Our second-to-last LCRS day. A lot of people went birdwatching, but not me! It was really cool today though 🙁 they saw a howler monkey family and some really fun birds, but I’ll get ‘em next time. After that though, I had some bread rolls with our classic eggs, beans, and fruit (thank you Ms. Angie!).
And then it was time for some caving! Not our regularly scheduled program, but so so cool. The cave was off of the station, and newly being researched by FCD’s Karst Management Unit. Immediately walking in there, it was ten times cooler (both temperature-wise and experience-wise). Given my topic lecture on life in the caves, it was so surreal to see. We saw stalactites and stalagmites, beautiful columnar speleothems, and the classic multi-chambered characteristics of the caves. And my favorite part, the cenote in the middle, featuring some groundwater as well. Cenotes don’t need to have water in them, so it was cool to see that this one did have some in it. Watching droplets of mineral, calcium carbonate polymorphs forming what in millenia will be curtains upon curtains on speleothems, it was surreal to see the potential of it all. Also, the cute bats flitting around were to die for. I kinda wish I’d been able to see some of the deeper chambers, potentially finding some troglobytes or troglophiles, but it was amazing nonetheless.
After cave exploring, it was time to collect our pitfall traps from two days ago. I think the worst part was the heat along the pathway–it was such a contrast to moments before, and really trying for that reason alone. I did get to collect my nitrogen samples though, and I’m slightly proud to say that I caught a super big cockroach in one. Not that that beats Claire’s 66 ants in her groundwater, but still kinda impressive. Post-lunch (rice and beans), it was time to analyze the data and make a poster. Sam was our ant man once again, because that formed the majority of organisms we caught. Additionally, we did find some spiders, beetles, crickets, and some unknown species! It ultimately told us that the ground had much more resources like nitrogen, while the canopy had a greater difference between its water and nitrogen sample, hinting at resource limitation there. We made this really beautiful poster (Emily’s drawing for our methods section is actually a masterpiece oml). But after that, it was time for an evening hike to Bird Tower.
An uphill climb for sure! My feet still ache as I write this up. And through the hike up, Dyllan was definitely in need of a hiking pole. I think Ian needed one on the way down. Obviously, though, I was fine because I’m actually a super good climber and have the dexterity of a mountain goat and the climbing skills of a person who’s hiked the Himalayas. (JK but imagine if I actually believed that lol). To be honest though, delusion kept me going. That is, until I saw the beautiful sunset. It was worth it. Fiery, red ball in the sky, golden sky ablaze with colors, and dense canopy below, it was amazing to see all that we’ve previously hiked. It felt like such a surreal rundown, encompassing all the work we had previously completed.
Just because of the time we spent not directly in the forest, I didn’t get to observe much fungi and lichen past some white mold on a tree and a log. It was still very cool to see. And I’ve learned about a couple more fungi over this time, which I’m really happy about. I’ll be going up to Bird Tower again tomorrow though for sunrise, so I’ll compare that and y’all stay tuned!
