Tag Archives: Sophia Figueroa

2022

Day 3: A Coconut Paradise

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Feeling like a true field biologist! Today we practiced using our quadrates and trisects, first on land and then in the water. For the water experiment, the whole group came up with the research question: how does the density of the green algae Penicillus changes the further you go from shore? We also brainstormed a hypothesis (that they’d become less abundant) and a method to carry out our question. In the end, our hypothesis was wrong, but it was still really fun to be able to look closer into the seagrass and find all of the other organisms that reside in it (corallomorphs, anemones, and conchs).

Before, as we were working on our experiments and waiting for everyone to be finished, we were all treated with 10/10 service from Dr. Correa and Dr. Solomon’s kids Calliou and Nayala. I learned how to husk a coconut and also how to get the water out from it. I now believe that I could most definitely survive on a deserted island. No doubt.

After lunch, we went to the wet lab and worked on our group poster about the green algae experiment (during which we were graciously treated with even more delicious fresh coconut from Calliou and Nayala) and  then presented it to Dr. Correa and Dr. Solomon (we totally aced it too ;)). We then went out to Dr. Correa’s favorite spot in the whole entire world: the Coral Graveyard. Once you get there, you can totally understand why too. Here, it was a section of the old reef that re-mineralized and all of the coral skeletons are super clear and really easy to identify as they are all now stone. This also includes the conch shells which I thought was pretty crazy. Some corals that we identified include Fire Coral, Symmetrical Brain Coral,  and Pillar Coral (which sadly isn’t very common anymore). Also! I was able to see some Crustose Coraline Algae (my taxa) mineralized. It was super cool to be able to see the skeleton of the hundreds of pieces corals before they corrode into sand, something that you don’t get to see everyday.

-Sophia

A full group selfie!
Re-mineralized Psuedodiploria strigosa (left) and unidentified coral (right)
A re-mineralized conch shell
Re-mineralized Crustose Coralline Algae
2022

Day 2: Mosquito Magnet

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Today started off early with a yummy banana pancake breakfast and then our first snorkel excursion at 8am. We finally got to break out all of our fancy TFB gear (snorkels, masks, fins, diving skins) and use them! To get off of the dock and into the water, I just sat down and shimmied off, directly into a school of small fish. We then swam over some sea grass to a path reef and I was able to see sooo many organisms. There was Brain Coral, Common Sea Fans, Corky Sea Fingers, also lobsters, French Angel Fish, Lion Fish (!!), and an anemone! Apparently we might go out and hunt for Lion Fish since they are invasive and have them for a meal. I also was able to spot a piece of Laurencia spp. floating in the water and a lot of Spryidia filaments on the rocks. I’ll spare you from my extremely blurry photos but I’ll get the hang of this camera soon.

After we got back on land we made one of our field tools called a Quadrate which we will use as a measuring device to collect data. Then after lunch, we headed back into the water but this time through the Mangroves of Death (cue dramatic music). Where does this name come from you ask? The mosquitos. We literally had to run for a few minutes to try to dodge as many mosquitos as we can in order to go through the mangroves. It was totally worth it though. We made it to the shoreline and had to “stingray shuffle” through the seagrass because it’s their favorite habitat and you want to avoid surprising them. At these patch reefs I saw Yellow Snapper, baby Blue Tang (which look just like yellow surgeon fish), Royal Gramma (shout out to my dad’s fish tank), damselfish, a sea urchin (super cool), and similar coral as the patch reef from earlier in the day.

We chose to swim back in order to avoid the MOD once again, and saw even more cool things – sharks, sponges, and stingrays (oh my!). It was actually very nice to have more time in the water and watching the sea grass was quite meditative.

For the rest of the day we had taxon briefing and a topic lecture which will all help with more identification tomorrow!

-Sophia

Belize Babe’s (incomplete) selfie! I am determined to get a full one tomorrow.
2022

Day 1: An Ocean Rollercoaster

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First official day of the trip completed! After a slightly hectic beginning at the airport, including me losing my credit card (… sorry Dad…), we were all able to make it onto our three hour flight into Belize. Riding in two vans to get to the dock for our boat to Glover’s Reef Research Station, we stopped by a small supermarket to grab some snacks to bring onto the island. My haul included Doritos, plantain chips (even after a whole semester’s worth, I will never be sick of them), and some yummy Melacotón juice.

Afterwards, we made it to the dock where we had lunch and loaded up the boat. The boat ride was about 4 hours and a literal roller coaster. Once we broke the reef barrier and made it into the open ocean after an hour or so, the “small” swells (according to one of the crew) were big enough to make us catch some air – and it was SO. FUN.  Apparently the swells can get up to 20 feet and I am okay with not experiencing them. During this long boat ride, I was able to take a nap, see some beautiful ocean (sadly no sightings of Red Algae or tunicates but I am determined I will find them), learn about Belizean culture, and even learn some Kriol/English Creole (I’m totally going to be fluent at the end of the week just wait)!

When we made it to the Caye, we brought our stuff up into our bunks and had some free time before dinner. All of the commodities here are sustainable: composting toilets, rainwater showers, and open windows for natural air-conditioning. There are also SO many crabs. Hermit crabs and what I believe to be the Common Land Crab are literally everywhere. Someone mentioned that they are like the squirrels at Rice and I couldn’t describe it better. So many crab jumpscares. For dinner we ate delicious coconut rice and chicken, with the best mango I have ever had for dessert.

I am about to have the best sleep of my life – goodnight!!

-Sophia

2022

The Pre-Departure Anticipation!!

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Hello there! My name is Sophia Figueroa and welcome to our Belize Blog!!

The day is finally here! Tomorrow we are officially leaving for Belize and I absolutely cannot wait. It’s so crazy to me that it’s already time for the trip as summer feels like it has moved so quickly. The build up to the actual trip is always the most nerve wracking, with lots of questions filling in my brain about all of the different possibilities of what I might come across. In all honesty, I think this is the worst part about trips but I know that as soon as I meet up with everyone on Wednesday, it’ll all go away.

I’ve been packing for the last week or so, and after putting the last few items in my bag, I realized that this is really happening! I’ve been working on my taxonomic lectures and topic lecture for the past month, reading lots of different journal articles and researching for hours on end about Red Algae, Tunicates, and biodiversity in cave systems. I expect this trip to be pretty intense with lots of lectures and presentations that everyone has been working hard on; but I’m also excited to see and learn about everyone else’s research. I expect to gain many different skills while on this trip, both from the lectures and also from the on-hands experience of being out in the field. I believe that there’s no better way to solidify what you learn in the classroom than going out and applying it in real life. I’m really excited to go to a new country and environment and be able to understand more about what being a field biologist looks like with people who share the same excitement of EEB as I do. While I’m obviously excited for the hands-on work we are going to be doing, I’m also really excited to get to know everyone and make new friends (cheesy I know, I’m sorry).

I think the main thing I’m nervous about is that I may not be able to identify many things from my taxonomic groups. I know that after a while, I’ll be able to recognize more species, and I recognize that it’s impossible to put all of the common species on my taxa cards; but it’s still a little nerve-racking to see if I put enough information on them and to see how many on my card actually appear in the field. I don’t have any experience in doing fieldwork really, I’ve only really worked in a lab setting so I’m very ready to go outside and apply what I know and gain even more knowledge. I’m also trying to mentally prepare myself for the humidity we might face, telling myself it can only be as bad as Houston humidity, but we’ll see… I’m definitely ready to start getting into the swing of things with work, assignments, and getting to know people so that these pre-trip nerves go away!

See you in Belize!

– Sophia