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Holiday Gifts from OTS
Give a gift that shows your love of the tropics!
Gift Memberships
Consider giving a gift that will really make a difference this year - a 1-year gift membership to OTS. We will send a special card* to the person honored to let them know that you have made a very important gift in their honor, to help us teach, research and conserve the biodiversity of the tropics. We will send your honoree an OTS holiday card and OTS bag to welcome them to the community.
To make a gift in honor of someone or renew your own membership, CLICK HERE.
* Please submit gift membership requests no later than December 17, 2010.
OTS Merchandise
Do your holiday shopping at the new OTS online store! You can purchase items with the classic OTS logo as well as some unique OTS graphics on them. All proceeds from this store will be directed to the OTS Core Fund, supporting students and researchers in the tropics.
CLICK HERE to shop online now.
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Additional shipping charges for international orders may apply for merchandise. Shipping charges are determined by CafePress.com.
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A quetzal at La Selva? You can't be serious.
 | | Photo by Robert Moore, 2010. Mr Moore was a day visitor at La Selva when he and his guide spotted this unusual visitor. |
The first Resplendent Quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno) ever recorded at La Selva Biological Station was a juvenile male spotted by William Ureña (La Selva guide) and two natural history visitors on Monday, December 13, 2010 at 11:15 am by the Stone Bridge. This particular individual was eating Psychotria chiapensis fruits-the tree is an understory species in the coffee family with dark blue-black fruits. These magnificent birds are normally found in the highlands and at mid-elevation sites.
In recent months La Selva ornithologists have recorded other highland birds such as the Black-faced Solitaire, Yellow-eared Toucanet, Emerald Toucanet, and Red-headed Barbet. The cause of these unusual sightings is not understood, although the temperatures in recent weeks have been uncharacteristically low.
The 26th Annual La Selva Christmas Bird Count is scheduled for this Saturday, December 18. With luck, perhaps we will log some of these welcome, but unexpected, visitors!
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OTS Provides Support and Knowledge at SMBC Conference
The Mesoamerican Society for Biology and Conservation (SMBC) was created in 1996 with the mission to promote the exchange of information, human resource training, scientific research and its dissemination in the service of conservation of biological and cultural diversity in Mesoamerica. The SMBC Congress is held every year and attracts between 600 and 1000 Mesoamerican representatives who meet in practice sessions, symposia, courses and workshops. Last month, Costa Rica hosted the 2010 conference "Conservation and Development: a Mesoamerican Proposal in the Face of Global Change".
In addition to presentations by OTS Director General, Liana Babbar and Director of Palo Verde, Mahmood Sasa, OTS was a contributing sponsor to the event. OTS provided student scholarships, which covered the registration fee for 10 students. Twenty-six applicants from six countries and 19 universities competed for these scholarship awards.We were thrilled to help them represent México, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panamá during this international event.
Congratulations to all of the selected students sponsored by OTS during the congress:
Sylvia De la Parra, México
Talk: Sincronía entre crianza de pollos y recursos alimenticios del loro corona lila (Amazona finschi) en el bosque tropical seco
Synchrony between chicken breeding and food resources of the lilac-crowned parrot (Amazona finschi) in the dry tropical forest
Natalie Sánchez, Costa Rica
Poster: Relación entre estructura del bosque y tamaño del territorio del ave insectívora neotropical Henicorhina leucosticta
Forest structure and territory size relationship in the neotropical understory insectivore White-breasted Wood-wren Henicorhina leucosticte
Co-author: Luis Vargas, former student of the REU program in Costa Rica, 2009.
Andrea Cabrera, Guatemala
Talk: Distribución espacio-temporal de cetáceos en el Pacífico Este de Guatemala: Implicaciones para su conservación
Spatial and temporal distribution of cetaceans in the Pacific east of Guatemala: Implications for conservation
Francisco Javier Sahagun, Mexico
Talk: Modelación de los procesos de cambio de uso de suelo en la Sierra Madre Oriental
Modeling of land-use change in the Sierra Madre Oriental
Loraine Perez, Panamá
Talk:Árboles forofitos de las orquídeas epifitas Epidendrum difforme, Maxillaria pseudoneglecta y Scaphyglottis bidentata Boquerón, Panamá
Phorophytes trees of epiphytic orchids Epidendrum difforme, Maxillaria pseudoneglecta and Scaphyglottis bidentata Boquerón, Panamá
Lucia Rodríguez, Mexico
Poster: Distribución, abundancia y estrategias reproductivas de Cheilanthes bonariensis (Willd.) Proctor y Cheilanthes marginata Kunth, en la Sierra Nevada, Texcoco, Estado de Mexico
Distribution, abundance and reproductive strategies of Cheilanthes bonariensis (Willd.) Proctor and Cheilanthes marginata Kunth, in Sierra Nevada, Texcoco, Estado de Mexico
Isis Martinez, Honduras
Poster: Macro hongos del Parque Nacional La Tigra Macrofungi of La Tigra National Park
Marco Arjona, Mexico
Poster: Peces y aves asociados a los cenotes costeros que son aprovechados por sociedades cooperativas del estado de Yucatán, "El Corchito"
Fish and birds associated with coastal cenotes that are used by cooperatives in the "The Corchito", state of Yucatan,
Ignacio Escalante (Costa Rica) and Regina López (Nicaragua) went as participants and did not present any work.
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2010 La Selva Environmental Fair
 Despite the rain, the annual Open House at La Selva was a great success. On Sunday, November 21 more than 435 people arrived to celebrate "The International Year of Biodiversity" at the station. Most of the visitors were from the neighboring Puerto Viejo and Río Frio communities but others came from as far away as San José, Heredia, and Sarchí. La Selva staff and scientists, local volunteers, and high school interns dedicated many hours to the preparations before the Open House and to managing the activities during the day. Events included nature walks with La Selva guides, displays on biodiversity in the atrium of the academic center, music, dancing, delicious food, and much more.
The theme for this special event emphasized two related messages: 1) the biodiversity of Costa Rica is a great treasure and 2) we all have a great responsibility to conserve this amazing yet fragile biodiversity. An additional message is that the OTS field stations are actively committed to strong relations within their local communities.
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Academic Evaluation Project Launched
San Juan, Puerto Rico, was the site for two combined OTS meetings during the week of November 29 - December 3. The OTS Advisory Committee on Academic Diversity (ACAD) met with the planning group for a new effort funded by NSF to evaluate the education programs of OTS.
 | | Pictured L-R: . Joel Abraham (MIT, member of ACAD), Dr. Gwen Wright, Dr. A. James Hicks (LSAMP -NSF) . |
OTS has had remarkable success in recent years in recruiting underrepresented minority students from the US to its undergraduate courses. Much of the credit for this achievement goes to ACAD, chaired by Dr. Elvia Meléndez of the University of Puerto Rico, to Dr. A. James Hicks of the LSAMP program at NSF, and to Dr. Gwen Wright, now with the Social Science Research Institute at Duke University.
 In addition to these participants, several OTS staff members, Dr. Liz Losos, and Dr. Carol Brewer (the independent evaluation consultant) were present at the Puerto Rico gathering. The goals of the meeting were to define the databases currently available for analyzing the impact of OTS courses, to design a survey to collect new information from alumni, and to plan a strategy for assessing future OTS courses.
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Where is the OTS 2011 Calendar?
 We'd love to say "It's in the mail!", but unfortunately, the OTS calendar has become the subject of numerous production delays.
The printer has recently informed us to expect delivery to the Costa Rican office in early January. The envelopes are ready to be mailed as soon as we receive our shipment.
As you can see, the 2011 calendar will once again be filled with gorgeous photos. This year's theme is "Interactions" and we hope you'll agree that it will be worth the wait! However, if you requested the 2011 calendar and would now prefer to receive an OTS bag or t-shirt, please email us, we'd be happy to help! Simply e-mail Cathleen Lemoine (cathleen.lemoine@duke.edu) with your request.
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Tropical Biology on a Changing Planet 
NSF Sponsored NAPIRE program
