Biology students hit the field to explore Amazonian ecology A
two-week field course in Amazonian Peru gave biology students
the opportunity to study diverse organisms in their natural
habitats, including numerous species of monkeys, leaf-cutter
ants, mound-building cicadas, colourful neotropical birds, and a
family of giant river otters. "I normally concentrate on birds,
so it was excellent to be exposed to the wide variety of
mammals, reptiles, butterfiles, plants and fungi," says UWindsor
master's student Jessica Cuthbert. "In addition, we had the
dichotomy of experience in the lowlands with a visit to the
highlands." Cuthbert was one of five graduate students who
joined 16 undergraduates—and biology professors Daniel Mennill
and Stéphanie Doucet, the course leaders—for a visit to the
Amazon jungle at the height of its rainy season. "It certainly
gave the students an excellent demonstration of the trials and
tribulations of field biology," says Dr. Mennill. "When we
arrived to dock at our jungle lodge, we f