Costa Rica Research

The Milwaukee Public Museum is much more than just a place to come to view exhibits. We also have scientists working all over the world doing research, collecting objects and presenting their findings to other scientists for review. Often times, this research becomes the basis for new exhibits and educational programs at the museum.

One of the MPM's biggest research projects takes place in the small, Central American country of Costa Rica, where MPM scientists, in collaboration with those from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, and two Costa Rican Universities, the University of Costa Rica and the Universidad Nacional, have been conducting research since 2001. Their main focus is the cacao tree, the plant that provides the world with “the food of the Gods” or chocolate, which is made from cacao seeds. An important Costa Rican farm crop, cacao flourished for decades until a deadly fungus decimated cacao production in recent decades.

With the help of financial support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, these scientists are working to revitalize Costa Rica's cacao industry in a way that directly benefits the local farmers and their communities while minimizing any negative impact on native plants and animals of the delicate rainforest ecosystem.

This summer, students from UW-Madison joined Museum scientist Allen M. Young, PhD., UW scientist Chris Vaughan, PhD., and Ray Guries, PhD., in conjunction with our Costa Rican partner researchers to study the natural history of different animals that live in and around cacao farms. Each of these students comes from a different background and their field projects have different goals, but through their work each gained invaluable insight into the trials, tribulations and triumphs involved with working in the field.

Learn about the student scientists, their fields of study and the outcome of their projects: