Day 12 – Ant man and Spider woman

Hi friends,

Today before breakfast ended, Scott handed us two vials and told us to pee in them. What a great start to the day! It turned out that we will be using the vials as traps and we will be studying the preference for nitrogen and the abundance of organisms on the forest floor and the forest canopy.

We went out to put half of the vials into the ground and another half of them on trees. It went pretty quickly and we didn’t really get to see any organisms around that area because most of the trees had fallen from last year’s hurricane damage and the canopy was sparse.

In the afternoon we spent some time on the lectures before going out to dig for leaf cutter ants’ nests. This is Scott’s specialization so I was really excited to see what’s in store. He first brought us to a small nest that was about a year old. We quickly dug down to its fungal garden which Scott extracted using a teaspoon. The fungal garden looked unlike what I was expecting and it was cool seeing all the larvae being carried around on it as the worker ants try to rescue them as the fungal garden was being carried away.

Fungal garden on a servery spoon.

The second ants’ nest was slightly bigger, about 4-6 years old, and it wasn’t that difficult digging into it either. When we got to the last one however, the first thing that surprised me was the size of it. From Scott’s description, it was about 10-15 years old, seemed to be about the size of 8 parking lot spaces, and it had multiple entrances. We started digging down from near the tree roots, as the nest was sloping from there and it was easier to dig. The soldier ants came out in no time to defend their home and they were significantly larger and greater in numbers than the previous two nests. It was a constant battle trying to excavate the nest and I was glad to have the rubber boots on as I could just shake the ants off as they tried climbing up my boots. I did get bit by an ant on each knee but the pants protected me well. It was a testament to their mouth grip strength that their heads stayed on attached to my pants even after I pulled off the rest of their bodies. Eventually Scott took charge and dug out the rest of the hill, but still did not find the fungal garden. He told us that it was probably because they decided to place their fungal gardens deeper to protect them, having their fungal gardens removed annually by Scott in the past few years.

Turiez chilling on a branch away from the leaf cutter ants.

At night after the presentations, Jordan, Deepu, Ellie and I decided to go tarantula hunting. We managed to find a couple of medium-sized tarantula holes and saw a few tarantulas that quickly disappeared back into their holes. We also found a roosting Common Pauraque through its eyes which reflected in our headlamps. That was pretty cool as it was camouflaged well in the leaf litter that it took us a while to figure out what it was.

After looking around for a while, we decided to go back to our rooms. However, we met Aimee from Loyola University who was just about to go find some spider specimens and asked us if we wanted to help her. Naturally, being the helpful and caring students we are, we volunteered to help. Before we did however, she decided to show us a couple of tarantula holes that she found. THEY WERE HUGE!!! And she showed us a technique to fish out tarantulas which was really awesome. We managed to get out some of them and took close-up photographs of them.

Fished out this big boy!

We then went into the forest (at night!!) and looked for a certain species of spiders under palm leaves. I managed to find a couple and I hope that this small contribution will help her out in her research work to document this new species of spiders. I want it to be named after me thank you!

As a side note, I didn’t see any mammals today which was disappointing. Maybe tomorrow!

Till next time,

Damien

Day 7 (5/22): We found Dory

Before I start this blog, I would like to state that we found Dory. Yep, she was located. We found her at 6:38 PM on the Glover’s Research station boat Itajara while coming back from Isla Marisol. And let me tell you, she was a sight.

Starting the day bright and early at 6:45 AM, we were all able to get ready, eat breakfast, and get on the Itajara by 8:15 AM. Today, we visited three back reefs before lunch: the “channel”, the “aquarium”, and the patch reef. The “channel” was definitely the most interesting reef- I was able to see a yellow stingray (Urobatis jamaicensis), a nurse shark (Ginglymostoma cirratum), and some mahogany snapper (Lutjanus mahogani) while trying to not get blown away by the choppy waves. The “aquarium” was a part of a resort, so the whole environment was serene and the waters were calm and well lit with sunlight. I saw 3 egg cases on soft corals there- I’m not too sure what fish the egg cases belong to, but they were huge!

Me in the patch reef

After lunch, Isaac presented on anemones, corallimorphs, and zoanthids while Alessi presented on mangrove and seagrass diversity. Then, we dissected lionfish! Scott and his team of expert seals have terminated a total of 6 lionfish over the past couple of days, giving us the chance to determine the sex of each lionfish and their stomach contents. One of the lionfish had 7 juvenile fish in its stomach. Wild stuff.

But wait, that’s not all! Around 4:15 PM, we boated to Isla Marisol, a small resort on the atoll. The 2.8 hours we spent there were a good time- everybody was having fun, Caribbean music was playing in the background, and the little cabin we were in was under construction. I got a chance to walk around the island with Damien and it was gorgeous.

Visiting all of the patch reefs today put the predicament of the underwater world into perspective. All of the reefs were structurally composed with dead coral- even the “aquarium”, which is used for tourism purposes. Finding full, intact coral was a rarity- I only saw two full mounds of brain coral (E. strigosa) in the 3+ hours we were in the water. These corals are not able to adapt to the human-caused environmental shifts quickly enough, deteriorating the environment of thousands of micro and macro organisms around these reefs. Our habits need to be changed in order for the Earth to be a more forgiving place for communities like these, and the first step to change is awareness.

Back to Reality (Day 15)

Today was the last day of EBIO 319, and tomorrow I will be back in my own bed. That’s pretty wild because it does not feel like two weeks have passed.

We left Las Cuevas around 8 this morning to head towards the Belize City Airport. Since we left early, I had time to bird watch, but I didn’t get a chance to see other forms of wildlife or any orthoptera. We stopped at a souvenir shop on the way, but I didn’t end up buying anything. We also stopped at Cheers Restaurant before we got to the airport. The food there was really cheap and our spending limit was really high, so I ended up getting a jumbo sized watermelon juice because I was way below the limit. I’m pretty sure they juiced an entire watermelon to make it. It was quite delicious.

After we got to the airport and went through security, I got called up to the gate to be randomly screened. I got all patted down and had my things nosed through, but it was okay because I got to board the plane before everybody else. The same thing happened to Ellie too, so we were able to save four rows so that we could all sit together.

My first interactions with Americans (besides those in EBIO 319) were very unpleasant as a result of this. First the flight attendant asked if Ellie or I wanted to date her son. Then lots of grumpy people glared at  us and muttered things under their breaths as the plane got more crowded because the rest of the class was all in the very last boarding group and they didn’t like that we were saving so many seats.

I was asleep for most of the van and plane rides. This was good because we all stayed up late last night and then got up at 5 this morning to bird watch, so I definitely needed the rest. But, this was bad because I apparently sleep with my eyes open and in oddly contorted positions, so now lots of pictures of this exist.

In the van on the way to lunch.

I am very exhausted, and it’s time for me to go to bed. Tomorrow morning, I’ve got to go back to the airport, and then I’ll be finally home.

Day 11 – Snake it off

Hi friends,

WE FINALLY SAW SNAKES TODAY!!! We saw a fer-de-lance snake too, and I recognized it!

We started the day getting our camera traps ready for our big experiment here in Las Cuevas. We decided to walk through two different trails, the Hectare Plot and the Monkey Tail Trail, and place camera traps periodically on- and off-trail to hopefully get footage of animals passing by.

Hiking the Hectare Plot was a pain because it had to enclose a set area, and so some of the trail ended up going over steep hills and we had to hike up and down a lot. I saw a Mexican porcupine (Coendou mexicanus) on the way down from a hill which was awesome! First mammal in the wild that I spotted! We also managed to find a lot of other organisms on the forest floor and in the canopy which was nice. We saw a scorpion eater snake and a few interesting lizards too.

We placed a total of 6 camera traps around the trail, and headed back to LCRS for lunch. After lunch, we went into the Monkey Tail Trail, which was a much flatter terrain and thus easier to navigate. We placed 2 cameras every 1km, and so ended up hiking a considerable distance. However, most of the time spent was going in and out of the forest to place an off-trail camera, and we took 40 minutes just to get out of the last one. It was exciting stuff as things could have been bad if we didn’t get out before dark but we managed to do it so it’s all good. On the way back, it was dark and we had to use our headlamps. Halfway back to LCRS, I was walking with Jordan when she suddenly yelped out in excitement. As she was walking she had spotted a snake and just about stepped past it. We looked more closely and it was definitely a poisonous snake, and the markings on the back of the snake seemed to indicate that it was a fer-de-lance. I got to say I got plenty excited for that as it was the snake that I really wanted to find and so I stooped low to take a shot. But Scott pulled me away as it apparently was able to jump backwards to bite. The only picture I have was quite out of focus but here it is!

Really out of focus picture of the fer-de-lance. It’s the wiggly thing in the middle.

I wonder how we will be able to find our off-trail cameras as they are pretty far off the track and we took so long getting in and out of the areas where we placed them. But that is a problem for another day.

Till then,

Damien

Day 6 (5/21): Nu-Nu-Nu-NURSE SHARK

The wind was choppy today, but we thankfully still snorkeled right after breakfast. The main goal was to collect a diverse array of species from the back reef to have a little show-and-tell before lunch. And let me tell you- that back reef experience was crazy. Right from the start, Adrienne showed me a baby shark lying down in the seagrass bed. Based on its behavior, it looked like a nurse shark (Ginglymostoma cirratum), but it had spots on its head which made it hard to solidify a classification.

Possible nurse shark in the middle of a seagrass bed

After reaching the reef, it was just piscivorous fish paradise. Yellowtail snapper (Ocyurus chrysurus), mahogany snapper (Lutjanus mahogani), keeltail needlefish (Platybelone argalus), and French grunts (Haemulon spp.) were all in that reef. I also saw a Nassau grouper (Epinephelus striatus) but my camera ran out of juice before I could take a picture of it. Adolpho and Javier also pointed out a scorpionfish to me- it was so well camouflaged that I accidentally took a picture of a rock instead of the fish. After acquiring a decent collection of marine organisms, we went back to the wetlab and presented our specific taxon groups. In relation to fish, there were three crested gobies (Lophogobius cyprinoides) and one damselfish (Stegastes variabilis). Other interesting organisms brought back were the Mantis shrimp, a fire worm, and a baby octopus!

After lunch, Ellie presented on herbivorous fish, I presented on piscivorous fish, and Anna presented on invasive reef species. We then returned the marine organisms to their habitat and analyzed/presented the data from our marine debris collection. SFS, Dory, and Turiez loved it. Because we had such an amazing presentation, they let us do a short snorkel in choppy waters near the patch reef we visited the first day.

Tomorrow is the last full day on this island. It’s kind of weird how slow yet fast time went by- I’m sad to leave but excited for the rainforest coming up.

Day 10 – A Ruined Day

Hi friends,

After the adventures through ancient Mayan territory yesterday, we inadvertently ended up visiting some Mayan ruins again today.

Beautiful view from the pool!

We spent the whole morning driving to Las Cuevas Research Station, stopping at a natural pool to cool off in the summer heat. The natural pool was beautiful and really awesome. Together with Sarah G, I ran up along the river, jumping on rocks trying to cross the streams at different points. We then got into the pool and slowly followed the river flow down. At several points we got to slide down some rocks from one pool to another which was fun. There was also this huge waterfall at one point where we can stand underneath it and get a good natural water massage. Going along the river, we reached a point which overlooked a valley, which was really scenic and we took a bunch of pictures there. Isaac also brought a soursop with him and shared it with the class which was refreshing. I enjoyed myself greatly at the pool and didn’t really want to leave but all good things come to an end.

It was another two hours of riding the van, where we entertained ourselves with a game of King’s Water Cup and it was great way of passing time. We finally reached Las Cuevas Research Station (LCRS) which was in the middle of the Chiquibul rainforest and my first thought was, “I NEED TO PEE!!!” followed by, “I wanna explore this place!!!”

Looks like a natural mound? Nope, it’s a Mayan ruin underneath.

 

We were able to squeeze in a trail hike right before dinner and we took the Mayan trail which led us around the edge of LCRS. As we walked down the trail, Scott stopped us at a point right beside this huge steep mound covered in vegetation. Pointing to the mound, he explained that it wasn’t a natural formation but a Mayan temple covered after long periods of disuse. We climbed to the top of the ruin which turned out to be a bad idea as it was indeed a well-covered ruin and there was nothing much to see. It was still cool though, to think about the fact that we were stepping on an unexcavated Mayan site which was probably teeming with activity back in the Classical Mayan period but now just lies forgotten deep in a rainforest.

We walked more around the trail, seeing a couple more mounds, a rectangular ruined area which was supposed to be the Mayan ball court, and a line of neatly stacked rocks that looked to have been a plaza leading to the entrance of the Las Cuevas caves. Unfortunately, I did not get to see any mammals today which is a bummer. Nonetheless, I really loved the hiking and I can’t wait for the next few days of it!

Till tomorrow,

Damien

Day 5 (5/20): Trash is Trash

Today was a good day. It was pretty laid back and I really enjoyed the time allotment of activities. After breakfast, we decided to knockout the taxonomic presentations (mollusks and annelids presented by Damien and crustaceans presented by Anna) because we planned for a night snorkel if the wind was not too choppy. Afterwards, we started a new project at 9AM today- we were asked to test host preference of Christmas tree worms in relation to certain species of coral. Figuring out the logistics of the operation took some time, and it also involved going to a back reef through “the mangroves of death” as Scott and Adrienne refer to them- this name was given primarily because the mangroves are known to be a wet habitat with roots waiting to trip someone over and mosquitos by the millions. Today, we were lucky though; there were hardly any mosquitos (first time ever according to Scott and Adrienne) and the roots were visible and dodgeable.

In the water, we collected Christmas tree worm data- in the middle of data collection, the water safety officer Adolpho yelled at me across the ocean telling me he found 2 huge Great Barracuda (Sphyraena barracuda). Unfortunately, I did not make it to Adolpho on time to see the barracuda. No piscivorous fish were seen by me on the back reef. Data collection finished around 11:40AM and after lunch, we performed data analysis of the Christmas tree worm data and then Isaac presented on marine debris. This discussion led us to the next project of the day- quantifying marine debris on Middle Caye.

Christmas tree worm on a Pseudodiploria coral

The main goal was to see which type of debris (plastic, metal, fabric, rubber, etc.) is the most abundant on the island. After 30 minutes of trash collecting, the group ended up with 40 kg of debris! This project really put the amount of debris in the world into perspective. Controlling how much trash someone produces and proper waste disposal and recycling and creating biodegradable materials and so many more aspects of debris are such complicated topics to discuss, but it’s a discussion that needs to be had in order to preserve the world that we live in today.

Day 4 (5/19): More Urchin Shenanigans

They say routine is a key to success, and in the past few days a new routine has been established. I woke up at 6:45AM, ate breakfast, and awaited our next adventure in the wetlab. We gathered the different species of urchins collected yesterday and tested for each one’s size and abundance. One particular species, E. viridus, was collected 131 times! Around 9AM, we hopped on a boat and went back to the protected back reef area to return the urchins to their habitat and then proceeded to the non-MPA (Marine Protected Area). There, my partner Isaac and I performed the same quadrat testing (from May 18, 2017) in the unprotected zone which will later be used to assess Belizean reef health. We were also asked to collect urchins in a 25 minute period in the unprotected zone, resulting in a mission which around 400 person-minutes was put into progress.

While snorkeling today, I managed to see a nurse shark (Ginglymostoma cirratum) and a southern sting ray (Dasyatis americana). My lovely instructor Scott (AKA SFS) pointed the nurse shark out to me which was laying down underneath a small coral colony. I was mainly able to see the nurse shark’s tail and lower body- the shark did not move around at all, suggesting it was probably resting or hiding.

The southern sting ray was spotted on the reef floor while performing quadrat testing. It too was completely motionless, darting away only seconds after the picture was snagged.

 

Southern Stingray on the ocean floor

Other than those two piscivores, I want to say I saw an unidentified Grouper of some sort- it was really colorful and had the head skeleton structure/ jaw structure which l believe resemble a Nassau Grouper. It kept swimming around on the outside of a coral colony probably searching for food.

We arrived back at Glover’s around 12:10PM, at lunch, and got started on the reef health project we are working on- Adrienne and Scott wanted us to compile all the data together and present our findings to them. One of the discussion topics that came up while creating the presentation was the fact that there are more urchins in marine protected areas (based on data collected in both MPAs and non-MPAs) because less disturbance (fishing) occurs in MPAs, allowing for diversity to persist. We compiled all of the species data together and presented to Scott and Adrienne around 4PM; they listened patiently and provided useful feedback which can be used for future projects.

We were supposed to go night snorkeling tonight, but the winds and waters were way too choppy to execute that plan. So, instead, a couple of friends and I played soccer (scraped up my leg from that), ate dinner, and listened to presentations about red, brown, and green algae from Tian-Tian and Sarah G., a cultural presentation of Belize by our water safety man Javier, and a presentation on the implications of overfishing and climate change on reefs by Ellie.

Hopefully, we hit the water at night tomorrow. Nonetheless, I am excited!!

Day 9 – Damien-a Jones and the Cave of the Stone Tomb

*Cues Indiana Jones music*

Damien dives into the pool at the cave entrance! The water was surprisingly cold, and definitely a refreshing respite from the heat. He edges his way into the depths of the cave, darkness certain to engulf him completely if not for his headlamp cutting through it like a hot knife through butter. He treads cautiously through the cave, careful not to slip on rocks or bump his head on the jagged stalagmites hanging down everywhere.

After climbing a particularly steep cluster of rocks, he reached the main cavern of the cave, and he was astonished by what he saw around him. Many clay pots of different shapes and sizes, some shattered and some untouched, laid calcified on the cave ground. Several skeletons could also be seen near the pots, lying in various positions. Damien wondered to himself, “There doesn’t seem to be a standardized way of laying out, at least to the untrained eye. An archeologist might be able to see something that I don’t.” With that, Damien kept going, eager to push as deep into the cave as he could get. After climbing a steel ladder to an even more elevated platform, Damien finally caught a glimpse of what he was looking for – the Stone Tomb, which the cave, Actun Tukichil Maknal (ATM), was named for. The individual in the stone tomb looked very much like he or she was sacrificed, lying spread-eagled on the cavern floor. He or she probably had the heart or other important organs removed as part of the sacrificial ritual, and died a painful death. Standing over the skeleton, Damien pondered the sacrifice process, and wondered about activities that people still carry out till this day which future mankind might find meaningless.

Having seen most of the important aspects of the cave, Damien decided that it was time to leave. He looked around for mammals in the cave as part of his taxon group but he couldn’t find any. He was expecting to at least find a couple of bats but it wasn’t to be.

Travelling back where he came from, he eventually reached the cave entrance and was greeted by the pouring rain. He ran back where he came strolling from initially, crossing 3 rivers with nimble quick feet that prevented any crocodiles from thinking of even attacking. Upon reaching his initially drop-off location, he found shelter and was greeted by a sumptuous lunch which included nachos and salsa, chicken, rice and beans. All was well.

Till next time,
Damien-a Jones

Day 3 (5/18): Quadrats are love, quadrats are life.

Today was packed. The day started at 6:45AM for me, with breakfast at 7AM and discussion and testing for crab density on the Middle Caye starting at 8:15AM- we basically chose a certain portion of the island (Isaac and I chose a trail) and test for the number of crabs in that specified area using the quadrat we made yesterday.

After that was done, we did the same exact type of testing on seagrass beds next to port. This time, we were looking for the density of species diversity in a certain sector of the seagrass beds. Unfortunately, my partner and I did not find much- we were only able to report an upside-down jellyfish, a small crab, and some sea anemone in our area of the bed. That did not discourage us though, because those kinds of results are common within the confines of this experiment. I snorkeled around a bit after the species density testing and managed to see a family of piscivorous yellowtail snapper (Ocyurus chrysurus) and a lot of upside down jellyfish about 100 feet west of the dock. Adrienne told me that a lot more piscivorous fish should be available out in the fore reef region of the Caye as opposed to the back reef, so I’ll patiently wait my turn until that day comes.

Crab density quadrat project

We came back to land, ate lunch, had some free time, and then jumped on the boat Koolie Gial to the back reef located in the Marine Protected Area. We again performed quadrat testing (this time looking for species diversity of coral in the back reef) and collected urchins which we’ll test tomorrow as a part of our ongoing lab on reef health. In the 25 minutes we had to find urchins, I managed to snag two under a rock and inside a coral crevice. Tomorrow we’ll collect more urchins from an unprotected area and compare the health (size and shape) of the two samples of urchins we had.

Me with a Diadema antillarum urchin

I’m tired, but content. In the words of Vivekanudeep, good night.

Rice University