There is something so peaceful about the mornings here at La Selva.
It's still relatively quiet, the humidity hasn't reach 'godforsaken' levels yet, and the tourists aren't ruining every possible experiment you're running.
When the clouds are still hugging the canopy over the river it's almost impossible to be anxious about all the work that needs to get done in the day.
Almost impossible...
Then the "Ahh, I have so much left to do and there are only so many hours in a day" sets in.
You can't get too stressed out though, even the sides of buildings offer weird jungle oddities.
Calynda bicuspis (Walking Stick) The female has this awesome 'flipper' on the end of her abdomen. She uses it to fling her eggs all over the place so they're not all in the same spot. This increases the cahnces that some of her offspring will live on.
They're cute until you get a real close-up...yikes!
I think today was the last day of 'large' lizard catching.
The basilisks and iguanas are cool and fun to work with. But boy-oh-boy are they a pain in the butt to catch. And they looove to hang out in real hot, disturbed fields. I've found that if temperatures keep rising globally, those three species are going to do just fine at La Selva. It's the forest animals that might possibly be in trouble.
Truth be told, I just miss working in the jungle.
The grass is always greener though.
I guarantee in a few days I'll miss working with these little cuties...
I did swear I did actual work today. I don't just sit around taking animal photos all day.
Well, I guess I do that for some of the day.
I've been putting out these groups of temperature loggers in the environment throughout my entire study.
I'm taking the temperature of the animals when I catch them, and I'm using my lab experiment to find the maximum temperature they can tolerate. But I also want to see what temperature they have available to them in the environment.
That way I can compare: what temps they're using, what their temp options are, and what their maximum temp is.
These models were placed on the forest floor to compare what a small lizard, a large lizard, and a frog would experience, thermally, if they were stuck in the same spot for 78 hours. (Believe it or not, the accepted way to thermally model lizards is a hollow copper pipe)
I hope, with all this information, to figure out how much wiggle room (the science term is 'Warming Tolerance') these animals have.
So far, trends in my data show that animals living in the forest don't have much of a warming tolerance. If the air increased by 2-3 degrees celsius some species of forest frogs and lizards would not be able to tolerate it...theoretically.
I only have 8 weeks for this project. I'll be the first to admit it's full of problems.
What if the animals just move, or acclimate, or adapt...?
I think of this whole experience as a crash course in how to be a scientist.
What would be a day in the field without meeting a new animal friend.
Kinosternon leucostomum (White-lipped Mud Turtle)
And how can I make a new animal friend without helping them out a little.
Their shells are so soft that ticks can burrow into them and cause all kinds of weird deformities. This little guy had 12 ticks total!...Gross. When I picked them off their headless little bodies were still moving all over the place...Double gross.
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Turns out, this guy even had a few right near his face! Gross times a million.
The end of the night meant some much needed relaxation time.
The first annual.
La Selva Joust! (pretty nerdy, I know. Literally rode bikes and hit each other with padded PVC pipe)
I lost the first round, but went on to win the losers bracket...whatever that means.
One of our fellow REU, Justin, ended up taking the whole thing.
I am so proud.
The victor was given a bottle of rum and bragging rights.
It's good not to take things to seriously all the time.
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