Maderas Rainforest Conservancy (MRC) is a conservation non-profit organization that protects forests, offers primate field schools, and leads community outreach initiatives at sites in Central America, including La Suerte Biological Research Station (LSBRS) in Costa Rica. In 2018, MRC started Aula Verde, a conservation education initiative for elementary school students aged 5-12 at LSBRS. Groups of children from elementary schools and communities located within 50 km have visited LSBRS from 2018-2023 to participate in the 1.5-2 hour Aula Verde workshop, which consists of (1) an interactive lecture on conservation, (2) a guided forest walk, and (3) a snack, gift bag, and tree seedling for each participant. Workshops are funded by international donations to MRC and cost US $8-16 per student. Aula Verde has been successful, with multiple schools and communities making repeat visits, students’ families beginning to recycle their garbage and joining a WhatsApp group about conservation education that MRC staff initiated and lead, and teachers reporting improved learning outcomes for students who participate in the workshops. The success of Aula Verde is largely due to the ecological expertise and strong community ties of LSBRS staff. While the COVID-19 pandemic decreased Aula Verde offerings from 2020-2023, we expect workshops to resume at full capacity in 2024. In the future, MRC hopes to expand Aula Verde’s outreach to all children aged 5-12 living within 50 km of LSBRS.
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Bolt L, Brandt L, Molina R, Schreier A (2022a). Maderas Rainforest Conservancy: a One Health approach to conservation. American Journal of Primatology 84: e23293.
Bolt L, Cavanaugh M, Schreier A (2021). Lone males: solitary and group-living male howler monkey (Alouatta palliata) behavioural ecology in a Costa Rican rainforest. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 174: 201–212.
Bolt L, Hadley C, Schreier A (2022b). Crowded in a fragment: high population density of mantled howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata) in an anthropogenically-disturbed Costa Rican rainforest. Primate Conservation 36: 37–44.
Bolt L, Owens J, Grant M, Coggeshall E, Russell D, Merrigan-Johnson C, Jacobson Z, Schmidt Z, Kaser F, Schreier A (2024). Edge effects and social behaviour in three platyrrhines. American Journal of Primatology: e23610. DOI: 10.1002/ajp.23610.
Bolt L, Russell D, Coggeshall E, Jacobson Z, Merrigan-Johnson C, Schreier A (2020). Howling by the river: howler monkey (Alouatta palliata) communication in an anthropogenically-altered riparian forest in Costa Rica. Behaviour 157: 77–100.
Bolt L, Russell D, Schreier A (2023). River edge feeding: howler monkey feeding ecology in a fragmented riparian forest. Folia Primatologica 94: 1–11.
Bolt L, Schreier A (2023). Student research collaboration as conservation education: a case study from the primate field school at Maderas Rainforest Conservancy. American Journal of Primatology 85: e23414.
Bolt L, Schreier A, Voss K, Sheehan E, Barrickman N, Pryor N, Barton M (2018). The influence of anthropogenic edge effects on primate populations and their habitat in a fragmented rainforest in Costa Rica. Primates 59: 301–311.
Brandt L, Singleton M (2018). Record of Baird’s tapir Tapirus bardii at the La Suerte Biological Field Station in the Caribbean Lowlands of Costa Rica. PeerJ Preprints 6: e27128v1.
Feliu O, González-Zamora A, Riba D, Sauquet T, Sánchez-López S, Maté C (2023). The impact of sanctuary visits on children’s knowledge and attitudes toward primate welfare and conservation. PeerJ 11: e15024.
Garber P, Molina A, Molina R (2010). Putting the community back in community ecology and education: the role of field schools and private reserves in the ethical training of primatologists. American Journal of Primatology 72: 785–793.
Huettman F (2015). Field schools and research stations in a global context: La Suerte (Costa Rica) and Ometepe (Nicaragua). In Central American Biodiversity: Conservation, Ecology and a Sustainable Future (Huettman F, ed.), pp. 175–198. New York, Springer Science + Business Media.
Molina R (2015). A brief history of the Molina family, and the birth of the Maderas Rainforest Conservancy at the La Suerte and Ometepe Field Stations – a narrative. In Central American Biodiversity: Conservation, Ecology and a Sustainable Future (Huettman F, ed.), pp. 199–214. New York, Springer Science + Business Media.
Schreier A, Johnson CE, Wasserman M, Bolt L (2024). Mantled howler monkey (Alouatta palliata) demographic structure in a continuous forest compared to a small forest fragment in Costa Rica. Primate Conservation 37: 35–44.
Schreier A, Voss K, Bolt L (2022). Behavioral responses to riparian and anthropogenic edge effects in mantled howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata) in a disturbed riverine forest. Primates 63: 659–670.
Walker-Bolton A (2023). Nine years of the Red Book Challenge conservation education in Southern Madagascar: what we have learned. American Journal of Primatology 85: e23459.
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Maderas Rainforest Conservancy (MRC) is a conservation non-profit organization that protects forests, offers primate field schools, and leads community outreach initiatives at sites in Central America, including La Suerte Biological Research Station (LSBRS) in Costa Rica. In 2018, MRC started Aula Verde, a conservation education initiative for elementary school students aged 5-12 at LSBRS. Groups of children from elementary schools and communities located within 50 km have visited LSBRS from 2018-2023 to participate in the 1.5-2 hour Aula Verde workshop, which consists of (1) an interactive lecture on conservation, (2) a guided forest walk, and (3) a snack, gift bag, and tree seedling for each participant. Workshops are funded by international donations to MRC and cost US $8-16 per student. Aula Verde has been successful, with multiple schools and communities making repeat visits, students’ families beginning to recycle their garbage and joining a WhatsApp group about conservation education that MRC staff initiated and lead, and teachers reporting improved learning outcomes for students who participate in the workshops. The success of Aula Verde is largely due to the ecological expertise and strong community ties of LSBRS staff. While the COVID-19 pandemic decreased Aula Verde offerings from 2020-2023, we expect workshops to resume at full capacity in 2024. In the future, MRC hopes to expand Aula Verde’s outreach to all children aged 5-12 living within 50 km of LSBRS.
All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 313 | 313 | 42 |
Full Text Views | 14 | 14 | 2 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 42 | 42 | 5 |