Leading into the third week of the Costa Rica Trip, not much research on our research project had been conducted. Stints at various eco-tourist sights prevented us from being at research stations where proper scientific methods could be enacted for the biological center projects. For instance, Will and I’s research project is heavily centered around doing line transects in order to collect data rather than interviewing people for social data which is largely applicable when at an eco-tourist site. This week, however, was a great week for many biological centered groups such as the primate study group or the plant research groups including Will and I. When arriving at Piro on the Osa peninsula, Will and I were skeptical of the quality of data we’d be able to acquire. Fears about being able to identify research as well as the legitimacy of our carbon reading device crossed both of our minds before the research had begun. Luckily these worries were soon dismissed following our first transect line.
Will and I are researching the biotic and abiotic factors that affect the abundance of reptiles as a baseline for the importance of the forest on all species biodiversity. In order to prove this daunting question, we will be conducting transect lines which are sectioned out points in a path where at each point readings are taken in, and in our case, we take readings on the carbon dioxide amounts, light/canopy coverage, temperature, humidity, time, and of course reptile abundance and species. With a collection of all these biotic and abiotic factors we hope to see not only trends with the carbon levels decreasing inside the forest, but also trends with the reptile abundance being higher with more canopy coverage or lower carbon levels as well. Our transects are a kilometer long, and we stop every 50 meters to take the reading. On our first transect at Piro, the carbon readings were quite interesting because we saw the lowest readings outside of the forest at our starting point, and we saw abnormally high readings at spots in the forest that seemed to be dense. One would naturally expect the carbon readings to be in the densest parts of the forest because the greenery should be sequestering the carbon. We have discussed that the dead decaying leaves may be releasing a lot of carbon causing the readings to be high, but we also believe it could be the forest holding carbon from the atmosphere within. Despite these high readings, we still found many reptiles, mostly including small lizards and anoles. The ability to find reptiles seemed quite easy, and although I can’t confirm it yet, we seemed to find more reptiles in areas with more canopy coverage which seems to be slightly counter intuitive considering reptiles use the sunlight to help regulate their temperature. It’s possible that in low altitude, high temperature areas, they don’t need to bask in the sunlight to reach their homeostasis.
Our second transect was when things got interesting in my opinion. We saw the same trends in carbon readings which helps confirm that the device is not to blame for previously thought unnatural readings. We also saw a high number of wild reptiles, and some of the species were quite incredible. The Osa Anole highlighted the journey as it showed off its yellowish-orange underbelly in a display used to threaten potential predators. I will try to show a video of it below. However, this was not all. I spotted a lizard which I was unable to identify, but it had a translucent effect, and as it climbed a tree, the sunlight perfectly hit it, giving us an incredible picture opportunity which I will also try to show below. Although the data collection of a research project is entertaining, and helps me appreciate a possible career in research, it is quite enjoyable to take a step back and enjoy the surroundings and take pictures of unique things seen when doing research.
For our third transect line, we went down a different trail at the same time of day as the first transect we did the day before. We wanted to limit the variability from transect to transect. When we started our next few transects at Las Cruces, this became less of a focus. The third transect provided us with new carbon readings because of the new trail, and although we haven’t fully dissected the data yet, it seemed to be more consistent with previous knowledge. We were still able to find over 20 reptiles during our walk, but we were unable to see any water preferring reptiles despite this trail having more creeks. Jesus Christ Lizards were not found, sadly. The Osa Peninsula is home to 2.5 percent of the earth’s biodiversity despite being only 0.01 percent of the total land. Being a prime location for many groups to do research it will have fond memories for many of us as a starting point for our biological researching careers. La selva will always be our first experience with the lifestyle, but in terms of research, Piro was the perfect place to engage the students with the wildlife and concepts of the scientific method.
Once at Las Cruces, these profitable conditions for research went away. A few transects later, and not a single reptile has been seen. The forest fragmentation is possibly a large part of the lack of biodiversity present. We continue to gather data because even no data is still considered data in the scientific community. Carbon readings can still help us understand sequestration, and it might be able to help us answer reptile preference to carbon levels or forest coverage. The next week should be time for us to maybe continue with a few transects, but it’s time to start dissecting the data and making conclusions from what we have collected. My partner did just sprain his ankle, so we might struggle to get any additional data.
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