Costa Rica 2023
Field Work
Today we started our data collection on the behavior of mammals in Golfo Dulce. We saw that organic debris from forests is carried by into the gulf by rivers. This debris forms lines of floating organic matter that form the base of a food chain in the gulf where flying fish, ballyhoo, and sardines follow the organic matter, and dolphin feed on the fish. The program has a protocol for collecting data on dolphin behavior, and we followed that protocol for several hours.
One of the highlights included picking up a large dead rooster fish and completing a necropsy, with the aim of determining the cause of death (an attack by dolphin, evidenced by bite marks, and also by hematomas). The necropsy showed that the fish had been healthy before death, suggesting that the dolphin was eliminating a competitor, rather than preying on the fish.
DAY 3
John "Oak" Woodwell
Workshop
Lesli took us through an Earthwatch lesson on permaculture, which she then expanded into a couple of activities where we developed biological and human-society-biological analogs of permacultures.
Reflection
When we study ecology and biology in the classroom, it comes off as an abstraction. Today, we witnessed firsthand the interactions among plants and animals the largest tropical fjord in the world that at least initially seems to fit neatly into an ecological model of a marine food web. What mysteries will Golfo Dulce offer up for us in the coming week?
Photo of the Day
