Hi everyone! It’s day 4 on the reef and what a day it’s been! We started the morning by compiling and analyzing the results of our fish-follow project. Our conclusion: all parrotfish species preferred the outskirts of reefs, ate algae, and most terminal stage males were not eating. We created a poster with our findings and presented it to Dr. Solomon and Dr. Evans on the dock…with a minor interruption. My hat flew off my head while presenting and I had to jump in the water and grab it. I was dripping wet for the rest of the presentation, but at least I didn’t lose the hat.

We also explored the mangroves in the morning and caught some interesting critters including crabs, snails, and small fish. It turned out though that we weren’t the only ones hunting in the mangroves. I swung my net at what I thought was a crab and came up with a box jellyfish! Box jellys follow noise and movement to track prey and are incredibly venomous when they sting. I was really lucky to come out unscathed.

After lunch (sandwiches), we explored the rest of the island, including the “coral graveyard.” This is an area of beach where dead coral of many different species are piled high. We observed several small invertebrates living in the area, including snails and sea urchins. I was surprised to find a lot of trash on the beaches and trails we visited. I am looking forward to our beach clean-up day later this week.

We ended the day by setting up lights off the dock to see what nocturnal species we could attract. We somehow ended up catching fish, shrimp, glass eels, and, get ready for it, a small squid with our nets! We found a bucket for Angie (the squid) and got to observe her ink and hunt. I am looking forward to seeing what else we can find tomorrow and snorkeling again from off the boat. That’s all for now! – Elise

Hi everyone! It’s day 3 on the reef and I hope you can sea it was a good one : ) We started our first project today using a technique called “fish follow.” This is essentially when someone follows around a fish for a given amount of time (5 minutes for us) and observes its behavior. We decided to use this technique to determine what different species of parrotfish are eating on the reef. My snorkel buddy Ian and I decided to follow striped parrotfish. Other groups observed redtail, redband, and stoplight parrotfish. We swam out to the patch reefs near the station in the morning to sample for 45 minutes.

While snorkeling, Ian spotted something remarkable hiding in the coral — a white-spotted toadfish! These fish are super cool because they can produce calls that sound like a hum that can be heard even from out of the water. I would encourage you to go look up what they look like at this time if you haven’t already. They are very hard to spot (it took me three duck dives to see what Ian was pointing at).

After lunch (pizza!) and a brief nap in a hammock, we headed out for two more snorkels in the boat. While snorkeling, we found the angelfish trifecta — 2 queen angelfish, 3 gray angelfish (2 feet long), and 1 gray angelfish (2-2.5 feet long). It was amazing to see! I look forward to seeing what else we can find as we explore the mangroves tomorrow. That’s all for now! – Elise

Hi everyone! Today, I checked “swim with sharks” off my bucket list! We started the day with a morning snorkel out to a patch reef to test our gear and make sure that we remembered how to swim (all good there) and ended with a snorkel at a large reef called “the aquarium” to observe our taxon group. 

I was incredibly excited to get in the water after seeing so many species just from the dock yesterday. While snorkeling, we saw (get ready, this is a long list) a lemon shark, two nurse sharks, 4 species of angelfish (gray, french, flameback, and rock beauty), sea cucumbers, a porcupine pufferfish, 2 manta rays, 1 stingray, 2 rainbow parrotfish, many large groupers, a large predatory jack, and almost every species of coral that you could think of. It was especially cool to see the angelfish species in the wild after reading so much about them. I thought that the flameback angelfish in particular were very interesting, and I even observed one digging in the sand with its caudal (tail) fin.

I am very excited to see what we find tomorrow out on the reef. I’ll keep you posted with more fin-tastic updates! That’s all for now! – Elise

Hi everyone! We’ve officially traded our rubber boots for dive fins and headed to Glovers research station near a coral reef! Over the next few days, we will be exploring the surrounding waters and learning about the fish, coral, and algae (and other species) that inhabit them. I am looking forward to identifying angelfish on the reef, which is my next taxonomic focus.

Today began with a bus ride to Belize City. We stopped at a store along the way and ate lunch at a resort near the marina. Around 1 pm, we boarded the boat (I don’t remember its name, but its neighbor was called the Explorer 2). I was a bit nervous about the boat ride earlier today, as I thought that I might get sea sick on the open water. However, I was completely wrong. I loved the boat ride. It was a bit like a roller coaster actually, but with incredible views of as many shades of blue as you can imagine and some surfacing fish.

And the scenery just kept getting better. Arriving at Glovers, I thought that we were passing by a luxury resort. The island is bordered by tall palms with coconuts (we tried climbing one and failed tragically).The dock where we first arrived extends out to a sea grass bed and we saw a nurse shark within minutes of stepping off the boat. Hermit crabs scurry across the sand in every direction and sea birds call from overhead. I can’t wait for our first snorkel tomorrow and for my taxon briefing on angelfish! That’s all for now! – Elise

Houston, we’ve found a frog! Four of them to be precise. But before I tell you more about these “ribbet-ing” encounters, let me share a bit about our ATM cave expedition. I use the word expedition here because the ATM caving was the most “Indiana Jones-like” experience of my life so far. It started with a 30 minute hike to the cave entrance, which involved 3 river crossings. The dive booties really came in handy today. Once we reached the entrance, we took a moment to learn a bit about the history of the cave from our guide, Rafael. He explained that, in Maya culture, caves were often seen as the bridge between the underworld and Earth. For this reason, caves were seen as spiritual places and the Maya conducted many rituals within them.

We entered the cave by swimming up through the river that feeds into it. We then waded through narrow rock passages for another 100 meters or so before reaching a large rock platform. We climbed the platform and removed our shoes as hard soles can damage the limestone cave surface. From there, we climbed through several large caverns that were utilized by the Maya for rituals, including a cavern called the “cathedral.” In the cathedral, we saw multiple human skeletons and learned about their histories from Rafael.

Climbing out of the cave, we passed through a formation called “the decapitator.” It was incredibly fun to maneuver our way through it. Overall, the ATM cave was one of the most exciting and interesting experiences of my life!

After the cave, we travelled to the TEC ecolodge. Upon arrival, we noticed some dark rain clouds overhead, and I started to hear the promising calls of nearby frogs. Finally, it happened. I heard the word I had been waiting for all trip: “FROG!” I sprinted towards the bathrooms and sure enough Claire C. had a tree frog cornered on the outer wall. I have included a picture below and I believe my excitement can really be shown in the quality of the photo. I have identified the species as a mahogany tree frog. The next two frogs were found on the zoo tour and both were small cane toads. I elected to not attempt to catch them as cane toads can secrete a toxic substance from their heads. The last frog was in the shower and I believe that it was another mahogany tree frog.

What a day. I am looking forward to travelling to the reef tomorrow. I’m not sure how I can top this experience, but hope to find out soon! That’s all for now! – Elise

Hi dedicated readers! It’s day 5 in the rainforest — our last day at Las Cuevas! Today may be our final day, but we made it count! Today, I woke up at 4:40 am to hike to the bird tower for a second time to watch the sunrise. Although the hike was somehow even harder the second time, the view was still spectacular and well worth the effort. After breakfast (eggs, beans, tortilla, and fruit), the group headed off to collect our camera traps. While on the trail, we observed an ant lion, a small insect that digs pits to trap ants while in its juvenile stage. I’ve included a picture below.

Once we returned to LCRS, we started presentations for the day and the next day. I think that my talk on tropical parasites, disease, and medicinal plants went very well, and some of the questions that were asked prompted a good discussion on the use and efficacy of certain medicinal plants.

Let me ask you this: how many scarlet macaws have you seen? Probably none, maybe one or two. Well, our class saw 15 while eating dinner on the veranda! That’s 3.75% of the total Belizean population and it was an amazing sight to see. 

After dinner, we looked at our camera trap footage. Some of the highlights include turkeys, curassows (large birds), a tayra (small mammal), and 3 pumas! We found that overall mammals and birds tend to prefer trails (disturbed areas) over undisturbed areas.

We ended the day with a fun campfire near the station. I am looking forward to exploring the ATM cave tomorrow and finding an amphibian! Tomorrow is pretty much my last chance. That’s all for now! – Elise

Hi! It’s day 4 in the rainforest and what a day it has been so far. We started off this morning by monkeying around…literally. We met the local family of howler monkeys and had a great discussion with the manager of Las Cuevas, Jane, about their behaviors and family structure. The family consisted of five monkeys of various ages and included a small baby that was incredibly cute! 

After breakfast (eggs, beans, and fruit), we met the Karst Team and went on a tour of the nearby cave system. I really enjoyed learning about the history of the cave and the species that reside within it. I also appreciated the cool cave air. We then headed to the field to collect our pitfall traps.

After lunch (rice and beans, chicken, and plantains), we listened to a few presentations, processed the results from our pitfall trap project, and worked on our poster. Dr. Solomon caught a basilisk near the cave and brought it back for us to take a look!

We ended the day with a hike to the bird tower, which overlooks the Chibiqual forest. It was truly one of the most incredible views I’ve ever seen. I look forward to hiking there again tomorrow morning to see the sunrise and for my topic lecture on tropical parasites, disease, and medicinal plants. That’s all for now! – Elise

Hi everyone! Day 3 in the forest and the scenery has really grown on me : ) I woke up for birding this morning to a beautiful sunrise over the treetops. We saw four scarlet macaws today! After breakfast (pineapple, bananas, eggs, and beans), we headed to the lab to process the results from our Cecropia project. We massed each leaf and recorded the change in weight since yesterday afternoon. We obtained mixed results, with some leaves gaining mass (likely from water uptake) and some losing mass (likely from herbivory). Therefore, we decided that we could not make a definite conclusion regarding the defenses in trees colonized by ants compared to defenses in trees uncolonized by ants.

We were surprised to hear that the director of the FCD (friends for conservation and development) was at Las Cuevas today. He delivered an impromptu presentation on conservation in the Chiquibul forest for us and I really enjoyed hearing from him! After lunch (rice, pork, and salad), we headed to the classroom for more taxon presentations and a topic lecture. Then, we headed into the field to play with ants! Leaf cutter ants cultivate fungal gardens in their nests, and we excavated two (one young, one old) to see them. In the young nests, we eve found the queen ant on the fungal garden, which was incredibly cool. We spent the majority of the expedition stomping to keep the ants from climbing up our boots. Leaf cutter ants have a powerful bite, and I was fortunate to not experience it…so far.

After the sun set, we returned to the forest for a final time to see what species we could find in the dark. Sadly, we could not find any amphibians. We did find some snakes! But they part of an experiment, so they were made out of clay. Tomorrow, we head to the caves and I look forward to seeing what we’ll find. That’s all for now! –Elise

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.

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.

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!

Hi everyone! Today was a busy day in Belize! We started off the day strong with some bird watching from the station veranda from around 6-7 am followed by a delicious breakfast of eggs, beans, and papaya. Dr. Solomon and Dr. Evans revealed our first big project theme: camera trapping! Camera traps are motion-sensing cameras that take pictures of animals that cross in front of them. It was up to us to discuss as a class what scientific question we would address using camera trapping and how we would go about testing it. We decided to look at how the impact of human disturbance via the presence of man-made trails affects the biodiversity of vertebrates (mammals and birds) surrounding Las Cuevas.

After developing our methodology, we hit the trail. Each student in the class was responsible for setting up one of the 14 camera traps. Seven of us set up cameras in disturbed areas (along the trail) and seven set up cameras in undisturbed areas (50 steps off the trail). I set up a camera trap off the main road into Las Cuevas to the north of the station. Setting the trap required Dr. Solomon’s excellent machete skills to create a path through the thick underbrush.

While we were setting up the traps, we observed several new species, including green anole lizards, tailless whip scorpions, and a true scorpion (we maintained a safe distance). I also tried a new food today: termites! They actually weren’t awful to eat and tasted a bit like carrots.

We took a break from placing camera traps around noon for lunch, which was rice and beans, pico de gallo, avocado, chicken, and plantains. Side note: I’ve recently learned that rice and beans and beans and rice are two different dishes! Rice and beans are cooked together while beans and rice are served separately.

Plans for tonight include dinner followed by presentations. So far, I have yet to see an amphibian today, but maybe I will be able to find one around the station later tonight. I have met a new friend today though: the stingless bee or “Drunken Bayman.” It is called this because it tends to fly in a disorganized manner. It seems to be following me everywhere. Tomorrow, I am looking forward to another morning of bird watching and exploring the trails around the station a bit more. I have learned the safest way to flip logs which caecilians, salamanders, and frogs tend to hide under, so hopefully I will have an update with an amphibian sighting soon. That’s all for now!