I have recently learned of the discussion concerning field-based courses and would like to share my thoughts. Please forgive this late installment (and its length), but I have been closstered away at a remote field station in Panama and was not privy to this discussion on ECOLOG until very recently.
As with many of you, my early experiences with nature is what drew me to biology in the first place, motivated me towards advanced degrees and is still the primary focus of my life. It is indeed a shame that an entire generation of scientists may never experience what itĀ¹s like to make a discovery while sitting in the canopy of a tropical rain forest or gliding quietly along a coral reef. I too had been caught up in the push for genomics and reductive forms of scientific enquiry. While spending countless hours mixing together minute quantities of colorless liquids I found myself continually drawn to the laboratory window and the forest beyond. But I was fortunate to have had several remarkable mentors in my life who, by virtue of their enthusiasm for field ecology, and their willingness to share it, ultimately led me back to field-based research. While genomic-based study is important and valuable to be sure, it will not generally allow us to better understand our place in nature, or how to protect it (with some exceptions). You have to get out there and immerse yourself in nature to truly understand and appreciate our role in it. We need share this our students of this truth. There has been much discussion about encouraging faculty to develop their own field courses. Putting together a field course in another country is easier than you might think. Courses can be run as a travel course, changing sites every few days, or as an on site course at an established field station. For those who are new to this, I would suggest doing the latter. Located across the globe are organizations and biological field stations ready and willing to host and support courses in field biology. The advantage with these field station is that they can provide the location, logistic support and accommodations so that you, the instructor, can focus on your course. The organization for Biological Field Stations (OBFS, http://www.obfs.org/) is a good place to start. With regard to the whether field courses are relevant to students just trying to get by financially; they are. I was one of those poor, first generation students that has been referred to during this discussion, and there was no way that I could have taken a course in another country as an undergraduate. But that did not stop me from taking every field course I could that my school offered (of course, this is the problem, right?). Eventually as a graduate student the opportunity arose and I participated in a tropical field course in Costa Rica. This course was pivotal in my academic development. I would strongly encourage anyone considering doing a field course in biology to do so outside your country. I suggest tropical America. This will not only provide your students with a fresh and exciting look at biology, but it will provide them a cultural experience as well. Even with potential bumps and missteps along the way, their experiences during your course will stay with them for a lifetime. And some of them, a few at least, will earn graduate degrees and pass this love of nature on to another cohort of scientistsĀ Peter N. Lahanas ********************************* Peter N. Lahanas, Ph.D. Executive Director Institute for Tropical Ecology and Conservation (ITEC) 2911 NW 40th Place Gainesville, FL 32605, USA phn: 352-367-9128 web: http://www.itec-edu.org In Panama: 011-507-6853-2134 laha...@gmail.com Bocas del Toro Biological Station Boca del Drago, Isla Colon, Panama Field Station Manager, Enrique Dixon 011-507-6624-9246
