This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The Peninsula College REU Site will provide a research program for undergraduates during the summers of 2009-2012. Nine (9) students will be selected each year to participate in an intensive 12-week research program in ecology and conservation in the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State (6 weeks) and in Costa Rica (6 weeks). Students will (1) study the characteristics of different habitats, from pristine to heavily managed, examining parameters from different trophic levels; (2) determine how these values may change between different and related habitats; (3) assess the impact of land management strategies on these habitats; and (4) identify the effects that various land management strategies have had on the forests of both regions. It is the program's vision that the students weave the two projects together as a single whole, generating a more global perspective on how habitats vary; how land management affects both temperate and tropical rainforests; and how to examine global commonalities. The initial focus for the first year or so will be to understand the soil microbial community structure and function, and carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus nutrient dynamics in these tropical and temperate forests. This information will provide the baseline information upon which we will be able to compare vegetation characteristics in the future. Projects will take place in various forested areas of the Olympic Peninsula and, in Costa Rica, in the Northern Zone forests and the cloud forests of Monteverde. The program is supported by funds from the National Science Foundation Directorate of Biological Sciences, in partnership with the Office of International Science and Engineering. Additional information can be found at http://pc.ctc.edu/coe/REU.htm or by contacting the Project Principal Investigator, Dr. Bill Eaton by email or phone at bille@pcadmin.ctc.edu, or 360-417-6246.
