{"id":435,"date":"2024-10-07T10:40:12","date_gmt":"2024-10-07T15:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/globalsemester2024\/?p=435"},"modified":"2024-10-24T15:26:21","modified_gmt":"2024-10-24T20:26:21","slug":"spotted-globies-about-to-leave-costa-rica","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/globalsemester2024\/2024\/10\/07\/spotted-globies-about-to-leave-costa-rica\/","title":{"rendered":"Spotted: Globies about to Leave Costa Rica???"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
By: Eva Barsness<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

On a somewhat normal Wednesday afternoon, we all found ourselves about a half a mile\u2019s jaunt from the Panama border. We had come to this region to visit the Loma Linda Field Station<\/a>, meeting local researchers and scientists, Jason and Gerald, who are both working on experiments throughout the station. In the words of our guide, Gerald, this station acts as a \u201csmall ecosystem restoration lab\u201d. This sixty hectares of land used to be a region of degraded farmland. Thirty years later, this land is now used to test different methods of forest restoration in separate plots throughout the property. For example, in one plot they planted a single tree species, in another they planted two, and others with three, six, and twelve species planted. By monitoring the health of plants, animals, and bugs over years at a time, they can find what treatments are most productive. What the researchers have noticed is that planting a diverse array of trees is vital in restoring forest land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of these projects are funded by the University of Zurich, with Gerald working with a couple scientists currently living abroad. This really demonstrates the global efforts of forest restoration in the tropics; after all, the health of Costa Rica\u2019s biodiversity impacts the entire planet. Our tour of the station concluded with a celebratory \u201csoil pie\u201d for Joel\u2019s birthday! (And spoiler: this wasn\u2019t the only cake he got today!) <\/p>\n\n\n\n