The goal of this fellowship will be to advance knowledge of the ecological role of Neotropical Chrysomelidae through field studies concentrating on identifying hostplants and on larval studies. This research will be performed in Guanacaste National Park, Costa Rica, because it has a rich and easily accessible fauna and because Costa Rica is an international center for the study of tropical biodiversity. The research will be done in cooperation with local scientists at the Costa rican National Institute of Biodiversity and made available through the Institute to the international scientific community and to Costa Rican institutions. The Chrysomelidae are the second largest family of beetles and are particularly diverse in the American tropics. Almost all are plant feeders and many are crop pests. Their role in wild tropical ecosystems is largely unstudied and hostplant and life history information is available for only a small minority of Neotropical species. By concentrating field work at Guanacaste National Park, the PI will be able to take advantage of a large body of accumulated botanical and ecological knowledge of the Park; at the same time,the diversity of habitats in the park will make findings from this project relevant to many other areas of Central America.
