Center for Conservation Biology: ATTA

Collaborative Proposal - Quantifying the footprint of a dominant organism: Biogeochemical impacts of leaf cutter ants in a lowland tropical forest ecosystem

Broader Impacts

The proposed work will be carried out in collaboration with researchers and students from the US, Costa Rica, and New Zealand. Much of the preliminary data in this proposal was collected with REU students at La Selva. La Selva Biological Research Station is an epicenter of tropical scientific research, hosting a large number of student groups, researchers from all over the world, and serving as a center for ecotourism. In addition to mentoring REU students, an annual workshop will be developed to introduce students and researchers to cutting edge field instrumentation and analysis techniques, providing immediate opportunities to use these new approaches at La Selva. Therefore, the proposed research will be widely disseminated.