BioDIVERSITY

We're well settled in the Wilson Botanical Garden area of Las Cruces Field Station by the time of this posting. Natural History orientations, lectures on writing scientific papers and bird families of Costa Rica are only a few of the topics we covered throughout these days, but of course the best teacher is still personal experience. Today was our first opportunity to do actual fieldwork, and we pseudo-bushwhacked through primary forest to count the number of ferns, woody plants, herbs and palms along our 25 m transect. I learned something very important and shockingly obvious as a result of this experiment...
People too often think of a 'forest' as nothing but trees, and we overlook the smaller aspects of it, such as undergrowth and abiotic factors. This, along with our lecture on Restoration Ecology today taught me, above all else, that there are so many factors to consider when trying to 'save' an area. There's more to just planting trees. And yes, this should be common knowledge, but think of a forest right now... What do you imagine? I'll bet the first things that comes to mind are sweeping green canopies and sturdy trunks. If not, I'd like to know, because I'm still trying to add that layer of undergrowth to the forests in my mind. This course has made us question and find the answers for ourselves. Among a handful of articles we have to read, one is about the 'value' of Biodiversity, from an ecological standpoint and an economic one. I can go on and on about this, and I plan to during our discussion on Sunday, but I strongly believe that you cannot put a monetary value on any life, or combinations of lives that create our ecosystems.

Anyways, besides all the intellectual overload, let me share with you some rare moments that I've been lucky to capture on camera, or just creatures that are too beautiful for words:




I forgot to mention that the Wilson Gardens contain "over 1000 genera in more than 200 plant families," taken from all over the world. This is a certain kind of bamboo from Japan, and for it to reach this height of... a 3 story building at least... took one month. One.











Oh, and at the base of one of the stalks were these two lizards duking it out. I was able to get close enough to take this macro shot.






And then there were these two Bird-Eating Snakes mating by our cabin, spotted by yours truly. Captured on camera, too... what could be better?















A video, of course.




This is the view from inside a Strangler Fig structure... Imagine a typical, HUGE rain forest tree. A strangler fig is a vine that slowly but surely wraps around its host tree and eventually... well, strangles it to death. When the tree rots away, the fig vine still remains. And this thing is ginormous... the only thing that gives away the fact that it is not a tree is that it is hollow.










We went to look at a blacklight sheet (used to attract insects) tonight and before long we realized we were standing in the way of a swarm of army ants. Imagine the very ground beneath you *pulsing* with ants, ants with large pincers. I was lucky enough not to be bitten but a few of my peers were. I later went back and dropped a moth into the swarm and watched it get completely engulfed in a matter of seconds. The ones pictured here were pulled off of my socks.





And I have a lot of great pictures of moths and beetles from the blacklight, which I visited again after the swarm cleared, but I won't bother you with all of those shots. Here is one that a girl showed to me as I was writing this blog though. Beautiful. Here, you can't escape from the wild, not even when you're inside. And that's just how I like it.

Costa Rica is...

Amazing.
Did you see that coming? I definitely did. So much has happened already and we're not even at the field stations yet. I am writing this from a hotel called El Sesteo, which is a cozy but beautiful place. I'm surrounded by budding Microbiologists, Botanists, Ornithologists, Conservationists, and others who are here to broaden their horizons or figure out what they want to do. We range from as young as 1.5? (professor Alex Sloan's son), to a professor who is much older than any of us who teaches at the University of Oregon. Already the diversity is so great and the energy is so enriching, and we have yet to step foot in a rainforest. I'm excited, and I expect great things to happen.














Above are pictures of El Sesteo.

Today was our first formal lecture. It was (intensely interesting, in my opinion) mostly about safety concerning snakes, but we also learned a great deal about the snakes of Costa Rica and the production of antivenom. In fact, we had this lecture in the Institute of Clodomiro Picado, where antivenom is produced and shipped all over the world. It seems like snake encounters are inevitable here, and especially when we really get into the thick of things, but I'm looking forward to it. I want to feel that burst of adrenaline (but not be bitten). Actually, the chances of me dying if I'm bitten are pretty close to zero, so that would be quite a story to tell, wouldn't it?

Lunch was served afterwards at the OTS headquarters, where we also had a lecture on the Geology and Climate of Costa Rica by our other coordinator/professor, Brian O'Shea, followed by an overview of our course from Prof. Sloan.
Dinner took place at a Mexican restaurant called Maria Bonita ("pretty Maria" in Spanish) and free time is happening as I am typing this. The halls are quiet, and I suspect everyone is on their computer now that the management finally fixed the internet.

I will leave it at that for now, because we are leaving at 7 am tomorrow for Las Cruces, a 7 hour drive. Meanwhile, enjoy this picture of an anole I caught earlier this evening at the hotel (and let me know if you know the species, because nothing I've searched matches so far):

Ready, Set, GO!

For a hectic 30 minutes tonight, I was done. Kaput. This trip was over before it even started. I had EVERYTHING packed except the one, most important thing, the first item on the first checklist: my passport. It is my fault, partly for being disorganized and partly for procrastinating. In less than 12 hours I will be in another country and I'd only started packing earlier tonight. Everything is ready now though, packed tight into a single duffel bag and my school backpack, from the Flip Video I hope to have a chance to use for this blog, to the EpiPen I hope I won't have to use. This is the night of spontaneous thoughts and last minute doubts. I am wondering how much dancing will be involved throughout this course (hinted many times throughout the packet), and I am slightly worried because I have just about as much dancing ability as a rock. I am reminding myself to pick up extra contact lense solution from some pharmacy before I go. I am thinking about the past month and a half; my To-Do List of things to-do in New York is mostly checked off, but there are still empty spaces. But I am ready, I tell myself, for an adventure. I am ready. I am ready. I am...

...tired, and I should admit that it's 12:26 AM as I am typing this sentence, my flight is 7:30 am, and I'm leaving the house at 5 am. I like to sleep during flights because that is how I will adapt to the sudden change in time/schedule/country. I'd like to stay awake till 7:30, fall asleep before take off, and wake up there. Wouldn't that be glorious? But I know that is impossible, because I am already falling asleep at the keyboard, and 3.5 hours later, I will wake up groggy and grumpy and want to not be in Costa Rica (which is a lie!). Let me stop here though, and say: Goodbye New York, Goodbye Soro (my dog), Goodbye Mom and family and friends!

My next post will be from Costa Rica. See you there!

The Field Notebook

An interesting part of this trip will be keeping a field notebook. Here is what it says on the syllabus:

“Students are required to keep a field notebook throughout the semester. Information recorded in the notebook should include observations from field trips, orientation walks, plant taxonomy exercises, etc. Students are strongly encouraged to personalize the field notebook by including observations of their own. Examples of observations that might be included are drawings and descriptions of interesting spiders; a list of birds or herps sited at each field station; climatic conditions, etc. Field notebooks are collected at the end of the course and graded based on completeness, neatness, and effort.”

In all of the excursions I’ve been on, my ‘notebook’ has always been my brain, or my camera. Neatness is not one of my strong points and I’m more the type to just sit back and let the experience wash over me rather than jot everything down. However, I am glad that this has been made a requirement. No doubt it will force me to pay attention to details more closely and, like this blog, it will help organize my memories of Costa Rica.

But I’m also glad because this will give me a chance to work on my drawing. I mostly do cartoonish and tattoo design work right now, but classes like these inspire me to work more on scientific/realistic. I love movement and anatomy, so hopefully I will be able to capture this with a pencil as well as with my camera… I would love to take pictures of my notebook and share it on this blog from time to time.

I’ve been practicing (kind of), because I know when I see that beautiful animal, it probably won’t be posing for me, but disappear in the wink of an eye. I need to work on speed, and stop focusing on tiny details when I’m drawing in the field. For now I have the luxury of Google Images, but soon that won’t be the case. I need to familiarize myself with the flora and fauna of Costa Rica while I still have Wikipedia at my disposal.

For now though, here are some examples of what I intend to do:

(above: spider monkey, below: yawning jaguar. Used references from google)

Minor Preparations

There is little I can do (or, being the college student that I am… there is little I feel compelled to do) with still a good number of days before Costa Rica. I will probably see this blog post the night before my flight and mentally slap myself. But it isn’t to say I have done nothing at all! I’ve just been to the doctors for a blood test to see if the Hep. A and B vaccines I had years ago is still present in my blood… Or something along those lines (my not-pre-med knowledge). I am wondering if it is necessary to take those extra precautions to prevent malaria or dengue… I’m not one to worry too much about diseases, but getting sick would definitely detract from my experience.

Also, I had some time in Barnes&Nobles today to browse through Costa Rica for Dummies. I’m fooling myself if I think I can become a Costa Rica expert and memorize the map of the country in just a few hours, especially because I can’t even memorize the map of my own country after living here for 18 years. I guess I read it mainly to get the most basic sense of their history and culture. And to be honest, not a lot of it rubbed off on me. I think it’s like getting your first dog… You can read all the books and talk to all the so-called experts, you can feel totally prepared for the challenge, but in the end there will still be things you could never have learned any other way except by trying it yourself. And if Costa Rica is anything like my first (and current) dog, it will be life changing in all the best ways. But this should go without saying, because I already know it will be amazing, just like the moment I walked up to the kennel cage and knew, “This is the one.”

A month away

Hello out there!

This is Tiff Shao, blogging for the first time. The Costa Rica program is only about a month away and I already know it’s going to be the highlight of my summer. I’m excited because this kind of experience… hands-on, in the field, utilizing all the senses… it is truly the best way to learn. They say the moment you become a scientist is the moment you ask a question and feel it, the feeling that tells you, "This is what I want to study for the rest of my life!" I’m not sure what my calling is yet, but I’ve felt it in Yellowstone, in Mexico, and even in the woods near my house. There is just something so intriguing about the world outside what we know. And I know I will feel it in Costa Rica. Maybe I’ll even find that question that will make me a scientist (no, a Wildlife Ecologist!), or perhaps I already am one.

Man, the 15^th of June seems so far away, but I know it will jump up on me. I try imagining what it will be like to be in Costa Rica, and all that seems to come up is a blast of rainbow colors. I can't wait to meet my peers and my professors. I can't wait to see all the different plants and animals and to experience such a different culture. I can't wait to enter that state of mind... when I'm inevitably covered in bug bites and possibly have blisters on my feet... it could possibly be raining... But I will smile and I will know, this is Pura Vida.

Course Description

Biology 134L Field Tropical Biology offers students the exciting opportunity to study first-hand the evolutionary ecology of important plant and animal taxa in tropical ecosystems. Course design emphasizes intensive field work and visits all three OTS field stations as well as other sites. Students are thus introduced to a great diversity of tropical habitats, each possessing distinctive biotas that in turn demonstrate unique evolutionary histories and ecological dynamics. As part of the course, students work closely with resident professors in the design, implementation, and interpretation of their own independent research project in field ecology. Independent projects allow students to learn science by doing science in a beautiful and challenging tropical setting. Results are presented orally following the protocol of a scientific meeting. Students also submit a formal research report which becomes part of the permanent records of OTS field stations.

The course concludes with a short unit on conservation biology, including the application of island biogeography to reserve design and management, as well as the impact of deforestation and fragmentation.