Non-Traditional Courses offer Biology Students a Chance to Explore New Environments

By Rachel Resler

Imagine spending part of your holiday break in a tropical climate surrounded by waterfalls, rain forests, and cloud forests. Many biology students have a chance to do just that while learning about diverse ecosystems and earning three credits in the process.

“Students attend lectures, write essays, take exams; however, we rarely have the opportunity to experience the application of scholarship to experimentation or revel in the natural world that so intrigues most of humanity,” said Sam Scarpino, who graduated in May 2007. Scarpino is not alone; since the course’s start in 1990, roughly 250 students have spent part of their winter breaks exploring the volcanoes, dry forests, bogs, and mountains of Costa Rica.

Biology L433: Tropical Biology is a three-credit course that gives students the option to meet for two weeks in various places throughout Costa Rica during winter break or in Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles, after spring semester classes end. The course was conceived by Professor David Dilcher, who served in the Department of Biology at IU for over twenty years. In 1990, Dilcher had found many different graduate programs in tropical biology, but few undergraduate programs in similar topic areas existed. He decided to start his own undergraduate tropical biology program. After Dilcher left the department, Instructor Bill Ruf took over the course with help from several other biology faculty members, including Keith Clay, Lynda Delph, Butch Brodie, and Armin Moczek. The continuation of this exciting class is also largely due to the support of the Office of Overseas Study at IU. When Dilcher started the program, he relied on the Office of Overseas Study for their expertise; without that office's help, the Tropical Biology course would not exist.

Up to sixteen students and two biology faculty members fly south each winter for the course held in Costa Rica. “We go on a whirlwind tour of habitats,” Ruf explained. The emphasis of the trip is on co-evolution between plants and animals, as well as the ecology and botany of the different habitats.

According to the National Biodiversity Institute of Costa Rica, the country is among the top 20 countries with the greatest biodiversity in the world. Although Costa Rica, which is smaller than West Virginia, makes up only about 0.03% of the Earth’s total land area, the more than 500,000 species that are found there represent nearly 4% of the total species estimated worldwide. This makes it a great place for a survey course of many different habitats.

While the impressive biodiversity of the country is enough to draw a crowd of eager biology students on its own, Scarpino, who took the course during winter 2004-2005, elaborated on other benefits: “This experience was much more than just a class in the jungle. We had the chance to experience a culture distinct from our own. Because our professors had spent extensive time teaching and researching in Costa Rica, we did not have the tourist experience, but one centered around experiencing and appreciating a culture distinct from our own.” While his group was at the cloud forest preserve of Monteverde, for instance, the students stayed at an eco lodge where they shared stories and meals with the local villagers who operated the lodge. For the New Year, the group visited the central square of the small town in which they were staying to witness how rural Costa Ricans celebrated the day.

In addition to several required planning meetings during the fall semester, students receive three credit hours for two weeks of intense, hands-on experience. These credits count toward the spring semester. “You already have one class out of the way,” said Ruf.

The application process for the Costa Rica course begins in the fall. Ruf explains that priority is given to upperclassmen; however, a high emphasis is placed on grades in biology classes. It is also beneficial if the students' academic work shows an interest in this particular area of biology. The application deadline each year is at the beginning of October.

Extra costs for this course include lodging, meals, and airfare, but Ruf knows some students have received assistance from financial aid or scholarships from the Honor’s College.

In addition to this course, there is also a semester-long program at the Monteverde Institute’s Biological Field Station in northwestern Costa Rica. And remember, L433 also serves as a two-week long course after spring classes end, offering students the chance to study coral reefs in the Netherlands Antilles islands north of Venezuela. The trip to Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles, is led by IU Professors Ruf, Bill Jones (SPEA), and Charles Beeker (HPER). Like the winter version of this course in Costa Rica, the experience is focused on hands-on field observation of ecological processes on land and in water, as well as human-nature interactions and how they can be harnessed to conserve natural and cultural resources.

These non-traditional courses get students out of the classroom and into the environment they are actually studying. Field experience gives students the chance to gain a comprehensive understanding of the different players in a given ecosystem and apply what they have learned in the classroom or lab to systems encountered in the outside world.

For more information about the overseas programs offered in biology, visit: http://www.indiana.edu/~overseas/programs/biology.shtml. You can also contact Bill Ruf for more information.