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Day 2: Three Days Packed into One!

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Blog Post #2

Day 2: 3 days packed into 1!

Written at 9:43 pm on May 16th

 

DISCLAIMER: Las Cuevas was supposed to have internet—right now, it isn’t working. All LCRS posts from the rainforest are posted after the fact!

Today felt like 3 days packed into 1… We started at the Rio on Pools excursion, which is halfway to Caracol from our ecolodge. There, we swam, “showered,” and identified wildlife. I spotted several little puddles of tadpoles! Also, Claire helped me pick up one of the bigger ones for a picture.

When we left Rio on Pools, I fell asleep in the van, so waking up felt like a whole new day. We arrived at Caracol to observe the Mayan ruins and learn more about the culture. We also talked about forest reclamation over these structures, and we discussed the pros and cons of excavation. No amphibians were spotted on this trip, but it was great to see the birds, howler monkeys, lizards, and countless plants along the way.

Again, I fell asleep during the ride to Las Cuevas Research Station and woke up to an oscillated turkey in the road. Once settled in, we readied ourselves for our calibration hike, figuring out all our gear, hiking ability, and sharpening our eagle eyes. Kirsten spotted a Mexican Tree Frog (identified thanks to my Taxon ID card!) that was blowing up his air sacs doing a mating call, resting in the center of a palm frond. Scott lowered the leaf appendage so we could see it better and the frog promptly projectile urinated behind him and jumped forward onto Scott. He said the frog was slippery, so he couldn’t catch it.

We came back to a lovely dinner, and then we did our first night of lectures, it is now 10:18 pm and I am ready to go to sleep! 5 am birding calls my name tomorrow.

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Day 1: All the Traveling

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Written at 9:01 pm Belize time on May 15th

How excited am I to be in Belize? As excited as this dog was to take their picture!

This pup is the resident at the Crystal Paradise Lodge, our first place we call home on this lovely trip. It’s been a long day, but it was a great introduction to Belize. (We aren’t supposed to pet the dogs, but at least we can take cute pictures!)

We started at 10:30 am in Anderson Bio Labs on campus—we took a cute group pic for the Biosciences Facebook page/press release (not sure where to find that). Then we hopped on the bus and headed for the airport. Upon arrival, we found out that Claire’s dad would be our pilot! We ate Chick-fil-A and Pilot Jeff bought us all cookies.  Then we turned our phones to airplane mode (not before my last game of HQ for a while), boarded our plane, and left for Belize.

After going through customs, we met Edward, our van driver for the day. He took us to the local convenience store to get some snacks and whatnot—I bought shampoo and conditioner because, oops, mine spilled in my toiletry bag…  During our 2.5-hour ride, we talked to each other, looked through the savannah plains, identified recent burn areas, and learned about each other’s lives. It was a great time. I also really enjoyed talking to Edward and learning about Belize as a country. The highway we took was called the Western Highway, but it is now called the George Price Highway in honor of his role in helping achieve Belizean independence in 1981. We took turns looking out for our taxonomic groups, but I didn’t see any of mine (Amphibians or Sponges). Claire did see one frog in our bathroom, but I didn’t get a chance to look. From her description, it seems like an Hourglass Tree Frog, but who knows…

We arrived at the Crystal Paradise Ecolodge, where we were guided to our “cabanas” and then served a delicious dinner with really good cake for dessert. There are lots of cool bugs and animal sounds, and we are really into trying to identify them all. We are quickly learning that we haven’t even scraped the surface of the insects we don’t know… And now, I’m working on my blog and my field notebook journal.

This trip is off to a really high note! Scott and Adrienne have warned us that this first location is a ton nicer than the research stations and we should enjoy it while we can. Also, on a similar vein, blog posts will be posted only when internet is accessible. Las Cuevas has an ethernet cable, but my computer doesn’t have an ethernet port… So, we shall see what happens. No idea about Glover’s Reef yet.

I hope that we will have ok enough internet to post every day, but I apologize in advance if we won’t be able to!

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Let’s Go to Belize!

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As I sit in my childhood backyard in Atlanta, GA, I think about all the bugs that seem to be nipping and milling about. I can only help but wonder what the bugs and critters will be like in Belize… I imagine that the mosquitoes will be much worse!

I’ve traveled to Belize before, but that was on a live-aboard sailboat! So, I’ve never been to the rainforest, and I’m really looking forward to seeing the rich fauna–even if they are hard to find. I’ve been researching amphibians, and though there are lots of them, every site says they are nearly impossible to spot unless you have a watchful eye. I am a little concerned I won’t be able to spot them as well as others because I am so short, but maybe they’ll be more on the ground!

I am most looking forward to spending time on the reef. I love being in the ocean, swimming about, seeing the fish, corals, and everything in between… I’ve always had an interest in marine biology, and I had an internship 3 summers ago at the Georgia Aquarium with the animal husbandry specialists. I’m excited to see how my research on sponges (which I also looked at back in sophomore year of high school) compares to real reef life.

All in all, as soon as I can pack, I am ready to hop on that plane and get there! I am ecstatic I get to share this experience with other equally invested and dedicated Rice students plus Surf+Turf. 🙂

EBIO 319 2018 woot woot!

2017

I can’t Belize it’s over!

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One of the most striking similarities in between the Rainforest and the Coral reef, is the sheer number of microclimates that each organism has specialized into. Both the rainforest and the coral reef have such wide levels of biodiversity because each organism has adopted a tiny niche. Both environments also exist in a nutrient deficient state. The rainforest has low nutrient enrichment in its soils. The coral reef also exists in a low nutrient environment. Both exist in states of nutrient deficiency due to a high turnover rate and the sheer number of organisms that need those nutrients.

The rainforest and the coral reef seem to have very similar structures. I have observed that the canopy of the rainforest is similar to the hard coral structure of the reef. Both the canopy and the hard corals support large amounts of life. However, there is even more life teeming underneath in the crevices of the coral and in the understory of the rainforest. By setting pitfall traps and shifting the dead coral pieces while looking for urchins, I got to see a whole new side of both environments. I learned that there is a huge diversity of invertebrates on the forest floor and that for every organism I see on the surface of the coral reef there are ten more underneath.

One of the major differences that I have noticed in the rainforest and on the coral reef, is that the rainforest appears to be more stratified. The organisms in the rainforest that exist in the canopy are rarely found on the forest floor. On the other hand, the fish that are swimming above the coral reef at one moment can be found in a crevice the next. I believe that the water filled environment of the reef allows for greater movement of organisms between the different sections of the coral reef.

I expected that I would really enjoy EBIO 319, but would prefer the marine part of the course! However, I ended up loving the rainforest section equally as well as the marine. Furthermore, I didn’t really expect our class to click as well as it did. I think that by the end of the trip, we all had become good friends. On a side note, I expected that I would leave the rainforest as one giant mosquito bite. However, I didn’t get a single mosquito bite while in the Chiquibul. Similarly, I didn’t expect the rainforest to be so cold. I had to put on a sweatshirt most mornings in the rainforest.

My favorite part of the course was the ATM cave. It was one of the coolest things I have ever done! I also loved designing our own experiments and applying them in the field. I loved that we were given the freedom to see what worked and didn’t work in each study. My least favorite part of this course was of course leaving. I wish that I could stay in Belize forever. I also didn’t love the Christmas tree worm study, but that was primarily due to the very low density of worms!

While I know that I won’t remember won’t remember the details from the presentations or taxon briefings five years from now, I will remember some of the most important guidelines to being a TFB. Rule number one: When you are in the field, things will inevitably go wrong. You must always be prepared for a change in plans and to think of a way to fix a problem like using a vine to tie a camera trap to a tree. Rule Number 2: Always carry a headlamp, a snack, and water! You never know when you will be making it back to base camp and should always be prepared to spend the night in the woods. Rule number 3: always bring plastic bags! There were countless times on the trip that I found my self wishing for a plastic bag to hold wet clothes or to organize equipment. The most important thing I learned is that I love doing field work and want to pursue become a tropical field biologist in the future!

2017

Leaving Belize* cries* (May 30th)

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Today, I woke up at 5 am to watch the sunrise and listen to the birds. I didn’t see many birds, but it was nice to drinking coffee and watch the sun come up. It was a bittersweet moment in which I got to reflect on everything we had done on the trip and everything I had learned. I can’t believe that we are leaving Belize today. This trip has been quite the adventure and has passed by so quickly. Hopefully, I will get to come back someday!

We left Las Cuevas Research station around 8:20am and drove to the Golden Grove, a souvenir shop. Then we got back in the car and continued on our trek to the airport. Along the way, we stopped at a restaurant called Cheers for lunch. They had really good watermelon juice!

I did not see any amphibians today. The closest I got to an amphibian sighting was a painted frog on a plate in the souvenir shop. However, I saw more frogs and toads on this trip than I expected.

We made it to the airport shortly after! Sarah Glovers and I got selected for extra security clearing and got to get on the plane first! We saved seats for the whole group which was very stressful. We made it to Houston around 7:40 and passed quickly through customs. It was sad to say goodbye to everyone, but I know that I will see everyone around campus.

2017

LAST FULL DAY IN BELIZE (May 29th)

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Today, we are recollecting our camera traps. After breakfast, we set off on the 50-hectare plot. It took us way less time to collect all of the traps this time. While on the trail, I saw another Mexican tree frog. This Mexican tree frog was clinging to a small plant and had slightly different coloration from the others I have seen on this trip. This frog had slight green markings on its arms. After we got back, we completed all of our presentations for the trip.

After lunch, we hiked along the Monkey Tail trail in order to collect the remaining camera traps. It was really fun trying to find all of the cameras again deep in the forest. Unfortunately, the GPS wasn’t working perfectly, so frequently we had to use the sun and look for signs of our previous journey into the bush.

While in the forest, I saw an Dendropsophus ebraccatus (The hourglass tree frog) for the first time! This frog was much smaller than I realized. He had very unique coloration pattern. He had dark brown lines that contrasted with his bright white color. He was sitting on a small leafy plant.

After dinner, we looked at our camera traps! We saw peccaries, pacas, great curassow bird, and a brocket deer. The biggest catch of the night was 2 ocelots!!!! I really didn’t think that we would see anything on our traps! Today was a great last day!

2017

The pitfalls of EBIO 319 (May 28th)

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This morning after breakfast, we picked up our pit falls from the forest. There were a surprising number of ants and beetles in our traps. We sorted all of the organisms from each site into different morpho-species and measured overall diversity in the forest canopy and on the forest floor. We concluded that there was a greater nutrient abundance on the canopy and forest floor.

After lunch, we went into the cave just outside of the research station. This cave was used by the Mayans for religious ceremonies. We could see some of the old platforms and stairs built by the Mayans. While in the cave, we saw a giant green snake scaling the wall of the cave. I got to give my last topic lecture in a secondary chamber of the cave. I think it is safe to say that that will be the coolest place I ever give a talk!

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After dinner, we hiked out to the bird tower to watch the sunset. The view from the tower was amazing! As far as you could see, there were rolling hills with no visible human presence. On the way back from the tower, we got to do a night hike. The forest totally changes at night. It was really incredible when we turned off our head lamps and just listened to the forest. We saw cockroaches with a glue like substance on their back and phosphorescent scorpions hiding in a log. We also got to see a tailless whip scorpion which is actually not a scorpion, but is in the arthropod family.

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Immediately once we got back, I found another Smilisca baudinii (Mexican treefrog). This frog was a much darker color than the other frogs I had previously identified of this group. This frog also did not have the yellow running down its side. This difference in color may be due to the frog’s ability to change its coloration between the night and the day. The other frogs were found closer to dusk than at pitch dark.

2017

THE AMAZING ANT MAN AND HIS COLONIES! (May 27th)

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After breakfast today, we designed a study to test arthropod diversity and nutrient levels on the forest floor and in the forest canopy. We placed pee and water filled vials on the trees and on the ground in order to create pitfalls for the arthropods. I saw a Blue Morpho butterfly while placing my vials.

After lunch, we did the infamous leaf cutter ant colony excavation. We looked at colonies that were 1, 5, and 10 years old. It was super interesting to see how the ant colonies changed as they matured. The year-old colony was very small and had very few soldier ants. As the colonies matured, more soldier ants appeared and the fungus colonies got bigger and bigger.

We dug up ant colonies until about an hour before dinner and played card game in our free time. Then, we completed our presentations for the night. After the presentations, I saw another Smilisca baudinii (Mexican treefrog). This one had a very dark coloration.

After dinner, a small group of us went on a tarantula hunting adventure. There are a lot of spiders located in the clearing around the station. We saw a Red Rump tarantula and a Livingston Stony tarantula. We learned how to draw the tarantulas out of their hole. While we were searching, we saw large glistening eyes on the edge of the clearing. As we got closer, we discovered that it was a bird, Pauraque, roosting on the ground.

2017

I will walk 3000 miles for… camera traps! (May 26th)

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I woke up today at 5:00am for birding! There were only a few birds actually flying in the clearing. However, the bird calls were so loud and beautiful! Then, we had breakfast and began planning our experiment for the day. Today, we were laying camera traps in order to test the abundance of large cats and their prey on paths and in densely forested areas.

Around 9:40am, we left for our first hike of the day! It was a pretty good hike! There were a lot of steep hills, but the downs were really fun. We got to go off trail in order to lay our camera traps. I was completely convinced the whole time that I was going to grab a vine and it would turn out to be a snake! We saw a Mexican porcupine at the top of one of the hills. I think it was sleeping in a hollowed out tree. When he heard our group, he scampered up the tree. We saw a scorpion eater snake and a few large centipedes. I also saw the Blue morpho butterflies.

After lunch, we went on our second hike of the day! We hiked the Monkey Tail trail. A few trees had fallen over in the last hurricane and were blocking the path. It was a lot of fun to scamper over them! On the hike, I didn’t see too many organisms because I was focused on the camera traps. However, we did see lots of signs of the large cats. We saw a few pieces of scat and some large cat scratches. Hopefully, we will be able to catch some on our cameras. We got slightly turned around on our way out of the forest after the last camera trap. We ended up making it out of the forest thanks to Scot and a GPS! We ended up making it back to the station after dark. When we turned on our headlamps, we could see all of the spider eyes staring back at us. There are a surprising number of spiders!

On the last hike, I finally saw a amphibian. It was a Smilisca baudinii (Mexican treefrog)! While we were handling the frog, it turned a dark brown color, and we could see the characteristic dark lines on the frog’s back and legs.

2017

Dad, I ate a termite! (May 25th)

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Today, we left Crystal paradise and started our trek to Las Cuevas research station. On the way, we stopped at Rio-On Pool. The Rio-On river forms large pools of water over these large granite slabs. There were really pretty waterfalls! It was a lot of fun scrambling over the large boulders. After about an hour, we continued on our way to Las Cuevas. We played card games in the van on the way. The 2-hour drive passed very quickly. We played B.S for most of the drive.

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After we got to Las Cuevas, we quickly unpacked and ate lunch! Surprisingly, I am not tired of chicken, rice and beans. Then we went on a hike! We hiked the Mayan trail and got to see a lot of Mayan ruins. I was so surprised when Scott told me that the “hill” I was standing on was a Mayan temple covered in trees. We also got to see the ball court where they used to play the Mayan ball game. Supposedly, the prize for winning the game was a sacrificial death!

While hiking through the rainforest, I did not see any amphibians. Sad Face. I really expected to see a frog our toad on our hike, because it was sprinkling. I will search more in the leaf litter tomorrow! However, I did see lots of wolf spiders, epiphytes, and grasshoppers. We looked at a giant leaf cutter ant nest. I also saw oropendulm,a black bird with yellow tail feathers. After the hike, there were a lot of termites flying around the station. I got to eat a termite! Dad, they were not minty, but I will try to find a minty one!