WCU Stories      September 4, 2024

By Julia Duvall

The ecological and biogeographical difference between the Great Smoky Mountains and the Andes Mountains are too numerous to mention. But there are few things they do have in common – a biological station close by, being deemed a historical site and two professors wanting to share the unique biodiversity with students.

Jim Costa, executive director of WCU’s Highlands Biological Station in Highlands and Travis Knowles, director of Francis Marion University’s WildSumaco Biological Station in Napo Providence, Ecuador, have been colleagues and friends for a long time.

When Costa was visiting Ecuador in 2016, he and Knowles talked about the differences between the two areas and came up with an idea for a course that would involve taking students to the Smokies and the Andes.

“Travis and I were talking about how we have these two biological stations at similar elevations, in completely different environments and how neat it would be for our students to experience this,” Costa said. “Both the Andes and the Smokies are biodiversity hotspots in their own way and renowned for their rich diversity, us in the temperate zone and the Andes in the tropics, so we thought this would be a great comparative opportunity for students as part of a course.”

To create the curriculum, Costa and Knowles referenced the writings of Alexander von Humboldt, known as the father of the modern environmentalism. The environmentalist spent time in both temperate and tropical forests studying the effects of environmental factors such as altitude and temperature on species distribution.

The writings along with the textbook used in the course, "The New Neotropical Companion" by John Kricher, help students see comparisons between North American species and those found in a tropical rain forest.

This is the third time Costa and Knowles have led the comparative temperate–tropical ecology and biogeography course.

Ten students from five universities, including three WCU students, spent a week in and around Highlands and the Great Smoky Mountain National Park before heading to Ecuador for three weeks, visiting Quito, the WBS and the Andes Mountains.

“We really immerse the students in this region. First, we take them to the Smokies, then we go up to Roan Mountain and Whiteside Mountain near Highlands. The idea is to give the students a very immersive and personal way of understanding the origins of this rich diversity we have here,” Costa said. “There are some interesting biogeographic and ecological principles so they learn a bit about the foundational geology, a bit about climate history and looking at this area in a temporal way. We apply those same principles when we go to Ecuador, with the Andes Mountains being 13,000 feet in elevation, much younger and much larger with a different origin because it is a very volcanic region.”

As far as Costa and Knowles are aware, this is the only course like this in existence.

“I am not aware of another course offering of this nature, where students get to actively compare both places in a single course and physically travel to both environments,” Costa said. “For this third offering, we had additional travelers, including HBS associate director Jason Love, Smokies Life creative director Frances Figart, WCU biology professor Kathy Mathews and some wildlife biologists from the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. It was a wonderful collective of expertise and we had the finest group of students.”

The students each received financial support to take the course through the Bob Zahner Endowed Scholarship in Environmental Sciences.

“It's great to have a scholarship to help students realize opportunities like this,” Costa said. “We hope to grow the scholarship fund so that we can eventually cover all course fees for multiple students.”

Students Aislinn-Anne Brown and Jessie Casteel shared the impact this course and trip had on their college career and life.

“Being part of such a knowledgeable and overall wonderful community was amazing,” said Casteel, a junior from Colorado studying ecology and evolutionary biology. “There were students from other colleges on our journey to Ecuador as well as biologists and professors with varied backgrounds and specialties. Being around so many people who all had something unique to offer was truly captivating. I loved being immersed in a group of people who were just as excited, if not more, about the wonders of the natural world as I was. I learned so much useful information that I'll be able to use one day in the biology field.”

Brown, a senior from Selma studying biology, is excited to use what she has learned from this course in her future career.

“I had always wanted to study abroad, but my plans to do a semester abroad fell through, so this course looked like an awesome alternative since I want to go into wildlife conservation, either domestically or globally, when I graduate,” Brown said. “I thought this course would be a good way to become exposed to an environment I had no experience in and learn about how these different climates affect the organisms that live in them.”

Another unique aspect of the trip was the required field notes portion of the course, where students recorded their day-to-day work. This allowed students to look back on what they saw in the U.S. versus Ecuador and how the experiences differed for each student.

“It was fascinating to drive from Quito to WildSumaco Biological Station. The trip lasted 9-ish hours and we saw many things along the way,” Brown said. “We left the inter-Andean Valley, which is a warm and dry place with hillsides covered in fields and pastures and headed up the Eastern ridges of the Andes. We stopped at Papallacta Pass, which was over 12,000 feet above sea level and is also where you can find Páramo, a habitat type we do not have in North America that is characterized by cold, wet and windy conditions, and hardy, low-lying plants.

In addition to experiencing the environmental changes, students got to see several different species of hummingbirds.

“We stopped at Guango Lodge in the cloud forest to observe hummingbirds. We only have one hummingbird species on the entire East Coast, but I saw at least 10 different species in that one location,” she said.

Casteel had a similarly eye-opening experience, but as a non-traditional student, she was especially grateful for how welcoming WCU has been.

“As a 34-year-old, first-generation student, I always feel included which was something that I was worried about before deciding to go back to school,” Casteel said. “WCU offers unique experiences that students might not otherwise find anywhere else. I am grateful for the opportunities that have been provided to me.”