Tag Archives: amphibians

Day 10: An Eggcellent Day

Today marked our transition from aquatic tropical field biologists to terrestrial TFBs. We started the process of testing a research question that we could answer using camera traps. These “camera traps” are discrete cameras attached to trees throughout the forest, and snap a photo when an animal moves past the sensor. We decided to test how the distribution of predator and prey of various sizes would differ based on the camera’s placement on either trails, roads, or in the thick of the forest. We thought large predators would take advantage of the ease of travel on trails and roads (as safety is not as big of a concern for animals of their stature), yet we expected smaller prey and predators to be more often sighted (relative to their own groups) in the thick of the forest, because of the protection of the trees. We will collect these cameras on the last day, and hopefully have some interesting a fun data to look through.

Setting up the cameras was a bit of a big endeavor though. Navigating the forest terrain was definitely difficult and a new learning curve. We traveled fairly slowly, as we were all fascinated by the documentary-quality views of the trees/plants, and as we all hunted to find something relating to our taxonomic group. I didn’t have much hope of finding anything related to amphibians, but boy was I wrong. Thankfully we are here during the wet season, which gives us the best chance of encountering water-loving amphibians (which tend to be most active this part of the year). We first came across several tire tracks in the mud, which collected puddles of water, and in the water were hundreds of small tadpoles! Identifying species from tadpoles is quite difficult, as there are many more similarities and less distinctive colors, yet it was a fun find. There were clearly at least two distinct species though. In one puddle the tadpoles were small and nearly black with no obvious pattern, yet the other puddle had tadpoles that were larger (so probably older) and had a distinct pattern of off-white and dark grey blotches.

When we went to set up our last camera at the appropriately named “Frog Pond.” I was at first sad to see no standing water in the area, but to my surprise, there were huge clumps of treefrog eggs hanging from the leave at face height. These clumps of clear jelly contained probably a few hundred treefrog embryos. An amazing sight to see. Dr. Solomon was telling us how the frog eggs have adapted the ability to sense vibrations from a predatory snake slithering on the branches and prematurely hatch to avoid being eaten. The complexity and creativity of nature is truly unmatched. I am excited for tomorrow and hope to see more amphibians but I know they’re not too common to encounter so we will have to see.

Tree Frog Eggs
Tadpole from puddle

Day 9: The Lost City

Today, we made our way from the Tropical Education Center, where we stayed the night, to Las Cuevas Research Station. However, we did not take a direct shot between the two. Instead, we made a bit of a detour, to the uncovered Mayan ruins of Caracol. Our tour guide Leo, was a vast ranivore of knowledge about the ruins and the ancient Mayan culture. The structure these ancient civilizations created are truly domineering and impressive. Far beyond the size I imagined. At this particular sight, the key structure is still the tallest man-made building in all of Belize, despite being built thousands of years ago. We were able to explore for a couple hours, take some fun photos, and eat a delicious lunch while there.
We then made the hour drive to Las Cuevas. Reaching the station marked the start of a new and exciting adventure. Birds, insects, arthropods, and plants galore. The diversity of the rainforest is immense and strikingly different from my desert home. I, however, did not encounter an amphibian today. Here is where I can use my line that I probably heard them calling amongst the many sounds of the forest. Frogs/toads have very distinctive calls, and although I can’t identify them by ear yet, because it’s the wet season there is a good chance they were out there calling (especially since they are most active at night).
Today was an incredible experience, and fascinating to see the dynamic between the ancient ruins and the domineering natural forces of the forest. I am excited to be here, and start the second half of the course!

~Rusty

Mayan Ruins at Caracol
View from the top

Day 8: A Ribbiting Story

Today sadly marked the end of our period at Glover’s, yet the start of our trip to Las Cuevas Research Station, an exciting new adventure. We started with a long (but immensely more comfortable) boat ride back to Belize City. This was the last encounter I will have with my taxon of stony corals, which construct the interconnected system of barrier-reefs that mirror the coastline of Belize. Once there we had a relaxing lunch in a waterfront restaurant, and then made our way to a general store/supermarket to buy snacks and the supplies I inevitably forgot or already consumed. We then made our way to the Tropical Education Center, which is associated with the Belize Zoo and is a quite cute center in the midst of the Belizean savanna.

Before dinner, we listened to a super interesting talk by Boris Arevalo, where he discussed the nesting ecology and habitat of Scarlet Macaws. We then ate dinner, after which, the real excitement took place. We went on a guided night tour of the Belize zoo! Our tour guide/zookeeper Carlos was extremely knowledgeable and affectionate towards the multitude of animals we saw such as; large cats, owls, white-lipped peccary, snakes, kinkajou, and more. I had lost hope though in encountering any amphibians today. I planned on writing about their relative shyness, and the possibility that their calls may be part of the cacophonous mix of noises which surrounds us. Yet, while approaching the last few feet before the zoo exit, a large toad sprung out of the darkness. I thought at first that it was a Southern Gulf Coast Toad, as they’re common and the coloration/body shape mostly matched the toad I saw tonight. The dry-looking bumpy skin, the ridging of the head, and the coloration all seemed to be correct for the most part (there will always be some sort of variation between individuals). However, after further research I am now thinking it was more likely a Cane Toad (Rhinella marinaI). The big giveaway are the large, balloon-like paratoid glands, which rest just behind the tympanum (ear drum). This little, or rather large hand-sized guy (the rough tan skin leads me to guess it’s a male) was a savior for my blog and field notebook and a good start for possibly encountering some elusive amphibians during this trip.

Rhinella marinus (Cane Toad)

Pre-departure Excitement! Less than 36 Hours to Go!

Hi everybody! My name is Rusty Ludwigsen, and I am truly excited for the unique experience to travel to Belize and explore, examine, and appreciate both Glover’s Reef Atoll and The Chiquibul Forest. I am excited to approach these environments from the perspective of scientific understanding and discovery, and not simply as a tourist. My past experience with the Caribbean has been through highly commercialized endeavors, and with BIOS319 I hope to appreciate not only the beauty and wonder of these two environments, but also the vast amount of information and knowledge tied to these complex ecosystems. Much like being immersed in a new country can dramatically assist in the mastery of a second language, I think traveling to the ecosystems I have admired from afar in textbooks and documentaries will provide me with a new understanding of their function.

Yet, I expect this trip to be incredible, but also at times difficult. As a desert native, the humid weather of Houston is not my favorite, and traveling to remote regions of Belize will be a different animal. The humidity, heat, bug bites, early mornings, and sheer stickiness of the air are things I expect to not really enjoy. However, to travel to these remote regions, which appreciate their distance from civilization, requires contending with these environmental factors. Two weeks of some physical discomfort are well worth a lifetime of memories and knowledge. My past experience snorkeling in the Caribbean consisted of rubble with a few scattered Gorgonians (which I now know were covered in purple spots due to Aspergillosis) and Porites colonies. I hope to see a more intact reef in Belize, although I know it is not removed from anthropogenic damage.

The time to leave is approaching very quickly, and I am finalizing my suitcase with only a few hours to spare. I am looking forward to the early morning wakeup to begin this incredible adventure!

Holy Smokes! (A look back at the past two weeks)

In both the rainforest and the reef we observed great amounts of biodiversity. Both these places are located in the tropics which receive more direct sunlight than more northern ecosystems. Having lots of available sunlight allows for more plants and therefore there is more energy available to species that eat plants which could be why we saw so many different levels of herbivores and carnivores. Wow, that’s some science right there.

In both places, trees formed a vital part of the ecosystems (canopy and mangroves) and in both species have developed adaptions to compete and live in close quarters. In both areas we also found endangered species and invasive species, which though the causes for each habitat being endangered differ, both stem back to humans (sigh).

I expected more structure to our research, but was pleasantly surprised when we were allowed to pursue topics that interested us.  My favorite parts of the course were mostly in the rainforest- finding tarantulas at night, going into the cave, and getting to see all sort of different beetles, butterflies, and other things we don’t see around Houston. I found on this trip that I do not enjoy underwater research, in particular counting strands of seagrass was a low point, but it was still a good chance to learn what marine biologists do.

The most poignant moment for me on this trip was the trash collection activity on the last day- I was blown away by how much we collected and how much remained.  Also in preparing for my presentation, I learned about seagrass and mangroves and how they are actually vital for reefs and land ecosystems. I also went into the trip with a generally negative opinion of ants, but Scott’s passion and fun facts converted me to the cult of the ant. In particular I thought the leaf cutter ants were cool as they have super complex social structures, architecture, and they have little ant highway which somehow manage to be less chaotic than Houston’s own during rush hour.

Species seen:

Amphibians:

Morelet’s Tree Frog, Mexican Tree Frog, Broad Headed Rain Frog, Campbell’s Rainforest Toad, Gulf Coast Toad

Crustaceans:

Orange-tipped hermit crab, green climbing gall crab, giant hermit crab, furcate spider crab, spiny lobster, miscellaneous shrimp, blue land crab, blue land hermit crab

May 17th – Peeing in a Cup, Lectures in a Cave, and Catching a Glue Butt Cockroach

Today was our second full day at Las Cuevas, and unfortunately the rain appears to have stopped so the rainforest has become quite dry. Even when we went to the pond nearby it had dried up, so sadly no amphibians were spotted today.
Despite not seeing any members of my taxon group today, it was a very exciting day, and not just because we were surprised this morning with vials to collect our own urine. We spent the morning placing these vials of pee as well as controls containing water on tree trunks and in the ground the trap Arthropods and see if they prefer the nitrogen rich urine to water.
In the afternoon, we finally got to explore a bit of the namesake of this place- Las Cuevas (the cave). We went into the second of five huge chambers in the cave that are accessible from our station and when we turned off our headlamps there was no light. We stayed in the cave during our lectures because it is naturally cool underground, although we did get quite a bunch of bat guano on our pants.
My favorite part of today was going night hiking after dinner. I have slowly begun to fall in love with the huge red-rumped tarantulas that live in holes around our rooms and got to see a bunch more of those. We also found Glue-Butt Cockroaches, which are big black roaches with a sticky substance on their backs to dissuade predators. On the second try, I managed to catch one and it crawled all over my arm. We also found a stick bug and a different large spider with orange and black stripes. We saw our first snake and saw another scorpion- a Florida Bark Scorpion to be exact.


Hopefully tomorrow will be less hot and dry so the frogs come back out, but one things for sure, I’ll be out looking for tarantulas again tomorrow night!

May 16th – hundreds of ticks and a tarantula

Today was a long day of hiking for our team as we set up our 7 working camera traps along the trails near the research station to see what wildlife crosses the paths when we aren’t there. Though there were light showers in the afternoon, today was a fairly sunny and dry day. However, in the morning I did find a broad-headed rain frog under a log by where we deployed our first camera trap. Broad-headed rain frogs can be easily identified as they are often found in the leaf litter and have a distinctive side stripe that extends over its eyes, sort of like a bandits mask in old westerns. In the afternoon on our way up the Monkey Tail Trail, I caught a glimpse of a Mexican Tree Frog of a khaki coloration. Unfortunately, it was already high up the tree by the time I saw him. This was an abnormal siting as Mexican Tree Frogs are typically more active at night, though perhaps the rains brought him out.


Today was an exciting day for sitings from outside my taxon group too. We saw a group of spider monkeys before lunch and a bunch of us ate termites under Scott’s instruction. In the afternoon we got to observe first hand the mutualistic relationship between the Bull Thorn Acacia tree and their ant protectors plus we saw the fresh claw marks in the dirt on trail where a puma or jaguar had crossed. We also saw three scarlet macaws in the canopy and I even managed to capture a video of them as they swooped past.
Back at the station I found, no exaggeration, at least 100 ticks on me. I spent probably an hour tweezing them all out. Unclear how I got wrecked by ticks when everyone else just found a few, but tomorrow I’m going to use a LOT of bug spray.
After our lectures, it was dark, aka perfect conditions for tarantula hunting. We found a huge red-rumped tarantula in its hole and managed to coax it out, revealing the broken shells of beetles it had been eating. We also found a different arachnid, the Florida Bark scorpion in a sink, but if you are reading this, don’t worry mom, I didn’t get my hand close to either of them.

May 20th- We all get chased by soldier ants, a tapir photo, and (only) 44 tick bites

Today was our last day here at Las Cuevas and so we spent the morning going out to collect all the camera traps we had placed at the beginning of the week. When we were out, we ran into the spider monkeys again and watched for a while as they tried to scare us off by throwing sticks down. Today must have been a good day for monkeys, because we could also hear the sound of howler monkeys calling off in the distance all day, which sounds to me a lot like we are in the movie Jurassic Park. I also managed to rack up 44 ticks pulled off of myself after our second trip down the monkey trail, and that is WITH bug spray. Certainly less than the hundreds I got at the beginning of the week though. 

In the afternoon, we finished processing the data from yesterday afternoon’s experiment before going back out into the field one last time to examine young and old leaf cutter ant mounds (which mostly involved watching Scott digging holes to look for the fungus gardens and running from the giant soldier ants that can bite through rubber). 

After dinner we had our lectures and then went through the pictures from our camera traps and found we had captured a picture of…. drum roll…. A TAPIR!!! We also had photos of some smaller mammals like a possum and skunk, and some birds, however one picture that didn’t turn out clear appeared to have some sort of large cat, perhaps a puma? Unfortunately because you can only see the faces silhouette, I guess we’ll never know what was out in the forest that night… 

Tapir Spotting!

Though an exciting day of mammal siting, the amphibian count for the day was zero again, likely because of the dry and hot weather we have been having. 

May 19th- Ant attacks, a venomous snake, and a bird I thought was a jaguar

Today was a VERY long day of field work and quite frankly I’m exhausted. In the morning we sampled plants in disturbed and undisturbed areas of the forest and compared the diversity we found there. After making our poster presentations and eating lunch, we went back out to the disturbed habitat to take measurements of the leaf toughness of the trumpet tree leaves that do and do not contain ant colonies to defend them, and in the process I got bit on the hand by a number of ants.

From the top of the bird tower

Because these measurements took so long, we went right into hiking uphill to the bird tower to try and catch the sunset, but alas it was a cloudy day. We hiked back after the sun went down and I walked right over a Mexican Jumping Viper before Pierce noticed it (Yes, it’s venomous, but no, I did not get bit). We also saw a cute tree rat, the biggest cockroach in the world (literally, they are one of the largest cockroach species in the world), and a bird with reflective eyes that we all thought was a jaguar until we got closer. And THEN, it was time for all our lectures for the night.

I didn’t see any amphibians today, which I would assume is because we did our field work in the drier sun-exposed disturbed area, so the amphibians were probably deep under the leaf litter to keep from desecrating, if they were there at all. Phew, I’m tired, so that’s all the words you get today. 

May 15th – Waterfalls, Mayan Ruins, and Scarlet Macaws

Today we had another early start as we had a lot planned and far to travel. We ate breakfast at the lodge we stayed and I got to try a Belizean specialty called Fried Jacks, which are kind of like a less sweet beignet, along with others staples like refried black beans, watermelon juice, and some sort of cheese. We all loaded back into the van and headed further along the gravel road until we reached a waterfall with pools formed in the granite rocks called Rio en Pools. While there we got to swim and play in the waterfalls, as well as observe the mountain pine region close up. While walking to the falls, our group found a super tiny toad which I identified as a Gulf Coast Toad, a pretty common species in the area. We also found a basilisk lizard, which is noteworthy for the funny way it runs and the fact that it can run across water (though sadly, we did not witness this feat). 

After our swim, we drove about an hour to the Caracol Mayan ruins. I was amazed by the huge size of the buildings, as well as the fact that you are allowed to climb up the stairs of the exposed buildings and the fact that ancient pottery was just littered about. Also, we climbed the tallest ruin which is actually the tallest building in Belize and was built in 650 AD! We could even see the border of Guatemala from up there because of the deforestation line. My favorite parts of our tour included seeing Montezuma’s Oropendola birds (which make these interesting hanging sack-like nests to protect their eggs from snakes) and getting to see a whole bunch of black howler monkeys above us in the rainforest (including a baby!). 

After we finished at Caracol, we rode to our final destination- Las Cuevas Research Station and arrived right as it started to pour. Perhaps the dry season won’t be as dry as we thought. After the rain stopped, we got to see a Scarlet Macaw up in the canopy (except Keegan who didn’t believe us until it was too late). I didn’t see any amphibians after the rain, but I’m excited to see some tomorrow when we head out into the Chiquibul for the first time since it is (hopefully) an early start to the wet season!

Caracol