NETWORK OFFICE

The Costa Rican Network was established
with the participation of six sites:

The Marine Biology Research Station at Puntarenas, operated by the National University.	The La Selva Biological Station, operated by the Organization for Tropical Studies.
The Biological Reserve Alberto Ml. Brenes at San Ramón, operated by the University of Costa Rica.	The Las Cruces Biological Station, operated by the Organization for Tropical Studies.
The Cloud Forest Reserve Monteverde, operated by the Tropical Science Center.	The Palo Verde Biological Station, operated also by the Organization for Tropical Studies.

Activities are being coordinated out of the Organization for Tropical Studies Office (Contact info: Jorge A. Jiménez, Phone(506) 524 0607, Fax (506) 524 0608). The network has taken advantage of the experience generated by this institution in the area of data management at field stations. A recently developed system for making datasets and metadata available on the web is being incorporated at each site. This highly flexible system has a search engine that browse through unstructured and structured text, numeric tabular datasets and relational datasets. The network is also well ahead in the establishment of minimun standards for metadata generated at each site. While still working on the definition of core areas, the sites are reaching a common ground on climatic data, site specific collections and permanent plot data.