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THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST IN THE GREG GUND MEMORIAL FELLOWSHIP. THIS FELLOWSHIP IS CURRENTLY CLOSED. PLEASE CHECK BACK IN 2012 FOR FELLOWSHIP OPPORTUNITIES.
What is a Greg Gund Memorial Fellowship?
The Greg Gund Memorial Fellowship Program provides funding for research projects promoting science-based conservation in the Osa Peninsula region. These fellowships are provided through the generous support of Theo Gund, mother of the late Greg Gund.
- Fellowships range from $2,000-$5,000
- Grants are primarily intended for master's or doctoral students, or for established researchers
- Grants are generally provided to support 1-4 months of fieldwork, including transportation, living expenses and equipment
- Long-term projects using these grants as seed money are also encouraged
- Applicants are strongly encouraged to work at the Osa Biodiversity Center
Please read our Science Plan to learn more about our research priorities and the kinds of projects we are most likely to fund.
Grant Deliverables:
Greg Gund Fellows and Friends of the Osa Research Associates will:
- Submit a preliminary report
- Submit a final research report
- Researchers may also be asked to present their findings at the bi-annual science meeting held by Friends of the Osa at our Osa Biodiversity Center
How to apply?
Application Period:
Ongoing
Currently accepting applications for fellowships to begin in 2012.
Please submit the following application materials:
Submit all materials in electronic format to: Guido Saborio with subject "Greg Gund Memorial Fellowship Application"
PAST AND CURRENT RECIPIENTS:
Eva Salas: Coral reef community-based monitoring in Caño Island
The most developed coral reefs along the continental Pacific coast of Costa Rica are concentrated
primarily in Caño Island and these reefs hold more than 100 species of coral reef fishes. With
funding from a Greg Gund Memorial Fellowship, biologists from Fundación Keto started monitoring
fish community structure in Caño island in 2008 through stationary census. This allowed
them to describe the fish communities' structure and relative abundance, and its relationship
to the reef substrate. This year, led by Eva Salas-De la Fuente, a marine ecologist and coral reef
specialist from the University of Costa Rica, the project aim is to establish a coral reef monitoring network with community
volunteers led and trained by scientists, to monitor reef health in the marine protected area (MPA) of Caño Island Biological
Reserve, in the Southern Pacific of Costa Rica. The protocols to use with volunteers are REEF and Reef Check methodology. By
involving people in a community-based monitoring, REEF and Reef Check serve as the first step in attracting participation in coral
reef management activities. The project is further supported by the Ramsar Convention, Aware, the Duke Center for Marine
Conservation and Oak Foundation. See further details of the project at: www.fundacionketo.org
Fernando Rincón: Hydrographic characterization of estuarine plumes in Golfo Dulce, Osa Conservation
Area (ACOSA), Puntarenas, Costa Rica
Golfo Dulce, emptying south to the Pacific Ocean in Costa Rica, one of the wettest areas of the
country (>4500 mm/year), is an inland sea with an anoxic basin like a tropical fjord, one of only
four such systems in the world. It has a deep inner basin steeply sloping with a flat bottom at
a depth of 215 m and a shallow outer basin with an average depth of 60 m. In the gulf, coastal
and oceanic features converge. Productivity seems to be low or moderate, and yet it sustains a
population of around 380 dolphins. vWhile the circulation within the gulf is limited by a threshold
located at the mouth, 60 m deep, it is likely that the river discharge is providing substantial
amounts of nutrients to the system, supporting primary production. Golfo Dulce has a low buffering
capacity of environmental impacts.
Together with his crew of international volunteers, Fernando, a native of Venezuela and master's student of Marine
and Coastal Sciences, aims to characterize the oceanographic influences of the rivers draining into Golfo Dulce:
Rincón, Esquinas, Tigre and Coto Colorado. He will do this by taking 30 water column profiles and surface water samples,
analyzing nutrients, oxygen content, chlorophyll a and other oceanographic variables. Hopefully, his research
will provide good baseline data for management planning in Golfo Dulce and the Osa Conservation Area (ACOSA).
The project is further supported by the Organization of American States and the Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica.
Brooke Bessesen: Multi-Species Marine Sighting Survey in Golfo Dulce, Costa Rica, January –
February 2010
This pilot project was designed to collect baseline data regarding the marine species that enter
or reside in Golfo Dulce during the dry season months of January and February, and to determine
spatial distribution for species seen during the study period. Brooke was the principal investigator,
and her research assistant and boat captain was Jorge Largaespada. Jorge is Costa Rican and
has over 35 years experience living on the Osa Peninsula, working and fishing in Golfo Dulce.
He currently works as a guide and was employed for his extensive knowledge of regional fauna. The survey effort utilized two
avenues of data collection, both essential to the findings. First, interviews with local fishermen and tour boat guides garnered
preliminary relative abundance vdata for several flagship marine species. Second, the study undertook 30 daily on-water surveys
of the gulf, recording first-hand sightings.
Escalating pressure on the gulf ecosystem due to established and developing fishing practices, as well as coastal industry and
urbanization, has increased the vulnerability of biodiversity in Golfo Dulce and the need for data that may aid discussions about
the future of the habitat. In a recent publication about marine biodiversity in Costa Rica, research associate and chapter author
Dr. Laura May-Collado recommends a push for additional marine studies across Central America. She writes, "[Costa Rica] is an
excellent place to conduct baseline information studies (eg. habitat use, distribution patterns, abundance estimates). There is a
need for basic information to support establishment of appropriate conservation and management regulations." This is one such
study and, as many details about the embayment's fauna have not been previously published, we have valuable information to
share about individual species encountered during our survey, as well as insight into the status of conservation in the gulf region
based on communications with the local people.
Karen Leavelle: Design and implementation of an avian monitoring program of endemic and
endangered birds at the Greg Gund Conservation Center
As a Greg Gund Memorial Fellow, Karen has designed an avian monitoring program that will
collect data about the bird communities on Friends of the Osa's conservation properties and
feed that data into the US Geological Survey (USGS) database.FOO is now an official member of
Partners in Flight with a common interest in migratory species, especially those that fall under
"conservation concern." Accessing the USGS database allows us to incorporate our data into
the database which is then shared with regional and national offices for each organization.
Over the long term, population trends can be tracked which will be of interest to all parties. Because wintering habitat is often
overlooked with respect to species declines, we feel that establishing these north-south partnerships will be an important step
for Friends of the Osa and those birds which rely on Osa rainforest habitat for survival.
The following are Friends of the Osa's avian monitoring objectives, and will be applied to forest, grassland and shrubland systems.
Inventory: Conduct an inventory of all landbird species found on Friends of the Osa properties, estimating their abundance,
density, or occupancy. The objective is to estimate the status of all landbird species in the target habitat which will
primarily be varying degrees of secondary successional rainforest growth. This objective is generally applicable when there
is no baseline data for the site.
Change over time: Detect change in abundance, density, or occupancy of all landbird species. For this objective, monitoring
may be conducted over long time periods (5-10 years).
Community composition: Detect change in community composition of all landbird species particularly in the forest restoration
plots surrounding the Greg Gund Conservation Center on the Cerro Osa property. |
Eva Salas diving in Caño Island
Fernando Rincón pulls a CTD out of the waters of Golfo Dulce
Brooke measuring an Olive Ridley
Karen Birding |
