Students are tackling broad-based questions addressing these issues. Interactions between the disciplines is most important at the local or regional scales. Our efforts therefore, are focused on four areas selected to represent diverse ecological and human social characteristics and to allow fruitful comparisons as part of the research effort. In the tropics, the geographical focus of the research projects is three areas along or within the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor (MBC) and neighboring fragmented landscapes. In the temperate zone, research projects are focusing efforts in the Clearwater River drainage area of Idaho, near the Yellowstone to Yukon (Y-2-Y) Biological Corridor. Teams of Ph. D. students from different disciplines are working together in these areas to address diverse research questions under an umbrella theme.