In Monteverde, pollinators are woven into nearly every landscape. Metallic-green orchid bees visit tropical flowers along cloud forest trails. Stingless bees flit between flowering gardens and forest edges. Hummingbirds dart through misty mountain forests while butterflies drift across pastures and farms. Together, they connect the forests, farms and flowering plants that define this corner of Costa Rica. Join scientists studying native bee diversity across Monteverde's mountains, where cloud forest, agriculture and conservation lands meet within a remarkably compact landscape. Search flowering plants for bees, document pollinator activity and contribute specimens to the Bee Barcode of Life Initiative, an effort to better understand bee diversity across Costa Rica and beyond. Along the way, visit a center dedicated to stingless bees, examine specimens beneath a microscope, explore one of the world's most celebrated cloud forests and spend time with farming families whose livelihoods are closely tied to healthy pollinator communities. Equal parts field expedition, natural history immersion and scientific investigation, this is a rare opportunity to experience a landscape through the insects that help sustain it.
Research at a Glance
Your Role in Research
The Research Focus
Investigate how native bee communities vary across Monteverde's cloud forests, farms and restoration sites, and how changes in climate and habitat may affect their pollination services.
What You'll Do
Collect bees from flowering plants, document pollinator activity, help identify plant species, survey pollinator communities and support demonstration agroforestry and restoration projects.
Why It Matters
More than three-quarters of global crops depend on pollinators, yet climate change and habitat loss threaten tropical species essential to healthy forests, food systems and biodiversity.
Meet Your Lead Scientist
Valerie Peters, Ph.D.
Dr. Valerie Peters has spent more than a decade studying pollinators in tropical ecosystems, focusing on how climate change and habitat loss affect bees and their role in pollinating crops and wild plants. Her research helps guide strategies to protect pollinators and support ecosystem health and food security.
Search for Rare Pollinators in Costa Rica’s Cloud Forest
Walk flowering mountain trails looking for orchid bees, stingless bees and butterflies while helping document pollinator diversity in Monteverde’s tropical landscapes.
Explore Monteverde from Cloud Forest to Coffee Farm
Hike misty forest trails, visit family-run coffee farms and experience the landscapes where tropical forests, flowering plants and agriculture remain closely connected.
Visit a Stingless Bee Center & Taste Rare Honey
Observe 20 native bee species, explore their nesting structures and sample honey prized throughout Mesoamerica.
Contribute to the Bee Barcode of Life Initiative
Help collect specimens that contribute to an international effort to identify and catalog bee diversity across Costa Rica and the wider Americas.Access Secluded Spots Typically Closed to Tourists
Spend time on private farms, restoration plots and active research areas accessed through long-standing relationships between scientists, conservation groups and Monteverde land owners.Explore the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve
Hike through one of Costa Rica's most celebrated protected areas, where orchids, bromeliads and moss-covered trees thrive in constant moisture.Search for Tropical Pollinators Across Monteverde
Track orchid bees, stingless bees and other pollinators through cloud forest, flowering gardens, agricultural landscapes and restoration sites.Experience the Cloud Forest After Dark
Join guided night walks beneath the forest canopy, listening for frogs and insects while searching for tarantulas, kinkajous and other nocturnal wildlife after sunset.Sample the Flavors of Costa Rica
Drink world-renowned locally grown coffee and savor tropical fruit cultivated in the same mountain landscapes that depend on pollinators to propagate flowering crops and native forest plants—and meet the farmers who grow them.Contribute to Pollinator Research With Real-World Impact
Help researchers investigate how climate, rainfall and habitat change are reshaping tropical bee communities in Monteverde while studying how pollination influences fruit growth and crop production in local gardens and farms.Plant Biodiversity Islands for Pollinators
Establish experimental habitat plots with native flowering shrubs and trees, creating pockets of forage and shelter designed to sustain diverse pollinator communities across fragmented agricultural landscapes.Travel With an Intentionally Small Group
Because we deliberately limit group size to a small cohort of participant researchers, each guest enjoys meaningful time in the field, close interaction with the research team and an active role in daily research activities.Discover with a Dedicated, Expert Field Guide
Your Field Guide ensures each day runs smoothly, coordinating logistics, supporting field activities and helping guests better understand the landscapes and communities visited throughout the trip.Explore With Purpose
Take part in fieldwork that supports ongoing conservation research, directly contributing to the protection of pollinators and the habitats they sustain.