Second full day at Las Cuevas was spent designing a project to determine if there is more accessible nitrogen in the canopy of the forest or the ground – we set up pitfall traps to determine the change in attraction of the invertebrates to the nitrogen vs water options.
Our afternoon project was to figure out if there is a way cecropia defended themselves before they become colonized/protected by ants. We collected leaves from young cecropia that are in-colonized, and leaves from the colonized adults. We will place the leaves in containers with generalist herbivores to determine change in leaf mass.
We’ve been surrounded in the forest by bees all days, but all close encounters were with the black slender stingless bees that are clearly attracted to our sweat and scents. Many honey bees were also found around our porch this morning.