Individual Project

I think my plots are taking way long to set up. 20m x 20m seems huge! I decided to cut it down to 15m x 15m, but even so it takes so much to record all the conditions and take soil samples AND take plant samples. My notebook is definitely in tatters and soiled. I get dirty especially because there is a drainage canal between the road and the mountain that is super wet and muddy, and to sample I have to stand in the drainage canal. Scaling up this first plot has also proven difficult because its pretty steep and there are lots of large boulders and woody vines-EVERYWHERE.

Bugs, mud, sweat, exhaustion: sounds like a day in the field to me! I definitely feel lost sometimes, like I'm doing too many things at one time. And since I'm not here on Sundays I have even less time. For instance, I don't feel like I have a system down for plotting, measuring all the abiotic conditions, and sampling. Because its taking me so long to do plots I feel like there's no time for anything else. I should probably get up earlier as well though, to make up for the time lost.

Anyway, I hope everything comes out well. The plot size still feels huge but there's definitely a change in vegetation at 15m into the forest, so I think that seems pretty representative of the herbaceous matter on the roadside. To be sure, its a whole lot of plants at the roadside, I have no idea how I'm going to ID them all. I mean, the herbarium is there but I don't know where it is nor how to use it!

Field Practical

Fungi are interesting--and so hard to find!!! It's crazy to think about the difference in size between the tiny fungi that help decompose the litter and the immense mahogany trees that tower above it. It was a fairly easy project, although right about now I'm dealing with the statistics (not so fun as hunting for flowering fungi?). The mahogany trees were the most difficult to do plots for, since there were large changes in slope from one half of the tree to another.

I think I took great pictures though, which helped us sort them without not cutting them, which is great since I'm sure they have an important role in nutrient cycling. After the first two plots Lauren and I also became better at spotting the little suckers, and it was pretty easy after that. The hardest part it seems is comparing all the data; between trees and between locations, which is another question that has arisen from our data collection.

It's cool to see how observation and data collection can bring about other questions, both refining a current question, discarding that one altogether, or coming up with an additional question that has arisen in relation to the data collected. it's a tedious process in my opinion, but I mean, I feel science is heavily a trial-and-error arena, with alot of sleepless nights, field mishaps, etc.

Plant domestication and diversity

Honestly I've never thought about how plants have undergone domestication, it's always been a given for me. But Ashley's presentation today opened up the various processes by which a plant can be domesticated and disseminated. I've often wondered, who the heck thought of eating __________? Especially things like the palm heart or something, where you have to cut down the palm and take out a very specific part of the plant. Who thought of that? But never much after that. While who thought of eating the palm heart and why may still be an unanswerable questions, at least the mechanisms of domestication can be explored(after having tasted that delicious morsel of palm heart), as well as the spread of domestication (once word got around of this yummy treat).*

I still don't know that I would go on to study that, but I can appreciate how small farmers can contribute to agro-biodiversity. I mean, given the discussion we had regarding animal rights vs. property rights, and the incentives that can be given to farmers to farm sustainably, market pressures and large corporations play a major role in determining whether sustainable farming will be undertaken. In this case, sustainability refers to the biodiversity of crop species, as opposed to farming only one type of palm which could make the area susceptible to large impacts because of relative genetic homogeneity.

This has been the case with pollinators as well, specifically bees. Colony collapse disorder(CCD) has ravaged the European honey bee, which appears to be highly susceptible to a certain pathogen. This has affected crops throughout the US because European honey bees have specifically been imported, harvested and transported throughout the nation to pollinate commercial crops. Commercial farmers have relied on this honey bee very much, especially since it has displaced native bee populations. The lack of biodiversity in bees has consequently had severe negative impacts on humans.

Special Lecture: LTER director Nick Brokaw

The lecture today was so awesome! I'm fascinated by the trajectory of the research that has been going on in the Luquillo Mtns. They've gone from basic data collection, the foundation, to the interaction of human populations with the environment. Urban sprawl is especially interesting, since I'm interested in human populations developing sustainably. Roads, the subject of my project, deals with that directional change that Nick talked about, since the forest cannot grow back to its original state in a paved area with constant traffic.

Land-use is a controversial subject in sustainable development, since seemingly harmless clearings for housing, small-scale farming and the like can open the area up to disturbance specialists that may alter the structure of the ecological community. But, to what extent do we seek to naively maintain a "pristine" natural environment that does not allow for humans to develop? The answer is highly individualistic, though, and in my opinion should NEVER be given a generic solution.

I'm stoked about the tree inventory that goes on every year too. I'm guessing they teach you how to ID the trees and from there you're on your own counting those bad fellas. Or maybe in a group with a more experienced person. Either way, for those interested, it would be a cool bridge between the regular folks in PR and their beautiful forest. I'm definitely mentioning it to Omar, since he's into ecotourism and, though not a scientist, appreciates learning about nature.

I only wish science were as easy as that...although, thinking it over it can be, with sufficient collaboration.

It's My Birthday and I'll Cry If I Want To!

No I won't cry. Well maybe not so much. Aaaaah! Omar came today and brought me the cuuuuuutest gifts. Not so much because they're cute in themselves (long toe socks in striped yellow and pink with stars and rainbows--uuuum....?) but because first, he went shopping, which he hates to do, second, I know he actually put some thought into what I would like, and third, because...oh I don't know. It's just cute ok! And now I officially sound like I'm in middle school. Great.

Whatever!

It's my birthday and I'll act-a-fool-when-everyone's-looking *gasp*...if I want to!

Sooo, I've never really been one for celebrations. I feel like that makes me a bit boring, but I don't know, it's never really been a big thing in my family. I feel so odd being the center of attention as well; it's sooooo weird. I've done the public speaker/limelight thing before; its not what I like to spend my time doing I guess.

Anyway, since I suppose this should actually be a SEE-U related journal entry (sorry I made you sit through the material above, dear reader), let's talk stats! Conclusion: I hate it. But I need it. Therefore I will learn to love it. Oh dear. I'm definitely learning Excel as we go, as I have no idea how to use it. The two-tailed test, for instance, is totally new to me--and just looking through the data analysis options I know stats is going to be a beast to tackle.

I'm still a bit confused about what scientific significance is. I mean I understand that statistical insignificance, assuming that two situations are different, would redirect us from that notion and tell us with greater certainty that the situations are actually similar. But if the literature says one thing, and our data says another, is that still scientifically significant? Or do we look first at potential flaws in our studies? Gah! But in our individual projects, for example, surely we can't be expected to have read all the literature and know what people have understood will occur/what the traits are of a situation, etc.?

Do "real" scientists even do that? I guess that's the function of peer-reviewed journals, since if your work actually gets so far as to be widely disseminated (as wide as you can get in a scientific niche), other scientists in the field will scrutinize your work for flaws...and scientific significance.

"I wanna sniff some...insects?"

Ok. So a mouthful of insects is the new dental jewelry. Alright. Good thing I've never really been a trend seeker.

I was superbly impressed by how many insects there were in that leaf litter. When Harry and I put the bamboo sample into a plastic bag we said, "Oh there's nothing in here." Yeah right! Critters galore! WHY must termites be so prevalent in PR??? The worst part was when we were all done counting the termites and Harry, clumsy as usual (not a value judgment, it's a fact, I promise), accidentally lifts the newspaper and mixes the termites with the many others there. Oooooh, that took alot of effort to stay quiet; I just left for a moment to get some air hahaha woooow.

I definitely learned alot with the exercise though.

1. Don't underestimate insects, little as they are. They dominate the earth! They will invade your homes, and your mouths, and the very ground you walk on. Beware! (...ok I'm done)

2. Thanks Patrick: Standard Sampling Protocol. How bout it eh? Would have been much easier if we had agreed on the manner to describe certain insect traits. Perhaps color according to a color chart, wing presence, size, and shape according to geometric shapes. We had different names for the same insect which made it difficult to compare samples, since what they called A we called B.

3. Pseudoreplicates: are cool. Sometimes necessary, sometimes more detrimental than helpful. I wonder also about the length of some projects. Climate in PR, for example, changes drastically with location on the island and with time. A short-term project only in the Luquillo Mtns. that looks for the overall rainfall of El Yunque would be inherently flawed, since certain elevations will have less/more rainfall, and that can change between months.

Model of Flaws

The exercises we did today on island biogeography and genetic drift really reflect what we established in the climate change discussions, that models are inherently flawed. This reminded me of economics, where I learned about the "ceteris paribus" principle of economic models; that is, that a model will predict the outcome of changing an independent variable, but only if we assume that all other factors are constant. In real life, of course, we have many factors playing into a situation and while we can predict one outcome with a model, other factors will skew the expected results since they likely change as well.

Yet models can help us zero in on the factors that matter. For instance, the biogeography model compares the biodiversity of different islands based on proximity to the mainland and island area. But the model leaves out climactic processes, which would affect what animals can actually survive on the island, and has a bias toward smaller plants and animals that can more easily travel the distance from the mainland to the island. But because the model is built this way, we know that if a result deviates from the model's result, we can look to the neglected factors for explanation.

As bad as it sounds, it's important to look for flaws in arguments, since they very likely have certain weaknesses and biases. Climate change in itself is a controversial topic, and I'm hesitant to accept every model that comes around. Of course, like economics, that doesn't mean you only focus on the uncertainties; you take what you know and move on.

I think that's what I like about our current president. Obama is smart, yeah, I know. But he's willing to admit that he may make mistakes, but that he will learn from those and keep moving forward.

The BP oil spill is a prime example of trying to deal with an environmental issue based on models. The company, along with government-hired scientists, are working on trying to fix the problem and relying on estimates of various things: the pressure of the oil gushing out, the strength of various materials for detaining the oil, etc. The models may say all will be well, but we've seen several times before that it hasn't--that doesn't mean we wait until we know as much as possible about the situation and wait to do something, making the oil spill worse. And good grief, there are certainly those who will focus only on the uncertainties-and for wanting a perfect, flawless answer, these very people clamoring for action do nothing in the end. Of course I don't agree that by these efforts BP will make all things well; the ecosystem is being impacted and will feel the effects of this mistake for decades.

One with You

My head is full of things; it feels crammed, brimming over with facts and unfinished connections, a flurry of things waiting to be made sense of…but I can’t seem to concentrate. My boyfriend was set to go hiking with his friends this morning at 6am in an attempt to find the source of the Espiritu Santo River. Yeah, in the pouring, pouring, POURING rain. Yeah. I couldn’t get a hold of him and I think that’s contributing to my lack of focus. After dinner (and another failed attempt at reaching him and my mother) I decided to sit on a rock near the stream, along the driveway past the apartments.

I sat, with my shorts, rain jacket, and sandals attempting to find a sense of place in the forest, to be here and now. With eyes closed I sat, imitating the rock beneath me--still, unmoving. I pressed my feet into the earth, attempting to become one with it as well. I relaxed each muscle, a rock slowly broken in by the water above, smoothed and eroded into the soil beneath. I breathed in, chest swelling. Drops of water fell onto my hood; I flinched involuntarily from the sound, the pressure of intermittent but large drops beating onto my head. Water began to flow onto my face, and I looked as though I were shedding tears. They streaked my cheek, these tears. I breathed out, attempting to release the stress...a burden remained though, heavy…

I then opened my mind to the things around me, attempting to take it all in without focusing on one single thing. I was an open vent, allowing the sound of the water rushing over the rocks, the song of the coquíes mingled with that of the insects, the constant drip of rain to envelop me, to come and go as it pleased. I noticed the other scientists passing by, some walking, some driving…I couldn’t concentrate completely I suppose, signaled by the tiny surges of self-consciousness…but I continued…I opened my eyes slowly, looking at the fog about me, how the trees and vines were kissed by the visiting clouds. This sense felt somehow degraded though, as if it was so common and so overused that it told me little of the things around me. Still, I raised my head to feel the mist on my face, so I too could be kissed. I closed my eyes again. I couldn’t feel the kiss...

I began to pray then, attempting to accept the uselessness of worrying for my beloved, attempting to accept, accept it all, accept anything I needed, whatever it was that was making me feel so heavy, so out of it. I felt emotions of despair, of fatigue, of hopelessness well inside, for the current situation as well as other issues in our relationship. I had the sudden desire to just lie down in that stream, to let the water run over my body, my face, to wipe me clean, to just overflow with those emotions, that they might meet the waters about me and swirl away. But I didn’t. Instead I prayed,my eyes focused on the water: “Everything is in Your hands. Were I to lose my beloved I could do nothing…but I will surely make like the stream and let my sorrow flow, let it all fall like the drops from the trees, like the heavens, like everything in this forest. Grant me the desires of my heart; as I delight in your creation, grant me so his well-being, mine own peace.” I still felt sorrow though, still unsettled despite the prayer. Yet the song of the coquíes and the refreshing nature of the stream wouldn’t let me stay grim--its just too joyful. Again, I had that urge to lie down in the stream and be cleansed, healed.

Even as I write this I feel heavy, and I’m still not sure why. I am crying, and I feel the emotions well up, sadness…but I don’t fully know why. I just hope to continue going out there to meditate, and maybe one of these days I will find that unity that I seek with nature. I just feel so out of it; I don’t even need to understand it—I’m not so naïve to think I can— but I just want to listen, to feel enough that I am one with it, that I am at peace...that I may feel a light shine within my mind, that I may truly see.

Individual Project: Preliminary Observations

The road directly leading into the field station is made of gravel, and has little or no area separating it from the forest. In less shaded areas such as in front of the apartments there is grass (tidy), and many sympodial trees, which coincides wth the reading on light availability and forest structure. In areas with a larger space and a greater incline there is more shade and you can see more tabonuco trees, as well as more leafy and woody litter. In steeper slopes there are many fern saplings.

The asphalt road that is Road 186, on the other hand, is more open and sunny. There was a notable difference in temperature as well; I was barely sweating on the other road but I got really hot once I walked out. I walked up the mountain toward Espiritu Santo and for the most part there is no large space between the road and the forest. In fact, I hit the mountain pretty quickly, which presents issues for site accessibility.

Near Espiritu Santo there was a very large area that may have once been a parking area. It is gravel and with black dirt underneath which may be black asphalt. There were some small, yellowing grasses there, and alot of trash from a full wastebasket.
Near the river there is more clay-like, brown dirt, as well as bamboo and ferns.

The gravel road seems to have less of an impact on the forest, at least in terms of grassy plants. The canopy is denser along this road, which may account for that, but if I'm gearing my study toward possible alternatives in road development then a thick canopy may not be feasible in terms of maintenance. Even so, how does EVFS deal with road maintenance? Aside from maybe a fallen tree or two, I don't see an issue with it, even if there is alot of litter on the floor. Then again, the road is pretty bad and I wouldn't expect people to be driving on it over 30mph, as I see on Rd. 186. Wet, slippery leaf litter might be an issue then.

As for the area near the river, I don't think that would be a good place to have the project since I'd have to control as much as feasible for other types of disturbances. The river is a natural disturbance, and it would thus affect the surrounding vegetation in addition to the road.

Another very interesting observation is where the bamboo are located, at least in the vicinity. If walking uphill, the bamboo dominate on the right side of the road, where the mountain drops dramatically. I say in the vicinity because I've seen bamboo on both sides of the road in the mountains where Omar lives. Also...OH MY GOSH!!! I have a new fear: bamboo toppling over while I have my back turned and it landing on my back. Scary.They just creak and sway when a breeze blows through-its seriously the most frightful thing.

Species Area Curves

I wish that referred to a woman's body type. Nooooo! Instead it hearkens to sloping mountain terrain, plot-making mishaps, frustrated team members, and rowdy arguments over whether one leaf's vein pattern matches that of another one. Grrr. The exercise was so tedious, too. I wonder if there's another way to measure species diversity, I mean, maybe a proxy or something. Of course it wouldn't be as precise but good grief counting and identifying all those plants was crazy!

I was a bit confused about what the difference is between species richness and species evenness. I just looked it up and got this:

Species richness: number of species.
Species evenness: relative abundance of each species.

Evenness is especially insightful to the diversity and health of an ecosystem, since evenness is sensitive to disturbance. That is, evenness tells how much of species A exists in a given area. If there is a disturbance, a hurricane for instance, and species A decreases in abundance, the evenness measure will reflect that. Species A will still exist according to species richness, but there will be no indication of disturbance.

Also in this article are some very interesting takes on diversity. Benefits of diversity include: support for diverse herbivores and insects, genetic diversity-->resilience, soil enrichment, filled niches to avoid invasion. Disadvantages of diversity include: indication of disturbance species, managing challenges for agricultural purposes. The most I've heard of biodiversity is the resilience benefit, which is cool, but I wasn't sure how that connected with the ecosystem benefits we affirmed as a byproduct of biodiversity in the conbio lecture.

As a sustainable development student, the article especially intrigued me because it appears to be directed toward the agricultural sector, a sector that contributes much to deforestation for agriculture and grazing, and thus the loss of biodiversity. But here, agrarians are being taught about the pros and cons of biodiversity...ideally they would appreciate biodiversity. But I can't help but dread the effect of market pressures and the greater impact of large agribusinesses.

http://www.cnr.uidaho.edu/range357/notes/Diversity.pdf

Con Bio

It's comforting to know that conservation advocates don't attempt to completely understand the mechanisms of the earth; I was overwhelmed by the complexity of barely ONE ecosystem on our hike on Sunday! The high degree of uncertainty really bothers me though, especially since I'm used to asking questions and getting definitive answers. But conservation biology just can't do that--it really is an inexact science. I can't even imagine trying to understand all the bio/geo/chem cycles within an ecosystem and between ecosystems. Aaaaaaah it's so mindblowing!!! How God has made such a beautifully convoluted universe is totally beyond me. But just because I can't understand it completely, knowing that the environment is intimately linked with humanity is enough impetus to seek its preservation.

Conservation biology is also definitely not what many people make it to be, an arena headed by tree-hugging hippies.My mom, for instance, disagrees with my desire to conserve the environment, and we tend to get into mild arguments over the issue. "Ay, esos ambientalistas prefieren cuidar los animales mas que a los ninos," my mom often says, "Oh, those environmentalist prefer to protect animals more than they do children." But conservation is not about a bird's nest taking precedence over a family hearth. I'm excited thus that con bio is so interdisciplinary. While I am interested in "hard" science and absolutely enjoy its objective and quantitative nature, I just can't see myself doing it as a career. I neeeed people! haha That conservation biology offers me a position in the applied and/or social sciences, where great people skills and a knack for pragmatism are vital, I can be of use for convincing the public that conserving the environment is necessary and beneficial to all. While nifty tree-huggers have their place, conservation isn't only about them (Thank goodness! Or I'd never live it down with mom...).

Luquillo Mountains: Overwhelming Complexity

I was in San Salvador, El Salvador, 2 weeks ago and I got so used to the green landscape that it looked homogeneous to me. I didn't really go into the forests, however, so from afar it just looked like a green mass. When I came to PR a week ago, then, I was slightly disappointed to see that same green mass. Walking into the forest today was so overwhelming though. As Tim and Ashley began to detail the various plants and what made them different I began to notice how complex this greenery actually is.

I began to see the leaf litter on the floor mixed with insects, decomposing logs, and clay-like, almost orange dirt. It is always wet and humid, accelerating the decomposing process. The various ferns began to distinguish themselves in the understory, only to be engulfed in the frenzy of the canopy, linked by the tangle of vines, varying from green to brown, from a soft stem to a woody one, growing from the ground up or hanging about. I was fascinated by the bromeliads, a type of epiphyte in the pineapple family that grow on the branches of canopy trees. The bromeliad doesn't perforate the tree as it grows on the tree branch, rather it gets its nutrients from the decomposing materials within its tank, as well as from material in the air which it catches with the fuzzy hairs on its leaves. Its like a mini-ecosystem all on its own!
It is a good thing that I read last night, so although it still felt overwhelmingly complex, I could appreciate the variety more. In that sense I can see how reading and research is key; otherwise, the forest would have continued to seems like a green bulk to me.

With this greater appreciation I feel eager to share my knowledge with my boyfriend Omar, who is a native puertorican and is studying tourism, especially "ecotourism". We were talking last week about how the tourism industry is not achieving its maximum potential because there is such a focus on hotel building and on beach lounging. Few people who come to PR come to discover the local riches, riches such as El Yunque, the Fajardo bioluminescent bays, or small eateries of antojitos, intent instead on the heavy tourist spots. Moreover, even if they skirt these trite spots for more obscure areas, how will they know what they are looking at? But I suppose that is the fault of the very tour companies/guides in PR--they have to be well-versed in their own treasures in order to adequately present them to outsiders.

As such, I'm excited to show Omar the rough organization of the rain forest, and what I've learned so far about plant identification. Another question arises from this, however. How does one frame a message to the the local people about the treasures they actually have? How can a highly urbanized mass, intent on service economics, urban jobs, etc., learn to appreciate and protect the beauty and recognize the services that their surrounding nature provides them?