Nick Kanakis: May 2009 Archives

The last day had a productive final round of sampling even with the frequent rain. Many new butterfly species were recorded including many individuals of a rather uncommon species typically only found in intact forest. Upon reviewing the notes and data for the butterflies the highest areas of diversity were, as expected, in the disturbed forest patches that did not have tree monocultures. The tree plantations especially the teak stands were very low in butterfly diversity. The butterflies of the teak areas were the most common species that were present to nectar on the lantana. The tiger pattern mimetic complex of Heliconians, Ithomiines, and a single Charaxinae was very well represented in the two main disturbed forest patches. For the ants diversity was greatest in the forest patch bordering bird points a-n. There were several dominant species of ground dwelling ants. Their dominance should lessen as the restoration process continues and the leaf litter becomes thicker. This gives less dominant species more available niches and microhabitats to live and forage in, and it makes it more difficult for dominant species, like the fire ant Solenopsis geminatta, to establish colonies.

Today I woke up sore and groggy from all the wasp and ant bites yesterday. So I rested from 9 until 1. During this period I sorted and identified ants. A vial of Azteca sp. I compared to the various described Azteca of Costa Rica. I didn't really match any of the species and could possibly be a new form or even species. This is very exciting, and when back in Dallas I'll further examine the ants. Hopefully it is something new. 

Today began after breakfast at about 9 with a hike through the various forest patches on the property. Many new species of butterflies for the property were found, and an incredibly interesting ant species was found in some young laurels just outside of a forest patch. The ants build their colony out of what appears to be some sort of fungus, and they tend to scale bugs which they take out to the laurel to graze and guard the bugs and every inch of the laurel very aggressively. They have little satellite structures dotting the laurel that store different groups of scale bugs and contain no ant brood. After this at about 2:30 we went to a relatively undisturbed forest preserve nearby. It was a really interesting hike and everything was going well until I walked by a wasp colony and was stung several. That hurt quite a bit and was really startling. After this temporary setback we continued with the hike and saw lots of interesting animals and plants.We arrived back at the main house, and Debbie thankfully gave me Benadryl and Advil, which really helped. And now I must eat dinner.

Here's a  brief attempt to recap the first three days, take two. The trip has been incredibly exciting, and to research in the tropics is something I've always wanted to do. The experience has been better than I expected. Its easy even easy to wake up at 5:30 in the morning. This is something that I haven't said too often, if ever. The insect diversity is breathtaking, and its really a joy to be able to study the butteflies and ants of Leaves and Lizards. Ant baiting has been really interesting. It not only works as a sampling method, but its also a great way to observe ant behavior. One of the most amazing examples is of some trap-jawed looking ants in the genus Odontomachus. They are large impressive ants that come to feed off of the small ants feeding on the bait. We saw the volcano errupting and a great example of a habitat in restoration while hiking the Arenal lava flows. Well I need to leave now, but tomorrow I'll post some pictures.

The classes are now in full swing, and excitement for the trip is building. We've all been assigned to a specific niche to focus upon. Each aspect of research, habitat sampling, insects, and birds, are out. The first day of classes on volcanology was really cool. It gave a pretty exciting introduction to the dynamic environment of Arenal, and some pretty neat views should be instore.

Nick Kanakis