A CRASH COURSE IN LA SELVA'S GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM

or

An Attempt to be Productive after Soil Samples for Another Project were Sent to the Houston Landfill

Joanna Reuter

Department of Geology, Carleton College, Northfield, MN 55057

Abstract. The goal of this project is to make the La Selva Geographic Information System (GIS) available and accessible to future tropical rainforest ecology students (including those who have no prior experience with GIS). The La Selva GIS can be useful in many stages of the research process; these include 1) learning about the characteristics of La Selva, 2) selecting study sites, 3) doing data analysis, and 4) producing high quality maps for printing and publication. In addition to this paper (which focuses on 1 and 2 from the list above), I have burned a CD-ROM (which is in Mark McKone's possession) that contains the GIS data as well as some additional information and instructions, especially with respect to 3 and 4 above.