This is one of the most endangered terrestrial biomes on earth...

Hover over the image to see the dry/wet season transition between June and July 2011

A defining feature of seasonally dry tropical forest – one that has shaped the evolution and ecology of its inhabitants – is the dramatic contrast between the dry season and wet season. This is an important undercurrent in many of our research projects, where sampling during both the dry and wet seasons will be important. The timing of the summer rains (early July) in Chamela coincides nicely with our academic schedule at CWU so that students arrive at the very peak of the dry season in mid-June, and sample through the end of the dry season, transition to the wet season in early July as the summer rains begin, and well into the wet season in July and early August.