Panama Trip 2009

Day 13: 9/7/09

2009-09-17T00:37:00.001-07:00

We got up this morning and headed to the house in Gamboa to give our individual research projects. We all received a specific project a few days earlier, and we then compiled research from other publications as well as the trip itself into a slideshow presentation.

We all gave our presentations, and Teri also gave one on a baiting experiment between different color bait bottles that we set this trip. Steve also gave an interesting follow up lecture to his first one at the beginning of the trip. He presented a wealth of research and findings that were done using the tagged tree plots like the one we got to use for our Fisher's Alpha project on Barro Colorado Island the day before.

After the presentations were over, we ate an exciting lunch at the Miraflores Restaurant, a Panamanian buffet-style cuisine that directly overlooked the Miraflores Canal lock. We enjoyed delicious hot meat dishes and tropical fruit plates as we looked out and watched enormous freighters move in, up, down, and out of the locks with just inches to spare. Needless to say, lunch lasted a lot longer than usual.

After lunch, we drove back to the house in Gamboa to grab all of our things and then headed over back to our apartments in building #183 for a final dinner and conversation before we all went back to our rooms to pack all our clothes and souvenirs purchased on the trip. Then it was off to bed and a goodnight sleep to prepare for our early departure from Panama the next morning.

Day 12: 9/6/09

2009-09-16T12:23:00.001-07:00

We got up early this morning to travel to Barro Colorado Island (BCI). We met Steve at the docks near the entrance to Pipeline Road at 7:45 to sign in and reserve our spots on the boat. The boat left promptly at 8am and took a half hour to travel along the canal channel to the island. Along the way we were able to see the huge freighters moving along the channel as well as see the expansion work being done on the canal shores to widen it.

We arrived at the docks and immediately started our hike up from the compound into the island itself. After about two kilometers, we reached the summit and then headed to Steve's plot to do work on the fisher's alpha. Along the way we stopped to observe the many insects and plants, including huge garden spiders and a variety of interesting trees that Steve pointed out to us.

When we reached the plot, each of us headed out in different directions from the trail to begin collecting samples. The process was much easier than on Volcan Baru because all we had to do was record the tag numbers in our notebooks. We all were able to complete 35 samples each.

As we headed back down to the compound, we spotted howler monkeys and capuchins, as well as agouti's and even a coral snake!

After the longest hike during the trip in hot and humid weather, we were all relieved that lunch was being served right as we returned to the compound. We all replenished our stomachs and then explored around the compound until we had to leave at 2:30.

After a long, tiring, but eventful day, we returned to Steve and Patti's house in Gamboa to work on our individual presentations the next day. Needless to say, after we finished preparing our presentations, we all slept very well!
(pictures coming very soon!)

Photos from all around Panama

2009-09-13T09:06:00.000-07:00

Some of the wildlife we saw:

Photos from Volcan Baru National Park:

More pictures from Pipeline Road:

Sorting plant samples for Fisher's Alpha in Boquete:

Other pictures:

Day 11: 9/5/09

2009-09-07T14:43:00.001-07:00

This morning was slow for most of us, 5 late risers stayed in bed until 8am. Doug the early bird got up and walked down to Pipeline Road while we slept. His proverbial worm turned out to be a troop of Capuchin monkeys, who rustled branches and displayed aggressive postures to assert their dominance over their territory. Steve later told us that he had once challenged a branch-wielding Capuchin by shaking a stick he was holding, only to be rushed by the monkey.

We spent the day doing some of Teri's mini-projects. Jenna and Andrea placed bowl baits to watch Drosophila copulation (to no avail), Joel and Doug keyed flies we collected in El Valle and Boquete, and Katie and Alec calculated Fisher's alpha for data sets that Teri sent us. We were also assigned the topics for our presentations, which we will give to the professors on Monday.

Dinner was at Los Lagartos, a restaurant with a deck overlooking the Chagres River. Four guys were throwing bread over the railing and turtles swarmed the water below. Before we ate, we found a crocodile hanging out at the bank of the river so we threw bread bits to a nearby bird in hopes of luring it to the croc (again, to no avail).

We wrapped up the night with Steve giving a talk about the Barro Colorado Island (BCI), which we'll be visiting tomorrow. The whole thing was pictures of adorable animals and a hilarious story about he and a colleague being chased into a tree overnight by hoard of snarling, chomping peccaries. Tomorrow should be amazing, there will be tons of pictures!

Day 10: 9/4/2009

2009-09-04T17:10:00.000-07:00

Today began with all of us waking up in the morning and eating breakfast at our apartments in the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute's (STRI) housing building in Gamboa. After meeting up for some healthy granola and fruit, we all headed over to our own personal research facility, a.k.a. Steve and Patty's house. After some quick announcements about the weekends events, we all began to examine the flies collected from the previous two days. After only looking at two of the over 20 vials filled with flies, Doug and Alec encountered a group of male flies that could not be identified using the keys we normally used for identification. Teri, who is the fly expert of the group, couldn't positively identify them either, and so we took some pictures and sent them to the Drosophila Stock Center back at UCSD to be identified. This was extremely exciting because it may mean that we have encountered a very rare, unknown, or completely new species.

We all went back to our apartments at lunch time to make some quick sandwiches and prepare baits for hanging that afternoon. Taking two cars, we ventured into Pipeline Road much further than we had the previous time we went. We crossed narrow wooden bridges over small murky rivers and drove through narrow roads so thick and lush with plants that we could not drive without scraping the car along palm fronds and foliage from trees that lined the side of the road. After about six miles, we turned around and began trying to find suitable places to hang baits.

We soon realized that placing baits would be the least of our worries. Alec noticed at the first bait hanging stop that the front right tire on one of the cars was making a loud hissing sound and leaking air. We continued to drive to see if we could make it back but it became clear that the tire was loosing air too fast to make it back. We had to stop on the small dirt road to change it....

Luckily, Alec had some experience in changing tires. Working under an increasing darkening and thunderous sky, he worked with Joel and Doug to quickly jack the car up, remove the bad tire, and replace it with the spare. Just as we finished, it began to rain. We all got back into the cars and drove back down the road. Our luck changed at the end when one car heard the loud calls of howler monkeys over the sound of the rainstorm. Although we didn't see them, we had more confidence that we might see some monkeys before the trip ended.

After relaxing back at the apartments, we headed over to the house in Gamboa at 5 pm to hear an interesting speciation lecture by Teri. She discussed the current thoughts of how the process in which new species are created, as well as filling us in with projects worked on by her and her lab. We then discussed a research paper by Sarah Pipkin about two Panamanian fruit fly species. After a long and eventful day, we returned to our apartments to get some much needed sleep.

Day 8 & 9: 9/2/09 & 9/3/09

2009-09-04T08:47:00.000-07:00

Day 8:

Today was a very productive day! We accomplished the drive back to El Valle from Boquete and still had time to collect most of our baits. We were thrilled to find that each one of the baits in the pine area had more than all of our previous baits combined! We took our time walking through the tropical habitats, hiking up a river lined by ivy and moss covered boulders. We were all jealous of Andrea’s rainboots as she walked effortlessly through the river; we grasped weak vines for support on the shallow banks, observing brightly colored dragonflies and trying to catch lizards. Absorbing our surroundings, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves as we collected our remaining baits.

We brought our specimens home with us and took turns aspirating, taking a food break in the middle. We enjoyed Peruvian cuisine with the professors for lunch and patronized an Italian restaurant called Bruschetta for dinner. Bellies full, we returned to our flies at home, some of us staying up until 1am aspirating them into vials. Some of us are increasing our tolerance for that fermented banana smell and taste. Yum, yum!

Here are some photos of our view from the pine area in El Valle:

Until our next adventure,

STRI techs of Panama

Day 9:

We had a wonderful morning. Excited to greet the El Vallan Drospholids first thing, we collected the baits around the hotel that we had placed 4 days prior. The flies put up a fight, but we aspirated them into vials and left our homey B&B for the market. We all enjoyed seeing the handmade crafts, especially watching one man intricately paint a giraffe onto a bird feather. We quickly bought trinkets for family and friends at home (hola familia y amigos!) and some produce for the drive ahead of us.

Through the rain and pink lightning, we arrived in Gamboa and settled into our Smithsonian housing. Spoiled at two per apartment with stocked kitchens and full bathrooms, we only find ourselves grumbling about the lack of air conditioning in 80% humidity. No complaints though, we're having fun!

Terri took us to an amazing market filled with both local treasures and cheesy tourist buys. Need a hammock? Pick a pattern, any color, varying qualities. A panama hat? What size my friend, we have every size. Elaborate wooden carvings of exotic fauna, tradition fabric weavings, miniature nativity scenes whittled into giant seeds... We shopped to our hearts' content and left in search of food. We finally arrived at a truly authentic Panamanian restaurant. After consuming our big macs and mcnuggets, we returned to our housing and settled in.

Tonight we discussed a 1993 Journal of Animal Ecology paper titled "A life history trade-off in Drosophila species and community structure in variable environments" by Sevenster and Van Alphen. Over our nachos and card games, the students theorized amongst ourselves about the advantages and disadvantages of characters like development time and opportunities for reproduction.

Write to you tomorrow!

-The coolest kids in Panama

Day 7: 9/1/09

2009-09-03T06:54:00.001-07:00

Most of the work done today was about concluding all of the projects set up around Boquete. We started out the morning with a drive up Volcan Baru with Professor Hubbell and Professor Gowaty to the entrance of the national park where we hung the baits on Sunday. The drive up the hill was as bad or worse than the one on Sunday; both of the cars ended up getting stuck at some points. It looked as though some of the more solid parts of the trail had been washed out by yesterday's rain, leaving large holes among the rocks that made up the trail.

Before taking down the baits, we made another collection for Professor Hubbell. He instructed us to separate and each take a bag into the forests off the path to collect the leaves of 20 different woody plants. We took these leaves back to our cottage and separated them out, identifying them morphologically as species, and then counted the number of each type. From this data we calculated the fisher's alpha value for woody plants in the area to be 15.8, indicating a high level of species diversity.

As for the baits up on Volcan Baru, we were able to collect six out of the seven baits; one of them was missing. We think that it was probably taken down by someone walking by, rather than being taken by some animal, because the bait, string and flag were all gone. Of the other six traps, two of them had no flies, and the other four contained very few flies, much less than in the traps set in Gamboa.

Once we collected the baits, we came down the mountain, dropped off Professor Hubbell and Professor Gowaty and then went down to the Chiriqui river to collect the baits set up there. Of the four traps hung down there, only three remained. One of them had been taken down by someone passing by. Though the other three were still there, only one of them had any substantial number of flies.

Sorting and keying flies later that evening.

Day 6: 8/31/09: Boquete

2009-09-01T11:01:00.000-07:00

The main focus of the activities of today was to help us on the path to being able to accurately collect data discerning the Drosophila flies as well as using that data collected to greater understand the biodiversity of the Drosophila fly throughout Panama. This morning began with a discussion of the three aforementioned papers by Dr. Sarah Pipkin on Drosophila populations and diversity in the neo-tropical regions of Panama. From our observations in the previous days of setting baits to collect flies we were able to see the significance of the work that Dr. Pipkin performed in relation to the data our group will be collecting throughout the remainder of our trip. After the discussion had been completed the students began to construct more baits to set up by the Chiriqui River that runs through the city of Boquete. After crossing an old dilapidated cable bridge, which you can see in a picture below, we proceeded to set the baits at different sites along the river varying the distance from the river, ranging from on the river bank to approximately 100 yards from the water’s edge, as well as the variety in general habitat in which the bait was hung, which included rocky area, a pine tree grove, a banana tree grove and lush tall grasses. Below are some pictures of us crossing the bridge as well as placing the baits along the river.

We took a break after the placing the baits down by the river to go to the “supermercado” and buy ingredients for our lunch of nachos and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We came back to our cottage to eat our lunch and prepare for our afternoon of data collection. Following lunch Dr. Hubbell gave a lecture explaining Fisher’s Alpha, which is the fundamental biodiversity number that can make an accurate estimation of the number of species in an area based on the number of species collected correlated to the number of individuals found in the area. We spent the afternoon practicing our comprehension of Fisher’s Alpha on the Drosophila fly data in Dr. Pipkin’s papers so that we will be able to apply that knowledge to our data from the baits that we have placed across the country.

For dinner tonight we went to a small local restaurant in downtown Boquete which was a great experience. It was a buffet style meal so that we were able to sample many different kinds of Panamanian foods as well interact with the locals. After dinner we headed back to begin our work of collecting baits we had placed around the cottages to see if there was any variances in the flies collected around the house in Gamboa. We were able to find significant changes in numbers of certain species but there was little variance in the species present. Hopefully the data that will be collected tomorrow from the additional baits placed in Volcan Baru National Park will give us a better sample exhibiting a wider range of species of Drosophila.

Day 5: 8/30/09

2009-08-30T12:47:00.000-07:00

After a fun night visiting with the locals in David, we set off for Boquete bright and early. One of the things Boquete is known for is its great coffee, so the first stop we made was at a cafe. Sipping our drinks, we discussed a paper called Ecological Consequences of Recent Climate Change by John P. McCarty. Prof. Hubbell wanted us to express our opinions on the piece and questions that came up while reading the paper. We all agreed that review papers, like the paper we discussed, can be informative, but more data and concrete evidence would be needed in order to feel secure about the results.

Once we had finished we checked in to our new home for 4 days: Isla Verde. Each room is its own little villa, and the vibe of the area is very serene. Once we settled in, the students ventured into town in search of lunch. This time we chose another hole-in-the-wall with an African Safari theme. The food was similar to the place we chose in El Valle. When lunch was finished we met with Prof. Markow back at the hotel and prepared more baits to set out around Boquete.

Volcan Baru National Park, located in the Provence of Chiriqui, is at an elevation of approximately 1800 to 3474 meters, and can be described as a highland tropical rainforest habitat that contains a high degree of biodiversity. This is due to the tropical climate and the remains from the previous volcanic eruption that occurred millions of years ago. Seven banana baits were placed within and around Volcan Baru National Park, specifically around pine trees, coffee plants, and one on an oak tree. Upon returning from Volcan Baru National Park, four more baits were placed around the premises of our hotel. We decided to place the baits in a banana tree, citrus tree, and trees containing flowers already swarming with unidentified Drosophila species. We plan on returning to collect the baits tomorrow and the day after to examine the variety of flies from the various locations.

Tonight we re-read and discussed four papers assigned to us written by Sarah Pipkin. Sarah Pipkin studied a range of aspects of Drosophila ecology within various parts of Panama. Our goal was to become familiar with her work in order to gain perspective on what was already known about Panamanian Drosophila. Our discussions consisted of trying to understand how and why Dr. Pipkin did her work in order to better prepare for our discussion with the professors the next morning.

Day 4: 8/29/09

2009-08-29T08:01:00.000-07:00

This morning we enjoyed breakfast at the Park Eden, the bed and breakfast we stayed in while in El Valle. We then prepared 7 banana baits, and set off to find secluded fly filled locations. Nestled in a caldera, the El Valle region has a less humid more temperate climate. We placed 2 at the hotel (a park-like landscaped habitat), 2 in tropical settings (where we also found promising rotting fruit) a few meters from the road, and 3 in a contrasting pine area. We made a local coffee stop at El Valle Gourmet and Coffee Shop and shopped around the local market for tourist-y crafts and various produce.

While placing our baits, we noticed a petite man emerging from the jungle onto the road, clutching a basket to his chest. He wore a tattered hat and a colorful collared shirt that was dulled by sun bleaching and dark dirt. Speculating about his age, we wondered if his wrinkles were a sign of his age or rather a consequence of his life style here in El Valle. We discovered in our broken spanish conversation with him that his name is Lionel Lorenzo and his basket contained "bananos". We offered to give him a ride to his home, and he gratefully accepted. Joel, being the only spanish speaker in the car, asked Lionel questions on behalf of both himself and the curious Patty. In response to hearing that Patty and Steve have been visiting Panama on and off for 30 years, Lionel offered with a smile (striped with missing teeth) that they're practically locals. When we arrived at his destination, we parted ways with our new Panamanian friend and he offered that we may see him at the market where he sells his bananas. Hopefully, we will see him on our way back through El Valle as I'm sure his bananos are the best in town.

El Valle to David is 400km total. Cautiously driving through torrential downpours, it took us 6 and a half hours to make the trip.

It took some impressive directional intuition on Terri's part and the help of the locals to find the city of David. It's pleasantly unlike Panama City, or any other city I've ever seen. Old lightly dilapidated structures line the streets on which aggressive drivers will not hesitate to give you a tap if you're in the way. We walked in a cluster around the central square in search of dinner, finally settling on an Italian restaurant for lack of more interesting options. We then meandered over to the gaudy casino, where we were conspicuously underdressed. We enjoyed our night people watching and hanging out with the locals while celebrating a "Salsa Festival" and watching a boxing match.

Day 3: 8/28/2009

2009-08-28T07:31:00.000-07:00

Today we began the day in search of crocodiles down by the river in front of our hotel with no success. After our excursion down by the river we headed to Professor Hubbell and Professor Gowaty's house to observe some of the flies we collected from the pipeline road baits we had set up two days ago. Just by the first sorting we were able to determine that there were differences in species from the flies surrounding the house to the ones found on pipeline road and the flies collected on pipeline road showed an extreme female biased. This is exciting news as we continue to collects flies from all across Panama.

This morning we observed some hummingbirds enjoying some feeders that we set up yesterday below are some pictures that we were able to capture of them.

Then it was time to move locations, we prepared our baits for the next site, packed up all our stuff and set out on a four hour journey to El Valle.

We got into El Valle at around 3:30 local time. It's a small town built in the valley formed when a volcano cone collapsed in on itself. It was a very small and rural, yet full of local personality. At first we decided to get acquainted with our Bed and Breakfast, wandering around looking at the various plant life. While roaming the area we came across a rooster and hen in the street. We figured they were harmless as we passed the home they appeared to belong too until an entire swarm of them noticed us and began charging at us. We deduced they were just used to associated humans with food as the reason for the mobbing, but we couldn't be sure. We managed to get video of the traitorous scene and will post it if we can figure out how to. After the excitement we set out to find a good spot to eat. With Joel behind the wheel we stopped and various locations checking out menus, and finally ended up picking a small hole-in-the-wall called Del Mar y Tierra. The food was described as classical Panama cuisine, which we are coming to learn are typical chicken, fish, and steak meals served with either rice, fries, or patacones (fried plantains). Since it gets dark by 6:30 here in Panama we decided to go back to our room and enjoy some down time before our long ride (about 6 hours) to David.

Walking around El Valle.

Getting chased by the chickens and geese.

Dinner at Del Mar y Tierra.

Day 2: 8/27/09

2009-08-28T06:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we started our day with an orientation on the identification of different fly species caught in a trap outside the house in Gamboa. We also took pictures of insects that we observed walking around our neighborhood.

At noon we all went into Panama City to register at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI). We got ID cards to identify ourselves at official research technicians. Then half of us went to fill up CO2 tanks for knocking out the flies while the other half went to the Artinisal Center, where local merchants sell hand-made carvings, baskets, and other Panamanian goods. Both groups got to explore the Panamanian capital on the way.

Day 1: 8/26/09 Hanging Fly Baits on Pipeline Rd.

2009-08-26T11:24:00.000-07:00

This morning we went for a walk down by the river out in front of our hotel.

View from the hotel room overlooking Chagres River.

Professor Markow looking for flower breeding drosophila larvae in a heliconia flowers.

This morning we set out with the task of setting fly baits to collect drosophila flies over the next few days. The baits were set up along Pipeline Road. This is a very popular area to observe and collect different species of insects and plants. This morning we set six baits, five were banana baits and one was a mushroom bait to attract and collect different species of drosophila flies. The next pictures show Alec and Joel setting one of the baits along the road.

This afternoon, we set up an experiment to see if the local hummingbirds in Steve and Patty's yard had a preference for sugar content in feeders.

These photos show our set up. Results to follow!

We were able to observe many beautiful insects, plants and animals on our trip today, below are some pictures of them.

What's this trip about?

2009-08-26T11:08:00.000-07:00

The International Programs Americas Program at the National Science Foundation, through a grant to Therese Markow at University of California San Diego, has funded this International Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) for our projects in Panama. We are here for two weeks.

Our professors are Therese Markow (UCSD), Patricia Gowaty (UCLA) and Stephen Hubbell (UCLA).

We are from three UC campuses: UCSD, UCLA, and UCSB.

We arrived the night of August 25 to Gamboa.

Group Members

2009-08-26T10:39:00.000-07:00

Names and pictures of group members

From left to right: Alec Asbridge, Andrea Ippolito, Doug Hooton, Jenna Castle, Joel Schumacher, Katie McLean