Exploring and Brainstorming
Today was so great! We started off with a tour of the botanical gardens around the station led by the biologist stationed here. He gave us a short history of the area and showed us so many types of native and non-native plants. The area we are in used to be pasture land about 60 years ago, when the Wilson's came along they planted the 2nd largest collection of plants in the world. There are about 3000 different species and 40% of them are native. This diversity draws in 415 species of birds in Las Cruces and various mammals. Then we hiked the forest to Rio Java, seeing the rainforest in real life was so different than I had expected. It was dense with vegetation and it was so beautiful!
After our tour, we met with our mentors to brainstorm our projects. I will be studying the Shampoo Ginger with Mike Helm. The Shampoo Ginger is an invasive ornamental plant and there is very little known about it. We decided to do a broad study on the types of growing conditions it prefers. We will measure light, soil texture, soil profile, and do observations of where the plant is growing and note any disturbances or patterns between areas the plant is found.
When we finished brainstorming, we began to explore the property looking for wildlife. We first stumbled upon Agouti, they are a type of tropical rodent that is related to squirrels. They were foraging on the ground for fallen seeds. Next, we walked over to the green houses to look for lizards. Once we got there we had the amazing opportunity to see Capuchin Monkeys! They were so fun to watch and it was such a wonderful surprise. Seeing the monkeys was a highlight of the day for me, that is an animal I never thought I would see in its natural habitat.
To end a great day, we were privileged to sit down and meet with indigenous people from Panama. We met a biologist, a director of an environmental group, and a medicine man from their area. It was such an honor to meet them and it was so humbling to be in a room with so many diverse cultures who were able to express themselves. It was an emotional moment, and a lot of people really felt moved during the introductions. This is a moment I will never forget because it made us all realize how rare an experience like this is.
Shampoo Ginger
Strangler Fig
Agouti
Capuchin Monkeys
After our tour, we met with our mentors to brainstorm our projects. I will be studying the Shampoo Ginger with Mike Helm. The Shampoo Ginger is an invasive ornamental plant and there is very little known about it. We decided to do a broad study on the types of growing conditions it prefers. We will measure light, soil texture, soil profile, and do observations of where the plant is growing and note any disturbances or patterns between areas the plant is found.
When we finished brainstorming, we began to explore the property looking for wildlife. We first stumbled upon Agouti, they are a type of tropical rodent that is related to squirrels. They were foraging on the ground for fallen seeds. Next, we walked over to the green houses to look for lizards. Once we got there we had the amazing opportunity to see Capuchin Monkeys! They were so fun to watch and it was such a wonderful surprise. Seeing the monkeys was a highlight of the day for me, that is an animal I never thought I would see in its natural habitat.
To end a great day, we were privileged to sit down and meet with indigenous people from Panama. We met a biologist, a director of an environmental group, and a medicine man from their area. It was such an honor to meet them and it was so humbling to be in a room with so many diverse cultures who were able to express themselves. It was an emotional moment, and a lot of people really felt moved during the introductions. This is a moment I will never forget because it made us all realize how rare an experience like this is.
Shampoo GingerStrangler FigAgoutiCapuchin Monkeys
Wow! Great blog! So cool!
ReplyDelete