The one word that sums up this trip would have to be extraordinary!!!
I have learned many things on this trip. For instance the examination of strata
can give you a detailed history of the land such as water flow, vegetation and
major events such as volcanic eruptions.
Also that soil nutrient is much higher in newer secondary
succession areas than in areas of old growth. This is due to the fact that the soil
nutrient that comes from things such as leaf litter and animal/plant death is
almost immediately decomposed and reabsorbed by plants, insects, etc. which in
turn does not allow for the organic layer to get more than a few centimeters
deep in the rainforests.
Sloths are capable of swimming considerable distances. When we
were at Bocas del Toro we saw quite a few sloths most of which were the three
toed. This was interesting to me since we were on an island that was a few
miles away from the main land. Dr. J and I bounced a few ideas back and forth
such as they could have floated in on a broken tree, the human factor and even
possibly an avian predator dropping them. Dr. J later was informed by a couple
of local scientist that the sloths had in fact swam to the island!!
This experience has definitely lived up to and even exceeded
my expectations that I had in the beginning. From the sheer exhilaration of
being on the top of a volcano to the brink of delirium from being in a packed
van for hours. I will never forget the amazing group of people I traveled with
and how they made the many hours spent in the van seem shorter and even fun. I will also remember all the beautiful places
we visited and the awesome people we met (Macho and Luewis). 
No comments:
Post a Comment