Marshall Tropical Ecology

Belize - May 2008

For pictures from the Belize Zoo, click here. For a trip overview powerpoint, click here. For more on the caving adventure, click here.

     For pictures from BFREE, click here. BFREE is the Belize Foundation for Research and Environmental Education. The foundation is located about 6 miles west of the Southern Highway (mile 58) on the banks of the Bladen River. BFREE is surrounded by several protected reserves and offers a pristine area for research. To learn more about BFREE, visit their website.

    On 23 May, Dr. Jones and Sean Collins boarded an airplane bound for Houston. After a short layover, they were on their way to Belize. The goals of the trip were quite important. Contact needed to be established with Jacob Marlin, the director of BFREE. This is hopefully where Sean will be stationed during the 2009 field season. So, meeting this man and finding the complex were critical steps in the overall process of research. Another goal was to meet Dr. Ed Boles, resident aquatic ecologist for the country. Dr. Boles has been working on developing a regional watershed management protocol for assessing stream and watershed health of tropical systems. At the least, the protocol will work for watersheds in the Maya Mountain. At the most, it will work for watershed in a majority of Central America. Finally, a meeting was set up with Natalie Rosado of The Nature Conservancy (TNC). A relationship needed to be established with this agency to further research potential.

    After arriving in Belize, we rented a 4x4 and headed south. On the way to BFREE, we decided to stop off in Placencia because we had heard rumor that sighting whale sharks while diving was quite common at this time of the year. We got up early in the morning and headed to SeaHorse Dive Shop. We collected our required gear from the shop and boarded the vessel that would take us to what we hoped would be a lucky spot. The diving was just past the barrier reef, so the calm water that brought us out to the diving location suddenly turned into rough seas with swells near 8 feet. Clambering around to get geared up got the better of some stomachs onboard and seasickness swept the divers. However, as soon as we got in the water, things calmed down, and we were on the hunt for whale sharks.

    These animals are filter feeders and strain large amounts of water to take in enough energy to survive. It is no surprise, then, that they are attracted to large scale reproductive events. An enormous school of fish were below us at about 100 feet. We hovered above at about 60 feet in eager anticipation. Minutes passed by slowly. Then, the dive master rapped on his tank  to get the attention of the crew. From the left, an enormous dark blue figure loomed into sight. The shark was about 30 feet in length and was an incredible sight to behold. At the end of the dive, everyone ascended, joyous to have had the privilege of seeing such an animal. The next dive, after lunch was equally lucky. The group saw about five individuals altogether. The day was a success.

    We left Placencia that evening and headed toward BFREE. Arriving at the turn-off from the Southern highway just at dusk made the six mile drive in very interesting. No rain for the previous months had left the road a bit dusty and deep-cut ruts were commonplace. We finally made it to the complex, and were greeted by several people including Jacob. After talking a bit about what we hoped to accomplish and what BFREE had to offer, we went to bed.

    The next morning, we got up and headed up the Bladen for an overall assay of the tropical river. The hike to Holy Rock left us tired and hot, so swimming, wading and hiking back to BFREE was a welcome relief. That afternoon, I spent some time in the on-site library looking through literature related to my project. I also visited the observation tower and climbed as high as was reasonably safe to do. After dinner, Jacob spoke with us more about my potential project and what could actually be done on this trip.

    We set out early the next day for a full day of field sampling on the Bladen. We collected data at about 50 sites which will be worked up for analysis. We hope to create bathymetric maps that can be combined with other data to give a clearer picture of habitat type and habitat use. We also got to do a little wet-caving in the area. For more, click here.

    When we left BFREE, it was hard to imagine that we'd only spent two full days there. However, we had other commitments and needed to head north to Belmopan. There we met Dr. Boles and discussed his and our plans trying to see where they may overlap. Also while in Belmopan, we met with Natalie Rosado of TNC. She was very helpful and seems to be a good ally for our tropical research effort.