La Suerte Biological Field School

The list of animals include three monkey species (white-face capuchins, mantled howlers and spiders), pacas and aguotis, keel-billed toucans, white-crowned parrots, strawberry poison-dart frogs, eyelash vipers and green iguanas.

The field station encompasses 700 acres (2.8 km2) containing a wealth of habitats including primary and secondary forests, swamps, marshes and pasture.

In addition, much of the property lies along the Rio La Suerte, a flowing river that empties into the Caribbean at Tortuguero National Park Since it was established in 1993,[1] La Suerte has attracted over 550 students from across the United States, Canada, Latin America, India and Japan to study tropical rainforest ecology and conservation.

In previous years, students at La Suerte have chosen to study a wide range of topics such as positional and feeding behavior of capuchin monkeys, plant diversity between artificial and natural forest gaps, inter- and intrasexual territoriality in northern jacanas, effects of ultraviolet radiation on leaf-breeding frog eggs, activity patterns and diet in giant bala ants, and attitudes in the local community toward conservation.

Additionally, several long-term research projects are on-going at La Suerte that include primate behavior, poison-dart frog territoriality, ant distribution and abundance, and bird-mediated plant succession in pastures.

Using the tropical rainforest of La Suerte as classrooms, students learn how to map a trail system; how to conduct vegetation sampling and analysis; methods of assessing food availability; and observation techniques to study the social, feeding, and ranging behavior of primates.

Students study the taxonomy and ecology of each of these faunal groups and develop skills in locating, observing, handling, and field identification of common neotropical species.