New experience of the week: bug bites inside my bellybutton. Somehow I attracted a lovely pest (maybe no-see-ums or chiggers) that Matt has more or less avoided entirely. I'm hopeful that they've done their worst and won't be back, but for now I have itchy red bumps over much of my torso and it many inconvenient places, such as the inside creases of both elbows :-(. I'm just happy that they aren't bed bugs, something that apparently there have been a few problems with here.
In better news, and also related to the bed... we have replaced our pillows and taken all our blankets down the hill to a local hotel with a washer/dryer, and seem to have gotten rid of most of the dust and/or mold that was inhabiting them and making both Matt and I very sneezy and congested every time we went to bed. Now the bed is inviting again! Very important for a couple of sleepy pandas.
After settling in and exploring much of the reserve, I decided to get started on this carbon study. I was able to find the data from 2006 when researchers from the Smithsonian put in the plot, which is great news. Tom, the manager, had been afraid that it was lost in a computer crash a few years ago, but with significant digging through the Cloudbridge hard drive I was able to find it. Tom's really excited too! I'm happy to have this data because it will give me a baseline which I can compare to what I gather.
So, as a quick walkthrough, what I am hoping to do is figure out how much carbon is being stored in the living trees in a hectare (about 2.5 acres) of old growth forest. The way to estimate this is by measuring the diameter of the trees at breast height (defined as 1.3 meters, Mom) and plugging this number into an equation that estimates the dry weight of the tree. Carbon is about 50% of this weight. If you are also able to estimate the height of the tree in the field using a clinometer, you can use a more accurate equation. Because I have the data from before, I should be able to figure out how much carbon has been sequestered by this plot of trees in the last 7 years.
With this idea in hand, Matt and I set out to start measuring trees Wednesday. After a grueling hour hiking uphill (about 1,100 feet elevation gain) we arrived at the plot. (I think that my new morning commute will either turn me into an incredible fit hiker or kill me). As it turns out, old growth cloud forest means that there is a lot of vegetation on a steep incline. Our first day we managed to walk the boundaries of the first quadrat (the hectare is divided into 25 20mx20m quadrats), and measure the dbh and height of 8 trees before coming down for lunch and a rainy afternoon. Today we worked more quickly, taking data on the remaining 13 tagged trees in the plot while also adding 5 that have reached the minimum dbh (10cm) since the plot was established. Even so, this is going to be a long, challenging project to get through the remaining 700 some trees. Matt has already decided that he will never be a field biologist, and I am beginning to think that it may not be what I'm cut out for either. In any case, not in the tropics.
Despite the challenges, I am hopeful that I'll be able to get some interesting data out of this study. We are living in a beautiful place, and our porch seems to be the best place for bird watching in the entire reserve. I just interrupted writing this to go get a better look at a squirrel cuckoo! We're missing everyone, and taking reservations for skype dates! We're available most anytime in the afternoon or evening, and are currently in the Mountain Time Zone.
In better news, and also related to the bed... we have replaced our pillows and taken all our blankets down the hill to a local hotel with a washer/dryer, and seem to have gotten rid of most of the dust and/or mold that was inhabiting them and making both Matt and I very sneezy and congested every time we went to bed. Now the bed is inviting again! Very important for a couple of sleepy pandas.
After settling in and exploring much of the reserve, I decided to get started on this carbon study. I was able to find the data from 2006 when researchers from the Smithsonian put in the plot, which is great news. Tom, the manager, had been afraid that it was lost in a computer crash a few years ago, but with significant digging through the Cloudbridge hard drive I was able to find it. Tom's really excited too! I'm happy to have this data because it will give me a baseline which I can compare to what I gather.
So, as a quick walkthrough, what I am hoping to do is figure out how much carbon is being stored in the living trees in a hectare (about 2.5 acres) of old growth forest. The way to estimate this is by measuring the diameter of the trees at breast height (defined as 1.3 meters, Mom) and plugging this number into an equation that estimates the dry weight of the tree. Carbon is about 50% of this weight. If you are also able to estimate the height of the tree in the field using a clinometer, you can use a more accurate equation. Because I have the data from before, I should be able to figure out how much carbon has been sequestered by this plot of trees in the last 7 years.
With this idea in hand, Matt and I set out to start measuring trees Wednesday. After a grueling hour hiking uphill (about 1,100 feet elevation gain) we arrived at the plot. (I think that my new morning commute will either turn me into an incredible fit hiker or kill me). As it turns out, old growth cloud forest means that there is a lot of vegetation on a steep incline. Our first day we managed to walk the boundaries of the first quadrat (the hectare is divided into 25 20mx20m quadrats), and measure the dbh and height of 8 trees before coming down for lunch and a rainy afternoon. Today we worked more quickly, taking data on the remaining 13 tagged trees in the plot while also adding 5 that have reached the minimum dbh (10cm) since the plot was established. Even so, this is going to be a long, challenging project to get through the remaining 700 some trees. Matt has already decided that he will never be a field biologist, and I am beginning to think that it may not be what I'm cut out for either. In any case, not in the tropics.
Despite the challenges, I am hopeful that I'll be able to get some interesting data out of this study. We are living in a beautiful place, and our porch seems to be the best place for bird watching in the entire reserve. I just interrupted writing this to go get a better look at a squirrel cuckoo! We're missing everyone, and taking reservations for skype dates! We're available most anytime in the afternoon or evening, and are currently in the Mountain Time Zone.
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