Tambopata

Im writing two posts in one night because Im off to the field again tomorrow...

Our research group has selected, as its lowland site, some plots in the Tambopata National Park, which is a 16 hour trek by bus from Cuzco. Being short of time I decided it would be easier to fly. So on Friday we jetted down into the Amazon proper, ready for some heat and sun, big trees and and invasion of insects!

We got the big trees, however the weather was not co-operative. We arrived during a "friaje" or cold-spell, and it felt more like the top of the mountains! Completely unprepared for this I spent a very cold night under my mosquito net. The cold weather had its advantages, we were relatively insect-free for the trip! The wildlife mostly stayed away aswell, a footprint was the closest we got to seeing a jaguar! We got all our work done, hiked the trails and even found time to go rowing on the lake! On the last evening I joined in the football game too, although I didnt score, I did set up a few goals and my team won!

Machu Picchu: details

At 3pm on Wednesday we decided it would be fun to make use of a spare Thursday by visiting Machu Picchu, so at 4pm I had thrown some things into a bag and along with Kathryn, Sally, Payden and Liz was standing by the side of the road to get a taxi to Ollyantaytambo. This was followed by the train to Aguas Calientes, the town beneath Machu Picchu. We found a hostel and purchased supplies for the day ahead, having not been at all prepared in advance. We woke up at 4:30am, and were comfortably far back in queue for tickets to get into and to the reserve, to get bus ticket then to get on the bus. Queueing is not one of my favourite activities and by the time we strolled through the entrance gates (7:30am), with the grey clouds hanging overhead, and the rain spitting down on us, I was expecting a lot from Machu Picchu to make up for the so far trying morning.

Inside Machu Picchu really is something special, to have built such a large city in such an inconvenient place defies belief. The steepness of the mountain can only really be appreciated first hand. The surrounding mountain scenery also adds to the amazment value of the site. The entire time I was in Machu Picchu though, I couldnt help but wonder what it was really like when it was alive, how it would have felt to live there, to work there. Perhaps they should have some reconstructions of some kind...

On site entertainment was provided by fighting, spitting llamas and our illegal picnic. We walked the site and a few of the paths taking lots of pictures. The sun never shone though. In all it was a great experience but if I were to go back I would come when there are less people, or hike to the top if I had more time!

Machu Picchu

I went to Machu Picchu! Last minute decision. I will write more soon but Im flying to the lowlands in 1 hour!!! Hasta luego...

Sometimes things dont go to plan

A little bit of text on the past few days to accompany my panorama...

The most exciting discovery of the 4 days we spent at Wayqecha was a really cool waterfall. The second most exciting discovery was 3 frogs inside a bromeliad. I photographed the first one, the second one escaped before we could catch it and the third one was also caught. Anyway, I had long hoped to see a frog inside the bromeliads I was collecting so this was very exciting!!

The main purpose of my trip was to take measurements of photosynthesis of the bromeliads and then to go to the Trocha Union to measure biomass in the 3 plots I havent yet visited. However, things dont always work the way you hope. The photosynthesis machine was not co-operating. Internal battery problems meant the time to take measurements was limited, and the plants were not to happy about being measured, often just giving up on photosynthesis completely. Once the machine is fixed I need to figure out how to persuade the plants to co-operate. The second part of the plan, to go to the Trocha, relied on new permits arriving on time. This of course didnt happen either, so eventually we came back to Cuzco to look for them and re-plan the way ahead.

Since the things I had planned to do didnt happen I had time for some fun activities - mostly hunting for new bromeliads. We walked down a new trail at Wayqecha (Trocha Trogon) and found a nice mountain stream. It was shallow so we wandered up it to find a little waterfall, and down through a canyon to some rapids. Above is 'team bromeliad', my assisstant Guido and my three volunteers, Liz, Payden and Sally.

I also had time to plant out bromeliad seeds in the Wayqecha greenhouse! I hope that these will germinate and grow and then we can use them in experiments to see how well they survive if I transplant them in different locations!

An evening at Wayqecha

A photo-entry. Some text might follow later...

Urubamba adventure

Normally our work is confined to one slope of the Andes, so I decided I would go and check out a valley a bit closer to Cuzco, to see how different things were. It turned out to be quite different. We took the bus to Urubamba at 6am, and "team epiphyte" were in full flow. I am back working with my assisstant from last year, Guido and am now helped by three American undergraduates, Payden, Liz and Sally.

We just spent 2 days, each time hiking up a different valley, and then working in some of the forest we found. The hikes were not easy, but the views were amazing, and both times we followed close to a mountain stream. We found 4 new species of bromeliad, all in flower, which was great! The adventure was a success and I wish I had time to go do some tourism in the Urubamba valley, with its famous Inca ruins.

Im off back to the field tomorrow for about 10 days, my final stint in the cloud forests, with hopes of getting some new data on the photosynthesis and respiration of the epiphytes, but we will see because the equipment we have to use is old and prone to breaking. We were discussing the other day how three research groups who study forest ecology could not manage to buy a decent machine to measure photosynthesis/respiration, and how a Department of Plant Sciences could similarly lack such a machine...!

Anyway, off to Wayqecha and the Trocha Union for one last time this year...

Cape Farewell

Meeting with the Cape Farewell group (the team of 'artists' documenting climate change) was great fun. I met them in Wayqecha, after they had woken up at 3am to watch the sunrise at Tres Cruces after a night in the cold house! They had a night to recuperate in Wayqecha before they were put to work with the group. Apart from a small team who went early with Kathryn to collect river water, the group had a tour of the weather station, the new canopy tower and the plot. Afterwards two of them were assigned to Bromeliad collecting with me, Jorge Orta and Marije de Haas. We wandered through the plots collecting a plants for biomass and shape-size analysis, then went down a trail to collect a specimen for the herbarium. Back at the cabin Marije got her hands dirty helping to pull apart the bromeliads and the film crew returned to film the preparation of a herbarium specimen. I think both Marije and Jorge enjoyed the day. Jorge also mentioned that he will have an exhibition in the Natural History Museum based on the expedition, which I am VERY EXCITED about. Im excited to see what else they produce, but Im hoping for a nice picture book because there are some great photographers on the expedition. Im less excited about the film footage, because Im sure I will look stupid!

On a less exciting note I have spent the last few days drying specimens and typing up data from the field. Im probably not going to get back into the field until Sunday or Monday. Im making the most of having cake and coffee around the corner for as long as possible...

The same with differences

So I finally arrived back in Cuzco at 6am after almost 2 weeks collecting data and plants. I revisited most of the sites I worked in last year and added a few new sites to the collection. Going back to Wayqecha was the most enjoyable, with food cooked and a nice warm bed to look forwards to each night. We worked in the new Esperanza plot from Wayqecha and also visited the new canopy walkway which should be completed very soon. I laid scientific claim to the first research done using the canopy walkway by collecting some bromelaids removed in the process of construction!

We then moved onto Tono. Tono is notorious because of the difficult hike in and high rainfall which makes camping hard. I went with another Oxford researcher, Josh Fisher and his assisstants, and we were feeling confident enough to get in and out in a day. Our confidence was well placed, and on the drive back to civilisation a downpour started which lasted until almost midday the next day!!! We celebrated our luck with a few beers before moving onto San Pedro for a few days work. Last year the trail around San Pedro had the best selection of bromeliads. This year it was not so good! But we got our work done things have progressed well.