Tropical Ecology Field Journal

Tropical Ecology: Field Journal

Sidney Blumenfeld

Yanacocha

Pichincha

Tiputini

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Yanacocha

The bus bumbed and grumbled as we weaved our way through the plantations along the gravely road to the Yanacocha Biological Reserve. Even from the road, I could see the rain shadow effect in play, as wind blowing up the side of the mountains condensed into clouds, forming a foggy mat of white.

Near the head waters of the Mindo River, Yanacocha is located within one of the watersheds that provides much of Quito's water supply. Walking along the trail through the reserve, we were emersed in the Upper Montane Forest, sitting just above the clouds. Along the sides of the trail could be seen an array of pioneer species, such as the Gunera plants, which boasted huge flat leaves in order to capitalize on the abundant light availability created by the clearing of forest for the trail itself.

I could see along the steep slopes of the mountains lines of fallen vegetation. Such is the result of landslides, which create large gaps in the canopy, leading to pioneer species quickly colonizing first. In this case, bamboo rapidly filled the disturbed space, seen afar as light bands of forest.

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In contrast to the young, fast growing pioneer plants were the older, slow growing Polylepis trees. Their very thick, hard wood was coverered with mosses and other ephiphytes that help to regulate the tree's temperature as well as intercept clouds and fog by collecting droplets on its surafces.

Other vegetation have their own unique charactersitcs that make them better suited for the Montane Forest environment.

Gnaphalium have their own adaptations to prevent water loss: Light colored leaves to reflect more sunlight as well as small hairs on the leaves to trap a layer of air that keeps the moisture from being wicked away.

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Tiputini

A small, quaint research station deep in the Amazonian Tropical Rainforest, Tiputini was nothing short of magical. Being in the most biodiverse terrestial ecosystem in the world, I felt like I was lost inside a vast mosiac of endless life forms.

The forest was lofty and dense, the understory was always well shaded no matter the day. In such a light-limited environment, the vegetation had to be shade tolerant or be able to utilize the scarce sun flecks that piereced through the canopy. Due to the understory being such a humid, competitive environment, I often saw plants exuding similar evolutionary characteristics to ensure their survival. For example:

Droop Tips: this leaf shape allows water to easily get funneled off the leaf, preventing water retention which would otherwise lead to fungus and moss growth.

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Droopy Leaves: young leaves grow droopy or straight up to prevent shading the other leaves. The red color indicates antocyanin - which repels herbivores.

Despite the Tropical Rainforest being abundant in light and water, the nutrient layer is quite thin. Thus, roots aren't found very deep in the soil, instead plants have to work within the horizontal dimension. In particular, it was interesting to observe how this nutrient-limited environment shaped the different ways vegetation found nutrients for themselves.

First there's the Duroia Hirsuta. It's a shade tolerant tree found in the understory which has a mutualistic relationship with ants. The ants live inside the tree and in return the ants inject acid into nearby seedlings, preventing any other plant from growing nearby, so the tree doesn’t have to compete for nutrients.

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Then there's the Strangler fig. First starting as an epiphyte on a host tree, it then lets down its roots around the host tree. The roots grow woody and prevent the host tree from expanding (strangles it). Eventually the host tree dies and its organic matter falls into the ground, providing nutrients for the fig. What's left is a hollow cavity in the fig tree where the host tree once was.

Finally, there's the Ceiba, an emergent tree that towers above the canopy. It has huge buttress roots that provide ample stability for the massive tree. These roots extend long distances throughout the forest, searching for soils with higher nutrient content.

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While doing our small scale project looking at the differences in the ratio of palms to non-palm, woody vegetation between the Flooded Forest and Terra Firme habitats I found it fascinating how noticable the differences were. The Flooded Forest had a significantly denser understory compared to the Terra Firme, which I learned was due to the higher frequency of gap formations caused by the extreme seasonal flooding.

On another note, the discussions about how to solve the issue of wildmeat trade was quite difficult as it was hard to create a system that effectively incorporated involvement and ensured the satisfaction of all Amazonian interests, from the oil industry to the indigenous communities. Each solution we came up with would lead ultimately to some large cultural shift within communities. It just goes to show how volatile topics related to the Amazon are as so many entities are entangled in endless debacles regarding land use and money, with the problems stemming originally from oil exploitation.

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Pichincha

Taking the TeleferiQo cable car from Quito up to the start of the trek to Rucu Pichincha, I saw below me the sub-páramo, thick shrubs and small trees forming a small canopy

When I got to the observation point, I was just above the low lying clouds. For the first few portions of the hike I was surrounded by the vast grass páramo. This environment was very open and tussock grasses dominated. EVerywhere I looked was golden brown, the color of the grasses' necromass, which it kept in order to insulate the healthy biomass from the wind and colder temperatures found at this altitidue.

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Along the way I came across various schlerophylous shrubs, one of which was the Chuquiraga. I sat among them and admired their small, waxy coated leaves and pale orange flowers.

Another páramo plant I encountered were the cushion plants, which lined the sides of the trail. From afar they just looked like green mats, but when I took a closer look I could see all the tiny rosettes tightly packed together, helping to trap water inside and creating their own microtypography.

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Once I arrived at the summit my surroundings changed drastically from the shrub and grass filled páramo to the desolate, rocky and sandy super páramo. Here I virtually saw no plants growing, instead stood before me large, sharp bouldery cliffs and big slopes of sand. The conditions were harsh. One moment it was sunnny and warm, the next it was cloudy, windy and cold. Such weather leads to high endemism of vegetation here as plants need be very well adapted to the extreme, rapid changes in temperature. The only animals I spotted here were a few Carunculated caracaras circling the summit as well as one Andean condor, using the thermal updrafts to keep itself soaring.

Andean condor

Carunculated caracara