This vine snake, Oxybelis aeneus, with an unsuspecting
ant riding on his head, was a surprising discovery at one of the
research sites. Â After a long day in the field, fourth-year
student Cory Unruh relaxes in a hammock
overlooking the Rio San Juan. Â Native Nicaraguan
Romel Gadea (left) and Professor Greg
Grether make final preparations for the eight-hour bus
ride to San Carlos.
As we walked slowly and cautiously up the damp clay-like trail,
we were surprised to see that if it weren’t for our
flashlights, we would be engulfed in darkness because the thick
canopy covering above us did not allow even the stars to shine
through.
With every step, our lights illuminated many marvels of the
night, like lizards and small frogs perched on trees. This was the
first encounter we 14 UCLA students had with a tropical lowland
rain forest.
Every spring quarter, the organismic biology, ecology and
evolution department offers a field biology quarter, where students
spend part of the quarter at an off campus field site to complete
their own independent research.
“This class is a great opportunity for students to learn
first-hand what field work is all about,” said teaching
assistant Kelly Thomas.
While the program is a requirement for ecology, behavior and
evolution students, it also welcomes students in other majors who
want to gain first-hand experience with field research. This
quarter, the program took place at the Refugio Bartola in
southeastern Nicaragua.
“As a neuroscience major, it was a totally different
experience, and I would do it again if given the chance,”
said fourth-year student Dillon Chen.
After a flight with one stopover in El Salvador, an eight-hour
bus ride through the Nicaraguan countryside and a three-hour boat
ride, where swarms of small insects greeted us by crashing into our
faces, we finally arrived at the site adjacent to the Rio San Juan
and the Rio Bartola.
Over the following 15 days, we discovered the unique features of
a rain forest and developed research projects to answer questions
encompassing ecological and behavioral issues.
Research included examining organisms ranging from hummingbirds,
leaning palms and damselflies to poison-dart frogs, army ants,
bromeliads and leaf-cutter ants.
Although the field work was strenuous and workdays were long,
the trip was rewarding and we were sad when our stay at Bartola
came to an end.
Now back at UCLA, we will spend the last weeks of the quarter
preparing papers and presentations, sharing with each other and
faculty the new wonders we unearthed in the tropical rain
forest.
 A young girl walks down the main street of the town El
Castillo, where students waited for their boat to go up the river
on the last day of the program. Â Third-year EBE student
Deanna Shifrin prepares to introduce her lizard,
Norops limifrons, into another lizard’s territory. Â
Studying leaf-cutter ants for her behavioral ecology project,
third-year student Sarah Ziemba records the area
of a leaf carried by the ant.