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Ecuador: Comparative Ecology and Conservation

• Program Overview
• Program Highlights
• Educational Excursions
• Homestays

Program Overview

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Explore the natural history of tropical ecosystems and the complexities of human adaptations to different environments in Ecuador. This country is home to more than 1,500 species of birds and 10 percent of the world’s known vascular plant species. Interactions with community members and local stakeholders who are grappling with conservation strategies within the context of heightened political, economic, and social pressures provide valuable context.

The program base is historic Quito, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Educational excursions take students to the high sierras of the Andes, the epiphyte-rich cloud forest, the rugged snow-line páramo, and the vast rainforest of the Ecuadorian Amazon. A guided, weeklong visit to the extraordinary Galápagos Islands provides access to plant and animal species found nowhere else on earth.

Browse this program's Independent Study Projects/Undergraduate Research