Monthly Archives: May 2016

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Stumbling through the dark, Day 6

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Today we retrieved our vials and performed our largest experiment yet, which involved sorting through specimens and separating them into morphospecies. After presenting our findings to Adrienne and Scott, we realized that there are a ton of ways to analyze data and that we definitely didn’t use the best methods to present our findings. Another day, another learning experience.

After that, we had quite a few lectures lasting into the afternoon. We heard from Lauren, a graduate student that has been living at Las Cuevas since January. She is here trying to answer the question of why carnivores are present in the Chiquibul and thinks that human made trails and roads act as corridors for these species. She’s also one of those people that you instantly admire.

After our lectures, we went out on a night hike. It was quite entertaining. We were seeing insects and arachnids left and right. I could hear Adrienne and Michael screaming and yelling in the dark. We saw a lot of monkey hoppers, a few tarantulas, the largest spider I have ever seen, leaf cutter ants, massive walking sticks, a green caterpillar, and a coral snake (venomous!). Overall it was an exciting hike.

No bees again today, most likely because we were in the classroom all day. But I did set out some scents in a little cup near the forest edge. Maybe I’ll see something tomorrow.

 

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Day 7: Last Day at Las Cuevas

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It’s strange to think that our first half of the class is already over. We’ve wrapped our camera trap project by seeing some spectacular mammals of the Belize forest like the strange tapir. I think as a team, we’ve come out of these projects as something like buddies, always watching out for each other and informing anyone if an interesting species was ever encountered.

In terms of cockroaches, not many were encountered, due to the fast paced nature of the final wrap up day. However, I must say that being in Belize for this past week and photographing, witnessing, and teaching on the cockroaches of Belize has taught me the importance of studying these misunderstood insects. Belizean roaches are very understudied, and studying these guys has given me novel information on the variety of roach species in the area as well as some insights into their behavior, from nymph behaviors to escape/defense mechanisms. While I doubt that I will be able to contribute something significant to the scientific roach community with my pictures and notes, I do hope that through these posts pique the interests of the readers into realizing the unappreciated beauty of roaches.

It’s certainly been an unforgettable experience, from doing night hikes, walking 13.275 miles, collecting roaches, doing experiments, giving lectures, and just being aspiring TFBs (tropical field biologists). I wonder if things will change as we transition to the ocean portion of this course! Stay tuned for more to come!

Black orchid. Belize's national flower
Black orchid. Belize’s national flower
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Day 6: Not Everything is as it Seems

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What an exciting evening! After collecting our traps, gathering data, and finding seven species of roaches in those traps, we finally had our night-hike through the Maya Trail where we could see the forest activity in the nighttime. So many cockroaches were active at the time, nymphs and adults, large and small, colorful and drab! Most cockroaches that we see in the wild are drab in color, which helps facilitate their ability to hide on trees and in leaf litter. However, today’s hike has shown me BY FAR the strangest roach I had ever seen!

This roach was huge, probably a maximum of 10 cm, and had no wings, giant legs, and 6 orange dots towards the edge of its abdomen. However, it’s last two segments, which would supposedly be covered by exoskeleton was strangely white, soft, and exposed. I thought it was in the process of molting, since molted roaches are indeed white in color, but roaches molt from the head to tail, not the other way around. My only thoughts were that this big buddy had unfortunately been attacked and lost some of its exoskeleton. As I found ants all over the forest floor, I figured this magnificent creature was doomed to be ant food.

A few moments later, I heard a call from my colleagues. A roach of the exact same appearance had been spotted, complete with the strange white butt. It was then, I thought, two roaches, with the exact same body as each other, therefore the white end cannot be an accident. In excitement, I decided to capture a specimen for a closer look. Then the unexpected happened.

The white end exudes a sticky, dry fasting glue when the roach is distressed. Not only that, but when I had gotten the roach into my container, it suddenly hissed. This hiss is not your ordinary cat hiss or your ordinary roach hiss, which is short and sudden. This was a long, loud, sustained, and violent hissing (for a few seconds) on the roach’s part. It was almost as if it were a scream. It definitely scared most of the people with me, and it almost gave me a heart attack! Not only was this specimen not documented in my research, but this behavior of glue defenses and sustained hissing was unheard of, even to my instructors. Perhaps it was this reason, that the roach could sit openly in the field surrounded by ants. It has many defenses up its sleeve for protection.

Afterwards, I released the roach back into the wild, where it slowly waddled away, seemingly exhausted from the stressful ordeal. Definitely one of the coolest specimens I have ever come across and I hope to read more about it when I go back!

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Other than that roach, I found many nymphs as well as a giant black roach spanning 6 or more inches or about the size of my hand!

2016

Joys of the Jungle

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I’m sitting at the back of the dorm building in the perfect temperature, listening to the sounds of scarlet macaws and watching everything turn a misty gold as evening rolls in. I love fieldwork.
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Day 6 proved another successful day for mammal spotting. During another early morning walk, we spotted coatimundis just off the trail. At least two individuals were climbing and jumping through the trees, sometimes at spectacular heights. After some careful observation, we also noticed some Central American spider monkeys in a tree a bit further away. The monkeys seemed to be foraging, and their somewhat trill calls could be heard if we listened closely. We also heard Mexican black howler monkeys very close by, but did not see them. I swear that they’re taunting me.

While we spent a lot of time indoors today, we also learned a lot about scientific practice. After collecting the urine and water pit fall traps that had been set up yesterday, we sorted through the arthropods collected in them. I found many species of ants, a spider, a cricket, and a roach. We then calculated the numbers of species and individuals in urine versus water traps in both the canopy and on the forest floor. Depending on the statistical tests used, we got different results as to which community sought out the nitrogen-rich urine more. This demonstrates the importance of choosing the correct statistical metrics when analyzing data.

We are also doing a lot of lectures today in order to open up time when we head to the Belize Zoo in two days. Tonight, we will have a presentation by one of the researchers stationed here at Las Cuevas who is studying jaguars. I am really excited to meet her and hear about her work! We are also going to take a night hike later in the night. I’m hoping to see some mammals on this trek (or at least some eye shines), as many species are nocturnal.

I’m definitely in my element here.

2016

Mouse-sized cockroaches and bird-sized spiders ahead

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We spent the whole day in the classroom today in order to finish up our project and some presentations and still be able to go on a night hike.

We wrapped up our nitrogen attraction experiment by counting all the arthropods and others in our urine and the water and finding the proportion. I had so many arthropods in my ground urine, but not in my tree urine. I found a very interesting spider related to a daddy long legs which had interesting markings on its back. It was about 1cm in body length. I nicknamed it the Leg Warmer Spider.

Leg Warmer Spider
Leg Warmer Spider

During the night hike it was a fabulous time for arachnids. We saw hundreds of wolf spiders and thousands of little spiders in the leaf litter which were too fast to get a look at. We saw one huge tarantula which was about 12 ft. up on a strangler fig. It was cinnamon-y in color, and probably a female of one of the species that have been described around here.

We also saw a huge black spider that was about 4-5cm in body length on the ground in some leaf litter off the trail. Its legs were bent so it was standing very tall off the ground. We looked for scorpions under almost every log along the train and did not find any. I wanted to see one under the black light cause they glow!

I think we also saw the leg warmer spider that I had named in class earlier. Its markings on its back were very similar and it was the same size. The markings themselves glowed in the black light.

Other than the arachnids, we saw some huge cockroaches and one of them excreted glue when we picked it up and it hissed. Sam didn’t even drop it. Also we found this huge cockroach that was as big as my hand and Adrienne overcame her fear and touched it.

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Day 6: In the Dark

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This morning we collected our pitfall traps and sorted through all of the samples. In the 16 hours the samples were out, a collective 256 arthropods of over 50 species were caught in our traps. We found ants, beetles, orthopteran, spiders, flies, roaches, and more. Our results showed that there is a greater species abundance and richness on the forest floor than in the canopy. Additionally, in comparing the abundance of arthropods caught in the urine traps versus the abundance of arthropods found in the water traps we found results that suggest a difference in nitrogen needs between the canopy and the floor. The results suggest there is a greater need for nitrogen in the canopy.

By dinner time, I still hadn’t spotted any new Lepidoptera aside from a fuzzy caterpillar that had been close to my pitfall traps. So, once it got dark out I started checking around the building lights for moths. I saw some very interesting looking moths:

  • A 4-5 cm orange moth with feathery antenna
  • A 2-3 cm brown moth with very cryptic coloring- very pretty [pic below]
  • A 2 ish cm orange moth with stripes
  • A 3-4 cm brown moth with pale blue splotches
  • A 2-3 cm moth that looks like a crumpled leaf
  • A 1 cm brown moth with bright yellow markings
  • A 1-2 cm black moth
  • A 2-3 cm brown moth that was folded up like a little roll
  • A 3-4 cm orange/tan moth that had FUZZY LEGS
  • A 3-4 cm white moth with black veining
  • A 3-4 cm fuzzy white moth
  • A 2-3 cm pale green mothDSCN0100

I saw all of these within minutes just by looking by light sources in the dark. Next we went on a night hike. I hadn’t expected to see any Lepidoptera but I actually saw a very large green caterpillar and a white furry(branch-like fuzz) caterpillar. We also saw a huge spider, tarantula, stick bugs larger than my hand, and a hissing cockroach to note a few things. And saw our first venemous snake- a coral snake! It was cool to see the critters of the forest that are usually hiding.

2016

Day 6: My first termite sighting!

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This morning, we went on another hike in search of howler monkeys.  We didn’t see any howlers, but instead we happened across a group of spider monkeys and coatis!  The coatis were much higher in the trees than I was expecting them to be, and they were jumping from tree to tree and crashing through the canopy.  Also, I saw my first termite today!  Stephanie brought me a box full from a hike yesterday.  They had black, spherical heads and appeared to be Constrictotermes cavifrons.

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After breakfast, we finished up our project from yesterday and presented our results.  We spent the rest of the day listening to presentations and taxon briefings.  After dinner, we talked with a woman in grad school who has spent the year doing research at Las Cuevas.  She had some incredible stories and I would love to be in her shoes someday.

Next, we went on a night hike.  We found some termites (possibly Heterotermes tenius) in a decomposing log.  We also saw a spider several inches tall, and a stick bug the length of my forearm.  On our way back, we saw a coral snake! Tomorrow, we will head back out on the 13-mile trek to collect our camera traps.  This place is already starting to feel like home, and I’m disappointed we’re leaving so soon.

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Day 5: My first and fiftieth mammal

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Today I saw a mammal!  Lucrecia and I went on a hike this morning, hoping to get closer to the howler monkeys we had been hearing.  Although they stopped howling as soon as we entered the forest, we saw several birds, including a flock of parrots and possibly a mot-mot.  I also found a log that appeared to have termite damage, but there were no termites to be found.  As we neared the clearing of the research station, we stopped to listen to a bird.  A few seconds later, a tayra wandered onto the path.  It didn’t seem scared to se us, and it walked towards us for several meters before wandering back into the forest.

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After breakfast, we finished up our Cecropia studies from yesterday.  After 24 hours, the masses of the juvenile leaves were still identical to those of the adult trees. 2 adult leaves and no juvenile leaves had visible damage from the herbivores, but this could be due to random chance or a physical difference in the leaves, so we can’t conclude that a chemical deterrent is preventing hervbivory in juvenile trees.  Also, we’re trying to have a conversation right now, but we can’t because the birds are too loud.  It’s awesome.

Belize limestone forms many caves, and we visited one this afternoon.  The Maya believed that caves were entrances to the underworld, and we saw Mayan artifacts throughout the cave.  I can only imagine how terrifying and magical it would have been to travel through the cave without a flashlight and little understanding of why or how the cave formed.  We also saw lots of bats living deep within the cave, and slid through the mud on our stomachs through the mud to see the skeleton of a peccary that had gotten lost in the cave.

Next, we set up an experiment to study nitrogen deficiencies in the rainforest canopy.  Urine is very high in nitrogen, so we put vials of urine and water in trees and buried in the ground.  If arthropods are deficient in nitrogen, and thus attracted to it, they will be more likely to fall into the nitrogen traps than the water traps.  Tomorrow, we’ll look and see what we caught.

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Pitfall Trap Analysis + Night Hike

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Happy Sunday everyone! Today’s schedule was a bit different than those of our other days here. The morning began with a short hike along the Maya trail to pick up the pitfall traps that we had set up yesterday and analyzing our data. Specifically, we examined species’ richness and abundance on the forest floor and compared those values to the canopy’s. We also investigated whether there would be greater species’ richness and abundance in the urine vials relative to the water vials in the canopy as opposed to the vials in the forest floor. Interestingly, we found that both richness and abundance were higher in the forest floor than in the canopy and that the abundance in urine was greater than in water in both locations.

A female pinching beetle (Lucanus capreolus) from one of our pitfall traps
A female pinching beetle (Lucanus capreolus) from one of our pitfall traps

Many beetle specimens were collected today (10 species and 18 specimens to be exact) from our pitfall traps! A few of the most interesting were a fairly large beetle of about 3.5 cm long with a shiny black body rimmed with red that I believe may be a female pinching beetle (Lucanus capreolus), a very small slightly shimmery dark brown or olive green color leaf beetle (perhaps either a Dogbane Beetle with scientific name Chrysochus auratus or a type of flea beetle), and a black darkling beetle with a segmented body (species possibly Alobates pennysylvanicus).

Some of the beetle specimens brought to me from our pitfall trap experiment!
Some of the beetle specimens brought to me from our pitfall trap experiment

As you can see, today was a fairly light day in terms of physical activity, but I am sure we will make up for it with the night hike tonight and especially with collecting all of the camera traps tomorrow. I am excited to see what animals are in the images we’ve captured (hopefully a picture of a jaguar?!?)! Thanks for reading! 🙂

A giant spider that we found along the path
A giant spider that we found along the path during our night hike

Update: We got to hear from a Ph.D. student named Lauren tonight! She’s currently a little more than halfway through an eight month study here and is using 52 pairs of camera traps to conduct research on carnivorous forest creatures. Also, the night hike along the Maya trail was super cool! We saw tarantulas and other spiders the size of our palms, a cockroach the size of a large mouse, and a coral snake among many other species!

And I must end this post with a picture of a cool beetle from the night hike :)
And I must end this post with a picture of a cool beetle from the night hike 🙂
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“SNAAAKE!”

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For our second to last day at Las Cuevas, we wrapped up our arthropod experiment by collecting all the pitfall traps set along the Maya trail yesterday. The majority of the day was dedicated to data analysis and the presentation of our results; there’s nothing quite like having a poster session in the middle of the rainforest.

We also spent a good part of the day discussing illegal extraction from the Chiquibul and the problems with conservation in Belize. I never fully appreciated the intricacies of conservation biology until today. The Chiquibul’s greatest threat is illegal extraction of plants and animals by Guatemalans from villages along the nearby border. Yet the issue of conservation is much greater than that of sustaining the area’s ecology and incorporates complex economic and political landscapes, as well. 

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Central American coral snake (Micrurus nigrocinctus).
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Central American coral snake (Micrurus nigrocinctus).

Since our activities were primarily indoors, the day offered few opportunities for reptile sightings. However, I was excited at the prospect of our first night hike—the evening brings out a number of nocturnal species, transforming the Chiquibul into a completely different habitat than it is during the day. We managed to spot all kinds of creepy crawlies, including spiders the size of your face and a giant roach that emitted a sticky white substance. By the end of the hike, I had nearly given up on searching for reptiles in the leaf-litter and under fallen logs. But at the very end of the trail, we approached a sinkhole; as I peered down I heard a shout of “snaaaake!” I looked down to find the distinctive tri-color banded pattern of the Central American coral snake (Micrurus nigrocinctus) all but a foot away from my boot. The snake was small but could clearly be identified as one of the most venomous snakes found in Central America. Just goes to show that you can never stop looking.