Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Chiquibul Forest: Days 1-8

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Day 1: 01 May 2013
In a few hours, I will be leaving the country for my study abroad course in Belize! This will be my first trip out of the country besides my deployment and I am thoroughly looking forward to the unforgettable experiences over the next two weeks!
After arrival: We finally arrived today. Rafael and Alberto picked us up from the airport in a yellow school bus. We had a four hour bus ride ahead of us, and what a bus ride it was. The road to Las Cuevas was a long, long, long, long bus ride. We drive through very rural towns and even more rural villages. We passed many areas that were burning, either from the villagers burning garbage or possibly from carelessness. The mountainous portion of our journey was, in one word… terrifying. We even missed a check point and were stopped by the Belizean patrol. We finally arrived at Las Cuevas Research Station about an hour after dark and I was so thankful to be off of that awful bus. We met the staff, had a presentation by the head biologist, Boris ****, and went to bed. Tomorrow we begin.

Day 2: 02 May 2013
Angela is the cook here and has proven to be worthy of immense praise for the home cooked quality, freshness and authenticity of her meals. I am eager to see what else she has in store for us.
We began the day with a short hike on “50 hectare trail.” We learned methods to determine tree height, tree dbh (diameter at breast height), and light penetration with a densiometer. We also got to look at a “soil pit” and went through a brief discussion on a soil profile for a broad-leaf forest. We ended today’s activities with a really interesting policy oriented discussion about the practice of one country paying another country to not cut down an area of forest. What should be the assigned value of a hectare of forest? How does this value get assigned and by whom? Does the money change hands through governmental agencies and/or private citizen? What constitutes “sustainable management” in a protected area? There are no real answers to these questions right now. The real issue is to learn as much as possible about a particular issues such as this one, and then make every attempt to affect change.

Day 3: 03 May 2013
I experienced one of the World Wonders today: the Mayan Ruins at Caracol Archaeological Reserve. I wish I could describe the power of the site. Such an amazing history and cultural richness in these stones. Boris, our group leader, led a discussion about the links between the political, economic, social, and environmental concerns when attempting to manage a site such as Caracol.

Day 4: 04 May 2013
Today was all about understanding how to evaluate population dynamics of an ecosystem. We did this through mist netting (the trapping of small birds), Sherman Traps (the trapping of small mammals) and the setting of camera traps in the hope to identify the large animal species in an area. The mist netting was my favorite part of the day. We got up before first light and set up two 2x10 meter nets. We learned about the reasons behind capturing birds, the limitations to mist netting, what to look for when examining a bird, and how to release a captured bird. Our group was able to capture three different bird species: the yellow-billed tyrannulet; the white-breasted wood wren; and the wood thrush. Something to look up later: Birds without Borders.

Day 5: 05 May 2013
We went to the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest today. It was a completely different ecosystem than the Chiquibul. Apparently, the Caribbean Pine that dominates the pine forest used to also dominate the coastal areas and has migrated over time to some of the highest elevations in the country. This makes the species of tree very important when considering sea level rise.
We also were able to look out onto the artificial lake created by the building of the Chalillo Dam and go for a spontaneous dip in the Macal River on the way back to Las Cuevas.

Day 6: 06 May 2013
We caught a mouse in our trap today! According to Boris, “the probability of catching zero organisms: HIGH.” But we caught and were able to identify the organism as a common house mouse. The little guy had a long naked tail, wide naked ears, a grey-brown coat, and a short snout.
We also visited the cave at Las Cuevas. Pictures to come later… but it was AWESOME! We looked at a huge spider, not sure what kind, and a tiny fungus-gnat larvae. The creatures that have been able to adapt to life without light are just so cool!

Day 07: 07 May 2013
XATE!! I helped a group of students today that did a project for the trip. They had to calculate the density of the different species of xate that have a high commercial value in the floral bouquet market.
The best part of the day… the beautiful black orchid that was growing on a tree in one of our xate plots. I think I know what my next tattoo is going to be!

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