Nicaraguan Field Guide

A Nicaraguan Exploration: The Flora & Fauna is a self-published field guide I produced from a 10-day expedition through Rivas, Nicaragua in January 2015 — a senior independent study led by Brandeis ecologist Professor Eric Olson. Across mangrove seacoasts, dry creek-beds, and the moist forests of Finca Guadalupe, we night-walked up streams, tallied birds for the Christmas Bird Count, and documented the region's biodiversity firsthand.

The guide profiles more than two dozen species — from the stilt-rooted red mangrove and ant-farming trumpet tree to leafcutter ants, Montezuma's cattleheart, olive ridley sea turtles, and red-eyed tree frogs — pairing my macro photography with field notes on each organism's habitat and ecology. I photographed, researched, wrote, and designed the book, threading through it a single idea from the expedition: that these systems are profoundly interconnected, each plant and animal shaping the ones around it.