The Adventures of the Field

By Dennis Bolshokov

          Before coming to Costa Rica, I had never thought of scientific studies as adventures. The ones I had been a part of before had all taken place in a lab, with a controlled colony of the species we were studying. Even though I knew about field studies, I had always had the perception that they were carried out in small, rectangular plots, requiring meticulous, repetitive attention. Of course, studies like this are extremely common and important (and almost all science has some repetitive aspect to it), but little did I know that there are more adventurous possibilities out there.

            In the past three weeks, the Tropical Biology OTS group had the opportunity to participate in three field-related studies, as well as many walks through the forest and gardens at Las Cruces to observe birds, nocturnal animals, and plants. Of the three studies I mentioned, one was a long-term study of ants at coffee farms, and two were faculty-led projects at Las Cruces. The coffee project was really cool to do because we had just finished learning about how coffee is grown, processed, evaluated, and sold, as well as how the market for coffee has shaped the communities that rely on the crop. Walking through the rows, I sometimes wished I had a machete to make it through the thick, overlapping branches (something I have not needed in the jungle yet). We lured the ants with vials full of tuna, monitoring how long it took for the vials to be discovered and how many ants came to partake in the feast. Later, we took the vials back to the lab to identify the species of ants present at each site.

The Lizard-catching crew. We were unfazed by the swollen river or the recent mudslide behind us. Photo creds: Ray Hopkins

            For one of the faculty-led projects, we walked down different streams in the jungle, and looked for aquatic anole lizards. Dressed in rubber boots and baggy ponchos, we ambled through the streams, precariously avoiding deep spots and fallen trees. Mind you, this was during the tropical storm that became hurricane Nate (further up north) and flooded much of Costa Rica, so the streams were very swollen and turbulent. Despite all this, it was extremely fun to look for the lizards, and then to catch them (which is done by using a cupped hand). We put the lizards in plastic bags, and measured them in the lab, then released them in the same spots we caught them in the next day.

The last faculty-led project involved spiders. This study was designed by us students, and everything relating to the methods was concocted by us, with minimal guidance from the faculty. Basically, we were testing if wandering spiders (genus Cupiennius) learn to avoid distasteful prey faster under a red or a blue light (we used flashing Christmas lights). Although the trials were carried out in the lab, we needed to catch the spiders first, and this was the most fun and exhilarating part. We went out at night with headlamps to capture the spiders on bromeliad plants right outside of the house. Mind you, these spiders are big. Although not as venomous as their infamous cousins in Brazil, these ones could still pack a punch. We did this in the pouring rain, with just plastic bags and sticks to tap the leaves. One person sheathes the leaves with the bag, while another guides the spiders with the stick or scissors. Most of the time, the spiders did not want to be caught, and hide in the water-holding “tank” part of the bromeliads. One time, a spider jumped off the leaf and onto my hand, then onto the ground, and I thought of an adjective I never considered thinking of for spiders before: cute. It hopped (hopped!) across the path and into hiding. Every time we caught a spider there were cries of jubilation; one girl who couldn’t bring herself to hold a lizard a week ago captured several of these scary spiders and screamed with excitement every time! It was a blast. After the study was completed, we released the spiders back into the garden and spent two days writing a scientific report about the studies.

            Another day, we went birding in the gardens, and saw all kinds of colorful parakeets, toucans, tanagers, and more. There are also really big birds that fly here, among them caracaras nesting in palms, and guans. It’s really remarkable how diverse and colorful life is here. Even though learning to identify the hundreds of species here would be difficult, it makes one appreciate the tropical adventure even more.