Tag Archives: 2017

2017

NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM

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This morning Jordan, Isaac, Damien, and I woke up at the ungodly hour of 4:45am to watch the sunrise. Although waking up was a little difficult, the sunrise was worth it. The sun was very large and red as it crested over the horizon.

Today, we left Glover’s reef and that was very sad. But I am excited for our week in the rainforest. As we were boating back to Belize, we stopped at Carrie Bow Cay, the Smithsonian research station just inside the Great barrier reef. Clyde the station manager gave us a quick tour.

Then, we were off to swim in the mangroves. WE SAW A MANATEE ON OUR WAY INTO THE GROVE!!!!! Then, we got out and walked around the mangrove and got sufficiently covered in peat. We then snorkeled up the mangroves. I saw a baby Banded Butterfly fish and a few bright orange starfish. At the end of the mangroves, we found a bright yellow seahorse! It was a great way to end the marine portion of our trip. We then continued our trek back to Belize city and ate at a restaurant called Calypso. There lime juice was amazing!

Seahorse!

We then got back in the bus and drove to TEC! After checking in, we went for a short hike around the station. I did not see any amphibians on the hike but we saw a ridiculous number of epiphytes!

After dinner, we went to the Belize Zoo for a night tour. While waiting for all the groups to arrive, but it hopped away before I got a closer look! Inside the zoo, I got to feed a Tapir! It was really cool. We also got to see four out of the five large cats of Belize. My favorites were the Ocelot and the Jaguar. The Ocelot, Rayburn, was really cool because when the zoo keeper gave him a piece of chicken he made an adorable NOM NOM NOM sound! The Jaguar, Junior, was raised by hand from a cub. When we arrived at the cage, he did multiple somersaults for treats! It was really cool to see all the animals at night in a semi natural environment! After we got back from the zoo, Scott brought me a large cane toad!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

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Back to Land :( (Day 8)

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Today was another travelling day. We left Glover’s in the morning to head back to the mainland. We did one last snorkel on the way back through the mangroves at Twin Caye. There, we saw a manatee, a yellow seahorse, a magnificent feather duster worm, and a lot of upside down jellyfish. I also saw some Caulerpa algae, and many of the algae species I’d seen around the patch reefs.

A seahorse found in the mangroves. His coloration makes him look a lot like a dead mangrove leaf!

The other place we stopped on the way back was Carrie Bow Caye, the Smithsonian Research Center. It was cool to meet the volunteer station manager, Clive, and hear about the research going on there.

Once we got back to the mainland, we went back to the Tropical Education Center where we are staying again tonight. We spent the evening at the Belize Zoo and got an amazing tour. We saw five big cats, including a jaguar that did somersaults for us. We also fed a tapir and two crocodiles.

The Tapir we fed at the zoo.

The last thing we did tonight was talk with Lucrecia, who is in Belize to do cat research and took EBIO 319 last year. It was good to see her because we ran cross country together in the fall but she spent the spring semester in Tanzania, and it sounds like she has been doing some really cool stuff.

Tomorrow we are going to a cave. I’m sure it is going to be awesome, but I’m still a little sad that we aren’t at the reef anymore.

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I Don’t Mind the Atol At All

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5.17.2017

Today has been another long day in Belize, but I have no complaints. Kenneth, the manager at Glover’s Reef, called this “paradise” and I couldn’t agree more. Middle Caye definitely could make for a good stock photo.

Home of Glover’s Reef manager, Kenneth

I’m also happy to report that it has been another great day for my taxa! On the boat ride to Glover’s, we passed a bunch of islands of red mangroves (R. mangle) with their characteristic stilt roots extending out above the water. I also spotted some smaller ones on the edge of Middle Caye which are growing strong.

Red mangrove propagules off the shore of Glover’s Reef

The shallow waters leading to and surrounding the dock at Glover’s are seagrass beds consisting of the thin blades of manatee grass and the wide blades of turtle grass. While I did see a huge green turtle in the open ocean on the way to Glover’s, I didn’t see one in the turtle seagrass. No need to be sad, though, because I saw some other really cool organisms like barracudas, schools of snapper, some conch, a Southern stingray, and a juvenile nurse shark.

Turtle seagrass (T. testudinum) bed

The patch reef we swam out to was a complete sensory overload with abundant coral cover and fish darting to and fro. My main focus was trying to find all of the items on the scavenger hunt list, but in the process I was able to identify the unmistakable corky sea finger (B. asbestinum) and the common sea fan (G. ventalina). I also saw examples of sea rods (Plexaura spp.) and sea plumes (Pseudopterogorgia spp.).

Patch reef with the common sea fan in the forefront

After a couple of hours of snorkeling, we got out of the water only to look at more corals (because you can never see too many, am I right?). At first glance, the “coral graveyard” appears to be just a pile of rubble, but upon closer observation you can see that it is actually a collection of the calcium carbonate skeletons of stony corals. I learned how to identify some of the main reef-building coral species, and even found a token dried sea fan as well as some unidentified ants!

Dried common sea fan I found in the coral graveyard

Later in the evening, a spectacular sunset fell over the water while I ate too much guava jam and cake for dessert. The day concluded with some entertaining lectures from Jordan on hard corals and Mikey on echinoderms, as well as an arts and crafts quadrat making session.

Can’t wait to see what tomorrow has in store but for now I’ll just revel in the little victory of having warm water to shower in tonight. 🙂

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Goodbye Glovers!

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Ellie, Isaac, Damien, and I woke up early today to watch the sunrise from the observation tower at Glovers. It was beautiful! The perfect way to end our time at the reef. We’re all very sad to leave the ocean 🙁

We left Glovers around 8 and visited a research station run by the Smithsonian on our way back to the mainland. They had the BEST toilets ever: out on the end of the dock, looking out over the reef crest. Wow! Our last stop before the mainland was Twin Caye, an island of mangroves. We got to snorkel around, and we saw a manatee and a seahorse!

Seahorse!

When we got back to Belize City, we headed out to the Belize Zoo, where we are staying the night. We took a hike on a trail, and I saw loads of epiphytes! I could identify some of them, and Adrienne even crossed a river bed to help me. More epiphyte details to come in the following days. Dad – we think we saw a chachalaca!

After dinner, we got to take a night tour of the zoo and see all the nocturnal animals out and about! We got to feed a tapir, see several different owls, and ogle over 4 species of cats. Junior the jaguar did somersaults for us, and I think it was one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen. The ocelot ran over to us and purred, and it reminded me of my kitty back at home. I even got to hold a boa constrictor.

Boa Constrictor and me!

This is our last night staying in the Belize Zoo. I will miss this place! Tomorrow we will head toward Las Cuevas! Mom – We have pretty good wifi here, so I am about to add photos to all my old blogs (If you click on the tag “Jordan” at the bottom of this post, you can see all of them)!

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Day 8- I Want a Tapir

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Looking back on donkey dung (a type of sea cucumber) and I
Looking back on all our quadrant work

Crying internally because today we left Glovers Reef.  I am going to miss snorkeling and finding random things like a donkey dung, a crustacean, or using my lovely quadrant.

We got to snorkel in mangroves on the way back to Belize City at least and even saw a seahorse and a manatee. I saw one mangrove crab today camouflaged really well, but that was the last crustacean I have seen.

When we arrived at the Tropical Education Center most people went for a hike, but I did not feel great so I slept it off and it was much needed.  When I woke up I felt somewhat better, but I got to see a few birds including a thicket tinamous pitched on a branch about the pond.  Its body shape (and the diagrammed picture of it on the observation tower) were what easily gave it away.

Tapir before we fed him

We went to the zoo at night and I saw a few birds. They were mostly owls including the spectacle and pygmy owl.  The pygmy owl was tiny and adorable and tiny.  This might have been overshadowed by my love of the tapir that we got to feed.  It is just so weird looking and interesting to watch.

I am realizing how buggy the next week is about to be and how little bug spray I have left.  Wish me luck.

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Last Full Day at Glover’s Enjoyed, Thoroughly

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DAY 7 — Last full day at Glover’s Reef! It’s been real. We had a full morning of snorkeling, in the channel of the atoll, some shallow patch reefs called the aquarium, and around the patch reef off the dock of Middle Caye. Before even getting in the water, we saw a spotted eagle ray from the boat.

In the channel Jordan pointed out some Dendrogyra cylindrus coral, which lived up to its “skyscraper” analogy. I also saw a lot of Parrotfish (Sparisoma viride) and a cute little black fish with electric blue spots. There was a lot of orange icing sponge (Mycale laevis) all around the reefs today.

We rode the boat to from the channel to the aquarium, and the ocean was the color of blue gatorade, not an exaggeration at all. In the aquarium, we saw a nurse shark and I saw a bunch of Christmas tree worms. We also saw a yellow sting ray.

I saw some new species of sponge today! Thanks to Alessi for sharing her camera so they could be captured on film. The Black Ball Sponge (Ircinia strobilina) was scattered around the channel.  They had characteristic apical clusters of oscula and charcoal color. I also possibly saw the Stinker Sponge (Ircinia felix). There were also plenty of Scattered Pore Rope Sponge (Aplysina fulva).

PHOTO OF IRCINIA STROBILINA

After lunch we had a lecture on anemones, zoanthids, and coralimorphs and another on mangroves and seagrasses. Then we launched into a lionfish (Pterois spp.) dissection. Alessi and I got the most majestic lionfish of the six that Scott caught. We named him Azlan.

A side note: lion fish are a nasty invasive species in the Caribbean. So catching lion fish is an ecosystem service, a fun opportunity for dissection, and an excuse for Scott to whip up some ceviche.

Using NOAA protocol, we weighed, measured, sexed, and dissected the fish. Azlan had recently eaten a juvenile Yellow Wrasse, which we found in his stomach. We compiled our group data and compared it to data collected by a previous EBIO 319 group in 2015.

And then. Island enjoyment! Captain Buck took us over to a nearby island, Marisol, where we enjoyed each other and refreshments. Thanks to a nice smelling fisherman, we were able to procure a shirt to sign. Our EBIO 319 2017 shirt will live on in the small bar on Marisol.

Back at Middle Caye, we ate another delicious meal before presenting our lion fish data analysis and breaking down our quadrats *single tear*

I’m planning on waking up for the sunrise tomorrow for a final taste of paradise, aka Middle Caye.

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Day 7- Darth Vader is a Girl

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Yellow line arrow crab!

So today we went snorkeling for the whole morning and I finally saw the coolest crab that I’ve been dying to see.  I saw the yellow line arrow crab which looks like a spider with a top hat and gloves on and I love it.  He was missing a pincer and was a little feisty and resistant to being grabbed but it was still cool.

NURSE SHARK!!!!

I also saw 4 sharks!!!! I think my life has peaked… Also saw a spotted sun eel which was cool but sharks are better.

In the afternoon we dissected lionfishes that Scott and Javier caught.  I named mine Darth Vader so I wouldn’t feel about cutting it up.  Turns out Darth Vader is an infertile juvenile female, but Darth still tastes great as ceviche!

This was out last day at Middle Caye in Glovers Reef Atoll.  This was the most fun day we’ve had by far and I don’t want to leave, but I am excited for the rainforest.  I want to see some cool birds, but hopefully I can identify them… there are a whole lot of birds so we will see.

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One Squishy, Two Pieces of Banana Bread, and Lots of Fish

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DAY 6 — I think I’m starting to get used to waking up early and walking outside to feel the ocean breeze. This morning it was less of a breeze and more of a strong wind. It’s hard to belize that tomorrow is our last full day on the island.

This morning we had more delicious homemade bread and mixed fruit for breakfast. By 8:15 we were headed to the snorkel shack. Today we went to the northern back reef to collect a sampling of the diverse organisms in the reef (and seagrass) habitat. We walked through some adorable baby mangroves and trudged through some squishy seagrass beds to get to the patch reefs.

I saw a spotted eel (Gymnothorax moringa), the Caribbean giant anemone (Condylactis gigantea), Halimeda chips, and a couple brittle stars. I also saw a LOT of fish, including the juvenile Gray Angelfish (Pomacanthus arcuatus), the intermediate stage French Angelfish (Pomacanthus paru), the Bluehead (Thalassoma bifasciatum), the Rock Beauty (Holacanthus tricolor), and the French Grunt (Haemulon favolineatum).

PHOTO OF SPOTTED EEL

We swam our loot back to Middle Caye and sorted everything in the wet lab troughs. For good reason, we weren’t allowed to collect any sponges, so my taxonomic group was lacking. I did still have the dead sponge from yesterday, which I identified as a Yellow Tube Sponge (Aplysina fistularis).

PHOTO OF DEAD SPONGE

Some cool organisms collected were the Cocoa Damselfish (Stegastes variabilis), the Caribbean Giant Anemone (Condylactis gigantea), a fire worm (Heimodic carcunculata), and a Manta Shrimp (Pseudosquilla cilicate).

We managed to collect a tiny baby octopus (named Squishy) who became a fast favorite among the TFBs and highlight of the day. Squishy was hiding in a Diadema antillarum inked when the Cocoa damselfish lunged towards her (or him), which was extra cute. We think Squishy was an Octopus briareus.

PHOTO OF SQUISHY

After lunch Ellie, Deepu, and Anna gave their presentations on herbivorous fish, piscivorous fish, and invasive species, respectively. It was the perfect day for these lectures, as I had just seen a bunch of fish in the patch reef area.

After lectures we returned our collected friends to the ocean from whence they came and began analyzing our marine debris data from yesterday. We produced a poster (which got rave reviews) showing that plastic was both the most abundant type of marine debris by number of pieces and by weight.

Tomorrow, whether the weather be fair or whether the weather be not, we’ll weather the weather, whatever the weather, whether we like it or not. Meaning: we are going out to enjoy ourselves around various parts of the atoll, even if it stays windy.

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Annelids and molluscs are cool, marine debris is not 

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DAY 5 — Another full day of field biology! Starting with fried jack and fresh fruit for breakfast plus a leisurely coffee with Tian-Tian and Sarah. Our departure was postponed because of the windy conditions, so we listened to Damien talk about annelids and mollusks. 

Instead of heading out on the boat for an explanation of reef zonation, we suited up and walked through the “Mangroves of Death” to the back reef. We planned to assess the presence of Christmas tree worms (Spirobranchus gigantea), trying to answer the question: do Christmas tree worms show a host preference for stony coral? We hypothesized that more Christmas tree worms would be found on brain corals and that more Christmas tree worms would be found on larger corals.

Collecting data was difficult on the shallow reefs; constantly being pushed around by the waves and crashing into rocks was an inconvenience. Adolfo found a Caribbean spiny lobster shell from a recently molted lobster, which was pretty cool. 

For a sponge update: I didn’t identify any new sponges among the patch reefs today. BUT Adolfo found a big, old dead coral specimen. See below. 

PHOTO OF SPONGE (AND ME)

I’m pretty sure it’s a yellow tube sponge (Aplysina fistularis). 

I’m hoping that when we eventually get out to the reef crest and fore reef I’ll see some more new species of sponge. I’m still hoping for a barrel sponge (like the Giant Barrel Sponge, Xestospongia muta) or the Pink Vase Sponge (Niphates digitalis). 

After a delectable lunch, Isaac gave a lecture on marine debris. A fun fact: microplastics are thought to account for 90% of marine debris. Our next activity fit with the theme. We collected trash and marine debris from various locations around Middle Caye (11 people for 30 minutes, so 330 people-minutes). There was SO MUCH TRASH, especially plastics. Kind of a bummer.

We arrived back at the wet lab with our trash bags stuffed with plastic forks, bottles, toothbrushes, sandals, combs, Styrofoam pieces and much more. Waiting for us were several freshly collected and cut coconuts. Man, I love coconut. 

After a brief stint in the hammock, we sorted, counted, and weighed all of the debris. 2,460 pieces, or 18.46 kg, of plastic. 

Before dinner we played some beach volleyball. Look out for an EBIO 319 intramural team, coming SY 2018. 

Later in the evening, Scott and Adrienne set up lights in the water at the end of the dock. It was kind of eerie being out on the dock in the darkness, looking out over the huge ocean. The water was choppy because of the strong wind, but we were able to observe a bunch of fish and a sting ray. Also, we saw the bright, reflecting eyes of a crocodile lounging behind a log. 

Until tomorrow!

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Non-MPA Experiments and a lot of data

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DAY 4 — We started another busy day with some urchin measurement and identification. The urchins collected yesterday at the MPA area were happily bubbling in the bucket overnight. We identified at least one urchin from all four expected species: Echinometra lucunther, Echinometra virdis, Eucidaris tribuloides, and Diadema anitullarum. Sarah, Tian-Tian, and I measured the tests (circular body parts) with calipers. Urchins are pretty cool. 

After the urchin extravaganza, we quickly shifted gears and headed out on the boat. We returned the urchins to the MPA and motored over to an area of patch reef outside of the protected area. 

We all plopped off the edge of the boat and repeated the transect experiment from yesterday. We quantified benthos cover into the following categories: live stony coral, recently dead coral, bushy macroalgae, sand, soft coral, sponges, and other (which became a mostly sea grass category). Alessi and I were extra efficient and got plenty of time to snorkel around and explore the new areas of reef.

Today was a good sponge day. I saw more Chicken Liver Sponge (Chondrilla caribensis), Branching Vase Sponge (Callyspongia vaginalis) and Scattered Pore Rope Sponge (Aplysina fulva). Some new discoveries today were the Lavender Rope Sponge (Niphates erecta), the Orange Icing Sponge (Mycale laevis), and the Green Finger Sponge (Iotrochota, birotulata). 

PHOTOS OF LAVENDER ROPE, ORANGE ICING, GREEN FINGER SPONGES

We also saw a Gray Angelfish (Pomacanthus arcuatus) which was So Big and a nurse shark, but he or she was hiding under reef framework. 

We executed another 25 minute timed urchin collection at the non-MPA site. I couldn’t find a single urchin 🙁 We measured the urchins that were successfully collected on the boat and identified them before tossing them back into the ocean to continue their lives. 

PHOTO OF DIADEMA 

The afternoon was filled with data analysis. As a group, we totaled group data for the MPA and non-MPA reef health assessment experiment,, including the quadratic data and urchin data. Our efforts culminated in a poster, tracing the experiment from question and hypothesis to results and discussion. 

My favorite part of today might have been the early morning urchin measurements. After I got used to the feeling of little spines wiggling around in my palms, I really liked looking closely at the Aristotle’s lantern. I also enjoyed the delicious pineapple cake at dinner. Happy Birthday, Jordan! 

Before dinner, we had some ever-coveted free time. Some soccer was played, some showers were enjoyed. Our plans for a night snorkel were thwarted by weather conditions, but hopefully we can make it work another night! I imagine the reef at night is a whole different experience.