Ecology of the past

Yesterdays visit to Kogyae was a long day, but we made it back to FORIG in the evening so today is somewhat of a ‘spare’ day. The day has mostly been spent collating data from yesterday, rehydrating and resting after a long and tiring day.
Passing through some of local villages was really interesting; a mix of traditional living with a modern lifestyle. Many villages consisted only of houses that were constructed in a traditional manner, but most had a Chinese-made motorcycle or TATA pickup truck parked outside and the latest Samsung mobile phones dotted around. Also, I don’t think I have seen so many goats just strolling freely around as I have in these rural villages.

An early start at 06:00 this morning to get to Kogyae with sufficient time to collect and deploy all traps across three sites (30 traps in total) and return to FORIG within a single day. We arrived on site at around 10:30, and after some deliberations as to which guide knew exactly where the plots we needed to reach, we were on our way to the first site.

The first site was the savannah plot, with a wide open canopy and grasses above head height. Immediately the difference to the forest at Bobiri was striking (image below). All 10 traps deployed here last year were successfully located, retreived and replaced with fresh traps.

The next stop was the transition plot at Kogyae, representing a mid-point between savannah and forest habitat. Again, all 10 traps were easily located, retreived, and redployed (Image below). The grass here was noticeably shorter in height…

A fairly quiet day today back at base in FORIG. Collating field data collected during yesterdays trip to Bobiri, tidying up the collected pollen traps, and preparing kit and equipment for tomorrows trip to Kogyae. We also need to pack some supplies and clothing etc because we may need to stay overnight somewhere nearby to the field site – it is an 3 hour drive from FORIG in Fumesua, so may not be able to travel there and back in a single day. The option of staying at the field station at Kogyae is not available because a group from Oxford University who are also out here are running a 10 day campaign at Kogyae this week, so the camp is full to the brim.

Today we visited the field sites at Bobiri butterfly and nature reserve. In total we collected and redeployed 20 pollen traps; 10 at each of two separate sites (SNR and 50-year logged).

It was great to get a feel for the first of the sites on this project, and helps put the analytical results into context. These forests really are an exciting habitat to explore.

Nothing really happened – it’s a Sunday. So a quiet day making popcorn, watching the rain, playing cards and planning the coming weeks work.

Day three of the fieldwork campaign saw us form a production line of pollen trap making: Lottie = chief sealant operator and cotton stuffer; Adele = Cap trimmed and fitter; Wes = Noose cuter and net trimmer. In total ro traps were manufactured in just one day.We rewarded ourselves with dinner out at the local hotel, watched a game of football on TV, and a beer – all in all, a pretty good day!