6/20/2013

I'm finally getting neck deep into my project. The updates are probably going to start getting more condensed as my work load increases.

I'll, of course, keep posting picture of cute little animals though.

Today was more talks in the morning.

Scientific process. Hypothesis writing. Ethics in scientific writing.

Review stuff. But good review stuff.

Steven and I had been trying to get together for the past day to release some of the animals we did initial, trial experiments on.

I'm realizing that he's a very busy man. So I went ahead and did it myself, hoping I wouldn't get into trouble.

Turns out, grown-ups are allowed to do things off-leash without their mentors there.

As per usual, I had to snap some animal pics...

Norops humilis (Ground Anole) One of my study lizards! These things are tiny, fast, and love to run into dark little crevices that I'd never reach my hand into. Each of my lizards lives in a different micro-habitat. This one prefers the ground and can be found scurrying about in the leaf-litter.

 You think that's small?

 That ain't nothin'!

Norops limifrons (Slender Anole) I know right? It took me a few days to get into the right mind-set and accept that I'll be spending my time squinting in the bushes for these tiny little creatures. This isn't the largest adult I've seen, but they're pretty tiny and look very similar to the Ground Anole. This species lives primarily on the stems and branches of tress and bushes.

It couldn't get any smaller.

That's what you're thinking right?

No.

No he wouldn't.

He wouldn't dare work with a creature any smaller.
















Craugaster bransfordii (Bransford's Litterfrog) I kid you not, this is their size. Granted, adult males can get bigger. But you get what I'm up against. There are two reasons I'm a glutton for punishment and picked this species. They're everywhere and they only live in the leaf-litter. Their abundance and specific micro-habitat made them an ideal candidate. Hopefully I can just start finding some larger specimens...

Rhinoclemmys annulata (Brown Wood Turtle) I like turtles. I'm not using any for my study, but they're still kewl to look at and play with. Oh, hey there little fella, poppin' out to say hello?

 Ateles geoffroyi (Spider Monkey) Also not a study species, and I know I already talked about these. But come on. Don't tell me that isn't the cutest face you ever did see!

Side note.

 I learned two important lessons in one today. Lessons I hope I don't have to learn again

1. Always pay attention in the jungle.

2. If skin is exposed, mosquitoes will bite!

How did I learn both these lessons at once you ask?

Staring at the tree-tops while peeing. I don't need to tell you where the little blood suckers got me...

Not cool mosquitoes.

 Not cool.


After showing Steven I had some initiative, I think I convinced him I was worth some attention.

We continued working on the project today, which I couldn't be more excited about!

I already have the CTmax stuff down. Even without Steven, I can continue to get reliable data.

The next step was making the models.

I'm making agar models (think of it as jello without sugar) to put little temperature loggers called ibuttons into (no affiliation with Macintosh).

The molds are normally for chocolate frogs.

This is science. You learn to improvise.

The idea is that I will stick these models out into the environment where each of my study species are.

For example I'll stick a model on some leaves near where I found those big red-eyed tree frogs, and set the ibuttons to take the temperature every 10 minutes for a 24 hour period.

That way I have an idea of what kind of temperature is available to the the frogs over the course of a day.

Making the models wasn't too difficult of a process, and I'm confident I can make them again without Steven.

Today I made models without any ibuttons inside of them to test something we've both been worrying about.

The ANTS!

Ants are everywhere at La Selva, and we're not sure if they'll try to eat up the models. The reason we choose agar models is that they mimic the frog bodies very well, so an ibutton in an agar model is a good representation of what type of temperature a frog in the same spot would experience.

(remember, frogs are ectotherms and rely on the environment for their body temperature)

But an ibutton all by itself is just like a thermometer. If I needed that kind of data I'd go to weather.com and my project would be done in a week!

I made eight models total and stuck them out into the jungle.

I think they turned out pretty good.

We'll see tomorrow if any of them survive the night with billions and billions of hungry ants!

Until then!