Tropical Rainforest Ecology
Ecuador Field Course

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One highlight of the final year of the undergraduate course in Zoology is the opportunity for students to participate in a tropical rainforest field course.  The course takes place in an area of primary Amazonian forest in the Napo Biodiversity Hotspot in Eastern Ecuador.  The students live in basic forest accommodation with few facilities but surrounded by the most diverse ecosystem on the planet.  From dawn to dusk and beyond they are able to experience first hand the rainforest environment and its organisms big and small.  The main part of the field course is group projects designed and conducted by the students themselves.  The projects allow the students to study organisms such as ants, frogs, birds and mammals close up and in great detail.  As well as organising and conducting ecological research and developing animal handling skills the students gain experience of working in a group, running a camp and catering for a large number of people.  Students regularly tell us that the field course was the most memorable part of their time at the University of Glasgow and often that it was a life changing experience.