Pacuare

Pacuare Biology Station


Front row (left to right): Humberto Ibarrzabal, Michael Moraskie, Chris Dickson.

Back row (left to right): Pedro Freitas, Bob Jones, William Dickson.

The day after school ended six students and I traveled to Costa Rica to work with Ecology Project International on a marine turtle conservation program on the Caribbean. The site was the Pacuare Nature Reserve, a an 800-hectare park purchased by The Endangered Wildlife Trust in 1989. Together the two organizations invite middle and high school students to work with and learn about the sea turtles that visit their 6 km. beach.

Our focus was on leatherbacks which nest here from March until July. We all made evening patrols to discourage egg poachers and monitor turtle nesting. It wasn't easy waking up in the middle of the night to walk 6 km. on the beach, but everyone took part with a minimum of complaining. During our five nights at Pacuare the group observed three female leatherback turtles and one green laying eggs.

Besides night patrols, students studied the life histories of marine turtles through lectures and small group research. One particularly successful activity was to have teams come up with a question about leatherback habits at Pacuare. Then using the scientific method, they proposed a hypothesis, a possible answer to their question. Afterwards, they consulted this year's data for nesting leatherbacks to record actual results and come up with a tentative answer to their original question. I've taught the scientific method for years, but have never seen it presented as simply and with as much meaning.

Working with researchers was another important part of the visit. One Pacuare scientist (in photo) was studying temperature differences in the nest and how they affected hatching success. Our group helped her retrieve some of her equipment during excavation studies on the beach. We also counted unhatched and opened eggs. Here was a case where math took on relevance in helping us study animal behavior. In this nest 50% of the eggs were successful.

Thanks to Andrea Monge for the photo of me stalking baby leatherbacks.