Welcome to La Suerte! This course will combine a series of lectures and discussions on entomology with specific reference to tropical ecology. There will be lots of practical experience within the tropical rainforest environment. In addition to training in entomological methods and ecological data collection techniques, you will also be given a brief overview of the other arthropod groups, which are commonly found, within the tropical forest habitat.
Initially your days will be divided up into lectures, fieldwork and laboratory work involving identification of the specimens that you have collected. The fieldwork will include both terrestrial and aquatic. It is also hoped that some aerial sampling will happen. This part of the course will give you an overview of the invertebrate diversity found within the forest.
It is also set up to enable you to use a large part of the forests and there resources, and to prepare you for intensive data collection towards the end of the course.
Some time for breaks is incorporated into the programme, and can be varied based on the needs of the current cohort of students.
The final part of the course will be spent undertaking personal research projects in an area that the student has researched. The project will be designed and implemented by the student although I will be assisting at all levels.
Assessment/ Grading
Your final mark will be based on the following, and determined out of a total of 100 points:
• field and Lab exercises (25 points) – 25%
• a written report of your project (50 points) – 50%
• an oral presentation of the project (25 points) – 25%
Coursework marking can be moderated to accommodate non-US marking systems.

The following books are essential for supplementary understanding of entomolgy and invertebrate ecology. They should be accessible through your university bookshop, and also on the internet at www.amazon.com or www.amazon.co.uk.
With several of the exercises Southwood (1978) and Sutherland (1997) will serve as a reference book for the field and laboratory techniques.
• Gullan, P.J. & Cranston, P.S. (1994) The Insects: An outline of Entomology
• Leather, S (ed) (2005) Insect Sampling in Forest Ecosystems.
• Speight, M.R, Hunter, M.D. & Watt, A.D. (1999) Ecology of Insects: Concepts and Applications.

Attendance is mandatory at all lectures, methodology talks and field exercises.
All full syllabus of times and dates of lectures, field work, laboratory time and projects will be available by emailing me at erica.mcalister@googlemail.com