{"id":9981,"date":"2023-08-15T10:55:24","date_gmt":"2023-08-15T15:55:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin-new\/?post_type=campus_story&p=9981"},"modified":"2023-08-15T10:55:24","modified_gmt":"2023-08-15T15:55:24","slug":"uw-whitewater-students-conduct-tropical-research-in-costa-rica","status":"publish","type":"campus_story","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/story\/uw-whitewater-students-conduct-tropical-research-in-costa-rica\/","title":{"rendered":"UW-Whitewater students conduct tropical research in Costa Rica"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>
From left, Miles McIntosh, Mireia Hernandez Justicia, Wendy Kamora, Tania Lim\u00f3n Ramirez, and Andrea Romero in the jungle of Costa Rica. Lim\u00f3n Ramirez, McIntosh, and Hernandez Justicia are undergraduate students from UW-Whitewater, Kamora is a student from University of California, Berkeley, and Romero is a UW-Whitewater faculty member who served as a faculty member on the project. (Photo courtesy of program participants)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tania Lim\u00f3n Ramirez never imagined living in the jungles of Costa Rica, with bats nesting above her cabin\u2019s doorway and the low-pitched roar of howler monkeys jarring her awake in the morning.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how the summer of 2023 began for the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater student, who participated in the Organization for Tropical Studies\u2019\u00a0Research Experience for Undergraduates<\/a>\u00a0program along with fellow Warhawks Miles McIntosh and Mireia Hernandez Justicia.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d walk out the door, and bats would fly around over our heads. It freaked me out at first, but they were pretty high up,\u201d Lim\u00f3n Ramirez said. \u201cIt was a beautiful experience \u2014 and scary, at times.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSmall lizards were always walking around,\u201d said McIntosh, adding that praying mantises, ants and cockroaches scuttled about too.<\/p>\n

Rainforest birds entranced Hernandez Justicia. \u201cSometimes we would wake up at 5 a.m. to see the birds. I loved watching the toucans. One day, we saw about 30 species of birds,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The three-week Research Experience for Undergraduates program is based at La Selva Biological Station, a conservation area in northeastern Costa Rica, and operated by the\u00a0Organization for Tropical Studies<\/a>, a consortium of universities and research institutions. REU\u2019s field trips focus on underrepresented students; the\u00a0National Science Foundation<\/a>\u00a0pays for their travel, housing and meals and gives them a stipend.<\/p>\n

Lim\u00f3n Ramirez, McIntosh, and Hernandez Justicia were among nine students chosen from applicants throughout the U.S. and its territories. The other students came from American Samoa, Puerto Rico, University of California, Berkeley, Humboldt State University and Howard University.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this is the first time any students from UW-Whitewater attended,\u201d said Andrea Romero, associate professor of\u00a0biology<\/a>,\u00a0environmental science<\/a>, and\u00a0women\u2019s and gender studies<\/a>. \u201cIt was pretty special to have two UW-Whitewater faculty members and three students as part of the program.\u201d<\/p>\n

Romero and her husband, Brian O\u2019Neill, associate professor of biology, were among seven mentors who guided the students.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Two
UW-Whitewater student Miles McIntosh, left, a geography major, looks at a poison dart frog with Associate Professor of Biology Brian O\u2019Neill. McIntosh worked on O\u2019Neill\u2019s team, studying animal movements across rivers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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From beetles to bridges<\/h3>\n

Lim\u00f3n Ramirez, a senior majoring in biology with an emphasis on cell physiology, was born in Jalisco, Mexico. Her family moved to the U.S. when she was four years old, and she grew up in Lake Geneva and attended Badger High School. She studied scavenging beetles as part of Romero\u2019s research team.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe set out dead, frozen mice every 50 meters. We would tie dental floss around them, and see how long it took for something to eat them or take them. More than 50% were taken by beetles and buried, and we measured the depth,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

McIntosh, a junior majoring in\u00a0geography<\/a>\u00a0with an emphasis on geology, worked on O\u2019Neill\u2019s team, which studied animal movement to see if they used natural bridges, such as trees, or human-made bridges to cross rivers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe set up 17 trail cameras on man-made bridges,\u201d McIntosh said. \u201cEvery day, we went out to check the cameras, look for photos of animals and mark them on a list. There was a good variety of predators and prey, big and small.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rainforest provided a living laboratory teeming with inhabitants that the students never expected to see in their natural surroundings. Howler monkeys, spider monkeys, and white-faced capuchins populated the forest trails.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were swinging above us or just sitting there, eating. It was mind-blowing,\u201d Lim\u00f3n Ramirez said. \u201cWe got to see a sloth \u2014 my favorite animal. It was hanging on a tree next to a bridge, and we saw it really close up. It was amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lizards and amphibians abounded, including colorful poison dart frogs and yellow viper snakes that wind around tree branches. REU program leaders prepared the students well.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to be careful walking through trees,\u201d said Lim\u00f3n Ramirez. \u201cBefore we were anywhere near the forest, they taught us how to stay safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

McIntosh, who was born in Pittsburgh and grew up in Gurnee, Illinois, says adjusting to the rainforest climate took some time.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day, it was 90 degrees or higher, with 100% humidity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The farther into the forest, the more animals appeared. And the field cameras captured some surprises.<\/p>\n

\u201cA puma showed up on two cameras. We also saw squirrels, skunks, porcupines, opossums, monkeys, ocelots, and tayras (from the weasel family),\u201d McIntosh said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"A
UW-Whitewater student Tania Lim\u00f3n Ramirez, a biology major, conducts research in La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica in the summer of 2023.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Scientific tools<\/h3>\n
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Andrea Romero, second from left, directs the research activities of students Miles McIntosh, Mireia Hernandez Justicia and Tania Lim\u00f3n Ramirez. Romero, an associate professor of biology, environmental science and women\u2019s and gender studies at UW-Whitewater, was one of seven faculty mentors who guided the students on the project.<\/p>\n

Programs like REU immerse students in real science, O\u2019Neill said. After two weeks of field research, the third week teaches students what to do with the data they\u2019ve collected \u2014 how to generate statistics, analyze the results, write scientific papers and publicize them via social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of my students have applied for grants to present their research, and we\u2019re planning to get the results published in a scientific journal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Neill says the goal is to teach scientific reasoning and procedures.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom start to finish, you think of an idea, figure out how to answer your question, and deal with the realities of doing field work in a rainforest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Students also learn to improvise and deal with the tools they have.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to troubleshoot,\u201d said Romero. \u201cWhat you thought about in an air-conditioned lab at UW-Whitewater may not apply. You don\u2019t have Walmart or Amazon to order things from. It\u2019s about how to be savvy: Science is not necessarily a straight line.\u201d<\/p>\n

Romero has participated in the REU program for many years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was an undergrad (at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota), I went on this program the second year it was offered. Now, as a faculty member, it\u2019s very rewarding to be on the other side, mentoring students. Without that program, I wouldn\u2019t be doing what I do today,\u201d Romero says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Beyond science<\/h4>\n
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The students came home with more than scientific knowledge.<\/p>\n

\u201cOverall, it was being in a new country and taking in a new culture that\u2019s completely different from Wisconsin,\u201d Lim\u00f3n Ramirez said. \u201cI am a first-generation college student; my parents never finished high school. Going to college was a completely new experience for me \u2014 I didn\u2019t imagine programs like this existed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meeting other program participants and research station staff also expanded their horizons. McIntosh\u2019s Samoan roommate wanted to teach Samoa and showed people Samoan dances.<\/p>\n

The 2023 spring semester was McIntosh\u2019s first term at UW-Whitewater, as a junior. He had attended Illinois State University, then earned an associate degree at a community college.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m glad I got this opportunity. I\u2019m not sure I would have gotten it elsewhere,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Hernandez Justicia, a junior at UW-Whitewater, grew up in Barcelona, Spain, and moved to Beloit with her family when she was 17. A biology major with an emphasis on marine biology, she says she felt energized by the program.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was magical to wake up and hear the monkeys. Every day, we\u2019d see a new animal. You feel like you are in touch with nature,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was one of the best life experiences I\u2019ve had.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Written by Judy Newman<\/p>\n

Link to original story:\u00a0https:\/\/www.uww.edu\/news\/archive\/2023-07-costa-rica-trip<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tania Lim\u00f3n Ramirez never imagined living in the jungles of Costa Rica, with bats nesting above her cabin\u2019s doorway and the low-pitched roar of howler monkeys jarring her awake in the morning. That\u2019s how the summer of 2023 began for the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater student, who participated in the Organization for Tropical Studies\u2019\u00a0Research Experience for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":9984,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","institution":[84],"story_category":[],"class_list":["post-9981","campus_story","type-campus_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","institution-uw-whitewater"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story\/9981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/campus_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9981"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"institution","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institution?post=9981"},{"taxonomy":"story_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story_category?post=9981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}