We moved in to Glover’s Reef today, starting traveling from the TEC at 6 am and arriving at 10:30. (It is seriously amazing how much we can pack into one day.)
Picking up speed. Hi Jordan and Sarah G!
The water started getting beautifully clear as we approached land.
On the boat ride here we saw pretty big mats of Sargassum fluitans, one of my brown algae, which I sadly didn’t get a picture of. Then we settled in to our cabins at Glover’s, greeted by tons of lizards, hermit crabs, and the awesome manager Kenneth (Sargeant Safety).
Then we had our first snorkel, a scavenger hunt on a patch reef. I am slowly adjusting to breathing with my face underwater…
First underwater picture, ahh!
The picture quality is surprisingly good underwater. It’s actually clearer than what I saw through my foggy snorkel mask!
The reef was covered in more brown algae, Turbinaria and Padina (mostly Padina jamaicensis). They seem to always to grow together.
After drying off, we hiked to the coral graveyard, aka the skeleton pile, aka Adrienne’s paradise. There were so many amazing coral skeletons, and we spent a couple hours learning to identify them:
A big hunk of Pseudodiploria cavernosa.
Montastraea cavernosa (?) + a subtle shot of my field journal. I am being such a good TFB!
Another brown algae comment, the shore next to our cabins have mats of washed-up Sargassum. It seems like it’s either floating in the open ocean or washed up on a beach, but not over reefs—maybe because the currents either push it far out to sea or onto the shore?
Overall, it was really cool to see what I’ve been reading about out in the wild! It’s such a relief to be able to identify exact species; all that research paid off!
(Warning, do not watch if you get motion sickness.)
On the van ride to the Tropical Education Center, a small lodge connected to the Belize Zoo, we stopped at a convenience store for snacks and supplies. The amount of Belizean candy options was so overwhelming that I only ended up with a can of peanuts. Also, they sell the original Pears soap here! I know some people are really into that.
I saw a confusing amount of Chinese people and stationery products in the store?? I asked the Chinese cashier where he was from but he didn’t seem too talkative. How mysterious…
Note from future self: you really should have gotten extra Gatorade powder! And after doing research at home, I still couldn’t find much info about the Chinese in Belize—apparently most are here for logging work or are the descendants of indentured servants from the 1800s. But how did they stay so isolated from Belizean society? A good question for SOCI 319’s future trip to Belize?
We arrived at the TEC around 5 pm, got settled in, and had our first Belizean meal of rice and beans, chicken, plantains, coleslaw, and juice.
The TEC’s deisgnated leaf cutter ant crossing.
We didn’t get the opportunity to see many of our taxons while traveling; I didn’t see any Lepidoptera while it was still light out. But I found this little moth on a light outside my room around 8 pm:
I think it’s a prominent moth (family Notodontidae), because of its tent-like shape, hairy body/legs, and the forelegs positioned in front of the head instead of to the side.
Later that night I tried to get more pictures and it started doing this really weird thing where it was slowly raising its wings and curling up its body. Anyone know what this is?? Stop-motion sequence below.
Both the tropical rainforest and coral reef ecosystems host a great biodiversity of organisms, which depend upon each ecosystem’s structure for survival. To start off, both ecosystems can be stratified into layers; as a result, some structures in the rainforest and reef will be more exposed to light than others. Varying amounts of light creates different microhabitats, fostering a large biodiversity of organisms adapted to specific niches in each habitat. An array of organisms will also adapt to the habitat’s nutrient availability (dependent on light availability), thus also promoting a large biodiversity of life.
Personally, I have noticed that micro-organisms play a large role in the trophic balance of both ecosystems and that their presence should not be discounted. A lot of human-made environmental stressors are being put on these environments, resulting in activities such as defaunation, deforestation, and coral bleaching. As far as differences go, the rainforest appeared to be more of an enigma; whereas in the coral reefs we would see larger fish such as nurse sharks and sting-rays floating around every now and then, the rainforest offered a lot more cover and megafauna sightings by eye were few and far between. Also, life on the forest floor is different than life on the ocean floor- the forest floor has detritus, fallen tree trunks, and leaf litter which provide perfect habitats for many organisms while the ocean floor’s organismal diversity is not as abundant.
This course completely exceeded my expectations- granted, I did not really know what to expect in the first place. I have never trekked in a rainforest or snorkeled in such close proximity to coral reefs before, so every single day was a sensory overload. On one hand I was trying not to succumb to the waves and crash into reef structures/trip on a hidden root during the steep 50 hectare declines and on the other I was attempting to observe all of the sights, sounds, and smells around me because this expedition is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I truly enjoyed every second of this course and am more confident in my body’s maneuverability because of it.
My favorite parts of the course were hands down the trek to and from the Bird Tower and the lionfish dissection. The steep hike up to the Bird Tower just oozed a serene ambiance- I felt like I was traipsing through a painting, somehow managing not to trip on anything while the evening’s orange rays poked through the canopy. The views from the Bird Tower were breathtaking. To top it off, we all sat and listened to Turiez talk about her research work while munching on Doritos. Classic. The night hike down was even better- there was a point where we quietly stood still under the moonlight and listened to the sounds of the rainforest. That moment really put the size of the rainforest and the size of my body into perspective. The world is so anthropocentric and I feel like I get caught up in human social constructs instead of realizing that other life forms exists outside of the human species. The lionfish dissection was great too- I’ve always loved dissecting animals since middle school and enjoy comparing anatomical similarities between organisms.
Least favorite part- definitely the blue land crabs and moths. They have been so menacing to me the whole trip. However, I would do anything for more blue land crab/moth interactions if it meant being able to stay in Belize for another week.
Is that a leaf? No, it is my greatest enemy.
Despite the time and effort we all put into the lectures, I think the most important lessons from the course came out in the field. No matter how meticulously tailored an experiment is to the rainforest/coral reef, the truth is that these ecosystems are incredibly complex and standardizing a problem with experimental trials and data is tough- there will rarely be a “final answer” to a certain question. I learned to trust my sense of balance a bit more after being battered by waves of salt water and tripped by roots that grab onto your ankles, which can hopefully get me through the concrete jungle of life just fine. Finally, here’s an important tidbit of information I’ll find useful if I go trekking off-trail in the future: off-trail trails made by other people can be identified by bent stems, upside-down leaves, hacked sticks, and various other subtle markers.
Belize was fun and unbelievable. It was funbelizeable (I really hope that pun catches on).
Although our EBIO 319 class was clearly dividing into teams Surf and Turf, based on whether we had signed up predominately to go to the reef or to the rainforest, everyone was able to thoroughly enjoy themselves in both environments because there are quite a few similarities between them. The most obvious similarity is that both are hotspots for biodiversity. Both coral reefs and rainforests are (predominately) restricted to the Tropics, and both are highly dependent on water.
Additionally, nutrient input and cycling is critical to the stability and growth of both environments. Corals thrive in oligotrophic environments, and so they are dependent on nutrient-cycling symbionts. Tropical rainforests exist in nutrient-poor soils, and so the plant species are dependent on nutrient cycling.
Another similarity that I noticed is that it is quite difficult to traverse through either of these environments. When snorkeling on the reef, there would sometimes be spots with very little accommodation space and it was difficult to pass through without bumping into the corals. In the rainforest, when we left the trail the vegetation was often very dense. There would be lots of vines hanging down between the trees, and a lot of holes in the ground.
Additionally, you had to be careful moving through both of these environments because there were so many things that could hurt you. On the coral reef, this included anemones, fire coral, some hard corals, sharp shells, and jellies. In the rain forest, this included venomous snakes, acacia thorns, fire ants, and ticks.
I had a really good time during this course. The amount of work that it involved was much more than I expected, but during the course I didn’t worry about it too much. Going into the course, I didn’t really know what to expect about my classmates, but everybody was really cool and we got along really well. The rainforest’s appearance was not really what I expected but I think the reef did look like what I was expecting, probably just because I was more familiar with reefs going in. I was expecting Glover’s Atoll to be paradise, and it truly was.
My favorite part of the course was being able to see cool species up close. There were so many, but highlights included the green turtle, the seahorse, the Queen Angelfish, the tapir, and the scarlet macaws. Another one of my favorite things that we did was going into the caves. These sightings and experiences are things that I will never forget.
I think my least favorite part of the course was the fact that it was so windy during our time at Glover’s because as a result we never did get to go diving on the forereef or at night. My other least favorite part was probably the lionfish dissection because I just don’t like dissecting things in general.
One of the most important things I learned on this trip was that I definitely still want to try and go into marine biology and do real field work. Another thing I learned was that friendships form really quickly when a group of people are all working together on something they’re passionate about. Lastly, I learned that conservation work is really really complicated after hearing presentations from Alex of the Wildlife Conservation Society and Boris of Friends of Conservation. This stuck with me because I’m doing a policy internship this summer at a marine sanctuary, and as a result I’ve gotten a small glimpse of all that conservation actually involves in this particular environment.
Having been exposed firsthand to both the tropical rainforest and the coral reef in the past two weeks, I now have a much better understanding of both ecosystems and their similarities. They both have very complex structures. The rainforest has multiple layers from the forest floor to the canopy, with varying light exposure and nutrient availability. On the other hand, the reef structure created by the stony corals give rise to nooks and crannies with varying light exposure and nutrient availability as well. This creates a multitude of microhabitats where organisms with different adaptations can colonize and flourish in, which gives rise to high level of diversity.
Both ecosystems rely on a specific base organism as their foundation, which are trees for the rainforest and stony corals for the coral reef. Similarly, we’ve learned that both the trees and stony corals flourish in a relatively nutrient-poor environment, and when there is nutrient enrichment, they tend to be outcompeted by other organisms such as ferns and green algae respectively.
From observations, the two ecosystems are different in their possible height. Coral reefs seem to be unable to grow to too deep, possibility due to light being unable to penetrate deep waters. However, forest canopies are able to stretch up to 30 meters high. The two ecosystems seem to also differ in their floor diversity. I found many organisms roaming the forest floors when I was hiking. However, the sandy floor of the coral reef seems to not hold that much life. It might be because of the presence of leaf litter in the rainforest which is a source of nutrients for organisms.
I came into this course with a pretty high expectation already because I had talked to Randy from the previous class. However, there are certainly many things that words cannot describe and I definitely experienced a lot more than what I heard about. The favorite part of this course, besides gaining so much new knowledge about the two ecosystems and EBIO in general, was getting the opportunity to work with and learn from so many individuals who are passionate about their fields of study. I could listen to Adrienne talk for hours about the different aspects of the coral reef and the stories of her experience working out in the field. I was inspired by Scott’s digging of the ants nest and his careful explanation of the social hierarchy of leaf cutter ants. I marveled at Therese’s journey through Gabon and her overcoming of the obstacles she faced while doing research there. Besides them, there were so many experts who I have met and learned from, such as Aimee from Loyola University who taught me how to fish for tarantulas in their holes, and Javy who gave me a better understanding of Belize’s national history. Meeting and working with such passionate people have inspired me want to keep learning every day.
My least favorite part of the course gotta be those moths that kept divebombing me in the face in Las Cuevas but that’s just a small matter and hopefully I can become more zen in the future like Tian-Tian was.
Having been through this course, I have firstly gained a deeper understanding of the importance of coral reefs and rainforests both to nature and to humans. I have seen firsthand the beauty of both ecosystems and hope that future generations will get to see them too. The second important thing I have gained from the course is the ability to snorkel and dive. This is not to be taken literally as I came into the course as a complete novice with regards to snorkeling, and struggled badly in the first few days. I did not even attempt a dive into the seafloor until towards the end of the second day. However, I kept trying and kept pushing to overcome the psychological barriers I had and eventually became more comfortable in the sea and so I felt that this was one of my major achievements in this course. Last but not least, I came into the class not knowing anyone and I certainly was not expecting to get along so well with my course mates as I did. It is interesting to look back to the first day and remember how reserved everyone was. Over the two weeks, we started opening up to one another, playing pranks on each other, and making memories together that we’ll never forget. It was awesome how much we have bonded over the two weeks, and I certainly look forward to continue building these friendships that I have made.
I don’t want to leave Belize. I really don’t. But Deepu, remember that in the late 1300s Geoffrey Chaucer said all good things must come to an end. So, this tropical field biology expedition must come to an end. It has to. Geoffrey Chaucer said so.
After our last 6:30AM breakfast, we left Las Cuevas at 8AM on a rugged country road that I’m not a fan of but will dearly miss. I passed out and woke up to the van stopping at Orange Gallery, a souvenir shop where I splurged on two Belize bookmarks.
Bye-bye LCRS. You will be dearly missed.
We went to the restaurant Cheers for lunch and were treated like royalty- each person’s meal budget was forty Belizean dollars ($20 USD). I stuffed my intestines, stomach, and esophagus to my heart’s content in tribute to the beautiful foodstuffs this country offers. Then, we trudged onwards to the Belize airport. Even the van did not want to take us there.
Security check took 2 minutes. Not colloquially- literally. And here I am, forcing my body to move back to a country where security checks are so long that female anacondas get jealous.
I’m writing this on the plane to Houston. It just hit that I’ll be at home in T-18 hours as the flight attendant handed me Wheat Thins and honey roasted peanuts (Southwest really stepped up its snack game). Taxon-wise, just found a tick on my neck. I made sure to decapitate it with my thumb and index finger nails- just like a true TFB would. This trip will be something I remember for years to come. Belize was fun and unbelievable. It was funbelizeable.
Today we had one job and one job only: collect 14 camera traps spread all over trails and forested area near the Las Cuevas Research Station. We headed out to the 50 Hectare Plot Trail around 8AM and finished collecting the 6 camera traps by around 10:30AM- amazing timing. The group hustled through the steep hills and walked with the intention of finishing the trail. Taxon-wise, I did not see any arachnids, probably because I was too focused on maintaining my balance and not tripping over hidden roots. I felt a lot better about trekking this trail today than Friday.
After returning to the station, I saw another red-rump tarantula (Brachypelma vagans)! It was located under the research station building, about 2 inches in diameter. Afterwards, we did our final presentations for the course, ate lunch, and headed out on the Monkey Tail Trail to pick up the last 8 camera traps at 1:20PM. This trail took us about 5 hours; granted, we did have to walk a bit farther and stopped to see some special organisms. Two Western Lubber grasshoppers were spotted, along with some longhorn beetles and a Mexican burrowing toad. Despite the length of the trail, the walk was good bonding time for the group- guffaws, chuckles, and laughs were shared that won’t be forgotten for years to come.
Anotha one (Red Rump Tarantula)
We stepped into the Las Cuevas Research Station at 6:30PM, ate dinner, and went to the classroom to unearth the pictures from our camera traps. The results were insane. The cameras revealed two ocelots, six lowland pacas, a great curassow, and a group of peccaries. 2 OCELOTS AND 10 OTHER LARGE ORGANISMS?!?! Such sightings are a new record in this EBIO 319 course. We were all ecstatic for these results because we did spend a bit of time setting up/taking down these cameras and were told not too many animals usually show up on these camera traps. Granted, much of our animal activity came from one camera trap set in one specific location, but that doesn’t matter! Ocelots rule!
Today’s the last official field day of this trip. Tomorrow we leave for the Belize airport at 7:30AM. It’s been eye-opening for sure.
I finally made it to bird-watching today! I saw two scarlet macaws perching on a high tree branch. At 8AM, we went out to the rainforest to collect our urine tubes. Upon analysis of these urine tubes back in the lab, we found ants, beetles, crickets, flies, and arachnids!
After lunch, we headed to the Las Cuevas Cave, which is about a 5 minute walk from the station. The entrance of the cave was massive- we looked down from a Mayan built platform and there was a 50 foot drop to the bottom. This cave had 9 chambers, each assembled by the Maya for ritualistic purposes. Due to archaeological excavation, we were only able to see the entrance of the cave and the first chamber.
The first chamber of the cave was dark, chilly, and mystical- a perfect place to present on amphibian and reptile taxon groups! Afterwards, Damien presented on tropical diseases back at the station. Then, we headed out on a 45 minute hike to the Bird Tower, an observation deck 300 feet in the air that oversees all of the Chiquibul Rainforest. The view was breathtaking. Everywhere I looked there were mountains, rolling hills, and deep rock crevasses. The research station was also visible from the Bird Tower- it was a small speck of clearing and really put our isolation to the rest of the world in perspective. Turiez topped everything off with an amazing presentation on her defaunation research in Gabon and the Amazon.
Bottom half of the Bird Tower
The Chiquibul
On the way back to the station was the self-proclaimed night hike. I saw a wolf spider (Hogna spp.), a tailless whip scorpion (Paraphyrnus raptator), and 2 Florida bark scorpions (Centruoides gracilis)! The wolf spider was motionless on a leaf while both the tailless whip scorpion and 2 Florida bark scorpions were found after Scott chipped some bark away from a dead tree.
Wolf Spider
Tailless whip scorpion
Florida Bark Scorpion
All in all, today felt very productive and I’m glad we had the chance to see all of these sights because tomorrow is our last full day at Las Cuevas :(.
Today was catch-up day. We’ve been falling behind on lecture presentations the past few days, so we decided to grind out 7 presentations. After a morning presentation, we started a new project: the nitrogen project. All 11 of us had to urinate into 22 tubes which we attach to trees and bury in the ground- hopefully, arthropods are attracted to the nitrogen in our urine and fall into our tubes. It’s a 24-hour ordeal, so we will go back to the rainforest tomorrow to collect our critters and analyze the species diversity in the tubes.
We had lunch after the nitrogen project and knocked out another 3 presentations. Then came an activity I know Scott has been waiting for since last year’s course: the ant colony investigation. 3 differently aged ant colonies were investigated for their fungal chunks and any queens, ranging from 1-20 years of age. The oldest colony was estimated to be 10-15 years old and was MASSIVE. I’m talking at least 100-150 square feet of area with multiple entrance areas and a depth of at least 15 feet. Scott and a guide named Apache spent 45 minutes digging but could not find any fungal chunks- to put this in context, we found a fungal chunk in the first colony (1-year-old) in the first 10 minutes of digging about 8-12 inches.
Fungus grown in leaf-cutter ant colonies
The soldier ants in the oldest colony were also straight savage- they were about 1-1.5 inches long with mandibles that can bite through rubber. Damien had a soldier ant biting his pant legs and when Apache pulled the ant off Damien’s pants, the body detached and the head stayed attached to his pants- it was freaky.
I presented on arachnids after dinner, 2 other people presented, and then a group of us went tarantula hunting! We did not have much luck at first, but we were soon joined by Dr. Aimee (a spider expert), who easily showed us 3 huge red-rump tarantulas (Brachypelma vagans) and one Livingston tarantula (C. livingstoni). As a bonus, we saw two pauraque birds!
Red Rump Tarantula we found
There are 2 full days left in Las Cuevas. It seemed like forever ago we landed in the Belize City airport, but suddenly forever does not seem too long ago.
This morning I pulled tick number 19 off my ear and boarded a plane to DC. It feels strange being back on the grid, sending texts and walking past Subway and McDonald’s.
This trip was an experience unlike any that I have had before. I’m so happy to have met all of the TFBs. The reef and rainforest ecosystems were both incredible, in ways that I expected and in ways that I totally didn’t expect.
Accomplished TFBs
Middle Caye was, at first glance, a tropical paradise, with tall palm trees and surrounded by Gatorade-blue water. From a boat, the reef is mostly invisible. Only the reef crest, where waves break incessantly, and dark patches in the bright blue of the lagoon betrayed the reef’s position under the surface of the ocean.
Upon arrival, the Chiquibul Rainforest looked like a whole lot of trees. The ground is covered in leaf litter and the twisted roots of trees growing up and out in competition for sunlight.
In both the reef ecosystem and the rainforest ecosystem, complexity is present but not immediately apparent.
In the coral reef ecosystem, topographical complexity allows organisms to hide in crevices and under consolidated reef framework. Sponges, soft corals, and algae provide habitat, in addition to stony corals. Only after many days snorkeling around did I start to see the full range of diversity present in the ecosystem. I didn’t see any urchins until we were told to look, and then I found them tucked under rocks and under corals. I began to notice anemones wiggling in the seagrasses and I became more alert to the quick movement of reef fishes.
In the rainforest ecosystem, the diversity of plant life also provides a wide range of habitat for animal life. I did not notice the overwhelming abundance of arthropods in the rainforest until our small sampling effort yielded a whole lot of little critters. Insects and arachnids (including my enemy, the tick) were “hidden” in the grasses, on palm fronds, on tree trunks and vines and on the forest floor. Trees in the rainforest also provide habitat for other plant life (shout out epiphytes). The rainforest is far from being composed of only trees, just like the reef is far from being composed only of stony corals.
A huge similarity between the reef and the rainforest is the nutrient recycling imperative. Both coral reefs and tropical rainforests are incredibly diverse ecosystems despite being nutrient poor.
Coral reefs survive best in nutrient-poor waters. The microbial loop, during which detritus and dissolved organic matter (DOM) are incorporated into microorganisms on the reef, is necessary for rapid turnover. Tiny microorganisms are eaten, and the nutrients they consumed move up through the trophic levels on the reef. In tropical rainforests, soils are old and depleted of their nutrients. Rapid decomposition and turnover on the forest floor is a quintessential element of the rainforest. In the case of some nutrients (calcium and phosphorous) 99% appears to be recycled by forest plants.
My favorite activity from the trip was the Actun Tunichil Muknal archaeological reserve. Wading through chilly water and scrambling over slick rock formations in the dark was super cool on its own, but seeing the pottery left by the Maya and remains of human sacrifice left untouched for thousands of years was awe-inspiring. Also, the hike back through the forest in the pouring rain was rejuvenating.
My least favorite activity was collecting data on Christmas tree worms on the back reef off Middle Caye. Collecting data was difficult on the shallow reefs; constantly being pushed around by the waves and crashing into rocks was an inconvenience. Honestly, it was still a good time and Adolfo found the huge dead sponge there, so it was worth crashing around and spluttering in the waves for a while.
This course was incredibly educational; I felt like I was constantly absorbing new information. It met my expectations and exceeded them. Being a tropical field biologist requires hard-work and flexibility for when things inevitably don’t go as planned. But the experience also showed me that tropical field biology requires and encourages creativity. Being at Glover’s and Las Cuevas, in relatively untouched ecosystems, made me appreciate the awesomeness of nature.
