Olson to Expand Costa Rican Collaboration, Research Erik Olson has been working for the last six years as part of an international team of scientists and conservationists to better understand the jaguars and other wildlife of the Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica. He has laid a strong foundation of collaboration with the Costa Rican National Park Service and developed relationships with Osa Conservation.

Starting this fall, Olson has been awarded the Raymond D. Peters Professorship in Biology, a three-year position that comes with funding for research or professional development. He knows exactly how he will spend the additional funding. He and students will be working with the Osa Conservation on a mega-transect of camera traps and acoustic monitoring devices that will run from the tip of the Osa Peninsula to the interior mountains of La Amistad International Peace Park. “A herculean monitoring effort aimed at identifying areas that may be restricting wildlife movement between three national parks,” he said.