BIOLOGISTS AT WORK

Dangling from a tree 15 m in the air might not seem like the best activity to undertake on your birthday, but nonetheless, that is exactly how Heather Throop spent some fo the afternoon of the day she turned 23. She and I were students of the OTS 97-3 course, "Tropical Biology: an Ecological Approach," and our coordinator, Dr. Deedra McClearn, was teaching us how to climb trees in the rainforest at Las Cruces. We were climbing a fig tree about a 15-minute walk from the station, just for fun, until it predictably started pouring down rain in the afternoon.

Dr. Deedra McClearn, Heather Throop and Kendra McLauchlan

Tropical ecology, like any other discipline, has been conducted within the limits of human mobility, perception, perseverance, and biases. Traditionally, one of these limits was that humans are decidedly ground-dwelling creatures, while much of the action in a ranforest takes place in the canopy, sometimes 30 m above our heads. This lack of ability to access the canopy severely limited the kinds of questions that tropical ecologists could ask about arboreal organisms and their habitats. Dr. McClearn, for example, studies the locomotion patterns, distributions, and behaviors of canopy mammals such as coatis. To carry out her studies, she learned to climb ropes to ascend mountains. Lucky for us, she brought her immense array of climbing gear, including caribeners, harnesses, helmets, ropes, ascenders, rappel devices, and daisy chains, as well as her extensive knowledge of knot- tying and immense climbing and teaching experience.

On the course, which lasted form June through August 1997, every one of the 22 students on the course climbed a tree at least once, and several students did independed research projects that involved tree climbing, such as measuring bromeliad community diversity at different levels above ground, mistnetting bats in the canopy, or measuring the structure of the trunk of canopy emergent trees to see if their trunks taper according to the predictions of biomechanics. The basic explanation of how you go about climbing is that you shoot a thin line up around a sturdy branch, then thread your rope around the branch, and then you climb the rope. Climbing in the rainforest has its own special challenges, such as unexpected eyelash vipers, muddy and wet ropes, swarms of wasps, ants that can chew through your ropes, and branches that impede your descent, as well as the normal challenges of taking data, organizing equipment, and drinking enough water. Deedra had been known to spend all night, over 12 hours, in a tree helping a student do a project.

Although OTS students were climbing for fun at Las Cruces, we were also working hard analyzing and writing up the results of the brief research projects that we had been doing for the last two months on the course. Las Cruces was our last field station, and it seemed like heaven, with the beautiful garden, amazing food, groomed trails, comfortable chairs, ample space, and even a VCR! Many thanks to the Las Cruces staff for making our stay productive and fun!