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Day 4: Poaching and Logging

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Last night was cockroach-mania in my bedroom. We accidentally left the light on while showering/listening to lectures and ended up attracting a cacophony of cockroaches. Although I have been hoping to spot more of the little creatures, seeing three crawl out of my pillowcase was not the grand introduction I expected. Nevertheless, we persevered. Many of them appeared to be German Cockroaches (Blattella germanica) under the glow of my flashlight. I think a few of them may have been brown-banded roaches (Supella longipalpa), and a few others were likely the Smokybrown cockroach (Periplaneta fuliginosa), as they were significantly bigger than the others. Many of them were quite little, and I believe they were not full-grown, but still in the nymph stage of development.

This morning’s activity was quite different from yesterday’s, as it involved each of our urine being placed out in viles in hopes of trapping invertebrates. We called back on the knowledge we gained from the previous lectures on canopy life and tropic soil in an effort to better understand the question: how does the structure of the forest impact Nitrogen availability in invertebrates? In order to observe both the abundance and richness of species and see how nitrogen-limited invertebrates are up in the canopy compared to the forest floor, we utilized pitfall traps. Our hypothesis was that the forest floor may demonstrate a greater abundance in the Nitrogen pitfall trap than the canopy, and that in the canopy there would be a greater visible difference between the Nitrogen and water pitfall traps. Our methods involved each student placing 4 viles in the rainforest. Each person tied two viles to a tree: one with urine (a Nitrogen-heavy substance), the other one with water; and digging two holes with a trowel near the tree to place counterpart urine and water viles. My tree was over a tarantula den, which was a bit less than desirable for an activity which involved kneeling and digging into the ground for several minutes! In a couple of days, we will return to our viles and collect them to measure the invertebrates collected in each.

After a lunch of fried chicken and veggie rice, we turned to a study of plant-animal interactions. Specifically, the relationship between cecropia trees and ants. These two organisms have a special, co-evolved relationship, as the trees provide a perfect, compartmentalized home for the ants complete with nutrition in exchange for the ants’ defense. Our study aims to understand whether there is a difference in the tree’s defense mechanisms pre vs post-ant colonization. To do this, we decided to go directly to the source and ask herbivores themselves. We collected samples from two different cecropia trees (one with an ant colony and one without), measured the leaves using a penetrometer and scale, and placed the leaves in containers with a few different Orthoptera species: crickets, grasshoppers, and katydids. Tomorrow morning, we will return to this study and note the eating patterns in the cecropia trees without an ant colony and those with an ant colony.

The hike to collect these cecropia samples was packed-full of fun and creepy creatures! Notably, a scorpion, the molten skin of a tarantula, and two cute leaf-cutter bugs sharing a drink of tree juice. Honestly, it made me quite sad to see the ant colony flee from their home when we chopped down the cecropia tree (hence my title for today). I wished that there had been another way to go about the experiment, and it was hard to watch them grab the larvae and run from their tree, knowing they would all die quite soon. The tarantula under the tree was also carring an egg sack and I can only hope that her fate is somewhat better than the poor ants.

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Dinner was absolutely delicious and tonight’s lectures featured beetles, amphibians, and the Chiquibul cave system! I learned that the Chiquibul cave system is composed of carbonate limestone deposits dating back to 200 million years ago. Many of the cave creatures we may encounter on our expedition have quite uniquely adapted features to life in the dark such as rudimentary/absent eyes, specialized secondary organs, a lack of pigmentation, and modified appendages. I think I am most excited for our day in the caves, and am truly looking forward to spotting many of the subterranean species that dwell there.

It is really hard to believe we’ve only spent two full days in the rainforest so far. I hope to wake up early for bird watching tomorrow morning and spot some of the iconic colorful feathers that help define jungle biodiversity.

-Emily

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Belize Day 4: Buggin Around

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This morning, Elise and I discovered that there was definitely maybe a jaguar (or some other feline-y mammal) strolling around our cabin. Last night, when we were frolicking around the clearing of grass around our cabin, trying to spot stars whenever the stubborn clouds parted, we smelled a bold whiff of something like cat pee. As soon as our nostrils made us suspicious, we fell silent. Then, we heard a few twigs snap and RACED back up the stairs to our safe cabin deck, saving the jaguar spotting for another night. Debriefing with Dr. Evans this morning, we learned that he also heard a deeep mammal exhale right outside of his room around that time. 

With coffee and tea in hand, sitting around the picnic tables on the deck, we listened to our reliable grackle friend (he’s there all day, every day) squawk and put on a scene for the ladies. Down on the grass, Lonesome George (a flamboyant, wild turkey, who doesn’t mind being alone so that all eyes are on him) was roaming around. He’s extra flashy with an undercoat of black and white checkered feathers, some iridescence on his top coat, and quite a few more patterns. Also, we found a bunch of turkey feathers in a spot along the trail and think a jaguar got to his friend. 

(Lonesome George – 05/20/25)

Today we would be designing and executing another research project, this time, using our pee for an experimental treatment. Often, most of the rainforest’s nitrogen is stored near the forest floor in the decomposing leaf litter and nitrogen-fixing bacteria (organisms that live in the soil and convert atmospheric nitrogen into forms usable by plants). As you climb higher, nitrogen becomes harder to come by. Therefore, plant-available nitrogen should be more available and more evenly distributed on the forest floor than in the canopy, where occasional, limited nitrogen sources would be more concentrated around the few sources and less common. To test this, we set up pitfall traps, which were just tubes filled halfway with liquid, camouflaged so that insects would stumble in and stay trapped. We would compare the differences in species richness (the number of species), species abundance (the total number of species), and total biomass in the treatments. To make the control and experimental treatment, we filled tubes with water (no nitrogen) and pee (yes nitrogen) hidden in the forest floor (in the soil) and on tree trunks. We peed in tubes, put on our boots, and headed out for the rainforest.

(Tree Pee Tubes – 5/19/25)

Before we headed out, we were given 2 pieces of advice for the field:

  1. Dr. Evans: “Make sure you guys bring your childlike whimsy with you.” 
  2. Dr. Solomon: “Watch out for killer ants.”

About the killer ants, apparently not too long ago (around the 90s), scientists decided to breed the European honey bees (with low honey production and low agressiveness) with African Honey Bees (with high honey production and high agressiveness) with the hopes of creating a high honey and low agressiveness phenotypic combination and a winning bee vareity for market honey production. Instead, they created the opposite–a low-honey, high-aggressiveness bee. Not only is this meany more aggressive, but it also has a lower threshold (it will react with less disturbance/irritation) for sending a warning call back to the hive to bring the other bees over. So, contact with one hybrid bee could summon the killer bees. 6 of these hybrids (specifically queen bees) escaped the lab, and now, 30ish years later, they’re taking over the rainforests. 

While setting our traps, we stopped to chat about some more insects that can do some damage. We walked on top of this humongous leaf-cutter ant hill (literally hill-sized), and some of the pinky-sized, pinch-armed soldier ants (the specialized protectors of the colony) came out to greet us. One of us turned around and saw a soldier making its way up Ian’s back. While everyone was panicking and working together to whack it off, Dr. Solomon popped by and said, “So guys, that was a great example of social grouping in primates. All you have to do now is eat the ant.” Yep, classic Dr. Solomon. Learning by doing, ya know?

(Leaf-cutter Soldier – 05/19/25)

After this little morning project and a delicious lunch from our exceptional chef Angie (nothing can compare to the plantains here), we strategized for rainforest study 3, which did not involve urine, but rather catching crickets and ravaging ant colonies :(. There are these trees called Cecropia trees, which are layered with chambers like a “high-rise apartment complex” that mutually host Azteca ants. The ants protect the tree from predators, and the tree excretes sugary, nutritious meals for the ants in return. 

DSCF1315 (Cecropia-ant Mutualism – 05/19/25)

In our project, we were examining how the presence of the ants changes the tree’s physical and chemical composition (specifically its defense systems) in its leaves. We would collect leaves from two Cecropia trees–one with ant symbionts and one without–and compare the strength and herbivory amounts of the leaves. We had a fancy penetrameter to measure the force it would take to break through a leaf, and Dyllan brought out her butterfly net so that we could catch some herbivorous insects to consume the leaves. 

You know us, and we stopped many times during the search for Cecropia trees to poke sticks in freshly webbed-covered tarantula holes. When finally one popped out, the whole class exclaimed “OH!” and jumped back in unison. Also, did you know spider hairs are also irritating in addition to their venomous fangs? Their hairs are barbed and urticating, meaning they cause irritation and discomfort upon contact (https://enviroliteracy.org/animals/are-tarantulas-hair-poisonous/). 

Today was a bug-heavy day, completed with a scorpion sighting in our classroom drawer. My takeaways: insects are very diverse, have a few defense tricks up their sleeves (their 6 or 8 sleeves), and are mind-boggingly complex. Tomorrow, we’re learning more about leaf-cutter ants, so stay tuned for more insect lore. 

  • Lily 🙂
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Day 3: Into the thick of it!

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Wow. Today really felt like a marathon: an awesome, sweaty, exhausting, educational marathon. Most of the day we spent setting up camera traps. This effort involved countless machete hacks, tons of bug spray, and a lot of good laughs.

On the trails, Scott and Kory turned over a couple of logs which revealed the homes of a couple cockroaches! From my taxon ID card I think they were either Smokybrown cockroaches or Oriental cockroaches, but they ran away quickly so it was a bit difficult to tell.  I can’t believe I’m actually starting to get excited about seeing those little creatures. We also spotted a large cat paw-print on the trail, and decided to get creative by making an even larger footprint of own.

It was really awesome to see all of the micro-habitats on the rainforest floor. It seems like each and every leaf conceals a unique habitat and lifecycle of its own. I also loved noticing all of the twisting and turning vines and plants I had only seen in expensive houses before.

Tonight’s lectures were quite interesting and spotlighted orthoptera, reptiles, and the history of biogegraphic development in Central America. I learned about the jumping mechanisms of grasshoppers (something we get to see in action each day in the field/LCRS), stridulation, and the significance of orthopera in reflecting broader microclimatic conditions. It was also fascinating to hear about all of the unique species of reptiles just in the Belizian rainforest.

Tomorrow will be another big nature day and I am excited to get back out there!

-Emily

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Day 4 (LCRS Day 2): Pee, Cecropia Trees, and even more ants!

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May 19, 2025
Hey hey hey! Today was, like yesterday and the day before, a fantastic day. We worked on two projects today, the first being a pitfall trap experiment to assess nitrogen limitation in arthropods in the canopies versus the forest (underlying assumption: canopies have less nitrogen. Hypothesis: arthropods of the canopies will exhibit more signs of nitrogen limitation (be more attracted to nitrogen-rich fluid (human pee) than arthropods of the forest floor.) In the afternoon, we began an experiment with Cecropia trees. This was exciting for me, because I am the ant man. These trees, like the Bull’s Horn Acacia mentioned earlier this week, are protected by a colony of Azteca family ants living inside them (except Bull’s Horns have Pseudomyrmex ants in them.) The experiment considered whether young Cecropias found other ways to protect themselves from herbivores before they were inhabited by ants, so the experiment didn’t directly involve ants, but that didn’t stop us from studying how the colony moves about the tree.
The first tree we found was inhabited by a whole colony, and it was so cool to see them swarm to protect the tree and to see the tree’s structure to provide a home for them. The second tree we found, after a long search, was much younger and had only one inhabitant: the queen. She was laying larvae, and the tree was not yet colonized, so we sued it for our experiment and called it day there.
However, throughout the day, we saw many cool ants. In the morning, doing the nitrogen-limitation pee experiment (where we peed in tubes to see if arthropods would be more attracted to our nitrogen-rich pee compared to water,) we saw a leafcutter ant colony that must have been 30-40 feet long across the trail. SUPER cool. Right next to the colony (or right above,) there was a Bull’s Horn Acacia Tree coexisting with the Leafcutter colony. We decided to run a fun experiment by putting a leafcutter soldier on the acacia tree to see what would happen. Unfortunately, while attempting to rouse the ants who lived on the tree, the leafcutter soldier fell off so the experiment was cut short. We got to see it run away from one of the Pseudomyrmex guard ants though, which was pretty cool.

In the afternoon, when looking for a cecropia tree, we naturally ran into the cecropia ant inhabitants. Our afternoon experiment will test whether or not young (not colonized by ants) cecropia trees will develop alternate (chemical, physical) defenses to herbivorous predators before they are colonized by ants and benefit from that defense. When we happened upon an adult cecropia tree, we got to see how they swarm out when it falls, and how the tree has evolved a hollow structure inside of it for the ants to live. The structure is an akin to the ants having high-rise apartments, because that tree is tall! Cecropia ants all fall under the Azteca family, and I think we saw Azteca alfari based on the looks. After we saw the big cecropia tree & colony, we set out to find the young uncolonized tree. While we searched, we happened upon two more really cool ant phenomena. The first, we saw a young leafcutter ant colony. We could tell it was young for two reasons: a) the colony entrances were small. there were multiple, indicating an age greater than one year, but still relatively small and therefore young. b) the ants were bicolored (red head and abdomen and a darker thorax.) Dr. Solomon did some inconclusive research as to why leafcutter ants may be discolored, but he discovered that ants were bicolored when the colony was young, which is how I know that colony is young! After the young colony, we saw an ant I hadn’t seen yet or even researched: theCamponotus sericeiventris, or Carpenter ant (but it directly translates to “Golden butt” ant, which is more fitting.) After we saw these two ants, we found the young cecropia tree, which was supposed to be uncolonized, but the one we found had one singular inhabitant: the queen! It was super cool to see her working in the little tree before her colony and her tree grew (her colony and tree did not grow because we cut it down unfortunately.) Overall, it was another fun and interesting day to be the ant man, and I know tomorrow will be even better as we are to spend the afternoon investigating leafcutter ant colonies! What a treat!

Ttylxox,
Sam
Images:
Me with my Pee tubes for the nitrogen limitation experiment:
Huge leafcutter ant colony
Bull’s Horn Acacia directly next to/ on top of huge leafcutter colony
Colonized Cecropia tree filleted open
Bicolored leafcutter ant (Image from https://leafcuttingants.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=531&start=10)
Golden butt carpenter ant (Image taken by Dr. Solomon) (I know it doesn’t look gold, the gold part has mostly fallen off)
Young Cecropia tree filleted open showing only the queen inhabitant
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Day 4: Crickets, Grasshoppers, Katydids and More!

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Today was the day I finally got up early to go birding! And boy was it worth the 5:30AM wake up. We got to see a bunch of parrots, hummingbirds, and even a couple woodpeckers! The morning view was also super pretty.

After breakfast, we began setting up the first of two research projects of the day, involving nitrogen pitfall traps! During our pre lab discussion, we found a live scorpion, named Sean, hiding inside one of the drawers at our desks.

Anyways, back to the pitfall traps. We set them up on trees and in the ground along a trail, and while we were setting them up, we saw this super cool bug eating another one.

We also found this super long Liana hanging from a tree, and took turns swinging on it!

In the afternoon, we started a second project, looking at Cecropia tree defenses with animals before and after they’re colonized by ants. When looking for an uncolonized tree, we found one with a new queen hiding inside it.

While looking for Cecropia, we found this super cool tarantula molt and it’s chilicerae.

Some other cool finds of the day include another dead (this time fully grown) scorpion and a spider with an egg sac!


We also found and captured a bunch of Orthoptera, including two species of katydids (angle-winged and common true), a South American lesser field cricket (I think), a spotted winged grasshopper, and three other grasshoppers that I couldn’t identify. It was a great day for Orthoptera!

Tomorrow we might have the opportunity to go on a night hike, which I’m super excited about. See y’all then!!

Ian C

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Day Four(est… get it, forest?): Poking Holes and Picking Bugs

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As I type this up, I have swatted away 15 bugs of different sizes, including two true bugs from my bright screen amid the dark screen. I think two are about to battle out for the space or try feeding on my screen (they’re debating). 

I literally cannot believe we’re already 4/14 of the way into our trip. To be fair, it’s only the second day in LCRS, so we’ve still got a ton of time, but that’s already 28% of our trip! It’s been so so fun getting to know everyone and their tasks along our trip. From Sam’s ant catching to Dyllan’s butterfly trapping (always so close, it’s really really hard though), to Claire C’s insane ability to spot anything from a mile away. And also, Elise can tie super crazy knots (figures she was an Eagle scout). But we’re only getting closer as we complete more and more projects together. And today, we had two of them!

But not to get ahead of myself! First, at 6 we saw a group of parakeets–it was so cool to watch them fly above in formation. There were also a lot of bright green parrots and something called Morelet’s seedeater… makes me think they eat seeds lol. They were this really pretty shade of brown though I loved it. After this, we had a yummy, yummy breakfast of fryjacks with eggs and beans. Miss Angie has never missed on a meal, like plate scraped and everything. Now would also be a good time to mention the dishwashing station. There are three areas, a bin to scrub your plate with soap water, one to rinse off the water, and one with a mild bleach solution. We all wash our plates and utensils, and throw out any food scraps. While we did have sinks and stuff, this is actually a pretty similar system to one I use in India visiting my grandparents. All scraps need to be composted because they won’t be drained otherwise. And all food is washed outside to prevent insects from potentially entering indoors. But back to the point. 

After breakfast, we got to working. Dr. Solomon taught us about pitfall traps. These are super useful to collect specimen in understanding the abiotic factors of the rainforest. One of these is nitrogen richness in the canopy vs. the forest floor. With the sheer mass of leaf litter, soil-breaking organisms, and roots on the ground, much can vary between this area and the canopy, which is dense, and often quite isolated. This includes nitrogen content, which can really change the mass of producers, and thus herbivorous and predatory invertebrates along the forest floor and the canopy. To understand these dynamics and how they varied species biodiversity and abundance, we decided to place a nitrogen source and regular fluid in the pitfall traps. We would add these to the base of trees to capture forest floor dynamics and the tree trunk to get the expansive canopy above. And what better trail than the 50 hectare plot. Funny enough, each spot was about 50 ft away from the other. Coincidence? I think not…

Ok, ok, but what was our nitrogen source? If you’ve read any of the other blogs, don’t spoil it. OK. 

3..

2..

1…

 

…pee? 

Yup! And so the process began. We were actually really speedy with the setup. And obviously, as the best person ever, I was first to go (we ran out of vials, and long story short my very makeshift pitfall needed to be placed quick). But it was really a cute setup. And writing coordinates and marking spots, we were done in time for lunch!

Featuring my pee!

One beautiful stirfry rice later, it was time for our second experiment of the day. A key characteristic of plants in the rainforest are their symbiotic relationships with insects. And one unique one is the Cecropia Tree and Cecropia ant. These ants burrow deep into the Cecropia, making multilevel chambers to lay their pupa in, gaining nutrition from the numerous extrafloral nectaries (little knobs on the tree surface). In return, the tree get’s protection from the ants against other herbivores. 

We wanted to test out if there was more that was keeping the herbivores away from the tree. As ants habited the tree, did the tree physically and chemically change? To solve this mystery, we needed leaves from an uninhabited and an inhabited Cecropia tree. We would also need several general herbivores to compare this. 

So off we went to the San Pastore and Las Cuevas Roads, hunting for both Cecropia and herbivores. But first off, (the royal) we caught to big, green katydids for each group. They were literally right there, and massive skill from Serenity, Dyllan, and Claire C. really paid off. Bug and leaf hunt time!

My favorite frolick yet. Remember those bright red nymph/beetle things from yesterday? We saw so many of them and it was giving herbivore so we stuck them all into one bin to pick apart later. Then, we were off on a cricket and grasshopper hunt. And Ian was really put to the test today with all of these species. I’d never caught bugs before this and it was a brain chemistry-altering experience. Crouching below, getting them with my bare hands, it was so fun. At one point I caught what we thought was an ant but turned out to be a tiger beetle, which is a lot more bitey and a lot less fun. Eventually, we got a high rise of the bugs. I like to think they were all like roommies back at the dorm, some better than others. Speaking of bitey though, we got to see a tarantula exoskeleton! They’re super hairy (the hair is a defense tactic!) and their fangs are a glossy black. It was so interesting to hold, because you know the tarantula is now bigger than this exoskeleton (a bigger shell of itself, one might say).  

Tarantula exoskeleton!

Ian, the Orthoptera expert!

Also though, we got to cut open a Cecropia. It was so insane to see the layered chambers, as I’ll add below. And also, there were tarantula holes on the base of these trees. Crazy stuff. Try and try as we could though, we couldn’t get the young, uncolonized Cecropia. That is, until we literally walked 10 feet into Las Cuevas Road. And there it was, ready for Claire C. to spot it. Legendary stuff. Punching the leaves with a penetrometer to test physical resistance was definitely the most satisfying part of it all. I can’t wait to see how our insects do as we collect biomass of the leaves they eat tomorrow. But yeah, check out the leaves below!

The old Cecropia (top) and young Cecropia (bottom)

What a fun, tiring day. I got to present my topic lecture which was fun. I did have a lot more info than I thought and had to skim through it, but I hope it was decent! Also, some fungi/lichen updates! Today was kind of a slow day. I got to see some more Dirinaria in interesting places. Also, there was a Turkey Tail right at the end of the 50 hectare plot. It was like a reward (after the long day of potting up everything). Plus, my first few termite mushroom of the day, with hollow, funnel pileus and white coloration. And a really interesting one, Claire C. spotted a series of black shelf fungi on a high up tree. I couldn’t tell you what it was, but I would love to climb it and find out at some point.

Some fruticose lichen with cool apothecia!
spot the mushrooms in the tree!
Love u Dyllan thanks for the candid <3

P.S. Speaking of climbing, check out this vine I swung through. #gains #tarzan #allnatural #cleangirlaesthetic

What came first, Sohee or the leaf?

Mysterious ecology experts

More to come!

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mutualisms and morphos

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It seems fitting that my topic presentation is tomorrow because today we saw so many great example of plant insect interactions that I plan to discuss in my presentation! 

To start of the day, we set up pitfall traps around the forest to collect insects. We made one set of traps using our own pee as a source of Nitrogen to attract the bugs that are nutrient deficient. When Dr. Solomon first said we had to use our pee, I totally thought it was a joke, but no. We did in fact hide vials of our pee on trees and in the ground to observe how forest structure impacts nutrient limitation. 

On this hike, I saw another blue morpho, which I was able to get a (blurry) picture of. In real life, the butterfly is big, metallic, and majestic, but in the photo is more of a blue blur. 

Another cool thing we saw was lichen  growing with visible sporophytes. These little adorable contraptions allow the lichen to reproduce by releasing spores for the gametophytes. I’ve read about this process, but it was so cool to actually see it!

After lunch, we went out on a hunt for a colonized and uncolonized cecropia tree, as well as 6 herbivore insect generalist for our next project. Me, Serenity, and Claire immediately caught to katydids in the station and then we set out to find the rest.

We found our first cecropia tree pretty quickly, and we cut it down. Immediately, the ants that live inside of it began to swarm, defending they home and source of food. This symbiotic relationship is covered in my presentation tomorrow, so it will be a cool call back. Additionally, next to this tree, was an Acacia tree that also started swarming with ants once we disturbed it. This is the first of a few Acacia trees that we have seen, which is so exciting because this is another classic relationship that I will cover in upcoming presentation. As we searched for the uncolonized tree, we found a bug fig tree, where we discussed the fig tree and fig wasp relationship, where the wasp eggs are placed in the fig and develop within the fig— yet ANOTHER classic relationship that I will talk about tomorrow. Studying these relationships up close is so cool after learning about them for so long. 

Along our walk, we made many pitstops to try and catch some flighty insects. This was so fun for me. At this point, the weather was much nicer and we were essentially just wandering around trying to catch some useful bugs. We were trying to find two individuals in the same species of orthoptera, but instead we found and caught 4 different species of grasshoppers and one cricket. While this wasn’t what we wanted, it ended up working and it was a blast running around trying to catch them. I also caught a bunch of nymphs and adults of this red insect that we keep seeing hundreds of on all of our paths. I thought at first we could use them in our experiment, but I soon saw that they have haustellate mouths instead of mandibulate, which would be more ideal for our experiment. While we couldn’t definitively ID them, We think they were true bugs. I kept collecting them because I thought they were cool. I thought they were even cooler when they started fighting hunger games style, with the larger ones sucking the bug juices of the smaller ones. We kept them in a jar to see who is the final winner tomorrow. 

In addition to these bugs, I saw another Dirce beauty on the road, and I got a good picture and came so close to catching it! I don’t think butterfly catching is particularly my strong suite, but I still have hope. Maybe tomorrow will be the day.

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Day 4: Pee Traps, Vines, and Crickets

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Hi everyone! It’s day 2 in the forest and I’m having a blast! Today, we started the morning by setting up a project relating to plant-insect interactions. We aimed to quantify how nitrogen-limited macroinvertebrates are in the canopy compared to the forest floor. To do this, we set up traps called “pitfall traps” with water and a nitrogen source in various locations. Want to guess what we used as the nitrogen source?! Our own urine! Urea has a high concentration of nitrogen and there was little else to use in the middle of the rainforest. This was definitely the strangest lab I have ever taken part in. We spent two and a half hours securing pitfall traps with pee to the trunks and bases of trees. We also found a really cool water vine while hiking and took some pictures swinging from it, so I’ve included those below.

Setting up pitfall traps
In the field
Ready to hike!

After lunch (fried rice and watermelon), we met in the lab to discuss our next project. This one focused on Cecropia trees and Cecropia ants. These species work together to survive, with the ants providing protection for the tree and the tree providing food and shelter for the ants. We hoped to quantify the effectiveness of the defense that these ants provide in protecting the tree from herbivory. To do this, we gathered leaf samples from a young Cecropia tree without ant colonization and an older Cecropia tree inhabited by ants. We also collected various herbivores (grasshoppers, crickets, and katydids) along the way. Catching them was a group effort and was one of the highlights of my day.

Cecropia ant colony

After returning to the lab to set up the testing containers, we ate dinner (pasta, vegetables, and banana cake) and prepared for presentations. I will be presenting my taxon briefing on amphibians tonight (I did not find any today, sadly). I look forward to exploring more tomorrow. That’s all for now!

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Day 2: The Climb

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Today was definitely the coolest day…so far. Seeing Caracol in person was like nothing I’ve ever experienced, even compared to exploring other ancient structures like the Colluseum. I think part of what made the experience so special was the absolute overwhelm of the rainforest. Driving for hours through pristine, preserved forests created a real build-up, as I could truly picture the Mayan worldview and landscape. Also, being the only group trouring Caracol today cast the whole trip in an almost ethereal light-as if we were the only ones who got to enter some other-worldly dimension. It was fascinating to hear about the Mayan religious practices, something that appears to transcend all time and borders. Hearing about the blood letting, sacrifices, and extreme sports they played (10 pound balls?!) made me wonder which practices or rituals I partake in that would make future civilizations raise an eyebrow.

Turning to the rainforest more broadly, it was cool to get a little taste of what the rest of our stay at LCRS will look like. Although I am a bit wary of flying insects, I really enjoyed the thrill of stepping into the unknown underbrush. There is so much more complexity to the rainforest than I could ever comprehend. From the epyphytes to the complex paradox of the rainforest soil, it feels like every single part of the landscape is just as, if not more alive than me. LCRS is truly situated in such a fascinating spot, and I am happy I get to spend nearly a week exploring here.

Still, I have not stumbled across any cockroaches. My presentation this evening went smoothly and I learned that the Giant Cockroach nyphs have a unique defense mechanism: secreting a sticky, stinky substance that repulses its predators. I am hoping to turn over a couple logs in the forest tomorrow and finally have my first spotting!

-Emily

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Day 4: Doing P Tests (kinda)

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Day 4 started by being asked to find the differences in nitrogen limitations on the forest floor and in the canopy. We wanted to make a trap that insects could be attracted to and fall and get stuck in. That means we needed some nitrogenous liquid. One might think finding this is simple, and it was, BUT it’s not pretty. We used our pee in vials, hung them on trees and dug the vials into the ground, and are now waiting to see what is attracted in each location. While it is not a glamorous lab, the look on everyone’s faces when we were told to pee in vials that would be used in the project was hilarious. 

  

(Nitrogen experiment setup diagram)

(Swinging like Tarzan on a water vine!)

After lunch, we set up a second experiment where we tested how the colonization of the cecropia tree with ants vs an uncolonized young cecropia tree varies in defense mechanisms (chemical and physical). Cecropia trees and ants have a mutualistic relationship where ants form their colony in this tree in exchange for protecting the tree from herbivores. We wanted to know if leaves would potentially be thicker, gross, or poisonous before having the ants  colonize the tree. We tested this by collecting herbivorous insects in boxes and adding leaves from colonized and uncolonized trees to see which got eaten more. 

(Inside of colonized cecropia tree; looks like a ant high rise apartment building)

While hiking to collect the insects and leaves, I saw a large brown skink (lizard) that I have not identified yet. It was about 8 inches and had a long tail. I also saw a silky anole while hiking for setting up the nitrogen lab. Both were on the side of the trail in the shade. 

The last two exciting notes about today are potentially the most exciting. First, I got a great look at a toucan in the tree right out front of Las Cuevas! It was not too close, but I used my binoculars and saw the red tail and the large yellow beak very clearly. 

Additionally, I heard something loud making screaming sounds from inside the jungle after it got dark. I have been made aware that one animal is known for making a screaming noise, and that is the puma. Hopefully our camera traps catch a picture of it walking by! 

See yall soon!

Claire C