GUIDES DEPARTMENT

Willy Aguilar
Head Guide at Tirimbina Biological Reserve

Willy owes his entry into the arena of tourism to his high school studies as much as the University in the Tourism profession, as well as being a general tour guide for the National Training Institute and Costa Rican Tourism Board (INA and ICT).
Since 2002, he has worked for several organizations in different branches, including International Youth Challenge (YCI) volunteer, People of Tradition, adventure tourism, Costa Rica Rainforest Outward Bound School (CRROBS), and as naturalist guide in the Central Pacific region and now in Sarapiquí.

He has worked with Tirimbina since 2004, has represented it in the exchange between Tirimbina and the Urban Ecology Center in Milwaukee Wisconsin, at the World Strides Science Quest in New York and Washington, D.C., and at the celebration event for the fifth anniversary of Global Travel Company, Montana.

Willy Pineda Lizano.

Willy studied biology at the University of Costa Rica, specializing in zoology. His licentiate thesis was on the relationship of the form and size of the wing in bats of the Phyllostomidae family with behavior, diet and type of forest habitat. He has done student research at the University of Ulm, Germany, as well as at the Smithsonian Institute on Barro del Colorado Island, Panama.

He has participated in several clinics and brief ecological evaluations of mammals over most of the country. He is a member of the Association for the Conservation of Bats of Costa Rica (ACMCR) and the Association for the Conservation and Study of Biodiversity (ACEBIO). His interests are in ecology, the evolution and natural history of mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians. He has worked at the Reserve since 2004, and represented Tirimbina at the World Strides Teachers’ Workshop in New York in 2006.

Publications

Rodríguez-H., B., M. Fernández y W. Pineda. 2002. Environmental Education Involving Bats. Revista Ambientales 24

Rodríguez-H., B., W. Pineda, M. Fernández y R. K. LaVal. 2003. First record of Lasiurus intermedius (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) from Costa Rica. Bat Research News 44(3): 91

Rodríguez-H., B., D. E. Wilson, M. Fernández y W. Pineda. 2005. The study of large mammals of Costa Rica: History, Collection, localities and composition of species. Brenesia 63-64: 89-111

Meyer, C., J. Fründ, W. Pineda and E. Kalko. 2008. Ecological correlates of vulnerability to fragmentation in Neotropical bats. Journal of Applied Ecology. Vol (45): 381-391.

W. Pineda, B. Rodríguez-H., and R. Timm. 2008. Rediscovery, Ecology and Identification of rare free-tailed bats (Chiroptera: Molossidae) in Costa Rica. Acta Chiropterologica 10 (1):97-102.

W. Pineda. Oxybelis fulgidus (Green Vine snake). Foraging Behavior. In press: Herpetological Review.

Cristina Ureña

Cristhian Ureña Bachelor In Rural tourism. He studied Rural Sustainable tourism in the Technology Instituted of Costa Rica (TEC) located In San Carlos. His final project in the University was the analisis of the ecotourism development in small communities in Cartago, in the last years has been working relate with nature, in different projects with several emphasis, coordination of volunteer program in Asis Project a Rescue Center, and Assistant Of Scientific Tourism with Caimans and Crocodiles in The Technology Instituted ( TEC) Naturalist guide in Veraguas Rain Forest Center project that works with Cruise Ship in Limon. He worked as guide in The Turrialba area leading groups of Birders around to Cartago province as Tapanti National Park, The Copal Reserve, La Marta Wildlife Refuge, Irazu Volcano and Rancho Naturalista Private Project. He interesting in birds, that`s why Cristhian participate in different activities relate with birds like Bird monitoring, courses of birds and Bird Christmas Count in different Places of the Country every year.

Wendy Brosse Pagnusatt

Wendy graduated as a biologist from the University of Costa Rica. Her principal interests are reptiles and conservation. She just joined Tirimbina expecting to share a little bit of her knowledge with the visitors, also keep learning about nature and the different interests that people have concerning biodiversity conservation, evolution and natural history. Wendy has a double nationality she is French and Costa Rican, she also speaks English because she was an Au pair in 2005. She has worked on projects with butterflies, squirrels and dispersion of seeds by bats.
 She wishes to expand her professional horizons before deciding her future education plans

Krissia May

Krissia studied Forestry Engeneering in the Instituto Tecnologico de Costa Rica (TEC). She wrote her thesis on the evaluation and characterization of the damages caused by hervibor insects in the dry forest of the Santa Rosa National Park.


 She participated in the X ALECIF forestry Congress in Pinar del Rio, Cuba where she did a presentation about the tree species Castanospermum australe and its positive effects in human health. 


She is very interested in other cultures and languages, she is fluent in Spanish , English and German, and is in the process of learning Portuguese.

Thesis

May Chavarría K. 2009. Evaluación y caracterización de daños causados por herbívoros, Santa Rosa, Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Escuela de Ingeniería Forestal, Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica, Cartago, Costa Rica. 26p.

ACADEMIC DEPARTMENT

Bernal Rodríguez Herrera
Academic Director

Bernal graduated as a biologist from the University of Costa Rica and achieved his doctorate in biology from the Ecological Institute of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Since 2006, he has been Academic Director of Tirimbina Biological Reserve and professor and researcher in the School of Biology and the Zoological Museum of the University of Costa Rica, working in the fields of mastozoology and conservation of mammals.
He is a member of the board of directors of the neotropical commission of the Conservation Biology society, on commissions of the North American Society of Bat Research, the Association for Conservation of Bats of Costa Rica, and a member of the group of specialists in Chiroptera for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (UICN).
Publications
Books

• Rodríguez-Herrera, B., R. A. Medellín, and R. M. Timm. 2007. Neotropical Tent-Roosting Bats. Instituto de Biodivesidad (INBio). 178 p.

• LaVal R. K. & B. Rodríguez-H. 2002. Murciélagos de Costa Rica. Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (InBio). 310 p.

Articles

• Rodríguez-H., B. & D. E. Wilson. 1999. Lista y distribución de las especies de Murciélagos de Costa Rica. Occasional Papers in Conservation Biology. Washington, D.C. Nº 5. 1- 34. 

• Rodríguez-H., B., E. M. Sampaio & C. O. Handley. 1999. The Brown Disc-winged Bat, Thyroptera discifera (Lichtenstein and Peters) 1855 in Central Amazon, Brazil. Bats Reserch News. 40 (3): 73.

• Rodríguez-H., B. & M. J. G. Hopkins. 2000. Ametrida centurio Visiting flowers of Parkia pendula (Mimosaceae), in Brazil. Bats Reserch News 41 (3): 70-71.

• Timm, R. M, R K LaVal, & B Rodríguez-H. 2000. Clave de Murciélagos de Costa Rica. Brenesia. 52 :1-32.

• Rodríguez-H., B., S. Rodríguez-Brenes & M. Sagot. 2001. Tent use in Pentagonia donnell-smithii (Rubiaceae) by Vampyressa pusilla (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) in Costa Rica. Bats Reserch News 42 (2): 49.

• Rodríguez-H., B., & J. Montero. 2001. Primer registro de Mimon crenulatum (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) en el Pacífico de Centroamérica. Brenesia 55-56: 145-146.

• Rodriguez-Herrera, B.; F. A. Chinchilla y L. J. May-Collado. 2002. Lista de mamíferos, endemismos y conservación de los mamíferos de Costa Rica. Revista Mexicana de Mastozoología 6:21-57.

• Rodríguez-H. B., Fernández M., Pineda W. 2002. Educación en torno a los murciélagos. Ambientales #2.

• LaVal, R. K. & B. Rodríguez-H. 2002. Conserving Costa Rican’s Bats. Bats. Vol 20 (4): 2-6.

• Rodríguez-Herrera<;/strong>, B. 2003. Los Taxidermistas del Museo Nacional, su aporte a la zoología de Costa Rica. En “El Desarrollo de las ciencias en la Costa Rica del siglo XIX” (G. Peraldo ed.) Editorial Instituto Tecnológico.

• Sampaio E. M., Kalko, E. K. V., Bernard E., Rodríguez-Herrera., B, Handley COJr. 2003. A biodiversity assessment of bats (Chiroptera) in a lowland rainforest of Central Amazonia, including methodological and conservation considerations. Studies of neotropical fauna and environment, 38 (1):17-31.

• Rodríguez-H., B., W. Pineda, M. Fernández & R. K. LaVal. 2003. First Record of Lasiurus intermedius H. Allen (Vespertilionidae) from Costa Rica. Bat Reserch News, Vol. 44 (3): 91p.

• Rodríguez-Herrera, B. 2004. Distribución altitudinal, endemismo y conservación de mamíferos en la Cuenca del Río Savegre, Costa Rica. Brenesia 61(1): 53- 62.

• Rodríguez-Herrera, B. 2004. Ampliaciones de ámbito y registro de nuevas localidades de mamíferos de Costa Rica. Brenesia 61: 125-126.

• Rodríguez-Herrera, B., and M. Tschapka. 2005. Tent use by Vampyressa nymphaea (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) in Cecropia insignis (Moraceae) in Costa Rica. Acta Chriropterológica 7(1): 171-174.

• Rodríguez-Herrera, B., D. E. Wilson, M. Fernández y W. Pineda. 2005. La Mastozoología en Costa Rica: Historia, recolecta, localidades y composición de especies. Brenesia 63-64: 89-112.

• McCarthy T.J., J.O Matson, B . Rodríguez-Herrera and C.O Jr. Handley. Distribution, Morphometrics, and identification of Talamancan Eupaulette Bat (Sturnira mordax) in Costa Rica and Panamá. 2005. Capítulo 30:349-362. En: Contribuciones Mastozoológicas en Homenaje a Bernardo Villa. (R. Medellín & V. Cordero, eds). Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y uso de la Biodiversidad, México.

• Rediscovery of the Mexican flat-headed bat Myotis planiceps (Vespertilionidae). 2005 . Arroyo-Cabrales J., E. K. V. Kalko, R. K. LaVal, J. E. Maldonado, R. A. Medellín, O. J. Polaco and B. Rodríguez-Herrera. Acta Chiropterológica 7 (2):309-318.

• Rodríguez-Herrera B., R. A. Medellín, M. Gamba. 2006. A tent building by female Ectophylla alba (Chiroptera:Phyllostomidae) in Costa Rica. Acta Chiropterologica 8(2): 557-561.

• Pacheco J., G. Ceballos, G. Daily, P. R. Ehrlich, G. Suzán, B. Rodríguez-Herrera y E. Marcé. 2006. Diversidad, Historia Natural y Conservación de los Mamíferos de la Región de San Vito de Coto Brus, Costa Rica. Revista de Biología Tropical, 54 (1):219-240.

• Barnett, A. A., E. M. Sampaio, E. K. V. Kalko, R. L. Shapley, E. Fisher, G. Camargo and B. Rodríguez-Herrera. 2006. Bats of Jaú National Park, central Amazonia, Brazil. Acta Chiropterologica 8(1): 103-128.

• Rodríguez-Herrera B., R. A. Medellín, M. Gamba. 2008. Roosting requirements of White tent-making bat Ectophylla alba (Chiroptera:Phyllostomidae). Acta Chiropterologica 10(1):89-95.

• Pineda W., Rodríguez-Herrera B., and Timm. R. M. 2008. Rediscovery, ecology, and identification of rare free-tailed bats (Chiroptera: Molossidae) in Costa Rica. Acta Chiropterologica, 10(1):97-102.

• Melo F. P. L., Rodríguez-Herrera B., Chazdon, Ceballos G. G., and Medellín R. A. 2009. Small tent-roosting bats promote dispersal of large-seeded plants in a Neotropical Forest. Biotropica 41(6): 737-743.

Eugenia Cordero Schmidt

Eugenia is a final year bachelor student in Biology at the University of Costa Rica. Her principal interests are mammals and conservation. She has worked on projects with howler monkeys, rodents, and the effect of vehicular traffic on road-killed amphibians in Santa Rosa National Park.
Since December of 2009, she has been a member of Tirimbina’s Academic Department. She wishes to do future postgraduate work focused on
conservation, in order to be better equipped to work on and to contribute to a better relationship between people and the environment we live in.

Carolina Seas

Carolina studied Biology at the University of Costa Rica, specializing in mushrooms but always thinking towards conservation and environmental management. She has been Teacher Assistant in different Botany courses, and also has been an Assistant Editor of the International Journal of Tropical Biology. She has done student research at La Selva Biological Station with bioluminescent fungi.
She joined the Academic Department of Tirimbina on April, 2010 coordinating the volunteer program and supporting the International University Programs at Tirimbina.

Melquisedec Gamba-Ríos.

Melquisedec is a Colombian biologist, graduate of the Latin University of Costa Rica, with emphasis in Ecology and Conservation. He has worked on several projects with bats, and is co-author of various publications in international magazines
In the past few years, he has worked as coordinator of several biology courses in Costa Rica for various United States universities. Since joining the academic department of Tirimbina in 2008, he has worked as a coordinator of the International University Programs.
Publications

• Rodriguez-Herrera, B., R. Medellin, M. Gamba-Rios. 2006. A tent building by female Ectophylla alba (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) in Costa Rica. Acta Chiropterologica, 8 (2): 557-560
• 
  Chaverri, G., M. Gamba-Rios, and T. H. Kunz. 2007. Range overlap and association patterns in the tent-making bat Artibeus watsoni. Animal Behaviour, 73:157-164.
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  Chaverri, G., O. E. Quirós, M. Gamba-Ríos and T. H. Kunz. 2007. Ecological correlates of roost fidelity and group stability in the tent-making bat Artibeus watsoni. Ethology, 113:598 – 605.
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  Rodríguez-Herrera B., R. A. Medellín, M. Gamba. 2008. Roosting requirements of White tent-making bat Ectophylla alba (Chiroptera:Phyllostomidae). Acta Chiropterologica 10(1):89-95.
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  Gamba-Ríos M. 2010. A new case of albinism in the bat Micronycteris minuta (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) from Costa Rica. Ecotropica. 16:59-61.