Tag Archives: Epiphytes

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Day 3: The most exercise I have had in a long time

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Today has been a full day of hiking where we went to set up our camera traps for our research. Let me tell you. If every day is going to be me walking up HUGE hills, I don’t know if I will make it. Observing other taxonomic groups and my group, epiphytes, has made it worthwhile. Oh, and hopefully we will see a jaguar! I can say this whole day of hiking feels like the most exercise I have ever had in my life.

As we were walking towards the top right corner of the 50-hectare plot, this bee would not stop hovering over me! Brendan and Keegan were both there and it was hovering the three of us for a good amount of time. Also, every time I have fallen, Brendan was behind me (at Rio in the pool and our hike today). EVERY TIME. I will keep this in mind on our next hike and hopefully Brendan will not say, “Be careful Michael”.

Along the 50-hectare plot, lots of ferns and mosses were present. These epiphytic plants were found to be on one side of the trees, and it was cool to see that characteristic on multiple trees! Along the monkey tail trail, I saw lichens for the whole 45-minute hike to the end point of our methodology. I could identify more and more species today as we saw more bromeliads, large veins, and lots of lianas hanging from tree to tree.

After the hike back from the monkey tail trail, I took a shower and as soon as I finished, Scott yells, “Scarlet Macaw!!”. I quickly ran to the balcony by lab/dining area and I saw two just chilling up on the trees! Rare site guys, and I can say that life is complete. Hearing the calls that they make; it is just so loud that you cannot miss it. Well that does it for my blog today since I have had a very tiring day. See you tomorrow! CAWWCNAW!!

Picture: Sheer beauty of the Scarlet Macaw.

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Day 2: Wipeout

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It is the second day of our journey and today we got to swim at Rio on the pools before making our way to Caracol.  We had a nice breakfast on our last hour at the resort, and that was our last glimpse of the world. Sad but exciting time. At Rio, we swam for about an hour and I did slip and fall. It was like the TV show wipeout where the contestants slip and you laugh, well you would’ve laughed at me as I fell. Goodtime.

As soon as we passed a Mayan bridge on our way to Caracol and into the Chiquibul region, epiphytes were everywhere. From long vines to large fan like plants on the sides of trees (bromeliads and large lianas), they covered the forest. At Caracol, many epiphytes were present as well. Figs were present, bromeliads were present, as well as orchids. The black orchid was spotted near a bridge by the front, in which that is the country’s national flower. Many great sightings but above all, the history was very fascinating.

At Carcaol, we were given a tour of the site by our driver, who was extremely knowledgeable about the history of the Mayan ruins at Caracol. We climbed many buildings, one in which was for the king (people of high class). This building is the second tallest building in Belize, right behind a skyscraper in Belize City. We got to see a burial site in one of the ruins, and the system in which they bury people is very fascinating. Also, did not see bats in the burial site, in which the tour guide had warned us about, but it didn’t stop me from wanting to go inside.

At Las Cuevas Research Station, the scenery in second to none. It started raining as soon as we got here, but even that made the scenery better. Standing on the balcony and just taking everything in was a great introduction to Las Cuevas. Listening to the birds singing, to crickets chirping, Las Cuevas is the perfect place to start our journey tomorrow. Well that is it for today’s blog. See you tomorrow as our adventure is only getting started.

Picture: Rio on the pools

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Day 1: I’ve seen so much already

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Hello friends today was the big day! had an early start to the day, but a good kind of start since it’s the big day. Met everyone at 6 in the morning and we had a last minute check of our gear before heading to the airport.

Security at the airport was extremely fast. I don’t think I’ve ever gone through customs and security as fast as I did today. Had some potatoes for breakfast and a nice bottle of water. We sat in the plane for about an hour before we actually took off, but as soon as the plane left Houston, I was out.

We arrived in Belize at 11:58 and we quickly got out on to the road. As soon as we were on the road, I could see lots of epiphytes. As we made our way to lunch, I saw more epiphytes, and lots of observations were made in the car ride to lunch. I saw lots of pollution in the sides of the road, saw an Asian restaurant, and we all saw a wildfire firsthand. As we were eating at the restaurant, Scott also pointed out a termite mound that was above ground, on a tree branch! First taste of Belize was so good, and the soup sop juice i could drink for days!

Picture 1: You can see the roots of these epiphytes and how they stretch to the ground, characteristics of Hemi-epiphytes.

Picture 2: Ferns that were spotted at lunch.

Later in the day at the lodge, we went for a swim in the river. Along the trail to the river, we saw lots of ants, “mammals”, and plants that we all looked at prior to the trip! Being in Belize for only a few hours and seeing the diversity of epiphytes has made all the reading worth it. That’s a wrap for this blog! See you for day 2!

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Pre-departure blog

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Super excited for Belize, which will be in less than 24 hours!! I am expecting to meet new people, ready to learn more about the diversity of the rainforest, and to experience firsthand fieldwork. I am ready for this humidity to hit me since I am from Memphis, TN, and Memphis weather is crazy. It is very unpredictable but never really humid. So you can say I have prepared by drinking LOTS of water. Overall, I hope to gain an insight on what the fieldwork life is like and to see if it is something I would be interested in continuing forward.

Not having been to Belize makes this more exciting, and as I am packing right now, all I can think of is whether or not I have everything. I just finished my shopping today and let’s just say it was a journey. Oh and I promise I did not push this aside.  I am excited to see hundreds of species of life, and experience something that I have yet to do.  The readings did provide LOTS of descriptions, but I am ready to firsthand see these beautiful species. More of a visual learner I would say.

In preparation for this course, I have learned about identification of species from looking at images from multiple sources, and I can say that there are thousands of species and variations among both epiphytic plants and segmented worms. I looked at many pictures of epiphytes and annelids and let’s just say that both are extremely diverse, extreme as in like the phylogenetic trees are just crazy!

On a final note, I hope my blogs will become more interesting, but for now, time to meet up with the gang and head to Belize. Hope to see you for day 1!

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Goodbye Belize :(

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I’m writing this wrap up blog to wrap up my trip and reflect on the things I learned and experienced.
To start, because of the high biodiversity of both the coral reef and the rainforest, they are similar in their specialized nature. It is common to observe a species part of a symbiotic relationship with one exact species in both ecosystems. For example, leaf cutter ants and their fungus in the forest and stony corals and their symbiodinium in the reef. It is this specificity that contributes to the diversity of the ecosystem.
Additionally, we learned that both ecosystems are nutrient poor, although for different reasons. Coral reefs must maintain relatively low nutrient levels to grow, and nutrient cycling in the rainforest is so fast that the soils are relatively nutrient poor.
Finally, we saw that both environments are under stress from human activities such as agriculture and climate change, among others. We observed the effects of these quite blatantly on this trip via marine debris, coral bleaching, and the lack of truly large trees. It is also sobering to remember that these places remain relatively untouched by humans.
One of the major differences I noticed between the two environments was the secrecy of the wildlife in the forest. My best guess for why the reef appears to be much “busier” than the forest is because we were less intrusive in the reef. We quietly swam around and observed, while in the rainforest we trampled and macheted our way through.
Overall, the course met and exceeded my expectations enormously. We learned and did so many more things than I expected. Also, we all got much closer as a group than I expected us to get in two weeks. We really had the opportunity to bond, and I think the friendships we made on this trip will be very lasting ones. It’s amazing what the jungle will do to you.
My favorite part of the course was our last day at Glovers, when we just got to snorkel around the Channel and the Aquarium and enjoy ourselves. The marine science was interesting, but I appreciated being able to chill and really appreciate the ocean.
My least favorite day was the day that we set out our camera traps. Hiking and climbing itself were not that bad, however, I got really upset when we got lost in the woods. It really freaked me out to see the sky getting dark and the nervousness on Scott and Therese’s faces.
Finally, the three things that I found most important/surprising about Belize are: 1) the overwhelming presence of plastic in marine debris. This inspired me to keep better track of the amount of plastic that I use.
 2) There are many ways to interpret the same data. We spent many hours analyzing data, and I feel that we really learned to listen to everyone to gain as much input as possible.
 Finally, 3) the right gear improves your experience dramatically. For example, my first mask was terribly foggy and I was miserable, but I switched masks and everything got easier. Also, I have never liked hiking through dense forest, but with our pants and boots, I really didn’t mind it.
I’m sad to say goodbye to Belize, but I’m thankful for all the experiences and memories I gained along the way!
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Don’t Make Me Leave Belize

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Today (Day 15) was a loooooong travel day. We woke up early, had one last morning of birding, and got on the bus to head back to Belize City. It was a 5-hour drive, but luckily, we split it up a little.

Goodbye Las Cuevas!

We drove for a couple hours and then stopped at a souvenir shop called “The Orange Gallery”. It had some very fancy things! I picked out a nice ornament for my mom because she collects Christmas tree ornaments from all the places we visit.

On the second leg of our journey, I started feeling really really carsick. We had to briefly pause for me to throw up in the grass (ew), but I felt much better after that! The second stop we made was for lunch. I really liked this restaurant, and I even got to see one last epiphyte before we left Belize. There was a huge group of Aroids on a tree outside the restaurant.

Our last leg of the trip dropped us off at the airport. Unfortunately we were running a bit late, so we didn’t get to stop to pick up Scott’s gear that he left at Glovers. Check in and security were extremely fast and relaxed, which we all appreciated. Once we got into the airport, we even had wifi! Everyone was very excited.

At the airport, right before I got in trouble for taking pictures

Thanks to Ellie and Sarah getting searched, we all got to sit together on the plane home. Sarah, Damien, and I finished the crossword in a rapid-fire way (thanks to Sarah’s master crossword skills), and we finally assigned nicknames for everybody.

We said most of our goodbyes at the airport, but a few of us went back to Rice on the bus. We had one last jam session together before it was time to go. Even Turiez joined us and taught us a few songs. I will miss Belize, but I do appreciate the air conditioning and cellular service that comes with being home!

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A DEER

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Today was a great way to end our time in Belize and Las Cuevas! I woke up early and took a very cold shower and did some birding. There were several scarlet macaws very close to the station, and seeing them through Scott’s scope was surreal.
We spent the day out on the trails picking up the camera traps, but I wasn’t really paying attention to epiphytes. Whoops. We sped through the first trail; we did it in almost half the time it took us to set them out! The two big hills were not any easier to climb.
We got back to the station early, so we did lecture before lunch. I’m relieved to be done presenting!
After lunch, we went back out to the Monkey Tail Trail to pick up the last of the camera traps. We got lost again at the 3 km spot, like we did setting them out. I don’t know what it is about that spot, but it is disorienting! That trail took us almost 5 1/2 hours.
Sacrificing Scott to the Mayan Spirits Before We Ventured into the Woods
We got back to the station in perfect time for dinner, and after we ate, we got to look at all the photos from the traps. We caught some really great stuff on camera, including a Great Curassow, five Paca (big rats), a group of Peccaries, a DEER!!, and two ocelots! It was very exciting to see the pictures appear on the screen as they loaded.

Ocelot Captured by our Camera Traps!
We’re going to have a relaxing night here because we’re leaving early in the morning. I’m sad to leave Belize, but lucky for you, I still have two more blogs to write 🙂 I’ve learned soooo much on this trip, but somethings will never change: I still need to pack.
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Master Spelunkers Return to the Caves

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Today was super cool! In the morning morning we collected our pit falls from the forest and analyzed all the arthropods we collected. We got a lot more than I expected! Our results were complicated and inconclusive for the most part, so I’m not going to discuss them here.
After lunch, we walked down the the cave! This is the cave that all our water at the station comes from (maybe that’s why it’s so cold), and it is the cave that Las Cuevas is named after. It was amazing!!

Entrance to the Las Cuevas Cave from the Inside
The archaeologists are coming next week to work on excavation, so most of the cave is closed. We got to see more than expected though! We walked through the huge first chamber and then squeezed through a restriction point into the large second chamber. In there, we did two of our lectures for the day! That was a really cool experience, and we’re the first 319 class to present inside the cave.
After the cave, we listened to another lecture back at the station before we went out for our night hike. We hiked to the bird tower, which is a slightly sketchy observation tower on top of a large hill. It swayed a little bit in the wind, but the view was stunning. There, we listened to our fourth and final lecture of the day. Before we left, we took some cute photos by the tower! No new epiphytes here though.
Slightly Sketchy Bird Tower
We came back to the station and ate a late dinner. After dinner, several of us played cards. We went out to look at the stars, and it was one of the most beautiful views ever. I’ve never seen that many stars!
While we were out there, some howler monkeys started grunting and growling. At first we thought it was Scott snoring, but it got very loud very suddenly. That spooked us, so we ran back to our rooms and locked the doors. Now it’s bed time!
Tomorrow is our last day in the Chiquibul 🙁 We’ll be picking up the camera traps, so it’ll be lots of walking. I’ll let you know how it goes!
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Urine and Fungus

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Day 12 was great! We got to sleep in a little (6:30 haha). During breakfast, Scott handed each of us two 50 mL vials and said “go to the bathroom and fill these halfway up”. That was very awkward at first, but we needed the nitrogen to run today’s experiment.
We went off into the trails and left our vials along with two water vials in the trees and on the ground to test if arthropods (insects/spiders/etc) prefer 1) nitrogen or water and 2) the trees or the ground. We’ll collect and analyze that data tomorrow.
In the afternoon, Scott took us out to dig into several leaf cutter ant colonies. We were looking at the colony structure at various ages of maturation. It was pretty cool! We were very grateful for our rubber boots.
Fungus Farm from a Leafcutter Ant Colony
As wonderful as skipping lecture was last night, today we had to make them up, so we had seven lectures to listen to! It was a lot, but they were all very interesting.
After lecture, a few of us put our boots back on and went searching for tarantulas! We found a few small ones on our own (and a very surprising bird!). On our way back to the station, we ran into the arachnid specialist who is staying here as well, and she helped us find many more tarantulas, including two very large ones! She even let us “help” her look for jumping spider samples.
Today’s last treat appeared as we were heading back to our rooms for bed. I looked down and spotted a Black Orchid! Otherwise known as Prosthechea cochleata, it is the national flower of Belize! I was very eager to see one, and Adrienne told us to report back if we see one. Hopefully she continues to read the blogs!
Prosthechea cochleata
The lights just turned out for the night, signaling that it is time for me to go to sleep. Tomorrow we are picking up our urine experiment and hopefully hiking to see the cave entrance. Our time in Belize needs to slow down!
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I Really Thought We Were Going to Camp in the Jungle

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Today (Day 11) was not my favorite day, but I still had a good time. We woke up extra early and did a little bird watching. There wasn’t much to see, but listening to their calls was really neat!

It wasn’t a great day for epiphytes 🙁 The only new spots I have to share with you are a few unidentified orchids. They all look the same to me without flowers! I’ll include photos anyway!

Orchids without Flowers
After breakfast, we designed an experiment using camera traps. They are cameras with motion sensors that biologists leave in the environment to try to capture photo evidence. We’re hoping to analyze the distributions of big cats and their prey. Hopefully we’ll get some good photos!
We spent the rest of the day setting out the camera traps. Before lunch, we set 6 traps out on a trail that had two extremely steep hills that I was not expecting. That was tough hiking! Also, half of our traps were placed off the path, and that added two additionally “Bonus Hills” (as Scott liked to call them).
Camera Trapping with a Make-Shift Strap
We got back to the station more than an hour late for lunch, so we also got a late start for our afternoon hike. We set out 8 additional camera traps along one of the bigger trails. That was exhausting. Also, we got “turned around” while trying to find our way back to the path, so we spent 35 minutes tearing through dense jungle behind Scott and his machete. I was very nervous that the station staff would have to come rescue us because it was starting to get dark.
Five hours later, we returned to the station almost two hours late for dinner. I spotted a Bothrops asper, the most dangerous snake in Belize. It was just a small baby, but it’s still venomous. I almost stepped on it; it moved, so luckily I was able to jump over at the last second.
We’re all absolutely pooped, so Scott gave us the night off. No lectures!! As soon as I finish this blog, I’m going to pass out on my bed and try to get a full 8 hours of sleep (unheard of!). Scott promises that tomorrow’s adventures are less intense, and hopefully we’ll all be recharged for the fun!