Itinerary and activities 

Download full 2025 IRES preparation here: 
In 2024 focused on three main projects:

Rays’ movement patterns: students caught and implanted acoustic tags on rays with Dr. Mario Espinoza and his graduate student Diego Fallas. Acoustic transmitters send a unique low-frequency signal that is recorded by an array of receivers that have been deployed in the study region as part of a long-term monitoring effort by Dr. Espinoza and his students. Participants analyzed ray movement patterns in response to habitats and environmental drivers.

​Coral health monitoring: under Dr. Juan Jose Alvarado and guest Dr. Cindy Fernandez guidance students were trained to take photographs of substrate the along transects divided in 25 x 25 cm plots. Photographs were then stitched into a single 2D high-resolution photomosaic to identify and quantify the density of adult and juvenile reef-building coral species that are life, dead, and bleached, macroalgae, turf, sand, and rock. Students also visited a restauration program in Papagayo Gulf where they spend the day cleaning planted corals and discussed the value of collaboration with various stakeholders to establish and maintain coral reef health.  
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Acoustic monitoring of cetaceans under Dr. May-Collado student were train on boat survey monitoring of marine mammals including use of acoustic recordings and photographs for detection and individual identification of humpback whales and spotted dolphins. Students also learned about passive acoustic monitoring and its importance in monitoring the health of marine ecosystems. 
In 2025 we will shift gears a little bit.
  1. Rays’ movement patterns: We will continue the tagging of sharks and rays using more advanced tags that provide more information about their movement patterns, and we will also design experiments to study their food preferences.
  2. Coral health monitoring: unfortunately, Drs. Alvarado and Fernandez will be in sabbatical, we might have some of their student visiting us, but the focus this year will be working with Dr. May-Collado in the deploying recorders called hydromoths and soundtraps to study the soundscape of various marine microhabitats and discuss the use of sound to assess habitat health. Understanding the variability of ambient noise levels and the contribution of vessels to the overall soundscape is key to establishing regulations for underwater noise. ​
  3. Acoustic monitoring of cetaceans in addition to the long-term bottom-mounted acoustic stations for soundtraps with Dr. May-Collado we will be running again boat surveys to photograph and record cetaceans’ acoustic behavior in relations to their surface behavior. We will also deploy acoustic tag on humpback whales to study mother-calf communication.
Code of Conduct for fieldwork
Together our faculty has been doing field research with students and colleagues for a very long time, and we all love it! But we all agree that our job is more enjoyable and productive when our team members get along and respect one another. In the next four weeks we are going to be sharing space in the boat and in living space, and sometimes (and understandably) we will be tired. Therefore, it is very important that we contribute to creating an environment where all feel respected, safe, and included but also feel the trust to ask for privacy to recharge. Here are a few things we can do for one another (based on the code of conduct for fieldwork from the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists and the Society for Marine Mammalogy).
  1. Be thoughtful and respectful. Respect personal boundaries. Keep your side of the room organized, clean up after yourself, ask permission to take photos or record team members in any way, respect other’s property and the facilities. Other ways of respect come from acknowledging local and indigenous knowledge. Treat colleagues with respect and fairness. Respect the culture and community of the people that live in this region. Make efforts to learn the culture and value the knowledge that the residents hold from their marine communities. Make efforts to build relationships for future collaborations.
  2. Be on time. Daylight hours are used for fieldwork, we need to use them to their max, especially when there is diving involved. Be on time for breakfast and for all established activities, including those at night. Our Costa Rican colleagues are not paid by this program, they are volunteering their time to teach you how to be a marine biologist, so please respect their time.
  3. Be helpful. Do not wait to be asked for help! We will be carrying lots of equipment that is fragile and requires good care. Help to carry things to the car and the boat. Ensure that all equipment and field lunch are on the boat. Help clean up equipment after returning from the field.  Ask how you can help.
  4. Be a team player: Ask for help when you need it and respect those who ask for help. Recognize that people have different strengths, and some disabilities are invisible.
  5. Be accepting: We will be living in a very different social and scientific culture, try to understand the context and ask questions.  Be accepting of diverse viewpoints and allow all team members to express their opinions openly without judgment if viewpoints are not discriminatory. Scrutinize ideas, not individuals. Having said that, if you feel there is a situation or use of language that negatively affects one of our team members let the faculty know. We all deserve to feel safe, and your conservations with the faculty are confidential.
  6. Be patient: Arranging the logistics of this type of field experience is cumbersome and sometimes things do not go as planned, no matter how much we plan things, be patient and be ready to support your faculty and peers.
  7. Be engage: This is a unique opportunity to get to know the people involved in making this program possible, ask us about their experiences, participate in discussions, be proactive in the field, you are creating new collaborations and networking opportunities.
Unacceptable behavior
  • Physical or verbal abuse, harassment, or assault
  • Intimidation or bullying
  • Sexual misconduct
  • Behavior that endangers the mental or physical health and safety of oneself or others
  • Acting as a bystander and not reporting misconduct
  • The use of illicit drugs or alcohol during fieldwork or while in town
  • Disregard for the personal property of others
  • Loud and obnoxious behavior
  • Disregard for quiet hours
  • Repeatedly disregarding responsibilities
  • Use of social or mainstream media to target team members in a way that could harm their privacy and/or reputation
  • Deliberately mis-characterizing a person's gender identity, including through the use of a name or pronoun that the person has rejected.
Note: drinking age in Costa Rica is 18, however, we are traveling under UVM policies, and we must respect the US drinking age limit of 21. Additionally, most of you will be spending a lot of time in a boat and sometimes scuba diving, we need you to be at your best every day!

Body system
We will implement the body system for scuba diving, snorkeling, and recreational activities. We will spend a lot of our time doing research, however, there will be time for recreational activities or even time to go to the local store to get supplies and snacks. We ask you to do all these activities in pairs.  For diving and snorkeling this is a fundamental rule, regardless of how experienced you are. While the town is safe and we will be in a safe space, being careful never hurts. So please make sure of the following
  1. Diving/Snorkeling: we will have a log to keep track of who is diving with whom, and where.
  2. Going to the store or to a recreational activity, notify your faculty and TAs of where you are going and when you will be back.
  3. Emergencies use What’sApp to contact faculty or TAs or call the hotel Hacienda Casa del Viento +506 61791278
Data Use and Sharing: The data that you will be using to develop your projects is the property of the PIs and collaborators of this program. We ask you not to make copies of the data in your laptop or hard drive unless you have received formal authorization from the PI. If you wish to pursue your research as independent research or undergraduate or graduate thesis under the mentorship of one of our program faculty, let us know, and we will craft a Memorandum of Agreement on data use and sharing.

Social media: We will be posting in the program Instagram account @ires_costarica to share our experiences. The information posted here will be curated before posting. Please notify us if you consent or not to post photos, videos, and news involving you. You can repost these posts on your own social media.

Writing in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: Since writing, analytical, and critical thinking skills are part of the learning outcomes of this program, all writing assignments should be prepared by the participant. Developing strong competencies in this area will prepare you for a competitive workplace. Therefore, AI-generated submissions are not permitted and will be considered a violation of the code of Academic Integrity. Having said that, we will discuss how AI can be used in data analysis and some appropriate uses of AI in scientific writing.

Recommended Literature: will be shared in our Google Drive

Recommended Software (all are free)
You do not need to download all of them but if would be great if you have Audacity and PhotoQuad to do data analysis in you on laptop and the Audiomoth and SountraTrap host to help configure the various recorders we will be deploying. 
Audacity: this is a free, open source, cross platform audio software https://www.audacityteam.org/ (to inspect audio files)
Audiomoth Configuration and Time Apps https://www.openacousticdevices.info/applications (to configure hydromoth audio recorders).
SoundTrap Host https://www.oceaninstruments.co.nz/downloads/ (to configure soundtrap audio recorders)
PhotoQuad https://www.mar.aegean.gr/sonarlab/photoquad/ (for analysis of photomosaic data)
ImageJ https://imagej.net/ij/ (for analysis of photomosaic data)