Hi Blog,
Today the day started with the analysis of our overnight experiment in order to determine the impacts of ant colonization on cecropia tree defenses. We wanted to see how the defense(s) of the cecropia tree would differ before and after colonization. In order to do that, we released the herbivore bugs from the containers, and measured the masses of each of the leaves.
After data collection, we began on data analysis and curating our poster to present to Dr. Evans and Dr. Solomon. While discussing for the poster, we discovered that we each walked away from yesterday’s project briefing with two different understandings of the project. For example, 1/2 of the class hypothesized that the juvenile (uncolonized) tree would have less defense than the mature (colonized) tree since there were no ants to defend the tree. The other 1/2 of us hypothesized that the mature trees would have less defense the juvenile trees since the uncolonized cecropia trees would have other means to defend themselves since the ants haven’t colonized the tree yet. Therefore, since it was a perfect 1/2 divide, we decided to put both hypotheses on the poster to not discredit any sides.
The results were not quite what we expected, since the final mass for some of the leaves had increased. We attributed to a potential source of error where the leaves may have soaked the water up from the plastic container.
After we presented our findings, we had an awesome opportunity to listen to the presentation from the director of the FCD, Mr. Rafael Montanero. It was fascinating to hear that he and a couple other friends had found the organization when they were 19, especially since I’m currently 19. It was also very eye opening to hear about ethical implications of legal law reinforcement, since many of the illegal cattle ranchers intruding on the Belizean nature are impoverished and thus thus ranching as a way of sustaining them and their families.
After, we moved on to our class presentations, which was Sam, Lily, and Dyllan, and they all did an amazing job!! We also saw a stick bug in the classroom, which all of us played with for a while. It kept climbing upto our heads which was cute but kind of creepy at the same time.
In the afternoon, we moved onto another activities involving leaf-cutter ants and their fungal gardens. We first went out into the clearing and then dug up the fungus of the ant colony on the clearing ground. It was incredible to see, especially after being informed that each scoop of the fungal garden with the queen ant included may be up-to ~$1000. During this, we heard calls from howler monkeys on the background that went on for around 7 minutes, which was very cool to hear Then, we moved onto a super big ant mound, which angrily all stormed out after Dr. Solomon started excavating their fungal garden. Also, apparently in leaf cutter ants, fertilized eggs develop into females while the unfertilized ants develop into males.
After this, we had dinner before our subsequent night hike. This was our first night hike and I really enjoyed it since it was a completely different vibe and experience than hiking in broad daylight. We each had to rely on each others’ headlights for visibility, which was important since dangerous species may be lurking around on the ground. At one point, we turned off our head lamps and just enjoyed the darkness and the surrounding stimuli. It was an unreal feeling, seeing nothing although my eyes were bright open and my classmates were right next to me, and only seeing the gleams of the countless stars in the night sky.
Tomorrow, we have a caving adventure in the Las Cuevas cave led by the KARST team and I’m so excited to finally be inside of a cave! I will update you guys tomorrow on how it was, see y’all then!