forest edge is bordered by a trafficked road that emits pollutants and generates noise. Taking this condition as a case study, another field lecture on “road ecology” was delivered in the nearby forest.
At El Sur, a small rural community close to the northeast side of the park, the students interacted with community members and learned about various issues including the amount of community organization necessary to operate successful rural tourism, the relationship between the national park and the community, and the local recycling program. In addition, the students experienced the rustic method of obtaining “atado de dulce”, a brown sugar product processed by a sugar-mill powered by oxen.
After a short overnight break back at campus, two more field trips served to study the management of the most visited national park in Costa Rica and the use of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). In Poas Volcano National Park, the students hiked and observed one of the largest craters on earth. They also conducted a survey to assess the behavior of tourists and park service perceptions. Finally, at the University of Costa Rica, a guest lecturer delivered a talk on GMOs and the current situation of GMOs in Costa Rica.
[post_title] => Field Trips, Learning, and Sustainability
[post_excerpt] => The outdoor learning experience has been greatly emphasized in our recent field trips.
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[post_date] => 2013-05-13 08:37:33
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[post_content] => After six days of field work at four different locations in Costa Rica, the students returned to the SFS campus to begin the analysis and interpretation of the data collected. Each student chose a specific topic within the general project lead by each of the professors. Last week, the group dynamic shifted away from supervised data collecting and into a mode of independent time management,with the students working on the variety of tasks needed to produce the final Directed Research report. Requiring lots of time and effort, this process is invaluable in that it provides students the opportunity to take an in-depth research project from its beginning as a research question, and following it through to completion. Being directly involved in the research every step of the way is an important learning experience, one that helps to prepare everyone for their future careers.
I personally enjoy the Directed Research course—particularly this project my group just conducted—as it represents new research in the most visited protected area in Costa Rica. Poas Volcano National Park receives about 300,000 visitors a year and has good infrastructure including roads, parking lots, a visitor center, viewpoints, and trails. Our task was to obtain baseline information on potential impacts from the highly trafficked roads, viewpoints, and trails on the plants and animals that inhabit the park.
Thus, my students examined topics like forest edge effects adjacent to the road; traffic noise transmission through habitats and its potential effects on bird bioacoustics; damage on vegetation and animal feeding induced by visitors; traffic of visitors affecting bird diversity; and assessment of plant phenology and density of salamanders in areas used by park visitors. This mutualistic research effort between the SFS students and park administrators will definitively enhance future collaboration with our stakeholders and will help to inform the management plan of the park. All of the students in this spring program greatly contributed to generating knowledge to further improve the conservation of protected areas throughout Costa Rica.
[post_title] => Results Improve Management of Protected Areas
[post_excerpt] => After six days of field work in Costa Rica, the students returned to campus to begin the analysis and interpretation of the data collected.
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[post_date] => 2013-07-15 07:31:30
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[post_content] => When I first thought of coming to the Wet Tropics of Australia for my sabbatical, I knew that I was going to encounter hundreds of new species of animals and plants, very different than those of Costa Rica, where I work at the Center for Sustainable Development Studies (CSDS). On my arrival at that Center for Rainforest Studies (CRS) my excitement was fighting against the jetlag and the cool wet climate of the mountain where the center sits. After a delicious meal I walked to my room traversing a forested area in between buildings, and there, in the middle of the trail was my first new species: the Long-nosed bandicoot. Perhaps for many not a big deal, but for me it was such a great reward to initiate my stay here in Australia.
I came to CRS to work on the effects of traffic noise on bird bioacoustics, specifically on the structure of dawn chorus. Thus, to experience the dawn chorus in the Wet Tropics of Australia I got up the next day before sunrise and walked to the forest and wait for the event. Twenty six minutes after 6 am the first bird species commenced the incipient chorus. Shortly after, several species of birds joined in and the monotonous sound of the wind and light rain vanished from my ears. The monospecific chorus of Chowchillas and the individual songs of the Eastern Whipbirds captivated my brain. With this unforgettable experience I started to prepare the recording equipment to be used in our joint research across centers. While doing so, I was asked to brief the students on the research and to show them the recording devices to be used. After the briefing and demonstration of the equipment I felt even more motivated to continue with the investigation and monitoring of the natural soundscape.
It has been only four days since I arrived, and yet I have had time to check the potential study sites, put to work the first recording devices, share ideas with faculty members, show and tell on the techniques used in our research, spotlight for animals with students and faculty, enjoyed wonderful meals and, of course, to watch many new species.
[post_title] => Australia Impressions from a Visiting (Costa Rica) Faculty Member
[post_excerpt] => I came to Australia to work on the effects of traffic noise on bird bioacoustics, specifically on the structure of dawn chorus.
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[post_date] => 2013-11-15 08:28:50
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[post_content] => We are just coming to the end of the second term and about to start our Directed Research (DR) course. The completion of the academic activities culminated with a combination of theory and a great field experience. We spent three days in a rather remote rural community called El Sur de Turrubares. Embedded in a landscape of agrosystems and protected areas, this small community faces development issues due to lack of economic incentives. A remarkable initiative of rural-based ecotourism led by a group of families inspired us to continue supporting these types of sustainable strategies. This grassroots project, known as “EcoSur,” possesses basic accommodation facilities and has recently added two new infrastructure modules for classes and a cafeteria. The setting was an excellent place to develop our classes in economics and ecology.
As part of the rural experience, we observed an authentic process of producing brown sugar with an oxen-powered sugar mill, appreciated wood craftsmanship, and milked cows. In addition, we hiked through basic rustic trails within a restricted sector of Carara National Park. This was possible due to the mutual agreement between EcoSur and the park. During the day, the students had the opportunity to observe colorful bird species such as the Chestnut-mandibled Toucan and the Cherrie’s Tanager. In the night, we explored clean forested streams to observed amphibians species like the Speckled Glass Frog and the Common Rain Frog.
Back at the Campus, the students are about to make a decision on the DR project they would like to work with. Four groups will be formed to start with each specific research dynamic that will be conducted in different parts of the country. This will undoubtedly be a major hands-on experience and an important research outcome for both the students and for the involved stakeholders.
[post_title] => Ecology and Economics in El Sur de Turrubares
[post_excerpt] => We spent three days in a rather remote rural community called El Sur de Turrubares.
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[post_date] => 2014-04-04 09:44:17
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[post_content] => Last week we had our last field trip to Santa Rosa National Park. The goal of this trip was to learn about the management and conservation of a highly threatened tropical dry forest ecosystem. This park is located within the Guanacaste Conservation Area and comprises secondary growth, deciduous, evergreen and riparian forests, as well as coastal habitats. It receives 1500 mm of rain in a seasonal regime and the average temperature is 25 °C.
Because of long droughts and high temperatures, the park is susceptible to fires during the non-rainy season. Thus, park administrators maintain rigorous management plans to prevent and fight against fire events that threat wildlife and forest ecosystems. Our natural setting was ideal for the delivering of field lectures on dry forest management, mitigation and compensation for greenhouse gases emissions and the ecological consequences of forest fragmentation.
The first day we set up our camp in a shaded area with giant fig trees; students received field lectures and then we engaged on a night hike to spot wildlife. We observed the Mexican Borrowing Snake (Loxocemus bicolor), the Tropical Banded Gecko (Coleonix mitratus), the Central American Bark Scorpion (Centruroides margaritatus) and, among other crawling fauna, a tailless whip scorpion. The next day we moved our camping to Naranjo Beach, a fourteen kilometer hike to a secluded protected area of great scenic beauty. The beach is a nesting site to species of sea turtles such as the Olive ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea). Also, the area protects patches of mangrove forest and estuary habitats.
This outdoor experience complemented greatly the many aspects that compose our program and allowed the students to compare this rather pristine site with other highly touristy places. We are now moving into the research agenda component of our program to start with the Directed Research projects, a component that prepares the students for data collection and analysis to generate valuable information for conservation and management.
[post_title] => Santa Rosa National Park
[post_excerpt] => Last week we had our last field trip to Santa Rosa National Park. The goal of this trip was to learn about the management and conservation of a highly threatened tropical dry forest ecosystem.
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[post_date] => 2015-04-13 07:21:14
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[post_content] => Road ecology is a relatively new discipline that focuses on the interaction between roads and wildlife. The negative effects of roads on forest ecosystems are determined by the density of the road network and traffic level. For instance, increasing traffic volume will correlate positively with the degree of emissions such as pollutants, wind turbulence, and noise.
Trafficked roads impact directly some protected areas in Costa Rica by either bisecting or limiting the forest. Carara, Santa Rosa, and Braulio Carrillo National Parks are three examples of road incidence on protected areas. In 2008, I initiated a baseline study on bird surveys and noise measurements in Carara National Park. We found that both bird density as well as species richness correlated negatively with increasing road noise. Although our results did not prove a cause and effect relationship, it is reasonable to think that noise is the number one factor. This is because traffic noise masks bird vocalizations. Noise level at the forest edge could reach 90 dB, and decreases with distance towards the forest interior.
In 2012, we used automated recording devises to record bird bioacoustics at different distances from the road. Locations near the road were typically at 100m whereas locations far from the roads were 500-700m. We determined that average bird bioacoustic time was significantly lower (34s/2min) near the road compare to that far from road (59s/2min). This finding clearly supports our hypothesis that bird species avoid noise near the road. We believe that habitat degradation not only includes habitat fragmentation and loss of species, but also alteration of the natural soundscape. Consequently, it is important to incorporate actions that could mitigate the effect of traffic noise on wildlife. We continue with this research in Carara and Santa Rosa National Park to generate important information to be used for informed decision making in protected areas.
[post_title] => Road Ecology
[post_excerpt] => Road ecology is a relatively new discipline that focuses on the interaction between roads and wildlife.
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[post_date] => 2015-07-23 06:41:46
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[post_content] => The expected natural sounds of a given protected area should be composed of the inherent geophony and biophony sounds. The geophony includes wind, rain, or a flow of a river for example; whereas the biophony includes sounds produced by living organisms. Thus, the composition of the interacting sounds both in time and space form the soundscape.
Protected areas are designed to conserve biodiversity and the different ecological processes in a natural wild area. Costa Rica has set aside a series of protected areas, including national parks that protect 12% of the country’s territory. This category of protection allows tourism visitation with low impact activities such as trail hiking. However, roads limit or bisect some national parks creating negative impacts on their protected habitats. For instance, traffic noise can interfere with the natural sounds thereby degrading the soundscape of a protected area. This is the case of Carara National Park, where the coastal road highway is adjacent to the forest, which can create negative impacts on wildlife.
The focus of our research is to evaluate how road noise affects the natural soundscape of Carara National Park. In our most recent study during spring we found that the average traffic volume was 617 vehicles per hour. However, this volume exceeds 800 vehicles per hour during the weekends. Concomitantly, we found that the average level of traffic noise was 84.1 decibels (dB) at the road; this level decreased to 66.2 dB at 25 meters inside the forest, and to an average of 56.8 dB at 100 meters inside the forest.
Decreasing noise in relation to the distance is an expected phenomenon; however, noise attenuation depends on the density of the forest vegetation. For example, the noise can penetrate with higher levels during the dry season due to a decrease of the foliage by deciduous trees. It is important to mention that the traffic is not constant over time, so that the noise intensity can range from a minimum of 35 dB and a maximum of 92 dB. Another interesting aspect is that the noise varies in intensity depending on the configuration of the road. For example, noise is higher by compressing air brake motors by heavy vehicles when they descend slopes or before a curve.
We generated maps of noise distribution using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) through which we detected how the maximum noise levels mask the natural sound of the geophony, in this case the sound generated by a stream. In addition, we found that bioacoustic time decreases with road proximity, and that the composition of bird species changes closer to the road compared to composition away from the road.
We believe that maximum noise levels along roadsides interferes negatively on the bioacoustics of the species protected by national parks. Thus the conservation of ecosystems must take into account the inherent quality of the sound spectrum in protected areas.
[post_title] => Conserving the Natural Soundscape in Protected Areas
[post_excerpt] => The focus of our research is to evaluate how road noise affects the natural soundscape of Carara National Park.
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[post_date] => 2015-12-02 07:16:55
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[post_content] => Anthropogenic climate change has a wide range of generalized impacts on biodiversity. Scientists have not only documented species extinctions but also geographic shifts of diverse taxa around the world. Hundreds of species are expanding their geographic range; some are colonizing habitats at higher altitudes and some moving toward the poles. Changes in species distribution have important implications on population dynamics at the community level. Thus, novel species interactions, such as competition for resources, predation, and parasitism, could alter ecosystem function and cause local population declines or even local extinction. One important component that is being altered but rarely mentioned is the change in soundscape composition.
The soundscape is composed of the different sounds produced by biotic and abiotic sources. For example, bird species produce unique sounds to communicate with other individuals of the same species, or even other species. However, these unique sounds would be emitted within a multispecies biophony bound in other natural sounds. The coexisting bioacoustic signs are the product of the evolutionary history of co-occurring species in a given habitat. Therefore, the new sound additions by the new colonizing species can compete for the acoustic niches both in time and space.
For example, research in Monteverde, Costa Rica, has shown that 15 cloud forest intolerant bird species, that normally nested below 1470 meters, have moved uphill to an elevation of 1540 meters. This means that the composition of the original biophony has changed, making the acoustic niche tighter. While some species are increasing their abundance at this new elevation range, other cloud forest inhabitants like the Resplendent Quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno) have declined.
With the help of our students, we are sampling the bioacoustics in some protected areas at different elevations to monitor potential changes in the biophony due to shift in species distribution and anthropogenic noise. We believe that the composition of the natural soundscape has an inherited signature composed by a diverse array of interacting sounds. Thus, we are increasing our soundscape data base, hoping to accumulate evidence of how climate change or the intrusive anthropogenic noise alters bioacoustics.
→ Sustainable Development Studies Semester Program in Costa Rica
[post_title] => Climate Change, Anthropogenic Noise, and the Bird Acoustic Niche
[post_excerpt] => With the help of our students, we are sampling bioacoustics in protected areas at different elevations to monitor potential changes.
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[post_name] => climate-change-anthropogenic-noise-and-the-bird-acoustic-niche
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[post_date] => 2016-03-30 08:08:04
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[post_content] => Located in Lake Nicaragua, Ometepe Island is formed by two adjacent volcanoes joined by a narrow isthmus. Despite its relatively small size of 276km2, the island encompasses a great variety of habitats including wetlands, dry forest, premontane transitional forest, and cloud forest. These landscape features allow the existence of many species of mammals, reptiles, and birds. Very likely, the diversity of animal species was higher before the major man-made land conversions on the island. The largest forest area is found in Maderas volcano, with an altitudinal gradient of habitats ranging from 33 to 1394 meters above sea level. The lower dry forest habitats have been reduced or fragmented due to agricultural practices, whereas the cloud forest in the top remains more continuous and conserved.
Dry forest, transitional forest and cloud forest of Maderas Volcano (Photo: E. Arévalo)
The bird species turnover within this gradient is high, particularly within the narrow habitat belts. Typically, one can find the Black-headed Trogon (Trogon melanocephalus) and the Banded Wren (Thryophilus pleurostictus) in dry forest habitats, and the Tropical Parula (Parula pitiayumi) and the Purple-throated Mountain-gem (Lampornis calolaemus) in cloud forest habitats. The avifauna is the richest of all vertebrate groups in the Island. According to the checklist of birds of Ometepe by Morales et al. (2007) there are 148 species; this represents 21% of all bird species in the country.
Since 2007, I have visited the Island twice a year with SFS students and staff members to carry out field exercises and lectures. Over these years I have recorded eight species of birds that are not documented in Morales et al. (2007). As the authors of this checklist state: “there remain areas of Ometepe Island that have yet to be surveyed,” so more species should be expected. The new records I report here are: American Coot (Fulica americana), Bat Falcon (Falco rufigularis), Common Gallinule (Gallinula chloropus), Gray-headed Yellow-throat (Geothlypis poliocephala), Least Grebe (Tachybaptus dominicus), Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis), Mangrove Cuckoo (Coccyzus minor), and Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata). These species were seen in the Charco Verde forest and wetland reserve and in a temporary swap in Merida.
It is important to continue surveying all habitat remnants to account for all the species present in the Island for future monitoring and conservation of the Ometepe Biosphere Reserve.
Bat Falcon, Hotel Charco Verde, Ometepe (Photo: E. Arévalo)
Sustainable Development Studies in Costa Rica
[post_title] => New Avifauna Records of Ometepe Island
[post_excerpt] => A rich diversity of birds was spotted on an extended field expedition to Nicaragua.
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[guid] => https://fieldstudies.org/2016/03/new-avifauna-records-of-ometepe-island/
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[post_date] => 2017-05-03 14:12:20
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[post_content] => As we moved through the forest collecting data for our directed research in Carara National Park, we heard a high pitch crying sound in the canopy. Suddenly, there were spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) darting through the branches above us. Several individuals were vocalizing close to the noisy trafficked road as they were looking for leaves and fruits.
The spider monkey is an endangered species that needs relatively large tracks of mature forest to survive. Carara National Park is 5,242 ha in size and protects mature as well as secondary forest along an altitudinal gradient. The downside of this park is that it is limited by a segment of a paved road with a traffic volume ranging from 426 to 1199 vehicles per hour in the last 10 years. This high number of vehicles generates loud noise levels that penetrate the mature forest and meet with the natural sounds produced by wildlife.
We have been studying bird bioacoustics in this park over the years and have also heard many other animal species that also produce sounds, including spider monkeys. The most notorious of all is that produced by a howler monkey (Alouatta palliata). Different from the spider monkeys, howlers emit a loud low-frequency call that can be heard several kilometers away. This roaring sound is produced in response to neighboring groups to locate each other to minimize confrontation. However, the loud sound produced by the howler monkeys is challenged by similar anthropogenic sounds such as those produced by car engines. Thus, the interaction between sounds could interfere with the effective communication among monkey groups. Nonetheless, monkeys vocalize from the canopy which confers advantages in the long range propagation of their sounds. In any case, anthropogenic noise notably alters the quality of the natural soundscape and the appreciation of natural protected areas.
Spider monkey
Howler monkey
→ Sustainable Development Studies in Costa Rica
[post_title] => Monkeys and Roads: When Sounds Meet
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