Belize is a Biodiversity hotspot and efforts are still needed to catalogue new species, monitor invasive species, identify genetic consequences of urbanization, and monitor the effects of environmental degradation. BioBelize will give students hands on experience in cataloguing plants and animals in Belizean ecosystems, the opportunity to set up a new zoological collection for future studies, and the ability to directly contribute data they collect to the international scientific community. Through lectures and field trips, students will explore forests and beaches around the Stann Creek district in order to investigate the complexity of life around the urban center of Dangriga, Belize. 

BioBelize hopes to provide students with an understanding of:

• Classical field ecology methods to survey biodiversity in tropical coastal forests 
• Invertebrate and plant sampling techniques to build a long term collection of organisms for further study
• How human interference has affected the natural habitat around Dangriga, Belize
• The theory of DNA Barcoding, where molecular techniques are used to identify specific species from small genetic samples