Tag Archives: ants

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On the Ground and Away from Glover’s

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5.23.2017

Leaving Glover’s today was so sad that I asked if I could permanently live in the snorkel shed. I felt like I was finally getting to know everyone on the island, finding a rhythm and place there. I was even recognized by one of the staff as “the girl who scored the beautiful goal.” I’m truly going to miss the island lifestyle, especially a small island like Glover’s, and the way that everyone gets knows each other and becomes connected.

Speaking of small islands, after leaving Glover’s we visited another research station operated by the Smithsonian on a tiny speck of sand called Carrie Bow Cay. We got a tour of the facilities and a rundown of the research projects taking place on site, as well as interesting insight into the nature of toilets in the field.

Shore of Carrie Bow Cay
Boats used by researchers at Carrie Bow Cay

After that stop, we headed on toward Twin Caye. The mangrove forest there was made up of entirely of red mangrove (R. mangle) from what I could tell.

Red mangrove forest on Twin Caye
Red mangrove roots

We walked through the peat which was goopy and gross, then snorkeled around the edge of the mangroves.  The snorkel was much more enjoyable. I saw schools of small snapper, a starfish, a juvenile sting ray, sponges, and even a seahorse.

Starfish found along edge of mangroves
Juvenile stingray in sand along mangroves
Seahorse spotted on mangrove roots

Once we finally made it to Belize City, we had lunch and drove down to the Tropical Education Center (TEC) for the night. We walked some paths on the grounds before dinner and saw some Acacia ants (Pseudomyrmex sp.). After about an hour, we went to dinner then to the Belize Zoo which was such a cool experience, especially because the nocturnal animals were active. My favorite was seeing the big cats: the puma, ocelot, and jaguar. Tony the Tiger’s frosted cereal has nothing on Junior the Jaguar’s somersaults. I even got to hold a boa constrictor!

Junior the Jaguar finishing a somersault
Me holding a boa constrictor

All that excitement still hasn’t convinced me to switch from team marine to team terrestrial, though. Fair to say that a frog falling from the ceiling and almost landing in my hair, as well as having to share shower time with a moth, a beetle, and a lizard keeps me skeptical. Let’s see if the caves tomorrow have me singing a different tune.

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Warm (Make that *Hot) Welcome from My Taxonomic Group

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5.16.2017

Today started bright and early at 4:00 am to catch a flight from Miami to Houston without much of a break since. Needless to say, the lack of sleep and full day of traveling has left me completely exhausted. That’s why I am excited to report that I get to sleep in until 5:30 am tomorrow when breakfast starts! Note the hint of sarcasm?

All jokes aside, today has been really incredible. I am usually a proponent of aisle seating on planes, but I decided to take the window seat and I’m glad I did. I got a beautiful bird’s eye view of Belize and all the tree canopies that blanket its terrain.

After landing, we swiftly made it through customs and our driver met us outside to take us to the Tropical Education Center (TEC) where we are staying for the night. On the way, we stopped at a small store where I bought some snacks (I’m super excited that they had mariquitas, aka plantain chips) and much needed shampoo and conditioner. I do not need to come out of this trip sporting dreadlocks.

Spotting and identifying species of my taxonomic group has been quite challenging today as you can see from the picture below.

“Leaf Cutter Ants Crossing” sign at TEC

It was really neat that within minutes, I was able to come across members of a key species of my taxonomic group, leaf cutter ants (A. cephalotes),  doing what they do best –  foraging for leaves to take to the fungi in their nest. It was also nice that the type of ant was pointed out and identified for me. Can that be the case at Las Cuevas too, please?

Leafcutter ants (A. cephalotes) carrying leaves

Another key find while walking to dinner was a juvenile green iguana up in the branches of a tree alongside the gravel pathway. I hope that all these sightings in such a short amount of time are an indication of the diversity I will get to see in the rainforest part of the course.

Green iguana hungrily eyeing some leaves

For now, I am extremely excited to be making the boat ride to Glover’s Reef tomorrow. Time to rest up for an early wake up call and another busy (but hopefully incredible) day in Belize!

 

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T-1 Day From Crossing Belize Off My Travel Bucket List

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This morning, I went out fishing on my boat in Miami and it suddenly hit me that the next boat I’ll be on will be headed for Glover’s Reef Research Station. It’s crazy how fast these past two weeks have gone but I am so excited to finally visit Belize. It was on my list of the top two destinations for my high school graduation trip, but I ultimately visited Costa Rica. Now I’ll finally get to go.

These past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of catching up with family and friends, and ultimately procrastinating on my assignments for this course. As deadlines approached, I mustered the motivation to read the textbook, make sense of jargon in about 10 different research papers on mangroves, cringe my way through magnified photographs of ants, and put together three presentations.

Speaking of my presentations, I am kind of nervous to give them. My public speaking skills aren’t too great but I’m hoping that all the preparation I’ve done will carry me through my awkwardness.

Ultimately, the presentations are just a fraction of the course and I absolutely cannot wait to get out into the field. I hope I get to learn more about two ecosystems that have fascinated me: coral reefs and rainforests. Living in South Florida and being just a stone’s throw from the Bahamas has given me the opportunity to snorkel and scuba dive, awestruck at the beauty of reefs. And just the previous summer, as I briefly mentioned, I got to visit the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica which gave me my first immersive experience in a rainforest.

With this trip, I am hoping to see these two ecosystems through the lens of a researcher and gain some practical knowledge about them that I can carry with me when I go diving or on future vacations. I’m also interested to compare what I see in Belize to the reefs of home and the wet season in Costa Rica. If I’m going to be ready, I should probably go finish packing.

No way… next time I post I’ll be in Belize!

P.S. I’m also hoping to take some great pictures like the ones I got from Costa Rica for memories 🙂

 

2016

(Nakian) May 23: Tapir x Ocelot x Bye LCRS

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Today is the last activity day at Las Cuevas Research Station. We finally retrieved the camera traps we set on the first day. I was not expecting much because I have heard how cautious wildlife are especially near human presence. But what are the odds, the cameras caught a curassow, a tapir, an ocelot, and a weasel looking animal that was hard to identify. The last camera trap was a blast with a big cat species we all hoped to see. The ocelot’s beautiful pattern was indeed mesmerizing.
The past several days at the LCRS I must say was extraordinary. The morning choir of the distant and closely birds, nocturne of the night insects, occasional cries of the howler monkeys, bustling processions of Leaf-cutter and army ants’ parade, and shimmer of the neighboring planet beside the tropical moon. Having the first-hand experience of the field biology on the crisp bed of fallen tree litters, rejoicing with the unexpected encounter with amazing species, I have never been so one with the nature before.
I still am not sure what my passion in the ecological field will be in detail. But I learned in LCRS that studying to approach ecological conservation of this biodiversity haven in the light of social, political, cultural, and economic perspective that I aspire to take could be a valid path, even one that could be healthy for me. I do not regret my decision to spend my time here.

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Ant Day

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Today we focused on some of the many ant species that habitate the Chiquibul forest. The cecropia tree has a symbiosis with azteca ants, which protect the tree from predators in exchange for shelter and food. We spent the morning testing a few hypothesis about how the cecropia trees avoid herbivores before they are colonized by the protector ants. 

This afternoon we excavated three leaf cutter ant colonies of different maturities. Once a queen colonizes a nest after a nuptial flight she can live for 20 years reproducing, expanding the colony until there are millions of ants at any given time. There are tunnels underground leading to chambers full of the ant’s fungus garden and pupae. The youngest ones are fairly small, but once they are 10 years old they get huge, with tunnels the width of your arm full of soldier ants ready to come out and attack you when you disturb them. They have quite a pinch and we were all thankful for our rubber boots today.

We had an unexpected amphibian sighting once we got back to our housing; one of the bedrooms had a large frog on a bedpost. I caught it and took it outside to get a closer look and try to identify it. It hiccuped in my hand, puffing out its chest, in protest to its capture. The frog was dark green and brown, with some stripy markings around the forelegs. I couldn’t examine its back without it jumping from my hands so I didn’t get a clear look. It was about 2.5 inches long with horizontal pupils, bronze irises and toe pads. The toe pads indicate that its a treefrog and since there aren’t many in the area I would have to guess that it was another common Mexican treefrog, based on size and color. I released it into the trees after a minute or two to not cause it too much distressed and it leapt from my hands with a defiant squeak.

Digging leaf cutter ant nest

Sophia Streeter

5-20

2016

(Nakian) May 22: Ants x Statistics x The Unexpected

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Another big day for ants. We retrieved the pitfall traps we have deployed yesterday and the amount of ant species diversity was stunning. I identified species I almost lost hope of finding in this trip. I found Anochetus with long mandibles on narrow head, Wasmannia small but nasty, Neoponera with fat petiole, Pheidole big head and club like antennae, Carebara with giant head, and Adelomyrmex. Not having seen these species in day light, these findings really support my hypothesis that many of these ants are nocturnal, or at least not around in afternoon. However, I still could not identify half of species today, because many of them looked so similar, or were not in my taxa ID sheet. It could be that many of them were same species but in different castes, but I just could not distinguish them and considered them as same species. Also I have to consider that I tend to focus on exotic looking species when making my taxa ID sheet. Tonight’s night hike might give me some more opportunities to find more species. However many of these species are really small that I don’t know if I would be able to identify them so readily during the hike.
Today we had a long discussion about the result of our pitfall trap experiment. Different data interpretations flipped the results that made me think of how to approach data when making conclusion relevant and accurate for the question we are asking. I think I must train myself more in the ability to design statistically sound experiment and analysis methods. In a discipline with large data analysis such ability seems crucial.

Having spent a week in the field, it comes to me that unexpectedness makes field biology awesome. In a lab we can simulate the natural environment but the results are restricted from the limited perimeter. If I conduct an experiment here, I don’t know what will be in my trap. It could be nothing or could be bombardments of ant species I hoped to see. This unexpectedness turns field biology so attractive.

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2016

All About Ants

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Today was all about ants! The day started with the developing and testing of hypotheses regarding the Cecropia tree and the Azteca ants. Azteca ants live in Cecropia trees, providing protection for the tree against herbivory. However, young Cecropia trees do not yet have these ant symbionts, so we looked at how these juveniles might avoid herbivory without their ant defenders. In the afternoon, we learned about leafcutter ants by digging up three ant nests at different stages. The first was about a year old colony, the second about 5 years, and the third at least 10 years of age. Learning about these ant societies was really interesting, as they effectively function as one super-organism.

Evidence of two species of mammals was definitely observed today. On our way back from the final leafcutter ant nest, we heard Mexican black howler monkeys from afar. However, the howling got significantly louder over the next half hour. We guess that the primates were likely about 100 meters from us at their closest proximity. I loved standing in the forest when some others had moved ahead, just listening to the roars of the howlers. We also saw a wrinkle-faced bat after dinner that had been caught in a mist net by another group at the station. The bat was much smaller than would be expected, and had a pug-like face. Some other animal sightings included army ants and a tree frog (on my clothing that was hanging to dry!).

Wrinkle-faced bat
Wrinkle-faced bat

I also gave my first presentation today on cave life. I’m very excited to put this knowledge to practice tomorrow in the caves! Hopefully we will see many more bats and other specialized cave species.

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An Ant’s Life (Day 4)

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We began our first real experiments bright and early this morning on the cecropia, or trumpet tree, which is known for its mutualistic relationship with Azteca ants. The hollow tree tunk provides shelter for the ants, and, in exchange, the ants defend against herbivores vying for the cecropia’s lobe-shaped leaves. Though cecropia’s mutalism with ants is incredibly effective, young cecropia trees are not yet colonized. How, then, do these juvenile trees protect themselves from herbivory?

We hypothesized that young cecropia use chemical defenses (like toxins or pheromones) to deter herbivores. Our pilot experiment involved collecting generalist herbivores, such as grasshoppers, and offering them both adult and juvenile cecropia leaves. We may not have the technology for chemical analysis here, but we do have sophisticated pieces of equipment like Tupperware and a butterfly net. We’ll see tomorrow if the insects opt to consume one leaf over the other, or even die after ingesting a toxic leaf.

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A mature leaf-cutter ant nest.

The day’s ant theme continued with an afternoon dedicated to the fascinating life history of leaf-cutter ants. We looked at three leaf-cutter ant nests ranging from 1 to 10+ years old, observing their intricate tunnel systems and foraging trails. I was most amazed by the anthropomorphic qualities of leaf-cutter ants; they essentially act as farmers by cultivating fungus for food. The afternoon’s primary goal was uncovering these fungus gardens, which can sustain colonies of millions of ants.

Our focus today made reptile sightings difficult, as snakes and lizards are unlikely to be found in the vicinity of a large ant’s nest. Though we walked many of the same trails as yesterday, I wasn’t able to spot any of the Sumichrast’s skinks found yesterday in the leaf litter. I actually found better luck indoors today, spotting another common house gecko (Hemidactylus frenatus) running along the walls of our classroom.

2016, Uncategorized

Bold Choices With Ants

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Wow are my feet sore from yesterday. These blisters aren’t helping either, but we had an incredibly fun day learning about ant symbioses.

First we tested hypotheses about how the young cecropera (trumpet) trees avoid herbivory before their symbiont azteca ants colonize them. Our hypotheses ranged from chemical defense to mimicry. My group tested mimicry, which is almost certainly not how they avoid herbivory due to their very similar leaf characteristics to the adult plant.

Later in the day we looked at the development of leaf cutter ant colonies, and the fungi they farm. We dug into a 1 year old nest, a 3-5 year old nest, and a 10+ year old nest, and looked at the difference in which castes are present in the nest and how big their tunnel systems are.

The 10+ year nest was huge and there were soldiers coming out of it in swarms trying to bite us. I was incredibly glad for the rubber boots at that moment, although I still got a bite from a soldier on my finger as I was taking an ant off of Scott.

I didn’t see very many arachnids today because we were mostly focusing on looking for ants and ant nests. I will look for some tomorrow at night when we can see their eyeshine.

2016

(Nakian) May 21: Cave x Urine x Ruin

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Today afternoon we travelled down to the nine stages of Mayan underworld. First the cave birds greeted us and ancient stairs made by the Mayans themselves led our way down. The muddy caught on our boots and the cave wall sparkled every time our headlight swept the embedded minerals. As the mud accumulated on our boots the great halls and tight entrances into another alternated. Bats glanced at our light from the holes dug over generations of their presence. We could see the cave entrance after overcoming the ninth chamber. On the journey back we entered a very tight opening where we ended up at where an unfortunate and lost peccary skeleton sneered at us. The poor animal must have been wandering in darkest dark until it died of starvation. The humidity generated from our own breath and apparently lowering oxygen level simulated the peccary’s death.

After returning from the underworld, we went to install our pitfall traps of our own urine. We set traps of urine set on the trunk of trees and on the ground, comparing the amount of bugs searching for sources of nitrogen. If the fraction of number of bugs in the urine trap over that in the control water trap in the canopy is higher than that of floor, it will count toward the hypothesis that nitrogen availability in the canopy is lower than that of forest floor.
In the process I caught some ant species. I am going to identify them tomorrow. One seemed like a species of Camponatus while the other was unsure. Judging by how I caught them so easily in the evening, these species seem active in that time. Also my ant catching skill seems to have improved.

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