It's been hard to find the time to update, so get ready for another post spanning 3 days...
Wednesday:
We woke at the crack of dawn to go fishing. Yep, in this class, fishing = field work. Dad, if you're reading this, I know you'd be proud. Anyways, we hopped on a boat at 7am and headed off into the Canal towards Lake Gatun. The ride was truly a wonderful experience. First and foremost, I touched the Canal - stuck my hand in the water and everything. If you recall, I was geeking out about just being in the Canal a few posts back, so this was even better. And then there was the sun rising up over the trees, illuminating the sky and reflecting on the water. It was one of those moments when you remember how amazing nature is, that what you're seeing is actually real.
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| Crossing under the Gamboa bridge into the Canal |
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On the other side of the tunnel, the lake opened up again into a series of islands and coves. Our guide took us to a spot he'd marked, and it was time for some data collection. We were fishing both for peacock bass, the invasive species, and any native species we could find. Our total count at the end was 21 bass, 7 of which made it back alive for Blair's behavioral experiments. I caught a grand total of 1 fish. Nikki got 2, Sebastian 3, Patricia 4, and Billy 6. Our guide caught the rest.
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| House boat in The Middle of Nowhere, Lake Gatun |
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| Nikki, getting those fish |
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| Patricia beat all of us in number of fish caught |
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| Me and Blair fishing, and failing pretty hard |
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| Billy and Sebastian being pensive |
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| They are in a very happy bromance together |
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| In the Panama Canal |
Once we were back in Gamboa, it was dissecting time. I haven't really explained the research project I'm doing, so here we go. Nikki and I are investigating parasite diversity and abundance on the gills of both native and invasive freshwater fish species. Our hypothesis is that native fish will have both a higher diversity and greater abundance of parasites, as expected by the Enemy Release Hypothesis. The ERH states that invasive species, once removed from their native range, are released from the parasitic pressures they previously experienced. This is because the parasite would also have to be introduced and survive along with it's host. The likelihood of this happening is reduced, since many parasites have complex life cycles requiring multiple hosts. Hopefully, this is what we'll see when we analyze our data later.
When analyzing, we cut the gills out of the fish, cut the filaments off the bone, and place the gills under the microscope. On the peacock bass, we're finding mostly metacercaria, which are the circular spots in the pictures below. You're looking at gill filaments with metacercaria on them.
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| Me in action (photo credit Nikki) |
Thursday, the class had presentations of their preliminary methodology and experimental design in the morning. Afterwards, it was a work day, so once again, it was time for some fishing. That day it was a bit less complicated, however. Over by the Gamboa Resort, there is a fishing dock and launch area where the tourists leave from on their chartered fishing trips. We'd heard that we could maybe negotiate for the filleted fish carcasses that the boats brought in. Of course, when we got there, we discovered that the boats had already come and gone. No carcasses for us.
But, never fear, because the hospitality of Panama once again came through. We explained what we needed to the dockmaster, and within seconds, Kenneth had one of his fishing guides fishing for us off the dock. The guy caught a dogfish, and someone else snagged a catfish, both of which they gladly gave to us for our research. People here continue to amaze me with their kindness.
We did our dissections back at the school house. So far, things are looking good in relation to our experimental hypotheses!!!
That night, after long hours of dissection, I decided to give myself a break. Nikki and I ended up outside with Lukas, Edwin, and Sebastian, chatting into the early hours of Friday morning. It was the perfect way to decompress and enjoy the evening just chilling in a small group. Fun fact: Sebastian (our TA) was telling us his first impressions of everyone in the class. I was initially the "hippie". Now, I'm the blue-eyed hippie who is pretty cool. Good to know... Animal sighting: we saw a porcupine, and Sebastian, using his best judgement, chased it up a tree and touched it. Wise decision for sure.
Friday:
I didn't get much sleep Thursday night, so Friday morning was a bit of a struggle. We had to get up early for a trip to Pipeline Road, dragging for ticks, which, though interesting, was a waste of time considering our need to continue collecting data for our independent projects. Oh well... We collected the ticks by dragging canvas on the ground and checking to see if the ticks had attached to the cloth. I did manage to catch two ticks. The ones here apparently don't carry diseases, so that was an added bonus.
After our tick collecting, Nikki, Patricia, and I headed back to the docks to beg for carcasses again. Our friends at the dock remembered us from the day before, and had already been saving the carcasses for us when we arrived. However, the boats hadn't all come in at this point, so we waited around some more. In the process, we had a great conversation and learned more about each other's lives. Ah, how I love bonding. In good spirits, we returned to the dock when the boats arrived, and then headed back to the school house with bags full of fish carcasses ready to be analyzed.
More data collection happened. Fun times. We needed a break again, to that night we went up to the hotel for dessert. There ended up being an all you can eat dessert buffet with a bunch of small, gourmet puddings, cakes, and cookies. We all ate way to much with absolutely no shame, as it should be.
A new post will be up tomorrow - I'm too tired to talk about today, but you'll be able to read all about our palm tree dissections and our new friends. Goodnight for now.
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