Projects of the FCRE, Costa Rica
The bat tower
Bats are abundant at the FCRE, but two things are missing. A place for dark-adapted bats to roost during the day, and a place where visitors can consistently see bats. Thus we built the bat tower (it has other names, especially since it is hardly tall enough to be a "tower"), which we hope will cover both of these ideas: dark adapted and viewable. Or maybe we are just a bit whacked in hoping such. We shall find out soon enough whether bats will use this structure, and if they do, we will identify them and and keep tabs on whether they use the structure for raising young, etc.
CONSTRUCTION OF THE BAT TOWER
CONSTRUCTION OF THE BAT TOWER
Butterfly diversity by habitat study
There are a number of different habitats on the FCRE property, and four were chosen for sampling the diversity of butterflies. Net sets were: one trap at eye height and the other some 10m high. The results were summarized in a scientific paper as well as a senior thesis, and there is also now a set of laminated ID cards for most of the butterflies on the property. A brilliant bit of work over several years, spearheaded by Emily Haber.
RANDOM PICTURES OF THE BUTTERFLY PROJECT
RANDOM PICTURES OF THE BUTTERFLY PROJECT