All posts by Phoenix Orta

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Final Reflection Blog: An Unbelizeable Adventure!

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Throughout this course I have learned and experienced so much in such a short amount of time, and I have definitely walked away with an unshakeable sense of wonder and respect for these two tropical ecosystems. One of the main ideas this course has left me with is in the surprising amount of similarities between these two seemingly separate ecosystems, and how that might relate to their current biodiversity. Both coral reefs and rainforests are shaped by their how they maximize the use of limited resources such as light, nutrients, wave energy, and soil. The variety of complex ways in which these organisms adapt to these conditions is reflected in their unmatched biodiversity.

Some personal connections I made along the way are definitely related to what I studied for my topic lecture: the biogeographic history of the region. Both of the specific ecosystems we visited were highly shaped by the history of geologic processes in the region. Glover’s atoll was created by past volcanic activity, and the limestone sediments that characterize the karstic landscape of the Chiquibul were deposited millions of years ago. Actually, the origin of the calcium carbonate in this limestone is from the many millions of marine shelled creatures that lived there when that area was underwater, so the connections run even deeper! Both areas were also deeply impacted by continental movements, specifically the connection of North and South America 3 million years ago, which separated the oceans and joined the terrestrial organisms, but still both leading to continued diversification.

This course was more difficult in some ways than I expected, but also so much fun! I definitely expected to get lots of bug bites while there, but I certainly did not expect the sheer volume of mosquito, sand mite, and chigger bites I came home with! My least favorite part was probably getting seasick on the first boat ride in, that was pretty miserable. Future TFBs beware, and bring itch cream and Dramamine! But as is true with most field work, there were so many fun moments that made all the uncomfortable parts so so worth it! Some of my many favorite moments include: seeing giant ceiba trees, watching a jaguar feed, eating lionfish ceviche, holding a comb jelly, touring the Caracol Archeological Reserve, and seeing the beloved Mexican burrowing toad! And all of these moments were made even better by the friendships I made with my classmates, which I am very grateful for.

Before I post this final blog, I want to leave it by sharing some of the most important or surprising things I learned on this trip that will stick with me for a long time. The entire guest lecture by Dr. Arevalo was definitely memorable for me, especially in his dedication to the ecology and conservation of the scarlet macaw, and his point that there is only limited impact for ecology research if we do not actively apply it to conservation practices and efforts. I will also always remember our conversations on the health of coral reefs, and how quickly climate change can damage these beautiful places. It was something I was always aware of in the periphery of my mind, but there is something different about firsthand experiencing the incredible diversity of these reefs and then learning how threatened they really are. One final thing I will always remember is seeing  and learning about the insane complexity of leafcutter ant colonies! We learned that the characteristics of the ants change as the colony ages and can spread into massive structures that last with a single queen for a max of about 25 years! The fact that such complex eusocial animals have evolved is so insanely cool!

This class and the people I got to know along the way are unforgettable and I had such a great time!

-Phoenix

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June 19th: Rainforest Experiment Results!

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Today we concluded both our pee pitfall experiment and the camera trap experiment! This morning we made a short hike through the Maya trail, and collected each of our pitfall traps filled with urine and unlucky arthropods. Along the way I spotted some cool looking harvestmen climbing along a sharp give-and-take palm! We also saw some really cool examples of moths that were killed by the “zombie” fungus Ophiocordyceps which takes control of the nervous system of its victims. These moths were in various stages of decay so it was like we were seeing the process itself, which was super cool!

 

Once back in the lab, we sorted our pee pitfalls and removed all of our captured arthropods to tally which traps had the most visitors. We found that in general, the arthropods were more often found in the nutrient rich pee, and there were many more arthropods found on the forest floor than the canopy. But the canopy arthropods actually had more guests in the water tubes, but the sample size for this area was very small. I actually did fish out a few harvestmen and a small spider during our data collection, so I did get some arachnids in there! Check out our title for the poster aka our most despicable pun yet (Urine for a Treet).

Some of the students went out to go collect all of the camera traps we had placed on our first day in the rainforest, and during this spotted a really cool spider, I wish I had been there! I have tried my hardest to identify this fuzzy guy just from the awesome picture Elena sent me, but still no luck. Its leg morphology points to it being some kind of ground-dwelling spider rather than orb-weaving. The coloration, leg shape, and fang placement resembles that of both huntsman and wolf spiders, but none of the spiders I’ve researched in this area have such distinctive fuzzy legs. What a cool little mystery! Fun fact, the “hair” on spiders legs are actually called setae and can be used for grip when moving around, sensing chemicals, and so many other cool things!

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Pee Experiment, Leafcutter Ant Excavation, and Night Hike! 

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After hearing a lovely morning lecture from Michael on the importance of tropical soils and their nutrients, we designed a classic TFB experiment: pee tubes. We wanted to see whether arthropods in the canopy or the forest floor are more attracted to the nitrogen in our urine and what that might say about the scarcity of nutrients in these areas. We all peed in tubes, compared hydration levels for fun, and then set out to lay these pitfall traps in the forest. During this I actually spotted a jumping viper on the trail right before we were about to step on it which was a little terrifying, but it never struck. Someone also spotted the adorable and rare eyelash viper curled up on a tree! 

BIOS 319 pee gradient

After that adventure we had our very own leafcutter ant expert Dr. Solomon show us the inner workings of these colonies (including their fungal gardens!), which was so fascinating to see! During our search for a suitable candidate, we found so many arachnids! Dr. Correa found a bunch of tiny scorpions under a damp piece of wood, as well as a dead tarantula. We were also able to spot two golden silk orb weaver spiders in their web which was really cool! But the star of the show was definitely the Mexican burrowing toad we found while digging around! He was just such a fun looking guy he was so gelatinous, had no neck, and the most powerful little back legs. He was fantastic. 

Golden orb-weaver spider
Qur amphibian expert Rusty holding the beloved toad

Then to top off a fantastic day we had an eventful night hike that definitely broke some TFB records! We took a short journey to a pond nearby and along the way saw TWO Morelet’s Tree Frog (which are a rare endangered species) both of which jumped onto some students and hung out there while we tried to photograph it which was so cool! We had to be very careful not to let it touch us if we had sprayed bug spray because they can take in chemicals through their skin, but they were so friendly! And then we saw the insane, documentary worthy event of a snake winding up a tree and eating sticky tree frog eggs! There were snakes everywhere today. It was so insanely cool! I wonder how many more cool species we can find! 

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Into the Rainforest: Cool Views and Camera Traps

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Today we had our first introductions to the Chiquibul rainforest! We got to come up with a new research project using a bunch of camera traps to get pictures of animals that we might be scared away if we tried to see them in person. We set up 16 total camera traps all around the research station to see which predators and prey of the forest use areas of human influence such as trails and roads differently. This gave us a great opportunity to spend pretty much all day hiking around the rainforest and getting to know the area! 

On these excursions we saw so many cool things! We could look up and see so many different trees, palms, and other epiphytes such as bromeliads. Dr. Solomon also showed us a truly magnificent leafcutter ant nest that was nearly 20 years old and ridiculously huge! At the peak of one of the trails, we climbed up a tower that looks over the whole rainforest with nothing but trees for miles and miles! And then on the way down, we found a small cave that the Maya used, which was so beautiful and we even found a small area of ceramic sherds! 

Within this cave, and throughout the entire hike, I found so many examples of cool arachnids! Along the trails in the leaf litter, I saw (and held!) some harvestmen, which are a class of arachnids that include daddy long legs. I also saw so many different types of webs, such as thick funnels in the tree trunks. Some of the coolest ones we saw though, were the huge black spiders hanging from the ceiling in the cave! Although I couldn’t identify these sentinels (or get good pics because my camera died), it was still awesome to see so many of them! 

Spider egg sac found along the trail
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Completely Nerding Out: A Great Day for Archeology and Arachnids

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Today we left the lovely TEC to journey into the Chiquibul rainforest! We had a long and bumpy car ride through the capital city Belmopan through the Maya Mountains, to our first stop: the Caracol Archeological Reserve! As someone who is also majoring in anthropology/archeology, this visit was so insanely cool! We saw multiple different plazas, ballcourts, and complexes, and got to walk up and explore one of the large stone structures, the top of which is the highest manmade point in Belize! The view was so vast and impressive! We also saw these enormous ceiba trees which had giant buttresses and intertwining roots. 

I also saw the first signs of my rainforest taxa which are arachnids! While we were at the site, there were a few dark and moist recesses in the stone walls, where we just barely spotted a tailless whip scorpion ! These dudes look pretty freaky, but they are non venomous and won’t hurt you. They usually like living in caves, so I wasn’t expecting to see any until our last day spelunking adventure! 

 

After this visit, we made another long car ride to Las Cuevas Research Station. We had a short orientation to the site, but spent most of our time last night doing lectures so we haven’t really gotten to explore yet. That’s for tomorrow’s adventure!

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Night Tour of the Belize Zoo!

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Today was a long day of travels that began with a four hour boat ride that I thankfully slept through the majority of, with no seasickness! After having a leisurely lunch at a restaurant on the dock and making a much needed pit stop for more bug spray, we took a van to the Tropical Education Center just about an hour outside of Belize City. This place is so amazing I almost wish we could stay more than one night here! Watching the landscape change from coastal areas, to savannah, and now seeing the beginnings of a rainforest environment is so exciting and the TEC is such an enticing preview of what’s to come!

While here, we got to hear a wonderful guest lecture from Dr. Boris Arevalo, one of the experts on the ecology and conservation of the scarlet macaw, which is an endangered species here in Belize. He told us about his doctoral research into the nesting behavior and habitat selection of this species and his experiences as a biologist doing conservation work. 

 

The highlight of today was undoubtedly our guided night tour of the Belize Zoo, just a 2 minute drive down the road! The zoo itself was so different than what you might typically expect from a zoo experience in the states, with plenty of rainforest wildlife existing inside and outside the cages, forming a more cohesive picture of these animals in their habitat. We saw so many cool nocturnal animals including Belize’s national animal, the tapir which has a very weirdly flexible snout. But my favorite animals we saw were the cats they had there! We got to see jaguars that knew how to roll over for treats, a grumbly ocelot, a puma, and some margays (one of the smallest wild cats!). I wish we could stay longer, but I am so excited to get to Las Cuevas tomorrow!

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Last Day on the Reef: Lionfish Ceviche

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Today marks our final day on Glover’s Reef Research Station! We started the day with a morning snorkel, finishing the last of our data collection for our research project we started a few days ago. I heard from Elena that there were some more ctenophores here but I wasn’t lucky enough to see them myself. This time around I was finally able to find and collect some urchins during our urchin survey! We also did one final snorkel in a new area just to see the reefs one last time before our departure. Some highlights include: Caribbean reef squids, another lionfish speared, and I saw a pufferfish!

If you look closely you can see a sea urchin hidden in the dead coral, and on top is a christmas tree worm
Some pretty bladed fire coral (do not touch!)

After returning from our morning snorkel we spent the afternoon combining and analyzing our data from the previous day’s collections, and created a poster presenting our project and its conclusions to our professors. Based on our (limited) data, we were able to see that on patches of reef with a higher percentage of dead corals, there were also a higher number of sea urchins we were able to collect. But there was no clear correlation between a patch being within the protected area and the percent of dead coral. Here is a picture of our lovely poster (I drew the little urchin heart)!

This afternoon we were able to eat a unique delicacy that helps get rid of a pesky invader of the reefs: lionfish ceviche! Over the course of our stay, our professors speared three of them, and we finally put them to good use! But of course as scientists, before we made the ceviche, we dissected each lionfish and determined its sex, weight, length, and saw its stomach contents! My group had an exceptionally large fish that we nicknamed “Main Course”, whose carnage we removed unfortunately spilled onto my lab notebook (good thing its waterproof!). The long awaited ceviche was  delicious!

Dr. Solomon trimming the venomous spines from the lionfish

Then I spent the rest of the night packing up all of my stuff that has become so brutally disorganized over the past few days that I’ve just accepted that nothing in my duffel bag will be entirely clean or easily found. I’ll be very sad to leave this place in the morning (especially in anticipation of the four hour boat ride), but I’m so beyond excited for where we are going next!

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Finally Seeing the Forereef! Cute lil Ctenophores!

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Today we finally got to go snorkeling in part of the atoll that we had heard so many good things about since we’ve stayed here. Until now we had mostly been visiting the patch reefs within the lagoon, but on the oval edge of the atoll there is a huge reef called the forereef that has a huge areas of large reef interspersed between deep grooves that break the intense wave energy. The wind had actually been too strong these last few days to safely attempt seeing it, but this morning we had a rare window of opportunity, and seized it!

This area was much much deeper than anywhere we have snorkeled so far, and it was so deep that it was difficult taking any high resolution pictures of the huge corals below. But most excitingly, I was actually able to spot some little ctenophores (comb jellies) close to us! Comb jellies look like translucent jelly-like forms that don’t sting like jellyfish do, so even though we were right in the middle of a mass of them, we were just fine! It was hard to get any clear view on them because of how translucent they are, but based on what I saw, they look like the sea walnut comb jelly.

Dr. Correa diving down to see some of the reef structures

Comb jelly from the forereef (possibly sea walnut!)

We unfortunately couldn’t stay out there for longer than about 20 minutes because then the waves picked up, and a lot of us got seasick again :(. After recovering, we heard a lecture on the effects of pollution in the ocean from marine debris such as plastics, and designed a dual research project and beach cleanup activity! We recorded the types and amount of debris we were able to collect on the shores around our island. We were able to calculate which areas of the island would be most effective to focus on for future cleanup efforts, and collect over 60 kg of trash! Here is an insanely cool photo of some very well preserved fish remains someone found during the cleanup!

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Reef Day 4: More Data Collection

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Our class began the day bright and early snorkeling out on the farther reef patches again, continuing to collect data for our ongoing research project. We visited two different patch reefs within the marine protected area, and took measurements on the area in which there was dead and live corals, as well as collecting sea urchins to identify and return to the reef. Here is a picture of what taking those measurements look like in the field!

While in these reefs we were able to see more variety of the biodiversity reefs have to offer, but unfortunately, I did not see any more jellyfish today either. But, I was able to see some examples of the challenges facing coral reefs we have learned about from our lectures on coral death ad disease. Today I was able to spot some different types of diseased and dead coral out out on the reef. In this picture you can see some dead coral overgrown with algae.

Tonight we had a guest lecture from an officer with the Belize Fisheries Department who told us all about the kinds of conservation and protection efforts being made to help ensure that fishing is practiced sustainably Glover’s reef is actually a World Heritage Site, and Belize has extremely strict regulations in order to help protect this unique ecosystem for our future, and hearing about the conservation efforts taking place was great to contextualize our experiences with the reef.

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Collecting Specimens: Lionfish Spearing

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Today we spent our morning collecting specimens in the shallows near the island and identifying them in our wet lab before releasing them! We were able to collect a surprising amount of organisms, including lots of green algae, a few crabs, a spiny lobster, and some mantis shrimp!

We were also able to generate a new research question and go farther out from shore to see some more patch reefs within the atoll and collect data to answer our question. We are interested in how sea urchin abundance correlates with the percentage of coral cover that is dead, and how this relationship might be different in areas of the reef that are protected and other unregulated areas. Data collection today was very challenging due to strong current and some equipment malfunctions, but we made it work! We should be working on this project for a few days so hopefully we will have better luck tomorrow!

We also visited patch reef that is a marine protected area (MPA) which was much deeper and more complex than we have seen so far! Although I didn’t spot any more jellyfish today, I saw so many magnificent coral structures and colorful fish. I saw an entire school of what might be blue tangs pass by, and some truly massive Orbicella corals. We even spotted a lionfish, which is a very venomous, very invasive species which Dr. Solomon was able to spear and catch for us to eat tomorrow! It was so exciting to watch!