Dr. B: May 2008 Archives

Just two days into our trip, and so much has happened in these projects.  Although each project is different, one common denominator is that I am amazed at the adaptability these students have exhibited.  Yesterday was incredibly full, with the bird and plant groups beginning their work with Geovanni at 6AM, while the mapping group located sites for their water data collection.  They continued with a 3 mile hike at El Silencio, and later another 3 mile hike at the volcano, which ended in eating empanadas and fresh pineapple in the dark rainy night watching the glow of lava flowing down the volcano.

The plant group was somewhat discouraged by changes that would be inevitable in order to implement their project, but they have created a completely new plan that will ultimately be fantastic.  The plant group has a great asset in Lorea, a fastidious notetaker who manages to keep up with the pace of the data no matter how fast the Spanish, common, or scientific names are given for each species.  Mary has added her willingness to climb over or under any obstacle in order to tie a piece of flagging to mark a point.  And Chris has brought his photography skills to the plant group, enabling them to document every species of plant they see, in the hopes of creating a guide to the plants here.

The mapping group has put in the most time on the trails, walking each of them twice today--once to map bird points, and the second to map the roads/trails themselves.  Adaire has nearly mastered operating the Trimble field computer, although the very steep learning curve for the new technology was one of the concerns for the project.  Samantha has found herself having to slide down a  ravine in order to plant the Hobo temperature sensors, and has the ability to remain happy throughout.  Noah is a very effective planner, and has worked well with Richard downloading the mapped data, displaying them, and making arrangements for the collaborative work to be undertaken with the other two groups.

Finally, the bird group has become fully absorbed in its  work, finding that even today, when there is a chance to have a short afternoon break, they want to continue watching the birds that fly by.  Adriane showed this to the fullest extent, creeping to the edge of the porch of the cabin to watch a flock of Red-legged Honeycreepers feed on fallen bananas.  Katheryn kept up with the fast pace of the data collection this morning, including entering the finds on a very difficult-to-manage datasheet showing the locations of every bird sighted.  Katherine continues to have a keen eye, and an ability to remember all the birds we have seen today when sighting them later, throwing out the names as though she had studied them for a much longer time.

Finally, Johanna is a great asset to all of the projects, dividing her time between the different groups, and finding out where she is needed most.  She has helped with the mundane task of helping me buy food for lunches and protective rubber boots using only a list of shoe sizes, as well as technical tasks related to data from the Trimble and the Hobo sensors.  Although I knew in asking her to be a part of this project that she was a great researcher, I have also learned that she is a very effective team leader.

The groups will continue to enter their reflections in the coming days--it is hard to believe today was only Day 1 of formal data collection, with four more remaining.  I hope that the readers out there and the parents and friends of these students know how great they are, and how grateful I am that they are a part of this project.

The main page now offers a link under the Reference section containing an annotated bibliography for the project.  The bibliography was compiled by the students in BIO 3416 as they researched background material on mapping techniques and the flora/fauna of Costa Rica.  It is important to have a broad overview of what this research will entail by looking at what others have conducted in the field.  We hope to add to this bibliography with even more detailed citations and additional references after we return from Costa Rica.

We added a new piece of equipment to the range of tools available for the project, a Trimble GeoXM handheld field computer with integrated GPS and Bluetooth wireless:


Photo from Trimble, www.trimble.com

The Trimble unit is the essential item to have not only for obtaining our GPS data on specific points, but for allowing us to collect a wide range of data attributes, visualize our data using GIS, and download our information for analysis on-site and back in Dallas.  This particular unit will be able to resolve features within 1-3 meters, which for our purposes should be enough to enable a fairly accurate view of the features of our reforestation site.  The unit retails for about $4,500, which includes the software for both the XM and our own computers for post-processing.

Many thanks go to Cody Cantrell, Western Data Systems, for spending several hours with us yesterday helping to set up the unit and work on collecting a few field points for practice in using the XM.  Cody has extensive experience working with Trimble, and helped us get through a few glitches due to computer difficulties (from our network, not from the unit) to have us in the field collecting data just a short time after the unit arrived.  He also created his own tutorial for the XM, which we'll be able to provide to Samantha, Noah, and Adaire who will be working on the mapping part of the project. 

Cody works for Western Data Systems in Southlake, TX, so if you have a need for tools for a similar application, give him a call (972-245-4337).

The Red-capped Manakin is a member of the family Pipridae, limited to areas of the lowland tropics.  Manakins have experienced a long history of sexual selection, resulting in a selection for brightly-colored males with elaborate courtship displays and females with less coloration.  They are generally lek-breeders, typified by central display areas called leks that are used by several males in order to attract a female.  The females visit the lek and observe these displays before settling on one particular male as a mate. The Red-capped Manakin display on the lek can be viewed in a well-known clip posted to YouTube.


Photo by Lynn Barber, Fort Worth Audubon Society

Birdwatchers looking for manakins find it difficult to see them in the dense understory layers of a forest.  However, the birds can be brought out more into the open by mimicking some of their sounds through clapping and finger-snapping.  The birds, curious about a potential rival nearby, will move into an open perch to investigate the sounds and allow for a closer look.

The tropics hold a variety of species that are unique, and none are more interesting and challenging than the antbirds. The antbirds are small passerines within the family Thamnophilidae, and are restricted to tropical Central and South America.  A second ant-dependent family, the Formicariidae, are found more commonly on the ground, and resemble thrushes in behavior and morphology. 

The antbirds are generally insectivores, and gained an association with ants due to their habit of some of following columns of army ants to feed opportunistically on the insects that are attempting to flee the ants' advance.  So while they do not necessarily eat ants (although some are obligate ant-followers), the swarms of ants enhance feeding opportunities.

Barred Antshrike (Thamnophilus doliatus) in Jaú, São Paulo state, Brazil.  Photo taken by Dario Sanches, from Sao Paulo, Brasil, September 30,2007

There are a number of species that belong to the Thamnophilidae, and these species are typically divided based on size and foraging behavior.  These species include the antshrikes, which are large and have a hooked bill similar to the shrikes found in other parts of the world.  Smaller antbirds include the antwrens and antvireos, that will forage for tinier insects and often forage on the wing.  All members of the group prefer being in the darker lower levels of the forest under a thick canopy.  They are commonly cryptic, with dusky brown, black, gray and white coloration.  However, some may have iridescent face and neck coloration, as in the case of the Oscellated Antbird.

At the Leaves and Lizards site many of the antbirds can be found in the mature tree habitat, but could be expected to increase in number as the forest becomes more dense and begins to become attractive to insects and army ant swarms.

The Keel-billed Toucan, Ramphastos sulfuratus, is one of the most distinct and charismatic species of the Costa Rican rainforest.  Readily identifiable by its bright green red and orange bill, this species is a common resident of the rainforest canopy.

Toucans are members of family Rhamphastidae in the order Piciformes, and have several qualities in common with another family of this order, the woodpeckers.  All members of this order have zygodactyl feet, with two toes pointing forward, and two toes behind.  This toe arrangement provides the greatest possible traction for hanging on to tree trunks.  Like woodpeckers, the toucans are hole-nesters, and due to limited numbers of natural holes and crevices will often be forced to share the holes with other toucans.

The diet of a toucan is mainly fruit, although they will sometimes consume eggs, insects and vertebrates (mostly frogs and lizards) to add protein to their diet.  At the study site we have found that the resident toucans will sometimes move from tree to tree monitoring the ripeness of fruits in order to get the fruits at their peak.  We hope that restoration of the Costa Rican rainforest helps to provide more space for these birds to live, and a better food source for them and their young.

We will periodically be posting a species spotlight, which highlights the habitat, behavior, and general importance of one of the species found at the Leaves and Lizards site in Costa Rica.  These species will be among those that will be the focus of the research project, and we hope will continue to be restored to the site over the years.

If you have a species you would like to have more info on, please let us know!

Dr. B.