IMG_0329Hi! We’re still in the heart of the jungle, on day 2/5 at Las Cuevas. Today was a busy day with us successfully setting up two research projects!

This morning we set up a research experiment using pitfall trap to try to see the nitrogen limitation between the forest canopy and ground by seeing the difference between invertebrates in the nitrogen (our pee surprise!) and the water pitfall traps. We spent the morning setting up the experiment on several trees.

In the afternoon we set up another research experiment to see if bullhorn acacia trees change their defense mechanism based on age and colonization of ants. Usually a Bullhorn Acacia tree has a mutualistic relationship with ants where the ants live inside the hollow tree and are provided food by the tree. In return the ants provide a protection to the tree from herbivores. We collected leaf samples from a young and old acacia tree and several different species of invertebrates from grasshoppers to crickets to katydids and put them inside with the leaves to measure change in biomass and monitor the insects health with close proximity to the plant.

Along our treks on the woods we observed several different cool species from a queen ant who had just mated her larvae in a young acacia tree to many different tarantulas. We also saw several beetles. Of note Sam found a Tiger Beetle which is really cool because those beetles are very fast!