Ursula Valdez, PhD

This study abroad field course is part of the UW Exploration Seminar program  that takes students around the world

This 3-week long field-based course in Peru, was developed in 2008 while I was still a graduate student and it is still offered 10 years later. This course was designed in collaboration with my colleague Dr. Tim Billo from the UW Program on the Environment who has co-taught this course with me for the past 9 years. This 2018 I will be co-teaching with my colleague Dr. Jennifer Atkinson from UW Bothell.   

This course  examines conservation and sustainability issues in a biodiversity hotspot of global importance: southeastern Peru. The first week of our program takes place in the relatively arid highlands surrounding Cusco. We examine current and past human land-use practices and their impact on biodiversity. This portion of the program includes visits to Machu Picchu, a women’s weaving cooperative, local fruit and vegetable markets, an organic farm and environmentally focused school, Week 2 and 3 takes us to Manu National Park and Biosphere Reserve where we lodge at biological field stations, both in mountain forests and remote lowland forests. We immerse ourselves in ecological exploration of pristine forest ecosystems and park buffer zones. Basic taxonomy of plant and animal groups will be discussed, as well as techniques for conducting biodiversity surveys.  We continue our ecological studies, but also looking at the impacts of various human activities (road building, gold mining, cattle ranching) on biodiversity. For most this is a first foray into the tropical forests, and the sheer diversity of life is overwhelming. Becoming acquainted with the intricacies of tropical forest biodiversity is the first step to understanding what stands to be lost. Ultimately the course examines various stakeholders in biodiversity conservation and exploitation, and discusses compromise solutions that might prevent or slow the future loss of biodiversity. 

Students in this course, gain skills in developing a field research project that it is conducted in Manu National Park one of the most diverse places in the world.

 

Description of the course can be found in here:

​

Examples of what students produced for the course

​

- A video about the course that was produced by students as part of their project can be found here

- A coffee book that was done by students as part of their project for the course can be found in here

- The course with students blog entries is in here

​

Notes on the program:

​

Exploration Seminar takes students around the world

​

Voices from around the world_Wiggins

​

Voices from around the world_Brannman

​

​

​

​