Gerry and Susan chose three distinct environments for us to focus our collecting during this trip. Since this is the beginning of the rainy season, we hoped to find plants that had not been seen on their earlier collecting trips. We were able to collect over 100 plants during this trip. Our first and last days were spent in a wooded area just behind the beach at Playa Grande. The mangrove yielded many specimens in only one day. But the bulk of our collecting was done in the dry forest on Cerro Morro.

Before we left the research station each morning we made sure we had all of our equipment – clippers, pole clippers, newspaper, field presses, GPS, cameras, hand lenses, water and food. Then we walked for a mile or so to get to our collecting destination.

Everyone kept their eyes open for any plants with flowers or fruit (these are two important characteristics that will allow us to properly identify the plant). But we especially kept our eyes open for snakes (saw a few) and crocs (we never did see any) while we were in the forest and mangrove!

Once we decided to collect a specimen, which was sometimes more difficult than other times, we clipped or dug out at least three samples. Susan would mark a GPS location for each plant we collected.

Collections were quickly placed in our field press between sheets of newspaper to keep them flat until we could get them into a drying press back at the research station.

When we finished our day of collecting, we returned to the research station and sorted the specimens. Once the specimens were each numbered and labeled, they were stacked with pieces of corrugated cardboard in a large drying press. This press was then placed over a dryer for 48 hours or until the specimens dried.

We are leaving tomorrow but the specimens will stay for another few weeks. Once they are completely dry, they will be shipped to Brooklyn Botanic Garden. We will spend time identifying them and mounting them into herbarium specimens. One specimen will stay at BBG and the others will return to herbaria in Costa Rica. These plants will be used to write the flora of the national park.

Tonight and every night for the next few months the zoologists from the Goldring Marine Biology Research Station will be scanning the beaches of Playa Grande for Eastern Pacific Green Turtles (Chelonia mydas). This is the time of year when female green turtles come ashore to lay their eggs.

The research team, led by Gabriela Blanco (Gabi), will locate the female green turtles laying their eggs.

Once the female is finished laying her eggs the team will perform an ultrasound to determine whether or not the female has more eggs to lay over the next few weeks (each female can make several trips to the beach to lay eggs over a few week period).

If she does not have eggs left to lay, then the team will attach a small cigar-shaped transmitter to the back of her shell. Over the next several months this transmitter will send information about the turtle’s location after it has left Playa Grande. This project will allow the scientists to determine where the Eastern Pacific Green Turtles travel once they have laid their eggs. Gabi’s research has shown that the Eastern Pacific Green Turtles are a genetically distinct population – a population that is under pressure from nesting habitat loss and hunting and is therefore endangered.

Fieldwork on Tuesday included a walk along the black-sand beach and up onto the only “mountain” (really more of a hill) in the park. Here are some of the interesting plants and animals that we saw.

This Apocynaceae vine was collected previously by Gerry—many of you will notice its resemblance to U.S. native milkweeds and the houseplant Hoya.

We collected this aroid (Araceae) along a streambed in the hilltop forest. The dried brown structure hanging to the right is the tip of the spathe (bract surrounding the inflorescence) and spadix. The bottom of the spathe remains to protect the developing fruits within.

Close to the aroid location, we came upon this rather large (approx. 1.5 inches long) stinkbug relative (shout out to any entomologists out there: Please feel free to correct this identification). As you can see in the picture, it was eating bird scat (poo!).

Ely spotted this beautiful purple-flowered plant in the crossvine family (Bignoniaceae) growing in the beachside canopy on Sunday, and we saw it again on Tuesday.

Spiny cacti (Cactaceae) grow along the beach as you walk north from the research station. In addition to the spines, cacti also have more hair-like structures called glochids that not only stab you, but also remain in your skin and cause irritation.

The walk to the hill involves walking along the disputed park boundary along a barbed-wire fence that weaves back to the beach at several points. On the third beach, we looked up to see a flock of pelicans flying across the little bay—as they passed in front of us they were in a single line. We are heading back to the hill on Thursday, so be on the lookout for more pictures!

On New York City beaches one can find various shells and other signs of animal life that wash up onshore. However, beachcombers looking for botanical treasures are often left empty-handed, except for driftwood or the fruits of hickory (Carya spp.), walnut (Juglans nigra), invasive water chestnut (Trapa natans; not the water chestnut, Eleocharis dulcis, used in cooking), and an occasional wayward coconut (Cocos nucifera). Part of the reason for this is the lack of large fruits or seeds in our coastal flora that are sturdy enough to survive a trip in the ocean.

This is not the case in the tropics, where the seeds and fruits of many species wash up on beaches. A quick survey of the beach at Playa Grande turned up this plate of seeds and fruit. The gray seeds are from the previously discussed yellow or gray nicker (Caesalpinia bonduc; see picture in post below), their smooth surfaces a sharp contrast to the plant’s prickly stems, leaves, and fruits. The large smooth brown seed is from sea purse (Dioclea sp.). This plant is a liana (woody vine) that produces beautiful clusters of purple flowers. The large black seed is Mary’s bean (Merremia discoidesperma). This species is also known as crucifixion bean because of the cross-shaped imprint on one side of the seed. The plant that produces it is a liana with yellow flowers. The small brown seeds are from the previously discussed baybean or seabean (Canavalia rosea; see picture in post below).

The dark brown heart-shaped leathery fruit is from the tea mangrove (Pelliciera rhizophorae). Besides tea mangrove, there are three other kinds of mangrove trees in Costa Rica: black mangrove (Avicennia germinans), gray mangrove (Conocarpus erectus), and red mangroves (Rhizophora mangle, racemosa).

Coconuts (Cocos nucifera) are, of course, also commonly found washed up on the beaches of Costa Rica.

Driftwood takes on a whole new meaning in the tropics, where one can frequently find very large pieces—some of them entire sections of tree trunks.

As we trek through the field, I can’t help but think of the young people I teach at BBG and at the Brooklyn Academy of Science and the Environment (BASE).  I know that they would be as captivated as we are at the diversity and beauty of the plants and animals in this dry tropical forest.  It seems that each time we walk outside there are different insects, birds, and plants to see.

While we are here, we are visiting three distinct ecosystems, beach, mangrove, and dry forest, and each holds hundreds of unique things for us to see. We have already seen countless insects and other animal species that have evolved techniques for survival. The diversity of these adaptations are what seem to fascinate all of us as we are out in the field.

This brilliant green butterfly has two ways to fool its predators. It is camouflaged to look just like the green leaves of the plants it lands on. Not only does its green color and wing shape mimic a leaf, but its veins look just like the veins on the underside of a leaf. This butterfly also has an eyespot on its wing—another way to trick its predators.

With its bright green camouflage it might be hard to find the lizard among all the leaves in this photograph. Many lizards (including this one) can change the color of their skin to blend in with their surroundings. This is done by shifting the melanin in their epidermal cells.

We can only guess what happened to this lizard’s tail, but it was almost certainly dropped on purpose. A defense mechanism used by many lizards is to leave their tail behind when being chased by a predator. The still-moving tail distracts the predator while the lizard makes a quick escape. The tail grows back!