Fieldwork

The field season is fast approaching and in preparation, I was estimating my expenses. I am planning to make several short trips to Panama: set up experiments, return and check on experiments, take data, etc. Since I still have a lease and other things to attend to this summer in the US, I can't stay there all summer. But it wouldn't make sense financially, anyway. I calculated how much research will cost me for six weeks this summer and it came to SEVEN THOUSAND DOLLARS! Remember, I am not doing complicated molecular work (yet at least) and need no fancy equipment, machines, or employees. The only technology I use is a handheld GPS, which I already have. The main expenses are airfare, rental car, and lodging at field stations and other relatively cheap places to stay. By far the rental car is the highest expense, since I need an SUV to get down the dirt roads that take me to some of my field sites. Then of course there is the boat rental and gas, and other fees charged by research stations...it adds up quickly. Hopefully I will find a deal on a rental car (crossing my fingers, priceline!) that's better than the quote I got from the travel agency. Yuck!

Mangroves as carbon sinks

A new reason to care about mangroves: they are extremely important capturers of carbon. Cutting down mangroves for ports, aquaculture and coastal development releases carbon stored in mangroves, adding to our greenhouse gas emissions. In this paper published online yesterday, Donato et al. provide a much-needed analysis of the role mangroves play in carbon storage. They find that mangroves from the Indo-West Pacific hold a large amount of carbon, not only in their large tree trunks and branches, but underground in their extensive root systems. Carbon stored in the sediment of mangrove forests was found to be on average five times the amount of carbon storage in other forests (tropical, temperate and boreal). The authors find that of all the carbon released annually due to deforestation, 10% may come from mangroves despite the fact that mangroves comprise less than 1% of tropical forests.