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!

6/19/2013

Today was a lot of indoor stuff. It's easy to forget that I'm not on vacation and we're here to learn/work.

The effects of last nights storm can be felt all over the station.

The mosquitoes haven't been too tenacious so far, I've probably only gotten 15-20 bites in 2.5 days. We've been informed that it has been lighter than normal in terms of their numbers.

People in the know keep talking about how tomorrow, because of the storm, will be a 'mosquito bloom', and that the next week should be an all out assault from the flying devils.

Did I mention the bugs were huge here?

Archimandrita tessellata (Giant Cockroach).This bad boy was hanging outside our lab. I normally don't get too creeped out by bugs.

  I'm willing to make an exception though. Yuck.

Most of the morning and afternoon was spent in workshops. We had one on 'what not to do when giving a presentation', conversational Spanish, scientific writing, and how try and not get lost at La Selva.

At one point they had us walk out into the middle of the jungle, spin around, and try to find our way back using a compass.

We all did a pretty good job finding our way home.

And to top it off we found something awesome that I've only ever heard of in Planet Earth.


It's called a cordyceps fungus. it infects invertebrates and feeds off of non-vital organs while changing the hosts behavior. It grows into the brain and releases chemicals to force the host to move to higher spots in the forest. There it devours the brain, killing the host, and  proceeds to grow mushrooms out of the body to release spores....AWESOME!

Basiliscus vittatus (Striped Basilisk) These are apparently super-common around La Selva, it just took me a few days to finally see one. Kelly and I saw juvenile basilisk lizards in the mangrove swamps of Manual Antonio at a kayak tour during our honey-moon. The juveniles are able to run across the top of water to escape predators, hence their other common name- 'Jesus-Christ Lizard'.

After dinner we got a real treat.

The herp walk.

Finally.

Ctenus sp. (Wandering Spider) This spider is in the family Ctenidae, its cousin, the Brazilian Wandering Spider, is the most venomous spider on the planet. A component of the venom causes priapism in humans. Erections are painful, last for hours, and lead to impotence. This on couldn't be identified, but Steven called it the "stay-the-f*ck-away-spider".

I walked under a tree in the swamp and felt what I thought was some bugs in my hair. When I brushed my hands through, I felt something small, squishy, and wet. 

These are the eggs of one of my study species. They lay GIANT egg masses in the trees to protect them from aquatic predators like fish. There had to be >10,000 eggs in a single giant mass!

 When they're ready to hatch as tadpoles they wiggle out of their eggs and splash into the water, where they immediately swim for cover and hopefully metamorphose into...

Agalychnis callidryas (Red-eyed Tree Frog) This is one of my study species and easily my favorite frog of all time. Every time we saw this species there was a male (smaller) clamped onto the female in a behavior called amplexus. They weren't necessarily mating, but the males latch on in hopes the females will start releasing eggs for them to fertilize.

Come on guys, lock it up and show some composure

Apparently this species is composed of entirely high-school aged males.

Steven says he has come across females being eaten by snakes with a male still partially clinging on in hopes of one last quickie... 

Tenacity.

 I like that.


 Norops capito (Pug-nosed Anole) I'll be working with two other species of Norops sp. This little lady was not very happy with our intrusive photos. She scared the living out of all of us by exploding off the leaf and squawking after a flash went off.

Corytophanes cristatus (Helmeted lizard) I really liked this guy. He didn't care one bit with us "ohh"-ing and "ahh"-ing all over his hang-out spot.

  
Trogon violaceus (Violaceous Trogon) Apart from having an epic name, this bird has a great nesting behavior. It hollows out active wasp nests half-way and lays its eggs.Their chicks feed off the remaining wasps, being careful never to eat them all. This deters predators from messing with the nest. Awesome.

 Craugastor megacephalus These little critters are too cute and one of the species  in decline at La Selva... hopefully I'm down here to figure out why!

(Big-ass Spider) I have no idea what this thing is and this is about as close as I ever want to get. I should have put something up for you to see the scale. 1 in.=HUGE!

 Eleutherodactylus diastema (Tink frog) I'm not sure if I identified these right. Another great example of desperation at its best though.

Urotheca euryzone (Halloween Snake) I just about lost my marbles when I first saw this bad-boy. I mistakenly assumed it was a coral snake. This snake uses mimicry to deter potential predators.

 It also uses mimicry to fool young, aspiring herpetologists into thinking they've seen a once-in-a-lifetime-awesome-deadly-venomous snake... only to let them down when they realize they're looking at a glorified gopher snake.

Que the sad horns and Charlie Brown music.

Woh-woh. 


I know what you're thinking. I thought the same thing too. The Donald Trump Caterpillar. Unfortunately I have no idea what these things are. Any hairy caterpillar you come across in the jungle is a big no-no to touch though. Their hairs can cause intense burning and pain that lasts for hours.

 Gastrophryne pictiventris (Reticulated Sheep Frog) Pretty darn cute.

 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!

.

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. 

6/16/2016

After an anxious flight we finally landed in San Jose. I couldn't be happier to bust through the line and get out of the airport too.

I was the first one to land, so we waited an hour for the next arrival. Frances, from Humboldt, who loves all things marine.

The hotel was a lot nicer than I had imagined, and not too hot either.

There was a pool. A dining room. And pet cockroaches.

Too bad they were too shy to say hello when you turned the lights on...

Even  in Costa Rica, so far from home, I could look off into the distance and imagine being back in Oceanside, with all the comforts of home.

The  night was mostly uneventful. This truly is a great crew of nerds. We talked for hours about weird biology facts and what we love to learn about. The conversation went from the penis of a barnacle (the largest of any animal) to how many bot flies we hope to bring home with us (I'm gunning for at least three).

 It's funny how early we all are in our careers, but we still fill these interesting little niches.

One person is the marine specialist. Another invasive plants. A turtle guy. A bat girl. Aquatic insects. Tropical birds. Stream ecology. Nitrogen cycles. Conservation ecology.

And my personal label, which I'm thrilled to wear, like a badge of honor: "the parasite/snake guy"....

yessss!

After eating and talking into the night we went off to bed. It wouldn't be a group of dorks without poking through the bushes of the hotel to try and find some critters!

 Hemidactylus Frenatus (House Gecko) First herp of the trip!

 Nephila Clavipes (Golden Orb-weaver). A.K.A. a big ass spider!

6/17/2013
The next morning we piled into the bus and headed for the OTS offices. Like I said, San Jose wasn't bad temperature-wise. And the air-conditioned bus felt great!

 We loaded up all our gear (after checking to make sure all was present and accounted for). Each of us was left in charge of a different bin for the entire summer. I was put in charge of "chemicals".

Trouble. I feel like Walter from Breaking Bad! (minus the cancer and killer-instinct)

 It was a two hour bus trip to La Selva. We went through the national park to get there. It was ridiculously lush. I would have taken some pictures but all the growth on the side of the road was so thick and tall every picture would have looked like a giant green wall!

The forest looks so impenetrable.

We finally got to La Selva around 12:30.

I gotta say, I wasn't ready for stepping out of that van.

Holy shit is it hot and humid! Heat is around 85-90. Humidity has got to be close to 100% though.  I knew to expect it being pretty bad. But ohhh myyy goodness!

Luckily everything is new and awesome to look at. And I'm trying to be a trooper and not bitch.

Not Too much.

We'll see how that goes.

We ate some lunch at the dining hall. As advertised. Rice. Beans. Vegetables.

After settling into our rooms (I'll throw up a picture soon) we went to a short lecture warning us about all the things that can kill or hurt us. blah blah blah.

Then we went on a nature hike. Uh oh! Excitement explosion. This place is too awesome for words. Here are some sweet animals we saw.

Tayassu Tajacu (Collared Peccary) Apparently we'll be sick of these things by the end of the trip. I thought it was pretty cool though.

 The awesome suspension bridge we cross to get to the dining hall. We sleep at the 'river station' which is ~1km from the dining hall and all the action. There are amazing signs on both sides of the bridge saying "Swim at your own risk. Crocodiles in water!" Yesssss.

Iguana iguana (green iguana) This guy was just hanging out in a tree sunning himself over the river. I hope I get to see them in their breeding colors before the trip is over!

Dasypus novemcinctus (Nine-banded Armadillo) They might be hard to see, but there were five baby armadillo's cowering under this bush. They looked like little puppies and it took all I had not to try to grab one (They're not big on messing with the wildlife at La Selva)

 

 This is one possible study site, it's a swamp not too deep into the jungle that looks promising for a lot of frogs. The craziest part of the jungle is the noises. It is never, EVER quiet, there are always a million birds, frogs, monkey,s or who knows what shouting and hollerin'.

  
Paraponera clavata (Bullet Ant) these bad boys are about an inch long and are said to have one of the most painful stings in Costa Rica. They're also called the 24-hour ant... I don't think I need to tell you how long the pain lasts.

  
Ramphastos swainsonii (Chestnut-mandible Toucan). I love tropical birds, and this noisy fella put on a show for us! Why are toucan's so kewl?!

(Unknown grasshopper species) Did I mention that some of the bugs here are out-of-control large! This thing will haunt my dreams.

A group shot when we were all done with the hike. A great group to end a great first day at La Selva. (I'm coming back to this spot to bird tomorrow morning)

 Oophaga pumilio (Blue-jeans frog)Had to slip this one in, these guys are too cool. One of my study species and they...are...everywhere!

Anticipation building

20:45

It was a bit of an emotional farewell at the airport. Kelly was slobberin' all over me. I could barely keep it together.

We're both going to miss each other.

 The flight from SLO to LAX was pretty uneventful. I did run into an old friend Becca that I haven't seen since last year. She had apparently walked by as Kelly and I were saying our goodbyes in San Luis.

"How'd she take the break up?"

Oh eavesdropping,  you do so much more harm than good.

After explaining the difficulty in being away from my wife for so long it was nice to go out and grab a bite and burn a couple of hours while we both waited for ridiculous flights.

She's on her way to  New York to visit her boyfriend. Naturally I talked for an hour straight and told her about every detail of my life, marriage, career goals and life aspirations.

When she finally got a few words in, she tried to lie to me.

"I met my boyfriend through some mutual friends".

Be careful not to step in the bullshit.

After some gentle coaxing, I finally learned that they met over something called "chat roulette".

Not being very internet savvy, I had no idea what she was talking about. Having an uncanny memory of random south parks episodes, however, I did remember mention of the chat forum on an epsiode making fun of facebook.

http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/269236/powerful-profiles

Naturally I had to ask if she was on there by mistake. She "went on there sometimes when she was bored"... Well was he there by mistake? How many kinds of stupid are you? You're about to fly to New York to meet someone you met on a porno chat site? Do I need to use silly acronyms to get through to this poor child?  btw wtf lol gtg u cray-cray ttyl!

I've never felt so old.

She looked at me like I was crazy for thinking she was crazy.

Ugh, get me to the jungle sooner rather than later. Maybe the next airport friend I make will have their head screwed on tighter.

La Selva or bust.