The First Full Day

My name is Brett Nixon, I'm going into my final year at RSU, looking towards getting a degree in Environmental Conservation. My goal for this trip is to gain some field experience that is definitely not available in Oklahoma, giving me a chance to visit, and live in the rainforest, along with meeting other students and professors in the same field as I am.

Our first night in Puerto Rico was relatively uneventful. We landed safely got to the station and then went out to eat at a barbeque joint where we tried some soda called Coco Rico. I'm not too much of a fan of coconut, but this soda was surprisingly good. After eating we went back to the station and met up with the other snailers.

This morning is when the fun really begins. The students woke up first, and relatively early, (yeah you read that right THE STUDENTS WOKE UP FIRST) we got tired of waiting around and decided we would do a little exploring on our own. We didn't do a whole lot because it didn't take long for us to find something we wanted to try, swimming under some waterfalls in the small pools they lead to, so we trekked shortly back up the hill to the research station and dawned the necessary things for swimming. Other than swimming not a whole lot more was done in our free time, except a group running to the grocery store for supplies.

Tonight was our first night of actually doing snail research, we split into three groups of three and all worked the CTE, a canopy trimming experiment used to simulate natural destruction of canopy. Our work consisted of counting snails, and measuring a couple of species, and also counting walking sticks if we came across any in our plots. Other than snails we saw plenty of frogs, and lizards (my guess would be they are some type of anole), and a couple of crabs among other things. We made it back to the station around midnight, making for a relatively early night for us, which I'm told might not happen too often.

That's all I've got for now, I'm hoping I will have plenty more to share though out our 17 days here

The stream we swam in

 

All good things must come to an end.

8/2/2012

     On our last full day, we went to see Old San Juan.  It was a site to see.

     In conclusion, I learned alot from this trip.  Here is a rough list of things I learned :

Tagging techniques

Tag making
Following protocol/directions
Logical reasoning behind protocol
Team work
Data entry/check
Species Identification
Navigation through forest in the dark
     Compass, map
Finding established plots
Measuring radius of plots
Understanding relevance of census (data obtained)
Learning to develop questions relevant to area (abundance of lizards/snails/frogs/etc…)
Taking measurement
     In addition to all of this, seeing a new place and meeting new people was very cool.  It was also enlightening to learn that research such as what I participated in is going on.  I would do it again in a heartbeat!!

It is coming to a close...

7-23-2012

     On what was supposed to be our last night doing the big grid, we ran into some complications.  A storm rolled in and the lightning caused us to quit when we were less than half way finished (Safety First).  It was interesting to be in the forest during an intense down-pour, but getting back to the station was a relieve.
     The next day, we did what is known as Plant Apparency.  We broke off into two groups of three and took readings on the entire big grid during the day.  It was much easier to navigate during the day, but it was an intimidating task.  Finishing was very rewarding; it was the first time that study had been done on the entire big grid in one day.  There were a number of things we checked for.  Plant habitat architecture, canopy gap, number of rocks/leaf litter/dead wood/ etc. were all quantified for comparison of each plot.  This allows for cross referencing with snail data to see which plots have higher biodiversity and suggests reasons why.
     The next day we went to a place that goes by many names, one being "Cloud Forest".  It was quite a hike, but it was worth it.  It looked like a place right out of "Lord of the Rings".  Although it had an almost eerie look, it was very relaxing and comfortable (when we were not hiking up hill).  That night we finished up the big grid that was postponed due to the storm.
    Today has been all about data entry and setting up another experiment that will determine the decay rate of snail shells and their impact on the decay rate of surround plant material.
   

07/19/12

Monday July 16 was the third run of the Big Grid, it did go a lot faster than the those times we did it. Getting the directions down in the dark, in the middle of a rain forest can we a bit overwhelming at times. Especially when you can not find the plot your looking for lol! After being out there a couples of times you start to get the hang of reading the map and finding the plots a lot easier. I was in a group on the third run with just students. We found our way pretty easy! I was proud of myself considering it was in the rain forest and in the dark lol!

The next day we took off, then decided to take off another and now we are being forced to take off another day because we are under a Tropical Wave.

7-19-2012
     There is not a lot to report.  Tuesday and Wednesday we focused on data entry and things we could get done around the station.  This day is a continuation of the same.  We are under a tropical wave, so it would be dangerous to go into the field. 

Snail eat snail world...

7-17-2012
     Today went very well.  It was the big grid, so I expected to finish late.  We actually finished around 1:00AM.  Excellent navigation by my partner and most of the snails being tagged helped with this.  It was a very interesting night.  My phone was charging, so I could not get any photos, and I wish I could have.  We saw a snail (Oleacina glabra) eating another snail (Caracolus caracolla). That was quite a site.  In addition to that, there was a scorpion eating a centipede!!!  If only I had my camera...

7-15-2012
     Tonights work went very quickly.  We did the "CTE".  It is very nice getting back to the station so early 10:15(home time), 11:15 (Puerto Rican time).  We did get to see a Screech Owl perched on a tree, which was amazing.  They are very small!!
The main reason I am making this post is that we are on generator power right now.  I expect that I will be capable of posting tomorrow, either the generator will be running or the electricity will be prepared. However, on the off chance we don't have power I wanted to keep you posted.