My trip to Brazil     over Jan Plan was a very eye-opening experience.  For someone who has never been out of the country, this was     a first time experience and I have never seen anything like it.  To have this opportunity was truly     wonderful!

In     addition to having a lot of fun (of course), we worked very hard and made the     most of our time to complete the research projects we planned out.  Almost every night we would go into the     field to collect frogs and perform experiments.  My particular experiment involved playback experiments where     I would play a frog call and record the response of the same species of     frog.  I sampled several species,     but mostly Scinax rizibilus, a frog that       has five different distinct calls.  From these experiments I have compiled several hours of playback data       that has been analyzed.  Several       significant results have been identified to date, and more will hopefully       continue to arise as the data is further analyzed.

The     area where we studied was of particular interest because it is part of the     Atlantic Forest, an area of primary forest that is becoming smaller and smaller     with human interference.  Due to     this destruction of habitat, these frogs may become extinct and it is important     to study their habitat, mating calls, and interactions with each other in an     effort to provide an opportunity for them to survive in the future.

I would like to thank the Mellon     grant and all of those that were involved in providing me with the opportunity     to discover such a great place and further my interests in biology.  This was a one of a kind experience     that would not have been possible without the help of the Mellon grant!  Thank you!!!