Category Archives: 2016

2016

In Which We Go Back in Time

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Today we collected our camera traps, which gave us a chance to do the hike from the first day all over again. 13 miles is still a long way to hike in rainboots, long pants, and long sleeve shirts while the sun is hot and the air is muggy as heck. It was definitely easier than the first day though.

On the hike I learned some important things, like the power of duct tape and the necessity of tiny electrolyte packets you can put in your water. My feet are definitely hot and swollen today, but my blisters are not nearly as bad thanks to duct tape.

I saw one cool spider on the hike as well as a bunch of others scurrying underfoot. The cool spider I saw was sitting with its two back legs splayed and its front legs held together so they looked like one. It was sitting on the underside of a leaf with its red body and black and white legs standing out against the green background.

We analyzed the camera traps at night and saw a tapir in a mud wallow, a great currasow on a road, and an ocelot and an agouti in a leaf cutter ant nest clearing off the trail. Younger Clare would have flipped at seeing a camera trap she helped set up capture an ocelot. Honestly though, present-day Clare probably flipped more. I jumped up and down and squeaked for the tapir and the ocelot.

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.

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.

2016

(Nakian) May 22: Ants x Statistics x The Unexpected

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Another big day for ants. We retrieved the pitfall traps we have deployed yesterday and the amount of ant species diversity was stunning. I identified species I almost lost hope of finding in this trip. I found Anochetus with long mandibles on narrow head, Wasmannia small but nasty, Neoponera with fat petiole, Pheidole big head and club like antennae, Carebara with giant head, and Adelomyrmex. Not having seen these species in day light, these findings really support my hypothesis that many of these ants are nocturnal, or at least not around in afternoon. However, I still could not identify half of species today, because many of them looked so similar, or were not in my taxa ID sheet. It could be that many of them were same species but in different castes, but I just could not distinguish them and considered them as same species. Also I have to consider that I tend to focus on exotic looking species when making my taxa ID sheet. Tonight’s night hike might give me some more opportunities to find more species. However many of these species are really small that I don’t know if I would be able to identify them so readily during the hike.
Today we had a long discussion about the result of our pitfall trap experiment. Different data interpretations flipped the results that made me think of how to approach data when making conclusion relevant and accurate for the question we are asking. I think I must train myself more in the ability to design statistically sound experiment and analysis methods. In a discipline with large data analysis such ability seems crucial.

Having spent a week in the field, it comes to me that unexpectedness makes field biology awesome. In a lab we can simulate the natural environment but the results are restricted from the limited perimeter. If I conduct an experiment here, I don’t know what will be in my trap. It could be nothing or could be bombardments of ant species I hoped to see. This unexpectedness turns field biology so attractive.

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2016

Weird Science! (feat. Urine)

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Today was a lab day primarily. We collected the traps from an experiment we set up yesterday that involved urine and insect death traps. I know it sounds odd, but it was totally normal for a tropical field biologist. The experimental design we used involved placing two pitfalls on tree trunks, one filled with plain soapy water and one filled with urine (common name: pee-pee). We also placed another pair of traps in the leaf litter to catch floor dwelling insects. All the arthropods (common name: creepy crawlies) that made the unfortunate choice of exploring these traps fell to their deaths.

Our aim was to compare the community composition and the species richness (how many unique species) and abundance (how many individual organisms) of both forest canopy and forest floor species. The urine component was put into our design to collect relevant data on the affinity to nitrogen (found in ammonia in urine) of arthropods in each habitat. Here’s a photo of all the morphospecies I identified!

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There are plenty of crickets and their nymphs in this photo, all of which I have not identified to a species level, but rather characterized as unique by certain morphological characters. This process can be difficult because size can vary with age and color/markings with sex. This method of ID is inherently an estimate of true species richness/abundance.

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While it may seem esoteric and boring, the data set we compiled after sixteen hours of sampling was truly enlightening. No single way of looking at this data was 100% correct or incorrect, but depending on the statistical methods our group drew radically different conclusions—just another confounding and thought provoking aspect of scientific methods. Complicated, but never boring, the “telling” of the story completely affects the “message” or “moral” of what you are saying. Even in after just under a day of collection we had a TON of information on our hands and it was up to us entirely to make sense of it. Truly exciting.

2016, Uncategorized

Day 5: MAMMALS!!

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Today was the best day at Las Cuevas thus far. In comparison to most other days, I saw many mammals today of various new species. The most exciting viewing occurred at the very beginning of the day, during an early morning walk in the forest. As I neared the entrance to the research station clearing, a tayra (type of weasel) walked across the path about 15 to 20 meters ahead. The tayra looked very typical, with a dark brown body, paler head, and yellowish chest patch. Upon seeing me, the animal raised its tail and began to growl softly. After taking a few steps forward, it calmly decided that I was not worth its time and walked off into the forest. Amazing!

Tayra captured as it walks back into the forest cover
Tayra captured as it walks back into the forest cover

We had a few other mammal encounters today. As has occurred the last few days, we heard Mexican black howler monkeys from the research station. Today, the howling was more frequent and louder. I’m hoping that this means that we can actually find them in the forest soon.

Additionally, we saw two species of bats when we visited the Las Cuevas caves. The nine-chamber system used to be an ancient Mayan ritual site, as can be seen by the built structures and pottery sherds (sherds for pottery, shards for glass, as I learned today). While crawling through the caves, we came across a small group of wrinkle-faced bats roosting in the cave ceiling. In another chamber, we saw a larger group of what were likely gray fruit bats hanging upside down from the ceiling. The high-pitched sounds made by these animals was really cool to experience.

Gray fruit bats with distinctive noseleaves
Gray fruit bats with distinctive noseleaves

We also started another project today that we will conclude tomorrow. We set up vials of urine (produced locally) and water (as a control) as pit-fall traps for insects and other arthropods. We put half of these in trees and half in the ground to test whether tree species are more attracted to the nitrogen-rich urine due to nitrogen limitation in the canopy. Hopefully we’ll catch some cool creatures overnight!

Finally, one of tonight’s lectures was given by Boris Arevalo, a biologist for Friends for Conservation and Development. He discussed the various challenges and opportunities associated with the Chiquibul forest, and how conservation involves an understanding of social, political, and ecological issues. I found this very fascinating, especially as he discussed the delicate situation between Guatemala and Belize at the border. I look forward to hearing more from other researchers here at the station tomorrow!

2016

All About Ants

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Today was all about ants! The day started with the developing and testing of hypotheses regarding the Cecropia tree and the Azteca ants. Azteca ants live in Cecropia trees, providing protection for the tree against herbivory. However, young Cecropia trees do not yet have these ant symbionts, so we looked at how these juveniles might avoid herbivory without their ant defenders. In the afternoon, we learned about leafcutter ants by digging up three ant nests at different stages. The first was about a year old colony, the second about 5 years, and the third at least 10 years of age. Learning about these ant societies was really interesting, as they effectively function as one super-organism.

Evidence of two species of mammals was definitely observed today. On our way back from the final leafcutter ant nest, we heard Mexican black howler monkeys from afar. However, the howling got significantly louder over the next half hour. We guess that the primates were likely about 100 meters from us at their closest proximity. I loved standing in the forest when some others had moved ahead, just listening to the roars of the howlers. We also saw a wrinkle-faced bat after dinner that had been caught in a mist net by another group at the station. The bat was much smaller than would be expected, and had a pug-like face. Some other animal sightings included army ants and a tree frog (on my clothing that was hanging to dry!).

Wrinkle-faced bat
Wrinkle-faced bat

I also gave my first presentation today on cave life. I’m very excited to put this knowledge to practice tomorrow in the caves! Hopefully we will see many more bats and other specialized cave species.

2016

Day 5: Look, a hole in the ground. Let’s go inside it.

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Today we hung vials of our urine on trees and went to the Las Cuevas Cave. It was so sublime. Get it? Sub-lime… stone. Sub limestone. Like going under the limestone, you know? Into a cave and stuff. Doing cave stuff like crawling through mud and bat poop.

I discovered an interesting biological phenomenon. There is a very blatant negative correlation between my fatigue level and my mental capacity. I sincerely apologise for the poor English and abysmal humour I’m subjecting you to. Although who am I kidding. Is anyone even reading this? Hi Scott and Adrienne, thanks for reading.

-Randy

2016, Uncategorized

What Goes In Must Come Out

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Entrance to Las Cuevas
Entrance to Las Cuevas

I had so much fun today setting up pitfall traps and visiting the caves that give Las Cuevas its name.

In the morning we learned about nitrogen limitation in the canopy, and how most decaying matter falls to the forest floor. This lead us to hypothesize the animals in the canopy would be more attracted to a nitrogen source than animals on the forest floor. We used our own urine as the nitrogen bait for arthropods in the canopy and on the forest floor in our pitfall traps.

Later in the day we visited Las Cuevas (the actual caves), which was an amazing experience. I got to see some Mayan pottery, a peccary skeleton, and a long bone of a human skeleton.

Cave formations
Cave formations
Adrienne goes insane over pottery
Adrienne goes insane over pottery

In the caves I got covered in bat guano and actually saw the bats it came from. They may or may not have been vampire bats, but that was not confirmed. We definitely saw some species of leaf nose bat.


Arachnids were very exciting in the cave. I got to see the whip scorpion today, which is my new favorite species. I will have pictures to come of that. We saw the large darker colored whip scorpions and also the very light colored (white) tiny whip scorpions. I also got to see a cave spider.

Whip scorpion
Whip scorpion

After our hike Pedro (who works at the camp) found a very tiny tarantula on his shoulder. He says he thinks its a cave species because he’s never seen it before. I took detailed pictures of its eyes, back, and legs. Sophia and I are gonna call it the Little Boots Scorpion (Sophia claricus) if it is a new species.

Cave tarantula (new species?)
Cave tarantula (new species?)

We heard a fabulous talk by Boris Arevalo (the head biologist at FCD, which manages the Chiquibul). He talked about the limitations of conservation and the opportunities the Chiquibul presents.