6/18/2013

It isn't as hot at night here as I thought it would be. You can sleep without a sheet and not sweat your brains out.

The first night at La Selva I woke up at around 3am to go the bathroom (which is down some stairs, through ~30m of jungle, and in the 'laundry hut').

On my way back I was distracted by a group of Cane Toads that were wrestling each other for who knows why. They'd sit and stare at each other for a few seconds and then, without communicating, jump simultaneously, collide in mid-air and move back to their original positions.

Wierdos.

Unfortunately, after watching them for 10 minutes I was wide awake, and stayed that way for a few more hours.

(writing this after my second nights sleep, I can safely say I think I will sleep like a log from here on out!)

Regardless of sleep deprivation, I was ready to first full day!

(As promised, here's a picture of the living arrangements. I lost rock-paper-scissor...so I'm stuck on top)

The first three hours of our day were spent learning about the history of La Selva/Costa Rica, some broad ecology, geology, and more safety stuff. Apparently there is a  chance that La Selva will flood and we might have to leave by boat!

We went on a tour of the facilities we'll have access to, including: several wet labs, a GIS room, a climate controlled lab, microscope/dissecting scopes, and a fair amount of equipment.

Most of the labs are pretty low-tech. Although, not too shaby for being out in the middle of the jungle.

After lunch I finally met up with Stephen and we headed out into the field to start collecting animals.

Getting a head start...I love it!

He also wanted to help me in distinguishing between two of the lizard species I'll be working with. Both are small (~2-5cm) and look pretty damn similar.

We captured 6 different species, only four of which I will work on for the rest of the summer. It was nice to get some practice catching and experimenting so early in the trip.

 We'd bag them up, label the ziplocs, record where they were found, and keep looking for more.


Baggin' away. These little fruits above my head are actual on a Cacao plant where we get chocolate from. unfortunately they weren't ripe yet. It's a goal of mine to munch one down before I leave.

On our way back we ran into a group of spider monkeys that sure put on a show. We never did figure out why they were screaming so much. Steven says he's never heard them do that before. It sounded like a pretty epic monkey fight though!

We also established a new rule that I'm more than willing to abide by: You can't have a bad day if you see a monkey.

Ateles geoffroyi (Spider Monkey). I hope Kelly won't be too mad when I smuggle one of these home!

We started doing preliminary work on the temperature stuff. It's pretty simple and straightforward. I'm glad I practiced though, because the first few trials didn't run as smoothly as I'd wanted.

First we filled a large basin with water at ~29C and placed individual specimens in plastic cups filled with some pebbles at the bottom. I also poked holes in the bottom of the cups so that water could flow in an out. After the animals were in we put a petri dish as a lid and let them acclimate for a few minutes.

The next step was heating the water using an electric kettle. After it was done boiling I would poor a little into the large basin and stir it around so the heat distributed evenly. Then I would take off the lids and try to flip each animal on it's back. If it jumped around or seemed really responsive I put the lid back on and moved on.

The goal was to have 0.5C increase every minute.

Not the case.

I still have some work ironing out the details. The hardest part was keeping the little bastards in the water. One species in particular refused to stay in the water and kept jumping on the side of the cup.

Oophaga!!! These little blue jean babies are clearly going to be the bane of my existence during theses trials...

Eventually (when the animals cooperated and stayed in the water) we got the temperature so that they couldn't right themselves when on their backs. At that point I immediately transfer them to cool water, and almost right away they got abck on their feet.

Oh how I love wokring with ectotherms.

So hardy!

We went at it for a few more hours. By the end I think I got it down pretty good and Stephen said he was happy with the progress. (Not to mention that we're way ahead of the other REU/Mentor groups... a fact I think we both loooove)


Pretty miserable working conditions huh? If you can't see form the picture, our lab is surrounded by lush jungle. Not to mention the sound of rain hammering down on the metal roof is really magical and relaxing.

 

After initial testing on 8 different animals I'm happy to say they all survived and were released back into their homes!

 I'm not going to lie. I was pretty damn pooped by the time dinner came around (Did I mention I went on a four mile run before lunch with a fellow REU Justin?... Poor choice in this weather and my physical condition).

Needless to say I was/am pretty worn out, and boy-oh-boy were my doggies barking from wearing those damn rain boots all day!

We had one more adventure before bed though. MIST NETTING FOR BATS!

Awesome!

On our way out we saw some pretty cool critters.

Rhaebo haematiticus (rain forest toad) Pretty darn cool and they have this bitchin' chocolate color too.

Eciton burchelli (Army Ants) I didn't even think theses things were real. They don't have a nest, they just move from place to place every day and form this massive swarm to surround the queen. I can't tell you how thick this mass was, only that there were...a lot...of...ants!

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Nyssodesmus python (Python millipede) These things were mating like gangbusters during the night.

Leptodeira septentrionalis (Cat-eyed Snake) Our first snake of the trip! I've been in frog/lizard mode and din't even see this little cutey. It feels like I've been dropping the  ball on snake searchin' so far. I just keep telling myself "You're not a tourist, remember why you're here, remember why you're here, remember why you're here..."

 Some type of Phyllostomidae (Leaf-nosed bat) These things are awesome. Their wings are so elastic that when they're folded up there isn't a single wrinkle. And those long bones in their wings are actually their modified finger bones! Cute little bugger.

 What? You think I wasn't going to hold the little gal? I have my rabies booster, ain't no thang'.

I have no idea why type of cicada these were, but the forest was eerily quiet in the section we were mist netting in. We finally figured out it's because they were all emerging. There were thousands of these delicate creatures all throughout the forest.

After we got back it started to rain harder than anything I've ever experienced. They warned us that we'll get soaked even with an umbrella.

They weren't kidding.

It only rained for a few hours. But the river went up 15 feet and most of the trails flooded out. By morning it had mostly subsided. Although this trail that leads to a swamp will probably be under for a few more days.

So far...I'm having one heck of a time.