Hello everyone, my name is Phoenix Orta and I am beyond excited to be doing fieldwork in Belize this summer! This is my first experience studying the ecology of the tropics, as well as my first time leaving the country, so this class will have a lot of new adventures for me! There are so many new things I am looking forward to with this class, but I am most excited about snorkeling on the reef!

I have spent the last few weeks studying the ecology and history of two different tropical ecosystems our class will be visiting, as well as the specific groups of organisms (taxa) we chose to focus our research and be able to identify when we are there. I was so excited to sign up for my taxa because I was able to choose organisms that have always fascinated me: arachnids and jellyfish/comb jellies. As interesting as these animals are, I am a little nervous to encounter some of them in the wild. Some of the arachnids I studied look very frightening, especially the tailless whip scorpions we might encounter in the caves.

But overall I am very excited for this class! I expect that we will be spending lots of time immersed in these environments, making observations and collecting data. I hope to learn a lot about the insanely diverse biology of the tropics, and the different kinds of research taking place there.

See you soon from Belize!