Back from Baja

Now for my long-promised post on Baja California. I went down there with other Smithsonian researchers to look for mangroves at the northern edge of their range. We are studying mangroves at their northern limit in Florida, but they reach their northern limit on the Pacific coast in Mexico. We drove from San Diego, in 2 large SUVs that we were a little worried would be targets for hijacking. Apparently dark SUVs are quite desirable among some unsavory types partaking in illegal activities. We didn't get attacked and nothing was stolen, so we were all happy about that. Plus, Baja is so chill that once we were on the road we felt very comfortable.

A day's drive from San Diego puts you in the little desert town of San Quintin. There is a really nice little hotel called Los Jardines. It's set back from the main drag about a mile down a dirt road, but it is an oasis in the middle of the desert:

There is a big bay there with some salt marsh, which is potentially also mangrove habitat. We looked around the bay, but found no mangroves. It was still too far north. But it was pretty!

We drove south and east across the Baja peninsula to the Gulf of California (aka the Sea of Cortez), where we were pretty sure we would find mangroves. The spots we were going to weren't easy to access--one was on an island, another was off a long and rocky dirt road, and the third was so far away from a road we couldn't go--but we did find mangroves. It was pretty weird because they were surrounded by desert, including cacti, which is not at all the landscape in Florida.

We surveyed these mangroves and got a good idea of the plants and animals there. When we got back in the boat, the pelicans seemed to think we were going to feed them. Unfortunately for the pelicans, we had not done any fishing. 

Then we got back into the car and drove southwest to the Pacific Coast, where we found the northernmost stand of mangroves on the Pacific. We were so busy working that I didn't snap a lot of photos, but here's a nice Pacific sunset for you. We stayed in a little fishing town called La Bocana, which is apparently one of the best places to fish in Baja. We had fresh fish and lobster while we were there, so I'm going to have to agree!

In the end, we made some observations about the mangroves at their northern range limit and found some interesting differences between the mangroves in Baja and those in Florida. The two northernmost species in Baja are not the same as in Florida, even though all three common mangrove species occur in both Florida and the Pacific coast of Mexico. We are hoping to get the opportunity to set up some longer term studies there, but for now we don't have the funding to do that. 

Seen any snowy owls lately?

Last year I saw a big white bird in a tree out of the corner of my eye while I was driving. I didn't stop to look at it (I was on the highway, after all) but I thought it may have been a snowy owl. Snowy owls are on the move in the US this year! They have been spotted all over the northern/eastern part of the country. Here's a link to an article with a map. Keep your eyes out for snowies!

http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/gotsnowies2013/

Mangroves in Baja California

I went to Mexico to look for mangroves recently. I'll post more pictures soon but here's a write-up from the Smithsonian blog:
http://sercblog.si.edu/?p=4510#more-4510

Corn snake

Look what surprised us in the mangroves yesterday!

Coffee cherry update

My coffee cherries are turning red! They are getting ripe, and you know what that means...harvest time soon! I'm thinking I will have to harvest in batches, since one is already ripe and the rest are just starting to turn red. Other branches are still all green.

Panda poop could save the planet

I may be (slightly) obsessed with pandas, and there is some good news on the panda front. Their poop may help solve the energy crisis. Apparently they have enzymes that help break down plant material  called cellulose--this cellulose is what is problematic for using biofuels for energy. It is difficult and costly to break down. But now, pandas to the rescue! The enzymes they use to break down bamboo and extract energy from it could be used for biofuel. Way to go, pandas (and panda researchers). More info:

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/09/10/giant-pandas-could-help-solve-the-global-energy-crisis

The Turtle and the Tree

Sea turtles nesting in Florida had to contend with an invasive tree on their beaches, the Australian pine. The pine was taking over beaches and deterring turtles from nesting. Here's a cute little restoration success story from NOAA:

http://oceantoday.noaa.gov/turtleandthetree/welcome.html

What's killing the bees?

By now, everyone has heard of the bee problem: bees in North America and Europe are suffering huge losses, a phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Since 2006, beekeepers have been finding their colonies diminished, leaving fewer bees per hive. We rely on honeybees to pollinate a lot of the food we eat, and scientists and beekeepers have been trying to figure out what is causing the collapse.

There have been a lot of news stories about potential causes--pesticides, parasites, disease...all of these things kill bees but no one has really tracked down the root of the problem. Neonicotinoids, a class of pesticides that seem to be harming bees, were banned recently by the EU for 2 years. However, that might not be the real culprit. There was an article in Time recently that gave a nice overview of the possible causes, and I'm going to summarize that here.

Neonicotinoids (pesticides)  
Evidence for:        
-present on pollen and bees
-highly toxic to bees            
-can be absorbed from the soil
-persist for years after application

Evidence against:
-no direct link to CCD
-France has restricted use since 1999, and still has CCD
-Australia uses, and doesn't have high CCD rates

Varroa mite  (parasite)                                      
Evidence for:
-demonstrated bee killer

Evidence against:
 -not all CCD hives have mites

Fungal infections                                                   
Evidence for:
-known to kill bees              

Evidence against:
-not all CCD hives have infections

While pesticides no doubt are harmful to bees, we don't have enough evidence to conclude that pesticides cause CCD. Still, it's enough to make me want to eat organic. The other scary thing to think about is the fact that North America's native bees, such as bumblebees, have no keepers replenishing their colonies or taking care of them Bumblebees are also dying off in massive numbers. Why???

There is a lot more information out there on this topic. Here are a few links:

http://www.xerces.org/neonicotinoids-and-bees/
http://www.ars.usda.gov/News/docs.htm?docid=15572

Sinkholes

What's up with all the sinkholes lately? I don't know a lot about them, but this is terrifying: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23793499

New mammal species: the olinguito

You may have heard by now, but a new species of mammal was announced yesterday by the Smithsonian. It is called the olinguito, or Bassaricyon neblina. It is related to raccoons and escaped scientists' notice for a long time because everyone thought it was just another olingo, a small mammal native to Central and South America. But no, the museum specimens were misidentified, and it turns out it is not an olingo. It also happens to be extremely cute. 

UPDATE: the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History has a meme surrounding the olingo. http://nmnh.tumblr.com/

Cool insect

My mom took this photo in northern Minnesota. Anyone know what it is?

Ecologists vs. the rest of the world

Last week I was at the Ecological Society of America annual meeting. If it isn't obvious by the name, this is a conference for ecologists. It's a week long conference of talks, posters and networking/socializing. If you are in any other field, you have probably been to conferences where people dress up nicely. Not so at ESA. In fact, if you are dressed up in say, a suit, you will stick out like a sore thumb. It's slightly more acceptable for the people moderating sessions or doing special presentations to be dressed up, but in general people are wearing shorts, tank tops or t-shirts, and sandals of the Teva, Choco or Birkenstock variety.

Now, I'm all for being comfortable. I wore flip flops for most of the week because I had blisters on my heels after one day of wearing "nice" flats. However, I think there is nothing wrong with looking nice at an annual meeting where you are presenting research, even if it is a bunch of ecologists who are uncomfortable being inside for too long. Realistically, there is no reason to wear pants that convert to shorts to a conference, unless your field site is right outside the convention center and you might need to check in after a few talks.

My first year of grad school some of the other grad students and I decided to start "Formal Friday," a grad student answer to "Casual Friday" in the workplace. We all look like crap most of the week, so we decided to dress up once a week. This consisted of maybe a button-down top, pants for the guys and a skirt or casual dress for the ladies. It didn't last the whole year, but we did have a Formal Party where people were supposed to come in spiffy clothes. It's fun, especially since we don't have many occasions to dress up given that we work outside most of the time. Conferences could be another place for ecologists to have fun dressing up. I propose that we ecologists look spiffy more often.

I will say I was pleasantly surprised to see a variety of bags to hold conference programs. Usually everyone walks around with the same matching ESA bag and during lunch breaks, all the conference-goers scatter around town with their matching bags. This year there were a lot of backpacks, purses, and other tote bags being used. I approve. We don't all have to match.

Some interesting (science-y) books

I've come across a few good science-related-without-being-too-technical books lately. These are not brand new books, I just got around to reading them recently. I recommend them!

The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson: A cholera outbreak in London in 1854, before anyone knew what caused cholera. Was it the air? Was it the water? What I like about this book is it is not just about disease or medicine but about the history (and future) of cities, plus a little medical detective work by John Snow and Henry Whitehead.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot: Doctors took the cells of a poor black tobacco farmer without her permission. Those cells (HeLa cells) revolutionized science and medicine and launched a multimillion dollar industry. Twenty years later, her family found out...this book is really interesting and written in a way that makes you want to keep reading. It is also being made into a movie.

Stiff: The curious lives of human cadavers by Mary Roach. I usually avoid anything having to do with dead bodies, but this actually looks interesting and potentially funny. I haven't read it yet but plan to read it soon.

Neighbor carts

This isn't exactly science-related, but who cares. I just discovered Neighbor Carts (in Chicago), a produce cart business. But it's not just any produce business--it's a social impact business, meaning the vendors are or were unemployed. It also fights the urban food desert problem--no or little access to healthy foods in urban neighborhoods. And the best part of all is that the produce is GOOD and CHEAP! I highly recommend shopping at a Neighbor Cart--the grocery stores can't beat the price x quality combination Neighbor Cart has. I should mention this is a joint venture between Streetwise and Neighbor Capital. Go eat more fruit!

Map of where to find them here.

Did you know carrots spark in the microwave?

Totally crazy...I guess I never microwaved carrots until last night. I was supposed to add minced carrots to something I was cooking but forgot and so I put them in the microwave, thinking I would cook them that way. And then...the sparks started flying! This made me think, hmm...is there metal in my carrots? Are they contaminated? Should I eat them?  A little googling told me that other people have experienced this same phenomenon, and apparently it is because of the iron, magnesium and selenium in the carrots. Supposedly green pepper and green beans do this too...sounds like a fun study! Just don't damage your microwave by letting the sparking go on too long!

My dissertation is taking over my life

It's been a rough few weeks. Writing a dissertation is no walk in the park, I'll say that much. At the beginning of today, I had 18 thesis-related things to do (mostly re-analyzing things and revising/editing). Now I only have six left to do, and they can be done tomorrow. Hurray!

Update: Pollen movie is called "Wings of Life"

Remember that movie about pollinators I mentioned? Well it turns out "Pollen" is called "Wings of Life" in the US and went straight to DVD/blu-ray. I feel like they're shafting the plants by sending them straight to DVD. After all, plants and pollinators are vital to the rest of the living world. The movie is narrated by Meryl Streep. I saw a commercial for it on Monday (Earth Day) and I thought they said, "available on DVD and blu-ray, only today" and I was all like, "gasp! only today!" but they actually said, "own it today." Lol.

Graduate school in China

I learned some interesting things about being a grad student in China by reading this post from the Cadotte lab...two things jumped out at me. One, you can hire an army of farmers to do your fieldwork in China. That sounds awesome. Think of the large scale experiments that makes possible! That's certainly a different take on citizen science. Despite hiring armies of farmers (or others, I suppose), ecology is still not a popular or well-understood field to the public. Sounds like the US too. How many people do I meet who think "Ecology" means "recycling"? Answer: too many. Hopefully this and other blogs help...although since I mostly write about cool animals I'm not sure how much I'm helping...

The other thing that was interesting is that PhD students in China have to publish an article in an international journal as a requirement for graduating. While publishing is certainly ideal and a goal of most American grad students, it is by no means required. What would happen if it were required? Ha! I think we would have a lot more seventh and eighth year grad students...there has been an explosion of ecology publications coming from Chinese authors, and this helps explain why. I mean, the fact that China is the world's most populous country also explains why, but it's interesting. More pressure on grad students to publish while they're students, and not to wait until they're postdocs or beyond.

Disney Nature films--what happened to 2013?

Earth Day is approaching, and we're already in "Earth Month," for those of you who don't think everyday is Earth Day. The past few years, DisneyNature has put out a nature-inspired documentary. Last year it was Chimpanzee, in 2011 it was African Cats, they did Ocean another year. But nothing is on the slate for this year! Say what you want about the Walt Disney company, but they know how to make movies and they reach a huge audience. So I am disappointed there is no blockbuster wildlife documentary this year. According to wikipedia, a movie called "Pollen" that came out in France in 2011 is scheduled for a US release this month, but I'm not sure if that's true. After all, it is Wikipedia.

I have to admit I'm pretty excited about next year's movie about grizzly bears. I very much admire bears from afar (let's not go all Grizzly Man here) and I'm looking forward to observing them from the safety of a movie theater. So until then, just think natureful thoughts...

To women in science: do what you do best

I don't have all the answers to the plight of women in science, and I don't think there is one answer. There are as many solutions as there are individual situations. However, there has been a lot of press about the biases and potential for harassment that many women face (here, here, here and here, to name a few).

Having the deck stacked against us sucks. Most of us women think of ourselves as equals, or superior to, the men we work with.  I have zero tolerance for the bullshit men think they can get away with, such as commenting on my outfit that "makes me look like Xena warrior princess." Did I ask you how you felt about my outfit? No. If I want to wear boots because its raining/cold out/fashionable, do I care how it makes you feel? No. If I wear a dress or leggings because it's spring/all my jeans are dirty/I'm too bloated to wear pants with a waistband, does that mean I want you to look me up and down as I walk down the hall? No. My first year of grad school I remember saying to a friend, "I just want to be left alone to do my science" instead of participating in the meat market that fresh blood aka first year students unwittingly enter. I faithfully went to the women in science meetings hosted by my department because it seems like as a woman in science, we need to talk about how to be a woman in science. 

However, after spending a lot of time discussing how and why it's hard to be a woman in science, and how to get one of those coveted careers where you can have a family and do the work you like, my answer is this. To hell with the circumstances, just go be good at what you do. Don't dwell on the gender differences. We're wasting time dissecting all the ways that the system works against us. It's distracting us from our research. I appreciate the power of groups to overcome systemic biases and stereotypes, but I think that the best thing each one of us can do is be a role model for other women in science. I finally realized that when a female professor came and spoke to our women in science group about her strategies for being a professor, having a family, and keeping her head screwed on straight. Don't put up with bullshit from your male colleagues. You're probably much smarter than them, work better in groups, and are much better looking. Most of us aren't going into research careers because we want 9-5 jobs. If you wanted that, choose a different career. I swear everyone just wants to be told they can work 9-5, have a family, and sail through their research careers. Being an academic is not a 9-5 job, no matter what career stage you're in or what your family/personal life is like. But most things worth doing take a little sacrifice. I don't think you should hide your beautiful face or try to play down your femininity, because as it turns out, good looking people get paid more and being androgynous makes people distrust you. Yup. Use the biases in your favor.  

Not to me too much about me here, but my whole life I've been the one girl/gal/female in a group of guys. My kindergarten class had 4 girls and 21 boys. I was the only girl in the "blue" reading group (the most advanced) in first grade. I played hockey for six years until I was 13, and was usually the only girl on the team. That's an awkward stage for everyone, but since girls get their growth spurts earlier at least I was bigger than the guys and could check them. They didn't like getting checked into the boards by a girl. I was the only girl in my grade taking advanced math classes long enough that we ran out of classes our high school offered. They brought in a university professor to teach us math senior year, and I was the only girl among 10 students. I still faced my share of discrimination and stupid people saying stupid things about girls not being as good as guys, but at least back then I had plenty of achievements to remind me that I was as good as or better than the guys.

Fast forward to grad school when all of life is totally up in the air--your whole life depends on your research, and if something goes wrong then your whole career and future are in jeopardy. At least that's how it feels sometimes. Everyone doubts themselves, men and women alike, and you become dependent on superiors to allow you to pass from one stage to the next. This is where the floodgates of "it's hard to be a woman in science" open. Well it turns out it's just hard to be in science, regardless of gender. Science is hard, and academia is a tough career.

I had the realization lately that I've been living in a male-dominated world my whole life (haven't you? Most of us have), and being in science is not a radical shift away from anything else I've experienced. Yes I want to be respected as a person and no, I don't want people staring at my boobs all the time.  Stares, comments and inappropriate behavior make me uncomfortable. I'm not a supermodel or anything, but I do get my share of unwelcome stares and comments and you know what, I just deal with it and move on. "Dealing with it" can take many forms, but ignoring it and letting it continue is not one of the preferred options. Science is by no means the only field (or set of fields) in which women face biases, harassment and assault. Ask a woman in the armed forces. Or the restaurant industry.

I'm not saying it's okay for sexual harassment or assault to happen, whether in the field, lab, hallway, on campus, on the train, or anywhere. Absolutely not. And yes, we do need articles like this one to open people's eyes about the disturbing, absolutely disgusting behavior of our colleagues. To be honest, that post and the statistics in it did not surprise me. Maybe I'm just less naive than the rest of you, but open your eyes up next time you do fieldwork with a mixed gender group. It is all of our jobs to not tolerate this behavior in ourselves or others. If you are a woman reporting a sexual assault, don't feel bad that you put the director of the field station in an awkward position. Someone else put you in a much-worse-than awkward position.

So in summary, be yourself, be good at what you do, and don't tolerate bullshit around you. 

Where is Dr. Danger?

I'm sorry for the lack of posts lately, and lack of anything new to the internet since recent posts have linked to other stories--Dr. Danger is currently working hard at actually becoming Dr., meaning my dissertation is due very soon and I'm devoting all my time to it. There are lots of other good science blogs for you to read in the meantime.

Starting in June, I will be working as a post-doc at the Smithsonian with more research on mangroves, and also salt marshes. Stay tuned for more Wild Times!

Love for thistles

Most people hate thistles, if they have any feelings about them at all. Thistles are prickly, don't look like much when they aren't flowering, and though they do flower in pretty colors, they are definitely under-appreciated. Eeyore eats thistles, and he's the most depressed storybook character ever.

I was pleased to see that Scotland is honoring thistles big time. The mascot for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow is a thistle. See it for yourself here. The Duchess of Cambridge recently got to meet him, too! A 12 year-old created him and her design got picked in a contest to design the mascot. He is an "adventurous and patriotic" thistle, which I think is just lovely.

Polar bear cub!

I love polar bears, or at least from afar. I probably wouldn't love them too much if I were stranded out on the ice with a hungry one. The Alaska zoo recently took into possession an orphaned polar bear cub, who is ADORABLE. Read more about it here, and be sure to look at the pictures. I'm just sad that a hunter killed the cub's mother. He obviously felt bad about it too because he rescued the cub. Don't polar bears have enough to deal with? Do we have to hunt them too?

Science funding is important, people

Scientific research is important. Scientific research takes money. A lot of that money comes from the government (unless we can come up with more creative ways of funding it, see my link here.)

This deserves much more time and attention than I can spare at the moment (writing a dissertation will do that to you), so I'm going to let Carl Zimmer do the talking for now and add my two cents later: http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/03/25/ducks-meet-the-culture-wars/

Rescue plant

Awhile back, I noticed someone left a large potted plant by the dumpster in my building. It was actually more like a tree, since it is about as tall as I am (5'6"). The leaves were yellowing a bit, but I thought, hey I could use a tree as a houseplant. After all, what's the point of tall ceilings if you don't fill up the vertical space? And of course I like plants and want green things in my home. So I adopted the plant.

It took me a little while to figure out what it was, because lots of tropical plant leaves look alike--but at least I knew it was tropical, so that narrowed it down to you know, one of hundreds of thousands of species. I realized it had little shriveled up fruits hanging off it, and I cut into one to find...coffee beans. Now, coffee berries as they are called are usually red, but these were dry which is why I didn't recognize them at first. It turns out coffee plants are commonly sold as houseplants but are not always labelled.

Coffee is tropical (originally native to northern Africa, now grown all over the tropics), so growing it indoors can be a wee bit challenging. As far as I can tell, most people who have this as a houseplant are growing it in Florida, and mostly outside. I got a humidifier for it and gave it plant food and lots of love, and slowly the plant became greener and greener. Now I won't say it's growing gangbusters or anything, because I feel like it's still a little touch and go--it's probably way too dry, even with the humidifier, and definitely not as warm as the poor coffee plant would like. So imagine my surprise this morning when I found flowers on the tree! A bunch of flowers were open, and they smell delightful! 

I'm not expecting to have a bumper crop of coffee beans--even if I got some, I think there might be enough for about 1/4 cup of coffee. And roasting coffee beans sounds labor intensive. But hey, it's the first step in my urban farm. Not the virtual kind of farm, either.

Dolphin language

This is so cool. A new study found that dolphins call each other by name, building on research that found they refer to themselves by name, too. When they become separated from a dear friend or loved one, dolphins call for them using a whistle--but each whistle is specific to one particular dolphin.

Dolphins have signature whistles that they use to announce themselves to other dolphins--a "Hello, nice to meet you, I'm Brian." Researchers found out that when separated, a dolphin looking for his friend will copy his friend's signature whistle while looking for him. Apparently they only use each other's names in positive interactions, never in aggressive situations. Cute dolphins. We have so much more to learn about them.

Read this while I'm working on my next post

So I think I may have mentioned that nudibranchs are some of my favorite animals. Why? Well, they are weird and cool looking and really awesome colors. But it turns out they have interesting sexual behavior too (well, lots of animals do). First off, nudibranchs are hermaphrodites so that is pretty interesting. But interesting news hit last week about this species that has a detachable male reproductive organ. Yes, you read that right. Click for more.

http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/34378/title/The-Detachable-Penis/

Spinybacked orb weaver

The name Spinybacked orb weaver is pretty cool, but what else would you expect for such an awesome looking spider? I know you are probably thinking, wait, that is a spider? Even people who are afraid of spiders aren't afraid of this little guy.  At least, I wouldn't be if I were afraid of spiders...does that make sense? It's pretty tiny, too. They also come in white with red spines, which you might see in Florida.

Upside down jellyfish

Upside-down jellyfish are awesome. I mean, regular jellyfish are pretty cool looking, but these guys take the cake. And not the upside-down pineapple cake, but the upside-down jellyfish cake. What are they called? Cassiopea, similar to the constellation although to be honest I'm not sure if it has an extra i in the pea or not. The internet is giving me mixed results. They do excrete stinging cells, so if you get too close you might not be very happy. Just admire from afar, and you're all good.

Moonwalking birds

Did you know birds can moonwalk? Manakins can! I've never seen one of these but the video is more than enough.

The whole video is cool, but the moonwalking starts at about 2:40.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI_quJRRGxk

Cute little sac-winged bats

Aren't they cute? They're so little! UPDATE: my bat-loving labmate has corrected me. These are sac-winged bats from the genus Saccopteryx--from the Pacific coast of Panama.

My fault, I know I looked these up in a guide but I mis-remembered the name. Sorry!

Cool caterpillar of the day

Hello, poisonous spines. You look like you would hurt. This caterpillar is from the moth genus Automeris. They are called bullseye moths because of the big colorful bullseyes on their wings.

Croco-terror

Well this is terrifying. 10,000 crocodiles are on the loose in South Africa, after escaping from a crocodile farm! Actually they were let out before a flood so they wouldn't all drown, and now they are running amok in one of the largest rivers in South Africa. Ten thousand!! That is a lot of crocodiles. Here is a link to the BBC news story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21200664

Yikes. Scary crocs. I don't care how big they are, being in a river with 10,000 crocodiles is pretty much my worst nightmare.

Road life

Seeing road life is always better than seeing roadkill. And let's be honest, catching sight of animals as they cross the road is sometimes the only way to see them, because they blend in so well in the forest. Here are a few of the road crossings I have captured or almost-captured on film. 

 This snake is taking up one lane of the road. I'm not sure what it is, because it's hard to detect any pattern and the lighting is not great. I'll update if I find out!

Below is a coatimundi (coati, for short). Check out its tail (in the second picture). This one is probably a male, since the females and their young travel in groups. They spend a lot of time in trees--the babies are born up in the tree tops, but venture out with supervision after a few weeks. 

I thought I had a picture of a baby crocodile on the road for you, but it's so hard to see it's not even worth it. Getting photos out of a moving vehicle is notoriously hard, even when you're not trying to capture a moving animal running for its life. The best subjects are the ones who don't move quickly. Introducing the sloth, the perfect roadside photographic subject:

Sloth, you are just too cute. 

Dolphin rescue

Divers removed a fishing hook and line from a dolphin in Hawaii--the line was wrapped around the dolphins fin, restricting its movement. Awwwwwwwwwww. 

Yahoo news story

Watch the original video here (you might mute it, as the deep sea ocean music is rather intense). 

How to prevent soggy sandwiches

Dear American Airlines,

Thank you for providing breakfast on my recent flight from Panama to Dallas-Fort Worth. In these times of economic turmoil, any airline extras are greatly appreciated. However, it has come to my attention that you could use my advice. You see, my ham and cheese croissant sandwich was a bit soggy because the tomato was pressed up against the bread, probably for the entire two hours I was waiting in line to check in at the airport in Panama City.  I would like to share the following tip with you to prevent soggy sandwiches in the future. Having just spent two weeks in the humid tropical air, taking sandwiches into the swampy mangrove forests in plastic baggies, I have developed a method for preventing the dreaded soggy sandwich:

1. Choose bread. If possible, select pieces of bread that do not have holes in them. Toast bread, if desired. Pita, whole wheat, and even croissants will work nicely. Arrange bread slices on plate so that both sides are ready to be topped, like so:

2. Place meat on one piece of bread and cheese on the other.
3. Add lettuce, tomato, mustard, and any other wet toppings on top of the meat, so that they will be in the center of the sandwich. It is important not to add so much mustard that it oozes out the sides.
4. Flip cheese side of sandwich on top of meat side.
5. Place into bag or plastic wrap and enjoy your non-soggy sandwich hours later.

Example of a correctly made sog-free sandwich. Notice the cheese blanketing the toppings on both sides. You might even say the cheese is sandwiching the other ingredients.

This method will work nicely for any pre-wrapped sandwich situation, including those in airport cafes.

Sincerely,
Dr. Danger

Close encounters

Yesterday the rest of the team went out to the field while I stayed at the lab. When they got back, they showed me the terrifying experience they had with a crocodile.

Taylor went up for a closer look at the crocodile. They told him no, but he just wouldn't listen.

 This triggered the never-ending scream. It's pretty close to Munch's The Scream, wouldn't you say?

Then they ran. So fast they broke the sound barrier.

But Dr. Sousa was preoccupied with his data, and didn't see the dark 

shadow approaching him until it was too late. 

Isn't our field team sweet?

Frigatebird flight

Normally I'm not much of a bird person, but seabirds are okay. Here is a magnificent frigatebird in flight above me:

Apparently in mating season the males puff out a red pouch on their throat to impress the ladies. Heyyyy ladies, check out my red throat pouch.

Pretty handsome, right?

Shiny bugs

I found this pretty iridescent beetle on a sea grape tree. I'm trying to figure out what it is.

 And this little guy is a Junonia evarete caterpillar. They specialize on black mangrove seedlings (Avicennia germinans). Check out their cool blue shiny spots.

Under the sea

Under the sea...dangers lurk beneath unexpecting swimmers. All sorts of toxic creatures live beneath cool blue Caribbean waters. Here are some of the dangerous sea creatures from Panama:

Lionfish, which are native to the Pacific ocean, have become invasive in the Caribbean and Atlantic in the last few years. They have toxic spines which means they have no predators that can eat them in the Caribbean, where they are not native. Humans can eat them though, if they remove the spines!

Portuguese man o'war. Found plenty of places other than Portugal. They look like bright purple potstickers with a tail, or some sort of weird Nerf ball. If you want a fun stinging game, try picking one up. It hurts. 

Sea urchins. Don't step on these guys. This long spined urchin is from the genus Diadema. 

Spanish dancer in the water

I saw a really cool animal yesterday in the water near the lab. At first I thought it was a piece of trash, but then I looked again and it turned out to be a nudibranch. A nudi-what? They are sea slugs, like snails without shells. Nudibranchs come in all different cool colors, but this one is bright red. Usually nudibranchs crawl across the bottom, but this one floats up in the water column and undulates its sides, so it looks like a flamenco dancer twirling its skirts. It is called a Spanish dancer (species name is Hexabranchus morsomus).

Job hazards

Yesterday as we were walking out through the mangrove forest, we came across this fine fellow sitting across our path:

I happen to be terrified of crocodiles. How do crocodiles compare to your job hazards?

Wow Plants

Animals are cool, but plants do pretty awesome things sometimes too. This plant hides when you touch it. Check it out:

(Excuse the dirty fingernails, this was after a day in the mud.) Its name is Mimosa pudica and it is in the legume family (Fabaceae). The movement happens when cells lose turgor pressure (basically water pushing against cell walls). It may be a defense mechanism against things that eat the plant. 

Tribute to a turtle

Sad news today. Our little turtle friend, Milagro, has died. He was well and alive yesterday and mysteriously turned up dead today. We are not sure what happened. Yesterday I saw him attempting to eat the starfish in his tank, and he was picking at their feet. He may have gotten underneath the starfish attached to the wall--starfish tube feet are very sticky and hard to get off. Possibly he couldn't free himself from the starfish and drowned. Another possibility is that he had some internal ailment, but we just will never know. We are very sad here at the lab and wish it hadn't happened.

 Goodbye, little guy. 

Animal sightings in the dry season

Greetings from Panama! It's the dry season here, so sloth sightings have been rare...they like new green leaves and there are not a ton of those out right now. Instead of sloths, I bring you the following:

 A river shrimp from the genus Macrobrachium, found in a black mangrove forest:

A satiny parrot snake, found alongside the road:

And a baby hawksbill sea turtle who washed up in a storm and is being kept at the Smithsonian station until he gets bigger. His name is Milagro, or Miracle.