21 Oct, 2017
The past two months I spent in the field finalizing research
sites and setting transects for my PhD work in the Sierra Nevada de Santa
Marta. Although we traverse across properties and elevations every few days, below
is what an “average” day looks like.
5:45 am: I rise
with the sun, whether I like it or not.
7 am: After
pretending to sleep in my tent or bed (depending on the site) I, finally, meander
out of my hidey hole, where I am often presented with my first cup of tinto –
black, sugar, coffee water.
8 am: Breakfast.
If we are staying with a family this consists of an Arepa, cheese and maybe
eggs or rice, plus another cup of tinto or hot chocolate (my favorite).
8:30 am – 2 pm:
Depart for the field to search for sites and set transects. This consists of
hiking around the properties – whether it’s coffee fields or forests. This is
the most difficult part of the day. Trying to find parts of habitat where we
can set a 30 m transect without falling off a mountain has been surprisingly
difficult. Using the machete to carve our way through dense forest, slipping
and sliding on mud and tree roots while avoiding falling rocks, we grasp to
tiny tree branches while walking our 30-m line. Usually, Jeff my field
assistant, goes first as he thoroughly enjoys using a machete (or so it seems).
Finally, once we have placed a transect we collect all the environmental
variables, that may be relevant to amphibians, at six spots along the transect
line – every 5 m; information includes canopy cover (the coverage of the trees
in the forest), leaf litter (dead foliage on the ground), elevation,
temperature, humidity amongst other variables. Most importantly, I mark the transects
with my hot pink tape with white checkers (which I spent way too long selecting
online, because I wanted the perfect flagging tape that represented “me”).
When setting the transects I often talk with Jeff, my
assistant, about the ability and safety of accessing the site at night.
Sometimes I feel overly cautious but when Jeff confirms, yes this would be a
death trap at night, I usually heed to his warnings. He is, after all, the
expert...side note: sometimes I wonder if it is indolence not difficulty that
keeps him from telling me if a site is a good one or not, because I swear some
didn’t seem that bad, or did they?
2 – 5:30 PM:
Hopefully we make it back before the afternoon rains aka the aguaceros.
LUNCH (around 2 pm):
We eat a huge lunch – the biggest meal in Colombia (I think eating a big lunch
is actually a great idea, although I am pretty sure I’ve gained 20 lbs here, I
even had a dream about it). This usually consists of rice, beans, and some sort
of meat. Sometimes it’s rice, potatoes, beans, and for me an egg (since I don’t
eat red meat or pork).
AFTER LUNCH: We
immediately retreat to our tents or beds. I usually pass the time reading or
take a nap, depending on how exhausted I am. I have a habitat of re-reading
Harry Potter in the field. I already re-read all 7 books, and I’ve read about
another 5 books since beginning field work. One of my favorites was Hillary
Clinton’s newest book “What Happened”. Although difficult to read at times, I
found it inspiring, thought-provoking, and overall cathartic. I would highly
recommend it, even for Hillary haters and especially for those who get stomach
aches or feel deep sadness while watching or reading the news… like I do.
5:30 PM: Reluctantly,
I get out of bed. I organize the datasheets and equipment, and make sure we
have enough batteries to last us approximately 5 hours during the night. I
actually did not forget any equipment the first round of surveys – a huge feat
for me! (Don’t ask me about coffee focus groups though...).
6:30 PM: We trace
our steps back to survey the transects we placed earlier in the day. As night
falls the forest transforms from difficult terrain to an almost unrecognizable
death trap. We slip and slide our way through dense coffee plants – grabbing
ahold to branches so we don’t fall down the 45-degree slope – or I go down a
hill, almost on my butt, and hop rocks within the streams to get to the first
flag we placed “close by” earlier in the day. Ants, scorpions, mosquitoes,
snakes, and huge spiders all appear along our transects. Can I just take a minute to say how much I HATE biting insects?
Seriously, it is the F***ing worst thing, especially at night – batting off
ants while trying to stay on your 4 inch-wide path you have. Anyway, back
to the story line.
During the night, we search the 30 m (and 1.5 m to each
side) transects for frogs, picking up each frog we find and measuring the body
length from snout to butt or more appropriately called – snout vent length,
it’s mass (g), six thermal measurements using a laser thermometer, air
temperature and relative humidity, and snap a photo (my awful photography
skills have proved to be a hindrance in this part of the process). On a good night,
Jeff and I are yelling “rana, rana, rana” (Spanish word for frog) over and over
to each other…sometimes processing multiple frogs and species at once. Jeff
handles and measures the frogs, I take all the temperature readings, and record
all the data. When I was a blossoming field biologists, I used to be the one
who always wanted to handle the animals, however, one of Jeff’s main skills is
his ability to handle and identify frogs (it is also the most fun part), so I
figure the least I can do (since I make him journey these treacherous transects
with me) is let him do the best job! I already take all the super fun environmental variable data
anyway…
Some nights we find up to 12 species, while others we are
lucky to find one frog period.
10 – 2 am: We
usually roll into our campsites around 10 – 12 am…If we have a really busy
night or our sites are very far away (furthest is about 1.5 hour walk) surveys
will go later. Once in bed I usually read again because I am wide awake after
all that exciting frog searching! I often fall asleep around 2 and wake up at
5:44 am…as the light begins to hit the sides of my tent.
As I wake up, if I am lucky, I am greeted with a hot tinto.
P.S.
Did I mention all of this happens in Spanish?
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