We are thrilled to present this special issue of PALAIOS that highlights projects of students who attended a field course offered in the summer of 2010 at the Gerace Research Centre, San Salvador Island, Bahamas. The course, supported by a generous grant from the Paleontological Society, was devoted to taphonomic and ecological processes in tropical environments. The attendees were an international group of students (see group photo) with diverse backgrounds and disparate scholarly interests. The success of this course, as demonstrated by the research papers assembled in this volume and numerous student presentations at annual meetings of the Geological Society of America, reflects a combination of two factors: the unwavering dedication of the involved students during and after the course, and extraordinary research opportunities represented by San Salvador Island and the Gerace Research Centre (www.geraceresearchcentre.com). The participants of the 2010 summer course, Taphonomy and Ecology of Tropical Environments, in front of the Gerace Research Centre, San Salvador Island, Bahamas. The foreground, from left to right: Yurena Yanes (University of Granada, Spain), Jacalyn Wittmer (Virginia Tech), Maria Sol Boyer (Universidad Nacional de Cordoba, Argentina), Poncho (the Centre's vicious guard dog), and Amelinda Webb (Yale University); front row, standing, from left to right: Laura Vietti (University of Minnesota), Jeanine L. Ash (University of Arizona), Emilia Jarochowska (University of Warsaw), Carrie Tyler (Virginia Tech), Rachel Hertog (University of California, Davis), Janina Dynowski (University of Tubingen), Chrissy Spencer (University of Colorado), Emily King (University of Chicago), Schimmel Majken (Virginia Tech), and Simon Darroch (Yale University); second row, standing, from left to right: Troy Dexter (Virginia Tech), Rafal Nawrot (University of Warsaw), Michal Kowalewski (Virginia Tech), and Tom Rothfus (Gerace Research Centre). San Salvador Island is one of the outermost islands of the Bahamian Archipelago, a chain of several hundred islands, islets, and banks …