Last Day in Panama

 Adios Panama!

All good things must come to an end as they say, and unfortunately our Panama trip is no exception. This has been the trip of a lifetime for sure! 

We started our last day here in Panama cleaning up the lab. 

Jack Taylor making quick work of some dirt and grime

Later, we all polished up our group projects to finally submit them for good! All our hard work has come to fruition!

 

Hard at work finishing up projects

Now we would love to give thanks to many people who made this wonderful experience possible. Richard Emlet and Maya Watts, our professors for their leadership, guidance, hardwork, and dedication to making our experience as informative and fun as it can be. The faculty and staff here at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute for their helpfulness and accomadations. Our boat drivers Sebastian and Davis for captaining us to our incredible snorkel sites during field trips. Our chefs Desuze and Omar for their scrumptious food day in and day out, and you the loyal reader for keeping up with our journey! 

I think I can speak for everyone when I say this is a trip that we will never forget!!!!

 One of our boat drivers Davis, and a few happy students. 

The whole gang in the dining room with our fantastic chefs, Desuze (right, seated with the cool glasses) and Omar (left, seated) 

Day 11: Crunch Time

Today is Day 11 of our time here in Bocas, nearing our travel home on the 19th. With the end of our snorkel trips yesterday, teams have spent most of today finalizing graphs and posters for the presentations tonight. There was a quick break for lunch of baked chicken, pimento rice, and assorted vegetables by Desuze. One of the highlights of this trip, as seen by past entries, is his cooking. One of my favorite dishes he makes is the fried plantains. They will certainly be missed. Theres not a whole lot of action here at the station to report but below are a couple images of teams hard at work editing and revising before presenting.  

Luuan of the Sea (Luke and Owen)

The Urchinators (Hannah and Bennett)

Today during some needed breaks from projects, some people encountered more fauna of Bocas and were kind enough to take photos. It is always interesting to walk around the STRI facility to see what you can encounter. 

Caiman seen by Bennett

Cool Boa
found by Maya S. and Owen

The focus of the day was certainly Posters. Everyone put in lots of time and effort and it truly shows.

The Brittle Boys

Lainie and Alex focused on mechanical and chemical defenses of brittle stars of the region

The Rhiz Lads

Hannah L and Elle focused on how wave action impacts oyster communities growing on mangrove roots 

The Urchinators 

Hannah J and Bennett focused on urchins "hatting" behavior in order to protect themselves from UV

Luuan of the Sea

Luke and Owen focused on life found on coral rubble in exposed and unexposed sites 

Funky Roots

Randi and Maya focused on on the differences in composition of mangrove roots in inner and outer mangrove sites

Le Pez Hermanos

Fox, Jack, and myself focused on the territorial composition and behavior of two different species of reef damselfish

Many students got feedback of what to improve on their posters and will use tomorrow to adjust before turning in the final copy. With the trip coming to an end, we start packing and reflect on our time here. It has been quite the experience learning how to conduct individual research and as Richard pointed out "its all about the journey". Getting to explore the Panamanian waters and be immersed in a world of marine biology has been a treat. I think we will all look back at the photos we have taken here and have fond memories. To all that read this, I highly recommend getting to travel to Bocas to see what it has to offer. 

-Jackson

Day 10: Ocean fun comes to a close

    Today was a bittersweet day, as the end of our snorkeling adventures came to a close. We woke up to dark skies and flashes of light of a huge thunderstorm The rumbling of the skies was very entertaining as we ate our breakfast. It was such a display that we turned off the lights to watch the skies rumble and shake the ground with its awe-inspiring lightning. The rain didn't let up until close to noon, but luckily the thunder moved on elsewhere.

    Before going out to our last two snorkeling sites in the afternoon, we had time to work on our projects. Most people were working on the final posters for the presentation on Tuesday night. A few groups are also working on analyzing their data from the multiple days of collection we all had (Excel and R are very challenging). I'm also happy to report Randi and Maya are feeling better after catching a bit of a cold as mentioned in yesterday's blog. The cure of their sickness is probably attributed to our chef Dezesus' amazing soup he specially made for everyone who was feeling under the weather over the past few days. 

    Because of the copious amounts of rain that had fallen earlier in the morning, we shifted sites for our snorkel to Hospital Point and then Mangrove Island right next to STRI for better visibility. A quick aside- Hospital Point is named as such because in the 1900s there was a large hospital on the island where everyone with leprosy was sent to be isolated before they knew what caused it or how it spread. Once we got to Hospital Point we started exploring, and very quickly noticed the ~6in of rainwater on the top of the surface murking up the water, however, it started to clear up later. Luckily this site is one of the best in proximity to STRI in terms of species abundance. Tropical fish such as parrotfish, damselfish, angelfish, and surgeonfish swam all around us. We even bumped into a chainlink moray eel and a banded coral shrimp (below).

As the dive wrapped up, we saw one more small nurse shark to add to our surprisingly large list of shark encounters during our dives. This final shark was as if the reef was saying goodbye to all of us and giving us one last gift.

    The next and final dive site of our time here in Panama was Mangrove Island, where it was now our time to give back to Bocas by cleaning up the trash nestled in and around the mangroves. Because of the currents and the natural shape of mangrove roots, they tend to catch a lot of trash from boats and the shore. After 30 minutes we collected five whole bags worth of trash plus another bucket of the heavy items.

    Overall the day was successful as we were able to say our final goodbyes to the waters of Bocas Del Toro. Even though there is still work ahead our time here is coming to a close, and today made me think about how lucky I am to be here. Thank you Bocas, we'll miss you.

- Jack 

Day 9: Island Fevers

    Today, the island fever hit -- well more like "fevers". If you've never heard of island fever, it's the anxious, almost sickly feeling that people get when they move away from the mainland to an isolated island. For us University of Oregonians, this is definitely much more isolated than Eugene or even Coos Bay. Unfortunately, this mental plague came with physical symptoms too. Along with the shared feeling of homesickness amongst us, a few of us have been feeling pretty under the weather today. We are so lucky to have our chef Desuze who kindly made some soup to help make them feel better. That kindness was today's motif.

Jackson working hard ✎ᝰ.ᐟ⋆⑅˚

    This morning started with project time. Most of us are onto analyzing our data, but some of us still needed to do some data collection in the field. Since some of us weren't feeling so well, the rest of us were quick to help each other out -- applying aloe to another's sunburns, joining another team to let the sick partner rest, and gently checking-in on everyone's wellbeing. Later on in the day, a few of us even took off on the boat to help out Lainie and Alex with their ophiuroid project at Hospital Point.

Laine before heading out to Hospital Point 𓇼.ೃ࿔*:･

    We all reunited for dinner with another amazing meal, special soups, and sweet desserts from Desuze and Omar. This is where Hannah J., Jack, Bennett, and I made the plan to head into Bocas Town to get some medication and electrolyte drinks for our sick friends. We made our way out shortly after, though Bennett had to stay behind after stubbing his toe (photo not included). We struggled to hail a cab there and back due to La Feria del Mar being in full swing. Although we were tired and sweaty at first, I'd say the adventure was worth it. It allowed us to slow down; chatting and joking the whole way and getting to experience the liveliness of the fair. We returned with a bonus too -- pizzas for all of us in the lab to share. The night ended with Disney movies, sports streaming, and brighter spirits than we started the day with.

Live picture of La Feria del Mar ✧˚ ༘ ⋆｡˚

    Traveling can be tough, especially with hot and humid conditions, a language barrier, and the general feeling of isolation. Though at the Smithsonian with the OIMB-crew, I don't feel so alone. We're all here to help each other and make sure we all have fun. We may not have come to this trip as close friends, some of us may not have even considered each other as friends at all. I can confidently say that's not the case anymore. I know that people have my back; I feel safe, heard, and valued by all of my friends here, new and old.

ᯓᡣ𐭩 Maya Selesnick

Day 8: It was a good day

 

    On the eighth day of Panama my mentors gave to me…an all day boat trip on the sea. Today was an eventful and slightly exhausting day packed with snorkeling pleasures and false strawberry ice-cream treasures.

    The classes headed out to Isla Zapatillas (Parque Bastimentos) roughly around 8:30 am. On half hour boat ride over, I sat and watched as the frigate birds sailed above. Trying my best to recall all the information I could from my marine birds and mammals class and as I sat in my bird and mammal mode I was greeted by- A FLUKE! Some bottlenose dolphins had briefly interrupted our trip to the island.

(A city with Elkhorn skyscrapers)

I must disclaim that every snorkel today had a surprise and a treat. 

During our first two snorkels, we were treated to some lovely Elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata) as well as a plethora of other corals (which would cost me another 4 years to truly learn).  As I watch the fish dart in and our of their hiding holes, I can’t help but to feel like a giant watching over a city. A city filled with bustling workers (damsel, tangs, and parrotfish), and- of course- urchins. While I floated over these colorful reefs, I couldn't help but to find myself focusing on the plankton. I watched as countless ctenophores drifted by me paddles shimmering in the sunlight. Tiny siphonophores jetted by in colonies, and chaetognaths twitched and thrashed as they attacked their tiny prey. 

(Nurse Shark- not the 10-foot one)

Lunch was had in true marine biologist fashion. A sandwich on the beach: soaking wet and sunburnt (and I wouldn’t want it any other way). We all shared loud cheer after finding ripe pineapple packed in the strawberry ice cream tub. After lunch we played like young children in the shallow water of the white sand beach. The clear blue green water reminiscent of a tropical flavored Jell-O.  We played sports with sticks and coconuts, roughhoused with one another, and begged and whined for more time when told we had 10 minutes left to play. Alas, we gathered our goods and headed out to the last two sites. 

(Flamingo Tongue Cowrie)

Tired, fed, and somehow MORE sunburnt than before, we hopped into our last two sites. Eels, 10-foot sharks, green turtles, and jellyfish fields had become our classroom once more. And while I wish I could give you the detailed in words- these photos will have to be worth the couple thousand. I don’t believe the most imaginative artists on earth could create the art that is the reefs I have witnessed. In the words of Maya Watts, “It was a good day". 

Over and Out. Randi 

Day 7: Progress on Projects

Day 7 of being in Panama was spent almost entirely working on our projects. Lainie and I (the Brittle Boys) spent the morning using different methods of making agar with brittle star tissue because our first batch came out too mushy (see our failure batch in the picture below). It took a while to find a method that worked, but eventually we found that using twice the amount of agar powder would give our samples the consistency we wanted and thus, our crisis was averted! Once we had a much more solid batch, we headed out to the dock in the afternoon to see if any fish would eat the jellified brittle stars, spending almost two full hours sitting in the hot sun collecting data and getting sun burned.

The Urchinators collected data for their project by leaving out six urchins in their handmade cages and presented them with various options of coverage to see what the urchins would choose to cover themselves with. La Pez Hombres spent their project time collecting data on territory radius, depth, and coral type of damselfish before running their data through R to make a predictive model. The Funky Roots laid out chalks at different sites then collecting them after a while while taking readings on temperature and light. Similarly, Luann of the Sea also laid out chalks at various sites, but also collected coral rubble along the way. Finally, the Rhiz Lads went to four sites to collect oyster percent coverage data on mangrove roots.

Once the hard work was done, some of us went back into town in hopes a gift shop we saw yesterday would be open because we all really wanted to go on our day off, but the shop was unfortunately closed all day. The shop, The Black Cat, was definitely worth the wait. Inside were all kinds of beautiful artworks from paintings to wood carvings to painted dragon heads hung on the walls. There were also tons of really great shirts that we were all excited to look through. Then, we went out for ice cream to cool off from the hot sun. Here are some pics from our trip into town and the gift shop! We're all very excited for our all-day boat trip tomorrow after such a productive and fun day today!

Day 6: A Day of Fun in Bocas Town

 

Day 6: Exploring Bocas Del Toro

The sixth day of our time at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) on Bocas Del Toro began a little later than usual, as today was our only off day during our stay at the Bocas Del Toro research institute. We started our day at 8 am with a meal from Desuze that consisted of eggs, toast, fruit (today was mango), and fruit juice.

Following breakfast, we were free to do whatever we wanted. Our group split up and went to different places on the island:

Picture of Bocas Town

1. Bocas Town: One group explored the area, visiting many stores and looking at different wares. These shops included ones with hats, clothes, and other memorabilia from the island.

One of the many fun signs that tells tourists where to go in Bocas Town

2. SCUBA Diving: Another group went SCUBA diving with a local dive shop. There they saw nurse sharks, eel, lionfish, triggerfish, arrow crab, toad fish, sea horse, and much more.

Photo of the wildlife seen by the group while preparing to on the SCUBA trip

3. STRI Station Wildlife: Personally, I spent my day observing the local wildlife here at the STRI station. I was particularly interested in the local species of leafcutter ants that live on the island.

Panoramic shot of the boat docks at STRI. To the left front is Mangrove Island, to the center is STRI Point, and to the right is House Reef.

Leafcutter Ant Observation

Over by the walkway that connects the lab to the dorms, I found a trail of leafcutter ants moving across the path. These ants were transporting leaves from the forested side of the path to the open clearing. While the species of these leafcutter ants is difficult to determine without close examination, I believe they may be Acromyrmex octospinosus, as these are typically found in Panama.

Example of one of the many paths that the Leafcutter ants take to gather leaves for their fungus gardens

I observed two of the four major caste groups within the leafcutter ant colony:

1. Mediae (foragers): These ants were moving back and forth, gathering leaves and other supplies. They followed a trail that crossed the path back into another set of trees past the open clearing.

   

   Mediae moving a leaf back to the colony

   
   
2. Majors (warriors): These larger ants guarded the path used by the mediae. They lined up on the path's edges and checked the mediae and other workers moving along the line. This behavior likely passes on information through pheromones or ensures the workers are from the correct colony.

   

   Major patrolling and protecting the mediae while they forage. Majors are easily distinguished from the rest of the workers with their big heads.

   
   

The castes can be distinguished due to polymorphism (different forms/types within a species) between the castes.

Ant-Fungus Mutualism

Leafcutter ants are fascinating as they are one of the few ant species that actively farm. These ants cultivate fungus in their colonies as one of their primary food sources. This form of mutualism, often called "ant-fungus mutualism," involves a colony of ants (including leafcutter ants) and a species of fungus from the genera Leucocoprineae.

In this relationship:

●       The ants care for the fungus by providing it with food (leaves) and maintaining essential environmental factors to allow the fungus to grow and thrive.

●       The fungus, in turn, provides essential nutrients for the ants' larvae, while the adult ants feed on the sap from the leaves.

Ecological Importance

These ants exhibit the remarkable species diversity here in Panama and demonstrate what we can discover when we look at the more minor details rather than just the bigger picture. For example, these ants fulfill a small but crucial niche within the rainforest and tropical ecosystems:

●       Several ant species rely on leafcutter ants for food. For instance, some species from the genera Megalomyrmex hunt exclusively for the fungal gardens or may even remove the original leafcutter ant colony and use the fungus for themselves.

●       Larger animals, like anteaters, utilize ants for food and are often essential for controlling insect populations in the surrounding areas.

If you are interested in learning more about the Leafcutter ants you can look at these two videos that help explain their behaviors and colony structure.

1.  My Dream Ant Farm: Leafcutter Ants (youtube.com)

2. Record Leaf-Cutting Ants at the Bocas del Toro Research Station, Smithsonian Institute, Panama, July 2008 | Collections Search Center, Smithsonian Institution (si.edu)   

Following this eventful day we went to the Coco Fastronomy which had many different dishes  including Jamaican Chicken, Fish and Chips, and other types of seafood and traditional meals.

I have long wanted to see these ants in their natural habitat. This trip to Panama has been very enjoyable so far, and I'm excited to see what else Panama has in store for us during the rest of the week.

-Fox

Day 5: MARBS make chocolate!

 Today we decided to ditch the snorkels and fins, and head to the mainland! After a wonderful breakfast we got on the boats and took a bumpy ride to Almirante. Once we arrived, we were greeted by a large amount of shipping containers filled with bananas. Panama exports around 242,840 tons of bananas around the world every year (that's a lot of bananas!)

                                                             

                                                           Braving the rough seas                                                                                                          

                                   
                                               Shipping containers filled with bananas

We then took a van over to the village called Rio Oeste Arriba where the Ngäbe people live. We were greeted by 2 local cacao farmers and a Ngäbe woman who were kind enough to teach us about the history of cacao farming and how they process it. We learned that 1 tree can live to be over 100 years old and produce around 20 pods per year, which each contain around 35-60 seeds. We got a quick history lesson about how in 1977 a hybrid cacao plant was introduced to Panama, but it brought a fungus along with it. The fungus thrives in the humidity, and if not caught in time, can kill over 80% of cacao fruits per tree. Despite this, the farmers do not use any chemicals or pesticides, making their chocolate as fresh and healthy as possible. Due to this they have to patrol their farms daily in order to pick off the infected fruit. Unlike most farms, the Ngäbe people practice agroforestry, meaning within their cacao farms, they grow many different things including bananas, yucca, taro, soursop, dragon fruit, and many others. This helps create a diverse and sustainable environment for the indigenous to live off of. They also utilize many parts of different plants and fruits to make medicinal teas, bowls, musical instruments, bags, etc. 

                                       
                                                Mauricio teaching us about taro roots

                                              We got to stop and check out this little sloth!

                                                            (photo credit: Owen Herd)

                                                       Different stages of the cacao fruit

Then we were invited to see the process up close and personal. First you cut open the ripe fruit, and retrieve the seeds. The outer fleshy layer tastes kind of like mango! The seeds then go through a week-long fermentation process, and you can either eat the fermented seeds, or roast them. Once roasted, you peel them and crush them up forming a delicious chocolate paste. The Ngäbe don’t put sugar in this, but instead use coconut oil and honey to add some sweetness. 

Some very enlightened MARBS

                                                        Ngäbe woman roasting the seeds

Randi absolutely crushing it

The finished product!

To end this trip we were treated with a traditional meal, which consisted of rice, chicken, taro root, and cooked taro leaves. We also were able to look through the chocolate shop, which had a variety of cacao, along with handmade bags, bowls, jewelry, figurines, and more. We were all incredibly grateful for this experience and to the Ngäbe people. I think we will all be more appreciative of the hard work that gets put in, the next time we eat chocolate!

                                                    One of the best meals I've ever had!

 Soursop fruit

Some good company while waiting for the bus

Once we were back at the station, we got some free time to work on projects or rest up. Right as we were heading to dinner, we were visited by a group of Howler monkeys making their way through the trees! To end the night, Richard gave a lecture on coral reef fish coloration and the different ways they use this to their advantage. 

                                                            Great picture from Owen!

Another amazing and informational day that we’ll never forget! 

-Hannah Lammens