Bye bye Iquitos

I woke up early to finish packing my things which didn't take long. Then Freddie and I went out for our last breakfast! When we got back I went to my room to get all my things. Then went out into the lobby and gave Louis and Freddie the rum and said good bye. Louis wrote on his phone on Google translate; ‘it was a pleasure to meet you and you always have a friend in Iquitos.’  I thanked both Freddie and Louis. I also said bye to Wayne and Jacob. Then got into a motor taxi and left for the airport. As we bumpily rode to the airport I shed a tear. I will miss Iquitos I have had the most amazing time. I will never forget my experience here it was incredible. At the airport I found myself replying and speaking to a lady in Spanish about the weather and my time in the jungle. Of course it was pretty basic but it just showed that I must have picked up more Spanish than I thought.

Butterfly farm

Watched Wimbledon this morning – Murray won. Success!! We went to Pilpintuwasi butterfly farm, and took a motor car to the port and then one to the farm. These are precarious and don’t have seat belts. We saw monkeys out of their cages, sloths, an ocelot, a coati, a jaguar and birds. We saw caterpillars, cocoons and numerous butterflies. Inside of a cocoon it is completely liquid. All the organs completely change it is only the DNA which remains the same. The farm ‘aims to preserve Amazonia Flora and Wildlife’.  The farm takes in endangered species and animals that had been injured and needed rehabilitation.

http://amazonanimalorphanage.org/News/

When we got back I bought a bottle of Rum for all the guys as a thank you from the supermarket. 

Freddie's Birthday

Today is Freddie’s birthday I gave him a birthday card and Jacob, Freddie and I went out for breakfast. Freddie got on with some work while I went to the supermarket, gave in some washing and had a wander around. We then went out for dinner. We had chicken with Jacob and Louis in Freddie’s favourite restaurant. 

Quistakotcha field work day

Woke up had breakfast in the hostel with Wayne. Juan Cardo then came to the hostel and we set of for Quistakotcha. We left Freddie’s machete in the motor taxi– good start. The site we needed  to get to was pretty straight forward. It was slightly wet not as much as the previous Aguajales I had been in. On the walk in we saw this beautiful, brightly coloured caterpillar. Wayne looked at Juan Cardo and asks ‘peligroso? (dangerous?)’ and Juan Cardo replies ‘muchos peligroso!!’ Wayne seemed worried, but it was amazing so I decided to take pictures while Wayne ran away. We went to two areas before lunch. Here we put down five chambers and took measurements from each one every minute. We filled the syringes, took air temperature, dissolved oxygen content in the soil and took soil PH measurements every minute too. We couldn’t take measurements between 12.00 and 14.30 as at this time there would be major changes in the results. So we stopped for a long lunch. We had a tin of sardines with crackers. We then returned after lunch and took measurements in two more areas. We finished at 3.30 and returned to La Pascana. In the evening we went to a bar with a guy named John who works at iiap. He wanted to collaborate with the PHD guys staying at la Pascana and learn more about all the projects. 

Protests continue ...

The protests were still going on which meant we couldn't go out and Wayne and I couldn't get to Quistakotcha to do any field work. We had breakfast in the Amazon Bistro. It was all pretty quiet and calm when suddenly all the staff started running about and bringing all the tables and chairs from outside in. Apparently the protests were coming this way! We walked back past some army guys with guns and people with sticks. I helped Freddie with data input. I typed into the spread sheet this time, which helped improve my speed on excel. Also I learn some more family, genus and species names. I also helped Wayne label all his exotainers. So we labelled them with the site name on and the time. For example, the first one was QU,BR1,CH1,T0. The following ones went up so T1 then T2 etc. We then had to get last minute things such as batteries for the fans in the gas chambers and we borrowed one of Freddie’s machetes. 

Protests in Iquitos

Last night I heard chanting and a loud uproar from outside. Protests have begun in Iquitos. I woke up early to go to iiap again with Freddie.  There were not many motor cars around and everything was pretty quiet. We managed to find a motor car and jumped in. On the way to iiap we realised that no one was out. The roads were covered in rubbish as people knew the bin men and cleaners were on strike so the public abused this. There was broken glass on the roads to stop the motor cars from going out. The aim of the protests was to stop everything from functioning. The protesters didn’t want anyone using the roads or having their shops open. We went down one street and there were guys with sticks and masks stopping people from exiting the roads. There were lots of police in the main square but not on the roads with guys and sticks. We decided it was too impossible to go to iiap as it was too dangerous. So we turned around and went back to La Pascana. Freddie was going to show one of the guys in the centre how to use a corer. In La Pascana I spoke to Wayne and Jacob for a bit and another guy joined us. He is involved in a project to regain traditional, cultural aspects to village life. For example, types of food that were traditionally grown in villages if re-grown would provide profit for the village. He also spoke to us about utilising medicinal plants in the forest. It was really interesting.

Wayne then spoke to me about his research and showed me his field work equipment. He had gas chambers which are plastic containers with an inner tube surrounding them. You place the container on water. Then attach a syringe to the tubing coming out of the container. Then you get rid of the air in the syringe and collect the gas with it. Then you insert the collected gas into an exotainer. The exotainers are examined in the UK.

For lunch due to the protests most restaurants were shut. However, the burger restaurant was pretending to be shut by having the shutters down but in fact it was open, so we crept in through a tiny side door to eat lunch. We then went to get money out and while Jacob had his back turned a swarm of people were approaching running up the road. So Freddie tapped Jacob on the shoulder and said ‘err Jacob I think we need to get out of here!’ so we power walked out of there while the sea of people followed. 

iiap - Iquitos Research Institute

We went to iiap – the Research Institute in Iquitos this morning. First we met with a man named Ricardo who helps to organise all the boats and logistics for researchers. Freddie and Wayne spoke to him about boat availability and organised dates for their next trips into the field. We then met a guy called Dennis Del Castillo Torres, who is the director of iiap. He had a great knowledge of the forest - particularly Aguajales. Lots of this type of forest is being destroyed and used to grow oil palm on. Many Peruvians see Aguajales as a waste of land and pointless. This is because they do not see any short term profit from it. However, Aguajales are ecosystems with great importance. For one thing, they store carbon and if destroyed this carbon will be released into the atmosphere. In addition, the forests regulate water and provide many ecosystem services regionally and globally. Dennis works with scientists in order to protect the forest. The more papers that are published the better as they provide scientific proof to how important the areas are and the necessity of protecting them.  The government and local people need to understand and see the scientific research showing the importance of the forest in order to want to protect it. At the moment people are concerned with profit. Dennis had to persuade the owner of quisakotcha zoo not to destroy the Aguajales, she wanted to expand the zoo. The only way he could do this was by saying scientific tourism will bring money into the area. Researchers will come and spend money to study the area. In this way the owner saw the benefit of protecting the Aguajales. He did not argue for the ecosystem benefit as this would not have worked as the lady would not have seen any economic benefit in the short term. 

Wayne’s work looks at the gas emissions that forests give off. In quistakotcha there is a secondary forest and grass areas due to human impact. So Wayne wants to get data from the areas affected by humans and the natural areas in order to show the difference. If the data difference is drastic enough then it will ultimately help to protect the area. I asked if there was a balance that could be made where humans can use the forest and impact it without destroying it. Freddie said not really as the ecosystems are so fragile and must not be disturbed. The best solution would be if projects were put in place to protect the area and make them national parks. For example, if REDD funded a project to protect the area and allowed locals to live there still but had rules and regulations in place. The inhabitants would be compensated for this so could get by.

We then went for lunch and when we got back Freddie’s PHD friend Jacob was there. His work looks into birds and floristic compositions. Freddie seemed keen to pair up with him to do some work which sounded cool.  Jacob was interested in writing a paper about comparing deforestation footprints.  For example, it might be better to efficiently extract oil in a way which causes the least damage possible than to use an area of forest to farm cattle. To make the same profit a larger area of land must be destroyed to farm cattle than to extract oil.

I helped Freddie do some more data input into excel spread sheets. I read the figures and species names and Freddie typed it into excel.

Went to Kekiricks for dinner – yummy chicken and chips and chaufa. 

www.iiap.org.pe

Pinch, punch, first of the month

I can’t believe it is already July. Today the guy Freddie did some field work with last year named Wayne arrived. So I met him. He is really friendly and a funny guy. He said I could go out with him one day to see how his field work differs from Freddie’s. This will be really cool and great to see. I don’t need any encouragement to go back into the jungle. I will certainly make the most of any opportunities that come my way.  Today is Omar’s last day in Iquitos so we had dinner all together and said bye to him.

Data entry

We had an early breakfast in the Amazon Bistro. I had bread, jam and cheese, which was nice. Then when we got back I sewed Freddie’s jeans for him as they had a massive rip. I really enjoy sewing and may take it up when I get home. Later on I helped Freddie with data entry. I read the data sheets and Freddie typed it out on an Excel spread sheet. His handwriting is very hard to read. I think for his birthday which is in a few days I need to give him some handwriting lessons! By reading the sheets out I began to come familiar with family, genus and species names and groups

Manatee farm

Freddie, Omar and I went to the Manatee farm today. Manatees are sea cows. The farm took in injured manatees that had been cut by machetes or injured by boats. The people at the farm then helped them recover and feed them. They also breed, so the farm had baby manatees. Then when they are older they will be released back into the river. When they are young they are fed extremely expensive milk and when they are adults they have green leaves. When they are young they shed their skin. We fed the manatees. This project is brilliant as it saves manatees and prevents them from being killed or dying in rivers as they are properly looked after. However, when they are eventually released they won’t be scared of humans as they have such close interactions with us. This means that they may be easily hunted.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manatee

Ecology Lesson

I had an ecology lesson today from Freddie and these are my typed up notes from it:

Tropical rainforest ecology:

Subsiding basins or sinking areas can cause a difference in environmental conditions. There will be more water and so can be peat land. Peat lands can also form near rivers. There will be little magnesium and potassium in these areas so low biodiversity. Harsh environment.

In peat areas lots of different communities - dwarf forests etc.

Why diff from each other?

-seed dispersal, close together, similar.

- flooding regimes.

-nutrient status

So different gradients in flooding, nutrients, acidity.

Peatland forests are not seen to be diverse so not protected/ conserved. But there could be endemic species and lots of carbon stored in peat so very important.

The majority of tropical forests are terrifermia forests. Green on Landsat image. Solid/ dry ground. This has a high biodiversity as rivers sediments supply the area with nutrients.

Other areas - White sand forests - remnant patches- very old areas. In the Miocene geological events caused clay to be laid down. White sand was exposed over a long time. So specialist species evolved. Sometimes these specialist species may be found in other areas not White sand forests - great interest to researchers.

Rivers move a lot/ change their course. So where they go they may remove peat that was there.

There are similarities between peat land and White forest areas.

Hydrology of amazonia is changing. Droughts and floods more common. Peatlands more responsive to hydrological change than terrifermia forest. Droughts trees die - carbon lost. But replaced by species that can survive. There will be compositional shifts in forests. They could change the way carbon is stored. Peatlands reliant on being flooded. If peat dries it decomposes as oxygen available so aerobic respiration can occur. Normally aerobic respiration. Methantrophic bacteria breaks down things. Methanogenesis - uses methane instead of air to break things down much slower process so peat remains. Peat will decompose very quickly if it is dried out. Human impacts palm oil farming they dry the peat out. Increase decomposition. That's what has happened in s.e Asia. Also then peat is dry forest fires increase. Dissolved carbon doc in drained peat easily leaves the soil in flooding events in solution. So if floods increase peatland could either sequester more carbon or doc could be washed out of it. Carbon is labile in peat (not locked up/ mobile) 

1970s how the forests change long term looked into. Forest plots set up where 1 hectare 100 x 100 biomass measured repeatedly. Found to increase over 30 years. Trees grow bigger. 2 hypothesises:

Co2 fertilisation - increase emissions. In p.s co2 limiting factor. lots of h2o and sun in forests. So c02 increase hence increase growth rate. Increase turnover increase dying and re-growing.

Disturbance hypothesis - winds, trees fall, gap in forest where trees killed. Pioneer species takes over rapidly growing, mid stage species takes a long time to get back. Disturbance more grows. Residual effect of disturbance never reaches equilibrium. Forest always responding to past disturbance.

Or - remote sensing - generated ho often blow down occurs in given area. Said to be every 4,000 yrs in 1 hectare so not constantly responding to disturbance so can be equilibrium.

Temperate forest in north USA - pumped co2 into forest to see effect. Strong effect for 2 yes but then other factors became limiting e.g. potassium.

Flux towers - measures co2 in and out of forest. Sonic anometer - measures co2 sequested that goes in and out how much co2 stays. Look at how much they match. Amount taken in by plants. Co2 fertilization won't go on for ever. Changes in temp may cause loses. Drought 2010 aided trees to die

PHDs

We went to Iiap research centre this morning in hope of talking to some people. Unfortunately, they were not there. Apparently they will be there on Monday. So we returned back to the hostel.  I went to the supermarket and chilled for a bit. Spoke to Omar and Freddie about PHDs. They both enjoy being at the forefront of their field and research work. It is where it is all happening, so is really exciting. The pay is not the best and the work is really hard but it is rewarding and you could get some breaking papers published if you get the right data. It is what they find interesting and so enjoy it. However, they said sometimes it takes over your life as there is not much structure. You just work for as long as you can or want to, so can easily end up working longer hours than is expected of you. Then we spoke about climate change. Omar had the pessimistic view that reducing co2 emissions now is pointless. China has the population of 1.3 billion and is not going to make any efforts to change and reduce emissions; they are too concerned with development.  So no matter how hard European countries try to be efficient, China will inhibit this effort and carry on as business as usual. 

Quistakotcha Zoo

We took the bus to Quistakotcha zoo today. The bus was made out of wood. There was a lot of traffic. The zoo had puma’s jaguars, alligators, monkeys, birds and fish. Some of the animals were kept in really small cages which was sad to see.  There was a lake in the middle which had sand put around the outside making it into a mini beach. We went into the lake for a swim which was really fun. There were lots of little biting fish which nibbled on our dead skin cells. We played volley ball and piggy in the middle in the lake which was good fun. Then a load of children surrounded us and wanted to play with us as well. Later on we had lunch and kicked the football around for a minute. Until I kicked Louis by mistake in the shin and injured my toe so I had to sit it out. We chilled in the lake for a bit longer - then went back to the hostel. I strapped my toe up but it was pretty painful.

Quistakotcha was an interesting area. At the other side of the lake to where we were there is an Aguajales. Sand was imported to create the ‘beach’ area. This will inevitably have affected the ecosystem in the area. The zoo was beneficial in a way as it protects the forest animals. If ever they were over hunted the animals in the zoo could be bred and released. So in a way they act as a gene bank. However, the negative aspect of the zoo was the way in which some of the animals were kept – in limited spaces. The pumas for instance were kept in cages which were much too small for them. Also it can’t be good to keep these animals out of their natural habitat. Against this, it does at least bring tourists to the area and provides a profit which is no bad thing. 

Reading day

Changed hostels today to one two minutes away. Had another recovery day and just relaxed and chilled out. I read for a while, which was really nice. It was good to have some down time after being so active in the jungle. Went for dinner with Freddie and another PHD guy called Omar. We spoke about climate change and changing society. It was interesting to hear different view points and opinions on these topics. Omar believed that we act on human instinct and that is all - whereas Freddie thought we were more complex than this. Omar suggested reading ‘Not by genes alone’ by Robert Boyd, published in 2005. I will definitely check this book out. It sounds fascinating.  

Relaxing day

Recovery day! Still woke up early - I guess my body clock is on automatic and used to the early starts. I Skyped my family. My brother had his friend around so had a chat with them both. I then spoke to some of my friends on Facebook. Was nice to re-connect with everyone. I told them about the snake and all the adventures I got up to! Freddie and I then went to the supermarket. I went straight to the fruit and veg section. There were a few global brands in the supermarket which was a shame. I fear that one day all the big brands will take over and there will be barely anything unique left on the Peruvian shelves any more. Inka-Cola has already been bought by Coca-Cola. It used to be a Peruvian made drink and now Coca-Cola has taken it over.  Coca-Cola even sells the main bottled water San-Luis. When we got back to the hostel I ate my orange and apple which tasted unbelievably good.  Had a great steak for dinner. 

Burnt arm

We left Santa Rita this morning on the speed boat and went back to Nauta and had lunch there. I had a Lomo Saltado – a massive plate of rice, chips and beef strips. Was really good but slightly too big so couldn’t finish it all. http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://theintrepidexplorers.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/lomo-saltado.jpg&imgrefurl=http://theintrepidexplorers.com/peruvian-lomo-saltado-recipe/&h=338&w=450&sz=41&tbnid=eQ0o3AHXkHbBcM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=120&zoom=1&usg=__EECONB3qV-ImX5H_mpGTEGBgCm0=&docid=CFTp4Vqvo_IZ6M&sa=X&ei=ZR0FUsjVDoO60QWa8oHwBw&ved=0CEkQ9QEwBQ&dur=897

 I got pretty burnt on my right arm in the boat. We then got in a massive taxi with all our kit and headed back to Iquitos. It was pouring with rain and some water got through so we got a bit of a showering. The taxi did have a TV in though so we watched some salsa videos on the ride home. Strange how it managed to have a TV but it wasn’t rain proof! When we got back to Iquitos we had pizza for dinner. Was a lovely dinner and nice to be back in La Pascana hostel with a real shower even if there is still no hot water.

Last day in the field

The last day. Had an eggy tortilla for breakfast, rice and Quakers. Then we speedily walked back to our plot and finished the last three subsections.  We did two transects noting the trees with smaller diameters. I had the masking tape again and labelled the species number. Louis then went back across the plot identifying herbs species that were missed the first time. We had two eggs and rice for lunch. Then we took some peat cores. I labelled some sample bags and we collected top soil to take back for nutrient analyses. We then walked back pretty fast and had more eggs for dinner. In total today I would say I had about five eggs maybe even six! Why change the egg tradition on the last day! I am sad the field work experience is ending. It has been such an adventure. I have utterly loved it. At times it has been hard but I enjoy a good challenge - it makes the experience more rewarding and fun.  

Only one wet foot!

Penultimate day of field work. Still had a slight upset tummy this morning but I went to the field again and was fine. I did the whole walk in to our plot without holding Hugo’s hand- result. And only got one wet foot!  While Hugo and Hulio finished stringing the rest of the plot, Louis, Freddie and I started with subplot one. Louis measured the tree diameters and I measured the tree heights and Freddie recorded the measurements. It was a bit slower than when Hulio zooms around measuring the diameters. Once he finished stringing the plot he stepped in and the pace increased. In fact, he went so fast that at times I got behind. He was measuring the next few tree diameters and I was still maneuvering around to find a point to take a height measurement for the first one. This felt a bit stressful as I didn't want to slow the team down but at the same time I wanted to get an accurate measurement while not to sinking into the water or grabbing onto a tree with the biting ants on. I got stung by another wasp today. More importantly, we got 10 subsections of the plot done today. I managed the walk back without holding Hugo’s hand as well – achievement! I did fall a few times but that is to be expected! When we got back I was sweating like crazy and covered head to toe in glorious mud! It was a pretty hot day. We went to the river to wash our boats and trousers – mine seemed to get muddier!! Then I went into the hostel for the best shower ever. We had some traditional salty fish and boiled plantain for dinner. I can’t say it was the best! It tasted of, well nothing really. It was rather bland! However on the plus side there were no eggs – brilliant.

Biggest tarantula yet

Had an upset tummy this morning, which was really annoying and don’t feel 100%. Still went out into the field though as  I don’t want to miss out on anything. It was quite a hard day. We walked through the entire swamp from one side to the other. The peat was deepest in the middle. The Aguajales are generally dipped in the middle. Hence they are wetter than other forests. We then went back to the middle of the swamp and set up a 50m x 100m plot (half a hectare) the same size as the first plot. Due to species diversity being low and us looking at carbon, a full hectare is not needed for the plots we set up.  A few people passed us today. The route we took seemed to be a used path for villagers. People seemed to be hunting.  Although it is illegal to hunt monkeys, it was assumed that the guys walking past with massive bags may well have had monkeys in them. Hugo held my hand for the entire walk there and back today as the branches were hard to balance on. I seemed to pull him over a few times. I owe him many beers. On the way back we saw the biggest tarantula yet. Also saw a squirrel monkey. It was amazing. Parts of the walk were really fun and others were arduous. I really enjoy a challenge so it was all rewarding and fun.  At the last leg of the journey the villager who was showing us the way started panicking and running really fast. I was so confused and  I sort of froze on the spot. Hugo – my hero started running towards me and hit off all these wasps and pulled me to safety. There was a wasp nest where I was standing. I got away with no stings and Hugo got a fair few on his back. He is literally my knight in shining armor. I now owe him many more beers. 

Chicken for lunch

After desayuno consisting of chocolate Quakers, chips and eggs, a local villager took us by boat to an opening in the Aguajales. The boat trip took 15 minutes.  This walk was much easier than previously. We walked for an hour or so, got to over 1km and took some peat cores. They showed a lot of mixed soil – peat and clay. Also there seemed to be more peat further down. I took pictures of the cores next to a measuring tape. Freddie noted down the core texture, colour and descriptions. Freddie thought the pattern could be due to flooding events as the swamp is next to the River Marinon. These flooding events may occur every 50 years causing a high biodiversity in the area. From this point we made a plot of 200m x 25m. We walked back 200m and on either side included all the trees that were 12.5m from the path.  Louis identified the tree species and I measured the heights of the palm trees. We also took pictures of some of the tree species. We then speedily walked back and got back to the majors house at around 1. His wife had cooked us spaghetti with tomato sauce and bits of chicken as well as rice. We then set off in our speed boat to our final destination – Santa Rita. This village is much larger than the previous two.  We are staying in a hostel here with actual beds and a mosquito net. As well as a clean toilet (which still doesn’t flush) - and there is a shower. When I say shower I mean a room with a vat of water and a bucket in. But still, there is a wash room and a clean toilet!! Beautiful!! All my clothes smell now however. Not sure if it is worth washing any of them - not much point now.