Studies: Frogs, Spiders(2), Soils, Forest Structure (& Tree Climbing too)

Hey, Rory and Lizzie are writing to ya’ll today. In the morning we split into two groups of five; one group studying soil and the other made a biodiversity index of different plants in the rain forest. The soil group collected samples of soil from 5 different areas of ITEC and then started a “shake test”; we put some of the soil into jars, filled them with water, and shook them for two minutes in order to separate the particles. The three of us who are studying soil for our lens will check the samples again in a couple of days in order to see what kinds of particles the soil in ITEC is made of.

Later in the afternoon, we split into our 3 main project groups. The poison dart frog group  finished catching frogs. We saw a lot more today because it rained last night! The spider web angle  group searched for more webs in the forest, and after getting lost in the greenery, we finally finished collecting our data. The other spider group continued to take close-up snaps of the golden-orb banana spiders. After dinner and lots of card games, the groups reconvened to begin writing our scientific reports. We all hit the books and analyzed our data. Stay tuned for more! 

Notes from Steve:
Check out the new tab student photo albums for photos by Max Bowen. I expect there will be albums from other students too. I don’t have access to the Phoenix group’s photos 

We were very fortunate to have Bill Maher at the station to lead, teach, and oversee a tree climbing session for interested students.  He is very experienced and has the vey highest level of training and certification there is. Bill is a Certified Master Instructor from the Global Organization of Tree Climbers and the Association of Experiential Educators. As Bill practices it, this is a very safe activity.