First Day of Classes

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The bus, our bus, is back to met us. We have this bus, driver, and his assistant for our entire stay in Sri Lanka. We take the ten minute bus ride to PGIS, Post Graduate Institute of Science. There is an opening ceremony, we are welcomed by several deans of the University of Peradeniya. Hopefully this will the beginning of a long relationship between our two universities. The three week class we are taking is the "Biological and Cultural Ecology of Sri Lanka." Each student is given a binder with our schedule and several handouts. After the ceremony we meet several of the professors who will be giving lectures.

In the lobby Sri is waiting for us with our mid-morning tea (and food).

At 10:30 we start our first lecture, "Ecosystem Diversity." I got my bachelors in biology thirty years ago; it is a joy to be back in the classroom and hear a mixture of old and new ideas. I did my studies in the temperate North American ecosystems; now I'm in tropical rainforests. Not one rainforest but several different kinds of forests. Sri Lanka has several World Heritage sites. Why? Because the diversity of plants and animals are greater on this small island than in most places on the planet. Also as our instructor is quick to point out, this diversity is at risk. Our first day showed us some of the risks. The monsoon should be over, we should have clear skies, yet it is still raining. The tanks (reservoirs) are full. They have not been full in years. Is global warming causing the monsoons to last longer? Will this become the new standard for Sri Lanka? We also see new building going up along the roadside. The population is growing, not as bad as other places in the world, but still more and continued demands are being made on the ecosystems.

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