Evolution of the Organization for Tropical Studies

The Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS)/Organización para Estudios Tropicales (OET) has evolved in many ways since its founding in 1963 as a non-profit consortium offering graduate courses and facilitating research in tropical ecology in Costa Rica. By 2002, its international membership included about 65 institutions, including four from Costa Rica. It had developed three Costa Rican field stations (La Selva, Las Cruces, and Palo Verde) with excellent facilities for teaching and research, and it was constructing a new Costa Rican office at the University of Costa Rica. Combinations of internal and external pressures influenced OTS to develop in new directions in the 1980s and 1990s. It became more diversified and more concerned with applied science in its traditional areas of graduate education and research facilitation. The Organization also evolved into new niches: more applied biology, professional education, environmental education and policy, conservation efforts, and an expanded geographic distribution to other Latin American countries. OTS was composed of changing combinations of people (Boards, members, staff) with evolving and competing priorities for limited financial resources. External environmental changes also shaped OTS’s evolution. New problems of increased tropical deforestation, the emergence of the biodiversity "crisis" and conservation biology, global climate change, and calls for sustainable development affected OTS constituents and funding priorities of governments and foundations. Both internal and external pressures have in some cases demanded for OTS to improve its relationship with: Costa Rican biologists and their institutions, the Costa Rican government, and Costa Ricans living around the three OTS field stations La Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS)/Organización para Estudios Tropicales (OET) ha evolucionado en diversos campos desde su fundación en 1963 como un consorcio sin fines de lucro que ofrece cursos de especialización y facilidades para la investigación en ecología tropical en Costa Rica. Para el a o 2002 sus miembros internacionales incluían 65 instituciones, incluidas cuatro de Costa Rica. Se habían desarrollado tres estaciones de investigación en Costa Rica (La Selva, Las Cruces y Palo Verde) con excelentes facilidades para la educación y la investigación, y se estaba construyendo una nueva oficina en la Universidad de Costa Rica. La combinación de presiones internas y externas obligaron a la OET a desarrollar nuevas direcciones en los a os ochentas y noventas. La OET se diversificó y se preocupó más por l