Fieldwork as Usual

No other camping excursions to pulperías to report. Just good, clean fieldwork fun. Chris and I spent the last several days setting up his seed predation experiment. He wants to understand how predation by different kinds of mammals contributes either to seed mortality. To do that, we set up miniature buffets in the forest that are accessible only to small mice and rats (mesh with holes too small for an agouti to wiggle through), accessible only to toy poodle-sized agoutis (a metal ring too high for mice to jump over), and accessible to all animals (no mesh, no metal ring).



For ¨bait,¨we gathered three different kinds of fruits out of the forest. My favorite part of the experiment. Gathering fruits is a cross between an Easter egg hunt and harvest party in the garden. Unlike Anna, Chris does not need to be picky about exactly which trees the seeds come from. Thank goodness. Tree-hunting puts a crick in my neck. Today, we set up a few more structures and checked on the seeds that we had already put on. I was really excited to find some seeds missing and others clearly damaged. We will continue to monitor the seeds' fates throughout the summer. I will keep you posted.

I have also settled on an independent project question(s): Does habitat fragmentation affect insect abundance and community composition? If so, can changes in the insect community explain changes in the amount of herbivory levels on juvenile trees with fragment size? This will give me a great opportunity to practice identifying insect and plant families and explore some other forests around Las Cruces. Very excited.

Tomorrow morning Chris and I are off to Las Alturas again. With underwear, frisbees, and toothpaste. This time we are camping out for three nights to check on the seedlings in the plots and scout around for more seed sources. I am so looking forward to camping! Since Martin needs the car, Chris and I will be taking a taxi. It is almost disappointing; I had a great time in the pulpería. We are stopping back by to visit the family before we trek off into the woods.