week seven

​Week Seven

When a rainstorm hits its always reassuring to know that our traps are up and butterflies safe. Coming to the end of our fieldwork season, every collection day counts and we have fingers crossed that our third and final sampling cycle will be as successful as the first. 

For this cycle we hung traps in a section of the concession logged 5 years ago. Admittedly this area of forest is fairly disturbed, but it will be interesting to see how the butterfly population and microclimate has recovered since then. Already we've noticed differences, in the vegetation, terrain and general feel of the forests. Whether the latter has more to do with weather conditions, our own tiredness or the sheer number of bitey things I'm not certain. However I am excited to see if these differences are reflected in the temperature and humidity data we are collecting from each site.

One thing I will say is that for some reason there are more mosquitoes in this 'old logged' forest than I have ever experienced before. Enter, and within seconds you are swarmed by the little nasties. That tinnitus-like drone in your ears is constant, the harassing of your face and body, unabating. However, we managed to get to the field earlier than normal the other day and avoided the mosquito plague - much to our relief! It was a wonderful morning. Rays of sun filtering through the canopy and a million sounds to excite any biologist, such that despite the piles of logs we had to clamber over and sticky bog we had to wade through, I felt totally elated by the beauty of our surroundings.

That is the thing, working here is like riding a rollercoaster of emotions. One minute you are waving your arms about in blind fury, the next you are gazing with wonder up at towering giants, admiring their opportunistic epiphytes or the diversity of curious fungi at their trunks. Some days, everything runs smoothly and others it all hits the fan.

As anybody who has done it before would agree - these are the joys of fieldwork!

Tish 

Old logged forest

en route to study sites

Canopy openness photos