Tag Archives: amphibians

Truly an Experience of a Lifetime

Sadly, we have neither a reef nor a rainforest back home in New Mexico. Hot showers and a washing machine are nice, but I would rather be back at Glover’s and LCRS. This class was an incredible and once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to explore two of the most diverse regions in the world, both of which were contained in the small country of Belize. The tropics have an unmatched level of macroscopic diversity, and it was amazing to witness this firsthand. Every time I looked in a crack and crevice, high up in the trees, beneath chunks of coral rubble, under logs and leaf litter, there was always interesting life hiding in plain sight. It was truly unlike anything I have ever experienced.

Our lectures and discussions addressed a multitude of factors that ultimately drive this immense diversity of the neotropics. And although the ocean and rainforest seem to be two different extremes of dissimilar environments, surf and turf have several similarities. One similarity that is present in both environments, yet seems counterintuitive is the fact both a reef and a rainforest are essentially nutrient desserts. Both ocean water and forest soil contain low levels of biologically relevant nutrients, and as a result, organisms have developed creative and sometimes symbiotic/mutualistic strategies to thrive in these nutrient-poor environments. The cycle of nutrients is critical in both of these environments, and unfortunately, both of these regions (and in particular my two taxons: stony corals and amphibians) are particularly sensitive to anthropogenic changes. Both of these regions rely on a high level of constancy to thrive. Corals stressed from temperature increases, eutrophication, heavy metal contamination, ocean acidification, and more, are far more vulnerable to disease and degradation. And amphibian populations have seen significant decreases both because of direct absorption of harmful pollutants through their porous skin and the disruptions of the once incredibly predictable weather patterns that their breeding behavior relies on. So sadly, both these regions are particularly vulnerable to human-driven climate change. Yet, both the rainforest and reef are significant contributors/drivers of the global economy. Humans are incredibly reliant on these ecosystems for resources and protection, and our preservation and coexistence with them is critical for the prosperity of us all. Belize has an incredible amount of untouched forest, and to see the contrast between the Belizean hills covered in forest and the decimated ones across the border in Guatemala which were cleared for slash and burn agriculture was alarming.

I was able to interact with many endangered and rare species, and I would say this would be the most memorable part of the course for me. I will never forget the Morelet’s Tree Frog which jumped on my face or finding small hopeful patches of Acropora cervicornis scattered throughout some of the reefs. It’s sad to think why these regions are experiencing such a rapid decline in diversity and population, yet this hands-on experience has further strengthened my love for biology and possibly shifted my future career away from medicine and towards research.

The list of things I learned in this course could go on for pages yet three that come to mind are:

  1. Mutualism/symbiosis is everywhere in these environments and the connections and balance between organisms are unimaginably complex. This also leaves them quite vulnerable to human exploitation, climate change, and invasive species.
  2. The global economy is heavily reliant on these regions in multiple capacities, and the loss of rainforest and reef diversity is not just a loss of cool organisms, but sets in motion cascading instabilities throughout the world both ecologically and economically.
  3. And field research is a whole different animal compared to laboratory work. Things rarely go as planned and it’s critical to be adaptable and flexible. (Also plan to pack light because everything you bring back is wet and heavy haha)

I am truly thankful for this experience and I hope it is not my last time exploring the tropics. I couldn’t have asked for a better group of TFBs and I hope to see you all again soon!

~Rusty

Day 12: A Swarm of Burrowing Toads

Today we went for a speedy hike to collect the trail cams we set out on day 10. What took us many hours to set up, only took us about an hour and a half to collect. Our ability to navigate the forest terrain has substantially improved, yet there was still some slipping and sliding in the mud. There was a refreshing light rain while we were hiking, but loud and foreboding thunder out in the distance.

Thankfully we made it back before the downpour began. But with all of this rain, we could hear a cacophony of toads out in the distance. It sounded like a swarm of insects, but it was the layered calls of many many Mexican Burrowing Toads (Rhinophrynus dorsalis). We decided to quickly hike down to the frog pond, to check out their activity. Although we did see any, their mating calls surrounded us while we stood by the frog pond. Definitely a cool experience, and a perk of traveling to the forest during the wet season.

While there we were also able to check on the Tree Frog eggs, we had found a few days earlier. Now bellow them sat a substantial puddle of water from all the rain, a perfect place for them to fall into once they hatched. You could see that the tadpoles were further developed and looked more like tadpoles than just dots. Yet, it was still too early for them to hatch. I love exploring the frog pond and it was nice to see it filled with water.

Frog Pond

Day 11: Best Day So Far!

I mentioned earlier that Day 4 was my favorite day and also was sure that title would be given to another day soon. Well, I must say even though every day on this trip has been incredible, today is going to be hard to beat! Not only did I see the toad I hoped to encounter the most, but I was also lucky enough to see and interact with the critically endangered Morelet’s Treefrog. The only word to describe today is simply incredible.

We began actually on a much different note, with Michael’s lecture on the complexities and paradoxical nature of tropical soils, and then proceeded to discuss ways to analyze the abundance of arthropods on the forest floor compared to the canopy. Yet, as a critical component of this test, we needed a solution to place in our traps that is high in the nutrients the forest lacks, like nitrogen. Luckily (or rather unluckily) we had access to a supply produced by 18+ individuals…urine. I wasn’t expecting to be peeing in a conical tube for science, yet here we are. We placed our pitfall traps through the forest and will return to them in the morning to assess our success. While placing them though we happened across first a jumping viper, and then a moment later I spotted the incredibly rare eyelash viper! The station manager at the LCRS said he had yet to see one in his 12 years of working here.

Eyelash Viper

The afternoon and evening are when the fun activities not utilizing bodily fluids took place. We started by excavating a couple of leaf cutter ant nests. We were able to dig until we saw the spongey, grey, honeycomb textured fungus gardens the ant meticulously tend to. But when digging up a larger colony, we came across a wet, gelatinous, black a red blob just below the surface. After some gentle dirt removal, we uncovered the amphibian I hopped to see most, the Mexican Burrowing Toad (Rhinophrynus dorsalis)! He was the cutest little guy (I’m not actually sure about the sex of this particular individual) but these toads break the stereotypical mold of how a toad should look, with a wide gelatinous body and a head but no visible neck. The photo I’ve attached is a far better descriptor than I could possibly provide verbally. I was able to hold him for a couple minutes and to my initial surprise, his hind legs were super strong (which they use to burrow through the ground). This species is primarily active during the wet season and also feeds on ants, so it was definitely a right time right place kind of moment. He did pee on me a few times (a common defense mechanism by toads/frogs) so I guess it’s a common theme between today’s activities.

Burrowing Mexican Toad
Burrowing Mexican Toad

I thought this was the best I was going to do on this trip. I knew we had planned a night hike, yet I have been trying not to keep my hope too high when encountering more than eggs/tadpoles, as frogs and amphibians are quite elusive. However, when hiking towards the location we saw treefrog eggs yesterday (frog pond), we came across a Morelet’s Treefrog among the leaf litter of the forest floor. I crouched down to take a few photos, and moments later he hopped from the ground to my light, to my hand, and then finally landed on my face/head. His body was cool and moist and I could feel the tackiness of its toepads on my face. He made a final resting place on the crown of my head/hair, but after a little nudge from a bug spray-free hand, we convinced the little guy to move onto a nearby tree. This is honestly one of the coolest moments of my life and such an incredible memory.

We then went to check on the eggs we spotted earlier. And there we sadly saw a northern cat eyed snake. These snakes eat frog eggs, and we watch him for several minutes waiting to see if he was on the hunt for a snack. The snake was quite slow at first, but while waiting we happened across another Morelet’s Tree Frog! What are the chances! After another photo session we returned to the snake and to my sadness yet also fascination, he began to feed on some of the eggs. This is one reason amphibians produce utterly massive quantities of eggs, as they make easy snacks without a protective shell or relatively many defenses at all. We watched the snake for probably 20 minutes as he ate a few but not many eggs. I am definitely team tree frog, yet to watch this interaction in nature was truly amazing. I mentioned yesterday how treefrog eggs can hatch early to avoid predation, yet that didn’t happen in this case. They may have not been at the right developmental stage but regardless there was no water below for them to land in anyways. However, as we moved our headlamps we spotted several snakes in the vines around. We counted 7 but I am sure there were many many more!
Today was a real-life nature documentary. I think this was the ideal day I could have had on this trip, and I may have an incredible number of itchy insect bites, but any discomfort has been well worth this once-in-a-lifetime experience! I am saddened by the fact the end is nearing quite quickly. A warm shower sounds nice, but I’ll take the cold cave water showers any day to continue exploring here at Las Cuevas.

Day 10: An Eggcellent Day

Today marked our transition from aquatic tropical field biologists to terrestrial TFBs. We started the process of testing a research question that we could answer using camera traps. These “camera traps” are discrete cameras attached to trees throughout the forest, and snap a photo when an animal moves past the sensor. We decided to test how the distribution of predator and prey of various sizes would differ based on the camera’s placement on either trails, roads, or in the thick of the forest. We thought large predators would take advantage of the ease of travel on trails and roads (as safety is not as big of a concern for animals of their stature), yet we expected smaller prey and predators to be more often sighted (relative to their own groups) in the thick of the forest, because of the protection of the trees. We will collect these cameras on the last day, and hopefully have some interesting a fun data to look through.

Setting up the cameras was a bit of a big endeavor though. Navigating the forest terrain was definitely difficult and a new learning curve. We traveled fairly slowly, as we were all fascinated by the documentary-quality views of the trees/plants, and as we all hunted to find something relating to our taxonomic group. I didn’t have much hope of finding anything related to amphibians, but boy was I wrong. Thankfully we are here during the wet season, which gives us the best chance of encountering water-loving amphibians (which tend to be most active this part of the year). We first came across several tire tracks in the mud, which collected puddles of water, and in the water were hundreds of small tadpoles! Identifying species from tadpoles is quite difficult, as there are many more similarities and less distinctive colors, yet it was a fun find. There were clearly at least two distinct species though. In one puddle the tadpoles were small and nearly black with no obvious pattern, yet the other puddle had tadpoles that were larger (so probably older) and had a distinct pattern of off-white and dark grey blotches.

When we went to set up our last camera at the appropriately named “Frog Pond.” I was at first sad to see no standing water in the area, but to my surprise, there were huge clumps of treefrog eggs hanging from the leave at face height. These clumps of clear jelly contained probably a few hundred treefrog embryos. An amazing sight to see. Dr. Solomon was telling us how the frog eggs have adapted the ability to sense vibrations from a predatory snake slithering on the branches and prematurely hatch to avoid being eaten. The complexity and creativity of nature is truly unmatched. I am excited for tomorrow and hope to see more amphibians but I know they’re not too common to encounter so we will have to see.

Tree Frog Eggs
Tadpole from puddle

Day 9: The Lost City

Today, we made our way from the Tropical Education Center, where we stayed the night, to Las Cuevas Research Station. However, we did not take a direct shot between the two. Instead, we made a bit of a detour, to the uncovered Mayan ruins of Caracol. Our tour guide Leo, was a vast ranivore of knowledge about the ruins and the ancient Mayan culture. The structure these ancient civilizations created are truly domineering and impressive. Far beyond the size I imagined. At this particular sight, the key structure is still the tallest man-made building in all of Belize, despite being built thousands of years ago. We were able to explore for a couple hours, take some fun photos, and eat a delicious lunch while there.
We then made the hour drive to Las Cuevas. Reaching the station marked the start of a new and exciting adventure. Birds, insects, arthropods, and plants galore. The diversity of the rainforest is immense and strikingly different from my desert home. I, however, did not encounter an amphibian today. Here is where I can use my line that I probably heard them calling amongst the many sounds of the forest. Frogs/toads have very distinctive calls, and although I can’t identify them by ear yet, because it’s the wet season there is a good chance they were out there calling (especially since they are most active at night).
Today was an incredible experience, and fascinating to see the dynamic between the ancient ruins and the domineering natural forces of the forest. I am excited to be here, and start the second half of the course!

~Rusty

Mayan Ruins at Caracol
View from the top

Day 8: A Ribbiting Story

Today sadly marked the end of our period at Glover’s, yet the start of our trip to Las Cuevas Research Station, an exciting new adventure. We started with a long (but immensely more comfortable) boat ride back to Belize City. This was the last encounter I will have with my taxon of stony corals, which construct the interconnected system of barrier-reefs that mirror the coastline of Belize. Once there we had a relaxing lunch in a waterfront restaurant, and then made our way to a general store/supermarket to buy snacks and the supplies I inevitably forgot or already consumed. We then made our way to the Tropical Education Center, which is associated with the Belize Zoo and is a quite cute center in the midst of the Belizean savanna.

Before dinner, we listened to a super interesting talk by Boris Arevalo, where he discussed the nesting ecology and habitat of Scarlet Macaws. We then ate dinner, after which, the real excitement took place. We went on a guided night tour of the Belize zoo! Our tour guide/zookeeper Carlos was extremely knowledgeable and affectionate towards the multitude of animals we saw such as; large cats, owls, white-lipped peccary, snakes, kinkajou, and more. I had lost hope though in encountering any amphibians today. I planned on writing about their relative shyness, and the possibility that their calls may be part of the cacophonous mix of noises which surrounds us. Yet, while approaching the last few feet before the zoo exit, a large toad sprung out of the darkness. I thought at first that it was a Southern Gulf Coast Toad, as they’re common and the coloration/body shape mostly matched the toad I saw tonight. The dry-looking bumpy skin, the ridging of the head, and the coloration all seemed to be correct for the most part (there will always be some sort of variation between individuals). However, after further research I am now thinking it was more likely a Cane Toad (Rhinella marinaI). The big giveaway are the large, balloon-like paratoid glands, which rest just behind the tympanum (ear drum). This little, or rather large hand-sized guy (the rough tan skin leads me to guess it’s a male) was a savior for my blog and field notebook and a good start for possibly encountering some elusive amphibians during this trip.

Rhinella marinus (Cane Toad)

Pre-departure Excitement! Less than 36 Hours to Go!

Hi everybody! My name is Rusty Ludwigsen, and I am truly excited for the unique experience to travel to Belize and explore, examine, and appreciate both Glover’s Reef Atoll and The Chiquibul Forest. I am excited to approach these environments from the perspective of scientific understanding and discovery, and not simply as a tourist. My past experience with the Caribbean has been through highly commercialized endeavors, and with BIOS319 I hope to appreciate not only the beauty and wonder of these two environments, but also the vast amount of information and knowledge tied to these complex ecosystems. Much like being immersed in a new country can dramatically assist in the mastery of a second language, I think traveling to the ecosystems I have admired from afar in textbooks and documentaries will provide me with a new understanding of their function.

Yet, I expect this trip to be incredible, but also at times difficult. As a desert native, the humid weather of Houston is not my favorite, and traveling to remote regions of Belize will be a different animal. The humidity, heat, bug bites, early mornings, and sheer stickiness of the air are things I expect to not really enjoy. However, to travel to these remote regions, which appreciate their distance from civilization, requires contending with these environmental factors. Two weeks of some physical discomfort are well worth a lifetime of memories and knowledge. My past experience snorkeling in the Caribbean consisted of rubble with a few scattered Gorgonians (which I now know were covered in purple spots due to Aspergillosis) and Porites colonies. I hope to see a more intact reef in Belize, although I know it is not removed from anthropogenic damage.

The time to leave is approaching very quickly, and I am finalizing my suitcase with only a few hours to spare. I am looking forward to the early morning wakeup to begin this incredible adventure!

Holy Smokes! (A look back at the past two weeks)

In both the rainforest and the reef we observed great amounts of biodiversity. Both these places are located in the tropics which receive more direct sunlight than more northern ecosystems. Having lots of available sunlight allows for more plants and therefore there is more energy available to species that eat plants which could be why we saw so many different levels of herbivores and carnivores. Wow, that’s some science right there.

In both places, trees formed a vital part of the ecosystems (canopy and mangroves) and in both species have developed adaptions to compete and live in close quarters. In both areas we also found endangered species and invasive species, which though the causes for each habitat being endangered differ, both stem back to humans (sigh).

I expected more structure to our research, but was pleasantly surprised when we were allowed to pursue topics that interested us.  My favorite parts of the course were mostly in the rainforest- finding tarantulas at night, going into the cave, and getting to see all sort of different beetles, butterflies, and other things we don’t see around Houston. I found on this trip that I do not enjoy underwater research, in particular counting strands of seagrass was a low point, but it was still a good chance to learn what marine biologists do.

The most poignant moment for me on this trip was the trash collection activity on the last day- I was blown away by how much we collected and how much remained.  Also in preparing for my presentation, I learned about seagrass and mangroves and how they are actually vital for reefs and land ecosystems. I also went into the trip with a generally negative opinion of ants, but Scott’s passion and fun facts converted me to the cult of the ant. In particular I thought the leaf cutter ants were cool as they have super complex social structures, architecture, and they have little ant highway which somehow manage to be less chaotic than Houston’s own during rush hour.

Species seen:

Amphibians:

Morelet’s Tree Frog, Mexican Tree Frog, Broad Headed Rain Frog, Campbell’s Rainforest Toad, Gulf Coast Toad

Crustaceans:

Orange-tipped hermit crab, green climbing gall crab, giant hermit crab, furcate spider crab, spiny lobster, miscellaneous shrimp, blue land crab, blue land hermit crab

May 17th – Peeing in a Cup, Lectures in a Cave, and Catching a Glue Butt Cockroach

Today was our second full day at Las Cuevas, and unfortunately the rain appears to have stopped so the rainforest has become quite dry. Even when we went to the pond nearby it had dried up, so sadly no amphibians were spotted today.
Despite not seeing any members of my taxon group today, it was a very exciting day, and not just because we were surprised this morning with vials to collect our own urine. We spent the morning placing these vials of pee as well as controls containing water on tree trunks and in the ground the trap Arthropods and see if they prefer the nitrogen rich urine to water.
In the afternoon, we finally got to explore a bit of the namesake of this place- Las Cuevas (the cave). We went into the second of five huge chambers in the cave that are accessible from our station and when we turned off our headlamps there was no light. We stayed in the cave during our lectures because it is naturally cool underground, although we did get quite a bunch of bat guano on our pants.
My favorite part of today was going night hiking after dinner. I have slowly begun to fall in love with the huge red-rumped tarantulas that live in holes around our rooms and got to see a bunch more of those. We also found Glue-Butt Cockroaches, which are big black roaches with a sticky substance on their backs to dissuade predators. On the second try, I managed to catch one and it crawled all over my arm. We also found a stick bug and a different large spider with orange and black stripes. We saw our first snake and saw another scorpion- a Florida Bark Scorpion to be exact.


Hopefully tomorrow will be less hot and dry so the frogs come back out, but one things for sure, I’ll be out looking for tarantulas again tomorrow night!

May 16th – hundreds of ticks and a tarantula

Today was a long day of hiking for our team as we set up our 7 working camera traps along the trails near the research station to see what wildlife crosses the paths when we aren’t there. Though there were light showers in the afternoon, today was a fairly sunny and dry day. However, in the morning I did find a broad-headed rain frog under a log by where we deployed our first camera trap. Broad-headed rain frogs can be easily identified as they are often found in the leaf litter and have a distinctive side stripe that extends over its eyes, sort of like a bandits mask in old westerns. In the afternoon on our way up the Monkey Tail Trail, I caught a glimpse of a Mexican Tree Frog of a khaki coloration. Unfortunately, it was already high up the tree by the time I saw him. This was an abnormal siting as Mexican Tree Frogs are typically more active at night, though perhaps the rains brought him out.


Today was an exciting day for sitings from outside my taxon group too. We saw a group of spider monkeys before lunch and a bunch of us ate termites under Scott’s instruction. In the afternoon we got to observe first hand the mutualistic relationship between the Bull Thorn Acacia tree and their ant protectors plus we saw the fresh claw marks in the dirt on trail where a puma or jaguar had crossed. We also saw three scarlet macaws in the canopy and I even managed to capture a video of them as they swooped past.
Back at the station I found, no exaggeration, at least 100 ticks on me. I spent probably an hour tweezing them all out. Unclear how I got wrecked by ticks when everyone else just found a few, but tomorrow I’m going to use a LOT of bug spray.
After our lectures, it was dark, aka perfect conditions for tarantula hunting. We found a huge red-rumped tarantula in its hole and managed to coax it out, revealing the broken shells of beetles it had been eating. We also found a different arachnid, the Florida Bark scorpion in a sink, but if you are reading this, don’t worry mom, I didn’t get my hand close to either of them.