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2017, Uncategorized

Day 3: Transformation (05/18/2017)

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“Preservation of wildlife populations depends on changing human behavior.” Alex Tewfik, an expert benthic biologist, had this quote on one of his final slides during a presentation he gave our class.

A change in human behavior can mean many different things. I made an active choice to disrupt my busy summer work routine to engage in an explorative field biology trip, something that strongly deviates from my status quo.

This change has been engrossing. Through today’s endeavors – exploring a nearby seagrass bed and a patch reef accessible by boat – I immersed myself in the rich aquatic diversity only tropical marine ecosystems can offer.

I encountered a variety of species, including a beaded sea cucumber (Euapta lappa), about six inches in length, concealed by seagrass and a large West Indian sea egg (Tripneustes ventricosus) resting on a seagrass bed. Neither were in motion nor interacting with other animals. At the further patch reef, I came across a small chocolate brittle star (Ophioderma cinereum), a large-polyp coral (Eugmilia fastigata), and a donkey dung sea cucumber (Holothuria Mexicana), just under a foot long. The brittle star was found under rubble, and the donkey dung was found in deeper water on the seafloor. Today’s most noteworthy site was a school of surgeonfish (Genus Acanthus) swimming in a school of about one hundred fish.

My class also collected urchins from the reef. Urchins often hide under ridges or rocky overhangs, making them difficult to spot. After scouring for an urchin, I noticed an odd juxtaposition of hues – tiny white rings encircling fiery orange spines projecting from a dark fleshy body. This was the first of three (Echinometra viridis) I collected from the reef. Tomorrow, my class will be recording each urchin’s dimensions and returning them to the sea.

Echinometra viridis

I realize my participation on this trip will not accelerate the “preservation of wildlife populations.” However, for my own personal commitment to preservation causes and my proactivity to advocate for them, this trip has been transformative.

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Searchin’ for Urchins

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Day 3 is just getting better! We spent most of the day in the water, so I was extra happy.
We started with a small practice experiment in the sea grass just off the island. My favorite part was when Mikey and I’s transect took us into a minefield of upside down jellyfish. There were hundreds of jellies sitting on the seafloor!
After a delicious lunch and some much needed down time, we graduated to the patch reefs by the Southwest Caye. There, we did some more advanced snorkeling, and we practiced one method for assessing coral reef health.
The stony coral presence here was amazing! Adrienne took me on a whirlwind coral tour, and I saw several new corals from my taxon card that I had not seen yet, including Eusmilia fastigiata and Acropora cervicornis.
Eusmilia fastigiata
Acropora cervicornis with bleaching
I think my favorite part of the day was sea urchin hunting. Because urchin diversity is a good measure of reef health, we collected as many as we could in 25 minutes, and we will count and size them tomorrow. We’re going to compare the urchin population from a protected marine area to that of an unprotected area. I’ll let you know what we find!
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The Water Deepens

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Today started a little later, around 6:30 am. After a serene half-hour, we went for breakfast before starting our day. Today was all about quadrats; we got some practice using them on land before jumping back into the patch reef. We used our quadrats and transect tape to measure how many organisms of different phyla we could find, and Deepu and I finally got to take our trusty quadrat, nicknamed “Larval”, into the water. On this snorkel I saw three Caribbean Anemones (Condylactis gigantea) in the sea grass, was brought what I believe to be a Sun Anemone (Stichodactyla helianthus) that was attached to a piece of sea grass, and almost laid the transect tape on top of a baby nurse shark.

After lunch, all of our quadrat practice from the morning became useful as we took a boat out to a patch reef near another caye. We used our quadrats and transect tape to measure live coral, dead coral, sponges, and other features of the reefs. Deepu and I accidentally set our transect tape into deep water, which would have made measuring twenty-odd feet down more difficult were the quadrat not covering a completely sandy area. After finishing our measurements, we got to explore the reef a bit. I found a beautiful Flamingo Tongue, and some more Sponge Zoanthids (Parazoanthus parasiticus) growing on the same type of sponge I found it on yesterday (Niphates digitalis). I also got to practice blowing bubble rings, since we finally got into water that we couldn’t stand in.

After our first data collection, we then spent 25 minutes picking up as many sea urchins as possible in order to measure them tomorrow. We will compare our findings for the urchins and the coral cover from today, which were taken in a Marine Protected Area, to findings from an area that is not protected tomorrow. I am excited to see more reefs and potentially snorkel after dark tomorrow! Glover’s Reef is truly paradise.

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Arrived in Paradise

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What a fantastic day for stony corals! We had an early start from the Belize zoo, and we were on the boat to Glovers by 8:00. I loved watching the color of the water change as we went deeper and deeper. There’s a special place in my heart for Galveston beaches, but nothing can compare to the perfect turquoise and deep blue of the Caribbean. We even saw a Green Sea Turtle!
Two and a half hours later, we arrived in paradise. I never want to leave Glovers! After a safety briefing, tour, and lunch, it was finally time for the water. We got all geared up in our dive skins, but I sadly missed the dorky group picture (sorry mom).
We swam out to the first couple patch reefs and got to explore. The reefs were amazing! There was so much to see, although I’m certain my untrained eye missed most of it. Adrienne helped me identify a few stony corals, and after a few very wrong guesses on my part, I’m feeling more comfortable with identification.
Two coral highlights from the reef include Millipora complanata (Fire Coral) and Acropora palmata (Elkhorn Coral). Fire Coral stings if you touch it, so I’m very glad I know what it looks like now. The Elkhorn Coral was a treat to see because this species is endangered.
Acropora palmata 
The stony corals didn’t end after we got out of the water! Before dinner, we walked across the island and visited a coral graveyard (I like to call it the skeleton pile). Imagine a huge pile of rocks that are actually preserved corals; it was pretty amazing.
Adrienne taught us to identify at least 11 coral species from the skeletons alone, so I am excited to see them alive out on the reef tomorrow. It was an amazing experience to be able to study real coral on land, without having to worry about snorkeling.
Skeleton Pile 🙂 
In the evening, I gave my taxon presentation about stony corals. It was nice to have an entire day dedicated to my taxon group, and I feel like I learned so much. Can’t wait for another exciting day tomorrow!
2017, Uncategorized

Day 2: First Time Snorkeler (05/17/2017)

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I’m up at 5:00 am. My bags are packed. I eat a PB&J, and we are on the road. The drive from the Tropical Education Center to the pier in Belize City isn’t too long – around 45 minutes. Our team transitions to the boat, and we are off on the two-and-a-half hour boat ride to Glover’s Atoll, our home for the next seven days.

Glover’s Island

Soon after our arrival to Glover’s, we went snorkeling – my first time ever. The colors of the reef seemed like they were from a centuries-old oil painting. I was anticipating a full color pallet of hues, but the corals’ tones were warm-colored and muted.

Snorkeling in the water seemed out of body – like I was an avatar in a video game. Still not fully used to the controls of this unfamiliar type of movement, I felt awkward in the water, despite swimming competitively in high school. Every movement was calculated, taking into full consideration each dimension of my unfamiliar setting – Who is behind me? Will I bump into any coral nearby? Is my snorkel still vertical?

The reef was teeming with busy creatures. During my brief hour-long escapade, I encountered many types of fish, including baby barracuda (Genus Sphyraena), a baby nurse shark (Ginglymostoma cirratum), and a large southern stingray (Dasyatis americana). The only echinoderm I found was the bleached skeleton of a large red heart urchin (Meoma ventricosa) on the seafloor. The skeleton was about 6 inches in diameter and partially covered in algae. I also held a conch shell with a fleshy body inside. His eyes stuck out of his head like the eyes of Mr. Krabs from Spongebob Squarepants. My superstar sighting was a porcupinefish (Family Diodontidae) hiding under a rocky ridge. The fish was difficult to photograph, but with its massive size and bright colors, it was easy to remember.

After the swim, we explored a coral graveyard, studying the skeletons of centuries-old corals. It was interesting to witness how corals vary in formational shape, as well as polyp size and arrangement pattern. After dinner, we closed the day with two taxon briefings (including my own on echinoderms).

My first time in the water was surreal. I am eager for the next wave of adventures tomorrow will bring.

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First Day at my Atoll (Day 2)

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As neat as the Belize City Airport and the Tropical Education Center were, today is when the real fun stuff started. We woke up at the crack of dawn to meet our boat in Belize City and were on our way by 8. The boat trip was idyllic because the skies were completely clear and the ride was very smooth. The water was a mosaic of different shades of blue, and we could see Mayan Mountains on the horizon. In terms of wildlife, we first saw flying fish and a green turtle. The green turtle sighting was especially special, and he was huge!

The scenery of the boat ride out to Glover’s.

Actually being at Glover’s Reef is pretty wild because I’ve been wanting to come here for so long. Actually diving here is equally wild because it’s the first time I’ve been on a reef with any grain of legitimate knowledge whatsoever with regards to reef life.

After touring the island, eating, and getting settled in the cabins, we did a little “scavenger hunt” on a patch reef to make sure everyone was comfortable in the water. That was quite refreshing after 22 hours of feeling sticky. I saw a lot of stony corals, gorgonians, vase sponges, seagrass, and herbivorous fish all over the patch. Some of the highlights of things that I saw were an Angelfish, a Barracuda, a Manta Ray, and a Feather Duster Polychaete.

A massive coral, with a feather duster worm on it’s surface.

While all these things were quite neat, they could not compare with the Green Algae that I saw!! (I am obligated to be excited about green algae for the duration of this trip but they actually are kind of exciting). Since they were in the sand, rather than on the reef itself, I could get really close to the algae to examine them without worrying about kicking and harming any organisms.

I saw a few species that I know were types of Penicillus. I immediately recognized some Rhipocephalus phoenix when I swam up to it because it really did look like a pinecone! I think I also saw some Penicillus pyriformis. Then I saw an Udotea algae that I think was Udotea flabellum, but it didn’t quite match what I was expecting for either of the Udotea species I had on my card.

Udotea flabellum in the foreground, and Penicullus pyriformis in the background.

Later on, I saw some Halimeda that I guessed may have been Halimeda discoidea. I know for sure that it was Halimeda because I found calcium carbonate Halimeda chips around it.

Halimeda algae. If you look closely in the sand, you can see some Halimeda chips as well.

After the snorkeling, Adrienne took us back to a big heap of coral skeletons on the other side of the island. Apparently it’s super rare for there to be so many skeletons so well preserved and so easily accessible, so that was neat. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone as excited in a graveyard before as Adrienne was.  It was a good way to practice identifying stony corals and to clarify the differences between species with similar morphologies by comparing them side by side.

Two of the coral skeletons we saw in the skeleton pile. I think the right one is Pseudodiploria labarinthaformis.

In the evening, Jordan lectured us on the Stony Coral taxon group which bettered our familiarity a bit more. Mikey lectured on Echinoderms which was a lot of new information. I didn’t see any Echinoderms today, but now that I know what to look for I think I’ll be able to spot some tomorrow.

The last thing we did for tonight was make the quadrats we are going to use tomorrow. That was not particularly noteworthy except for the fact that I got my very first wound of the class by stabbing my thumb with a pair of scissors. The trauma was minimal and I’m expecting to survive but I’m sporting a nice little Bandaid for now.

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Splash

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The 5am wakeup ended up being an easy one, since I went to sleep at 10pm for the first time in a while, not to mention the morning songbirds’ assistance. After a quick breakfast of PB&J sandwiches, we set out for Glover’s Reef Atoll. One hour and the bus and two and a half more on the boat, which featured a massive Green Turtle surfacing close to our boat. We finally arrived at Middle Caye, settled in, toured the island quickly, and then ate a much-desired lunch.

A boat at Middle Caye

After lunch, it was time for the main event: our first snorkel of the trip. After pulling on my brand new dive skin and putting on my much older mask, the water invited us in to take a break from the blisteringly hot sun. We stayed in the shallow waters by the dock for today, snorkeling around some patch reefs a short swim away. I managed to find a fair amount of my assigned taxon group of anemones, corallimorphs, and zoanthids. With Adrienne’s help, I found a small colony of mat zoanthids (Zoanthus pulchellus) growing on a small stony patch, and I then found some small Sponge Zoanthids (Parazoanthus parasiticus) growing on a pale blue, vase-shaped sponge. I even managed to spot a small Caribbean Giant Anemone (Condylactis gigantea) among the sea-grass on the way out of the water. Although I don’t have to keep track of reptiles for another week, I noted the appearance of three spiny-tailed iguanas (Ctenosaura similis) on Middle Caye, as well as a house gecko (Hemidactylus frenatus).

Zoanthus pulchellus: Mat Zoanthids

After our snorkel, we went to a coral graveyard on the island full of dead coral skeletons. We identified them using guidebooks, and used them to learn to recognize the potential corals we will see tomorrow. After dinner, we rounded off our day with lectures on echinoderms and stony corals, and finished by making quadrats that we will use tomorrow for our activities.

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Are We In Belize? Yes we are.

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I met the whole crew around 10:15 AM. And just like that, we passed through security check and I’m munching on a footlong tuna Subway sandwich. The time is 1:20pm. I’ll be in Belize in T-3 hours. Life is awesome.

What was that? My face looks like the Mona Lisa? Oh, stop it you.

We landed in Belize around 4pm and went through immigration and customs. Afterwards, we hopped into a van and made a pit stop at Low’s, a general grocery store. I didn’t buy anything, but the smell reminded me of the convenience stores in India- it was probably the detergent powder.

We reached the Tropical Exploration Center (TEC) around 6PM, got a brief tour of the place, put our luggage into our rooms, and ate dinner.

No luck with arachnids today. I saw some fish in the dining room’s fish tank, but unfortunately I don’t think any of those were piscivores. I did manage to see a really big leaf cutter ant colony at the entrance of TEC and there was a group sighting of a green iguana reaching for leaves on a tree branch.

I just realized there is no iguana in this picture.

We’re boating to Glover’s island tomorrow. I heard that involves intense equatorial sun rays and getting wet. At the same time. The whole time. Literally the whole boat ride will be me caramelizing in the sun while getting battered by massive torrents of Caribbean sea water. I am excited.

 

 

 

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Spotted Shirley Temple

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Day 1 in Belize was a major success! We’ve all arrived safely, and  traveling was remarkably smooth, considering we have a group of 14 people.

We’re staying at the Belize Zoo tonight. The beds are comfy and bug-free, and dinner involved banana bread. I have no complaints!

In terms of wildlife, I was most excited by the two species of epiphytes I was able to identify from my taxon card research. I feel much better about my identifying abilities already! I even saw my favorite epiphyte, the Shirley Temple plant (it’s small and curly). I also saw Aechmea brachteata.

Tillandsia streptophilla (Shirley Temple)
Aechmea brachteata

We’ve only been here a few hours, but I’ve already learned so much: pack things inside your boots, don’t try to take pictures as you’re getting off the airplane, hydrate or die-drate, and sometimes things look like deer but they’re really just dogs. Our adventures continue at Glover’s Reef tomorrow, and I’m excited for the new experiences that await us!

2017, Uncategorized

Day 1: Movement (05/16/2017)

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Today was about movement. In the morning, I moved out of my apartment, and, in the afternoon, I moved into a new country – Belize!

Before my eyes even caught a glimpse of the wildlife, I became fixated on the sheer differences between the U.S. and our neighbor just a two-hour flight south. Everything seemed less commercialized, less polished, and less reliant on technology. The infrastructural and cultural differences between the U.S. and Belize was something I never thought about before stepping foot on Belizean soil.

The inside of a Belizean connivence store

Witnessing these differences adds an anthropological element to this trip, something unexpected but enriching.

About an hour after exiting the area surrounding the Belize Airport, we arrived at the Tropical Education Center. Rainforest surrounds the Center on all sides, providing us with an excellent first look into tropical rainforest life.

My most memorable tree sighting was a bullhorn acacia tree (Acacia cornigera) on the trail. The tree was about 15-feet tall, covered in paired black thorns and housed many small dark ants.

We took a tour of the Center’s campus. I felt like I was at camp again, except with a much higher humidity rate.

A tour of the Tropical Education Center

The Center had its own diverse array of wildlife. While I am unsure of their exact names, I noticed epiphytes with roots hanging down, a big black beetle, and a dark green frog with black spots. My superstar sighting was a green iguana (Iguana iguana) lounging on a tree branch, snacking of some leaves.

The first day has been extremely transitionary, but I feel energized for the adventures that lay ahead.