Peccaries, Snakes, and Seeds, Oh my!

The research project continues to move along. Martin and his work crew finished building the exclosure structures at Las Alturas a few days ago. As you can see in the pictures, these are serious pieces of construction with thick bamboo poles, metal sheeting, and barbed wire. Chris decided to make the Las Alturas structures very sturdy since peccaries (wild Costa Rican pigs) can trample and push their way through almost anything. Like the smaller exclosures that we just finished building at Las Cruces, these either exclude agoutis and allow mice or exclude mice and allow agoutis. All (hopefully) exclude peccaries. Selective exclosures are often used in ecological research because they allow us to measure the relative effect of whatever is excluded. So in this experiment, Chris is measuring the relative effect of peccaries, agoutis, and small rodents on herbivory of juvenile tree seedlings: do seedlings have higher or lower chances of survival depending on whether or not large mammals are present? how does this difference in survivorship influence what kind and how many seedlings mature into canopy trees?



At Las Alturas, we also collected boatloads and boatloads of fruits for another round of seed predation experiments. We owe our seed-success to a stroke of luck. An enormous branch dripping with had fallen right next to the trail. A type of Ocatea, a genus in the Lauraceae family. In the picture, there are the long green fruits with bright red caps. As you can probably tell, they are related to avocados. Then, a few feet down the trail, we found thousands of tiny green fruits in the leaf litter. So perfect! Chris and I both had worried that we would not be able to find enough fruits for more experiments.



And of course, our fieldwork left plenty of time for adventuring. At one point, I keep off to collect another kind of fruit near a stream while Chris worked on some of the seed predation structures at the camps. The trails are well-marked: machete cuts and flagging. I had no problems getting to the stream, but, on the way back to the road, I didn´t pay attention and somehow wandered far off the trail. After a few minutes of wandering back and forth, I had to admit that I was completely disoriented. No idea how to get back to the camp, or even in what direction it was. So I turned back, following the sound of running water to the stream. I must have ended up really far upstream from where I had started. No familiar landmarks. So I calmly pulled out my compass and walked north-west away from the river. The river runs parallel to the road that cuts through Las Alturas west-east. I figured that I just had to walk away from the river and I would meet up with the road eventually. And I did!

Along the way, I saw beautiful parts of the forest that I had never seen from the trails. I enjoyed the exhilaration of being alone in the forest with no bright blue flagging and cut palm stems to guide me. And--this is the highlight of my summer--I saw a herd of wild peccaries. The peccaries that I saw at the central green at La Selva looked like toy poodles compared to the herd that approached me. Their shoulders must have reached well above my knees and they were so wide and stocky that one could have easily knocked me over. There were at least ten adult peccaries that I could see on three sides of me. The hair on their backs stood on end. Clearly, they were not happy to see me--I was thrilled to see all of them. I stood for a few minutes watching the peccaries with a huge grin on my face. Seeing peccaries at Las Alturas had been my summer goal, and there I was, surrounded by a herd of peccaries!

Unhappy, aggressive peccaries. The kind of peccaries that chased Martin up a tree a few months ago and that can charge people if they feel especially grumpy. Uh, oh. I very slowly and calmly walked away in the one direction without peccaries. So all was well.

Back at Las Cruces now. Chris and I have been cleaning and counting seeds and putting them in the depots in the forest. I have been making more progress on my independent project. I have permission from landowners to work on their properties and a sampling scheme. So life continues to be wonderful and productive!