Leith, Rochelle, and an adorable Ectopylla alba

La Selva has been a fascinating place to visit. While Rochelle and I both had impressions of what a tropical rainforest would be like, we were both amazed at the lush, complex habitat and the organismal diversity that goes along with it. For me, I learned an extensive amount, not only about the ecological dynamics in the wet rainforest, but also more about the diversity of bats. We had the wonderful opportunity to work with Dr. Gloriana Chaverri.  She gave us an opportunity to study the acoustic properties of neotropical bat distress calls, (primarily phyllostomids). Then, we conducted playback experiments to investigate how surrounding bats (intraspecifics and interspecifics) respond to these calls . In addition to our research, we were also busy working with Day’s Edge Production to produce a short film portraying the story of our research experience at La Selva. Check out the link below to see our video!