New ecosystems -- from Jesse

While different then Atenas and Santa Rosa National Park, ITEC has offered our group an insight into many completely new ecosystems and natural formations. Whether its a visit to the primary forest or trips to wet and dry caves to study bats and get a hands on look at limestone formations, nothing is more than a half an hour ride away. We have learned about mangrove swamps, hard coral formations. We have taken a boat ride in a torrential downpour to experience the canal built in the mid 19^th century for banana transportation from the upstream plantations to Bocas Del Toro.We have been exposed to different type of beaches, from cheddar reef, less than 100 yards from our dorms to the black sand volcanic beach at Serrapta. While in ITEC we have split up into smaller research groups and have had a chance to further explore many of the natural wonders available here. With studies ranging from behavior of leaf cutter ants to documenting the abundant coral found in the reefs near ITEC, the ability to further explore many of the interesting species and formations has given us a chance to hone the scientific process we started learning in Santa Rosa National Park and dig deeper into what tropical ecology has to offer.

--Jesse

Rainy boat trip! -- from Tom

On Tuesday the group put on our raingear and hopped in the boats. We rode a ways across the Serropta Pennisula, where we rode through a long canal. We finally got out at Chino’s house (he owns some property on the Peninsula and the ITEC research station property.) We walked through some mud and muck to a beautiful black sand beach, and we were careful to keep along the shore to avoid the strong rip tide. We waded in the shallows and dug in the dark sand, which had eroded from clastic volcanic rock and was smooth underfoot. Pete discovered a few empty sea turtle eggs at the top of the beach. Eventually we made out way back to the boats, and Pete picked a few figs from a tree in the river. He threw some over to my boat (they were admittedly pretty bitter) and we rode back to ITEC. It was a great experience.
* For most of the ride it was pouring rain, filling the boat so that we needed to bail out the boat.

-Tom Foley

Group Projects -- from Mikaela Joyce

Today, Thursday, is our last full day at Bocas del Drago, Panama. While we were here, we explored the forest, snorkeled in the coral reef, visited caves, and floated down a canal. Everyone in our group has also been working on a science project. Tonight, each group will present their research.

My group (Niko, Tilly, Sarah, and Mikaela) has been tracking the movement of sea stars. We observed their speed and which direction they went in, and we are trying to determine if there are any patterns in their movement.

Kayla, Knaide, and Tom are doing a social science experiment. They are interviewing people on the island about natural medicine and Western medicine, and seeing if Western medicine is taking over or if people still use natural medicine.

Amelia, Will, Alex, and Aundre are studying geckos. They are testing whether the geckos prefer water with higher concentrations of sugar, or water with less sugar. They have cups of water with varying concentrations of sugar attached to a wall where geckos congregate.

Kate, Peter, and Brianna are studying ants. They are tracking the ants and obstructing their paths with blocks of Styrofoam. Next, they observe how long it takes the ants to move blocks of Styrofoam, and what methods they use to move them.

Jeff and Jesse are studying bats. They are looking into the diversity of bats on the island. There are a few caves on the island and they have been conducting their experiments there.

Tomorrow we are headed for Los Quetzales, Panama, and we will be exploring the cloud forest. Wish us luck with our presentations tonight!

-Mikaela Joyce

Cave of Wonders -- by Kayla

Six of us went to explore some wet caves not too far from our station here the other day, which might have been the best thing we’ve done yet! We went into one shorter cave-tunnel with Steve, Carra and Pete first and saw some cool bat colonies and rock structures made of clay and calcium and stuff. We had to wade through water around our knees at times. Then just us students went exploring through a second cave-tunnel for maybe a half hour. It was much longer and exciting, the water up to my neck at some points and we had to crouch a bit for some parts to not hit the ceiling. Bats flew around our heads and we saw a bug that looks like a mix of a crab, spider and scorpion (amblypygi). If you watched the 4^th Harry Potter movie it’s the spider Moody messes around with in class. Pretty creepy, but harmless, we touched them. Anyways, pretty awesome adventures in the caves!!!

Amelia-Selected Science Journal Excerpts

Hullo. This is Amelia. It appears that I am posting from Briana's account (?). It was suggested by Amber that I post the following selections from my daily science journal.

Saturday, February 26th, 2011

10:30

Today we explored a hard coral reef.`We saw deadly sea urchins waggling foot long venomous spikes, and gigantic stationary sea cucumbers. The hard coral and sponges came in a mesmerizing variety of shapes, textures and colors. One particular type of sponge came in deep blues, greens and turquoises, while others were bright orange or pink. These grew up from the sea floor in great quantities, and were even more numerous on the mangrove roots that jutted out into the open water. There were branching tree-like corals that grew up from the sand, wrapped all about with spindly brittle stars, and huge domes of brain coral with labyrinthine surfaces. Occasional strands of blueish phlegm extended from one coral to another. I later learned that these were a form of tentacle that one body of coral will shoot out to destroy parts of another coral so as to make space room for itself to expand.

Sunday, February 27th, 2011

22:00

Drizzling and overcast

I have just come back from a night hike in a tropical rain forest. It was an excellent experience. Despite the clouds the stars shone brilliantly. We walked along the road and on a path through the rain forest that we had hiked the previous day. I saw my first red-eyed tree frog: the stereotypical tropical tree frog with brilliant green back, cream-colored underbelly, neon-orange feet, yellow sides with vertical stripes of brilliant blue and fiery red eyes that give it it's name. I was surprised by it's smallness. I had always heard rumors of its toxicity, yet my guide gave me permission to handle him. I later had trouble removing him from my fingers, for his large, sticky feet with flat, circular toes are perfectly developed for clinging to most surfaces. He was splendid. We also saw several varieties of toad. Some lucky fellows in the front of the group spotted a Bufo marinus, a huge, hideous, omnivorous creature capable of shooting spines containing a deadly venom up to ten feet from its back. I had become enamored of the species when I was seven, and had been begging to keep one as a pet ever since. We also saw two flattish, creamy toads perched on leaves, and another fat brown toad, which appeared to differ from a Bufo americanus only in size. I captured a frog whose binomial nomenclature had recently changed to include the name Savage (amusing, since my science project is citing and expanding on the information of Jay M. Savage, this frog's namesake). We also spotted and captured another large frog, which left a copious amount of translucent slime on my hands with the adhesive qualities of elmer's glue. We also spotted a yellow skinned tree frog with semitransparent skin, through which one can distinguish its blue bones.

Apologies for the lack of knowledge on the classification of these animals. I fully intended to identify them, but ran out of time to do so.

a quick update from bocas

We have succesfully relocated ourselves to Panama, and we are right up against the sea. We´ve started our group projects, and have been out collecting data inbetween excursions to caves and canals. My group is working with starfish and it involves a lot of half-underwater, muffled yelling with snorkel masks on about how far one of our marked stars has slunk (very far very quickly, if you were wondering). I´ve probably ingested more saltwater than is healthy but it´s well worth it.

Despite discovering that all our belongings are eternally damp here, it´s been great. I´m exhausted by the time I crawl into my top bunk at night, with the rain pounding on the corrugated metal roof and thoughts of starfish slinking through my head. We are getting to apply the methodology we´ve been learning, and deciding what we work on.