Ware Lab Blog at Rutgers: Past Guyana Trip 4

Dominic’s Tree

If we were at a pond collecting dragonflies and someone asked me where we could catch different kinds than the ones we had I would most likely tell them to go to another pond, or a stream, or a swamp. I wouldn’t tell them to go 100 feet into the air and look in the tree tops. That is...until now.

So, it turns out that there is vertical variation of odonate species as well as horizontal variation within an ecosystem. This is especially true in the tropics where epiphytes are abundant and water is everywhere. Water gets trapped in between the sessile leaves of bromeliads and in tree holes. Odonates oviposit in water, and there are certain species that can be found high in the canopy, as adults and larvae in epiphytes.

As it turns out I had been granted the honor, by Jessica, to be trained in the art of high-flying-almost-dying-tree-climbing. My classes ended just before we left for Guyana and I was anxious to try out my new-found skills. The second wave of Ware-students had all the equipment to ascend into the canopy, so I had almost a week to scout trees that would be strategically useful in out hunt for canopic taxa. There are so many beautiful trees here, and so many that desperately want to be climbed. However, I had to restrain myself and pick one that was useful for what we were looking for.

When I obtained my tools of exploration I was eager to pioneer the tree tops. I thought I had found my tree, Jessica later named it “Dominic’s Tree”. It was probably the tallest tree in our forest, but it was definitely the most well dressed. It was draped with moss and epiphytes on it’s top half, and it was broad and commanding on it’s bottom half. Although it was most certainly a romantic autotroph I thought at the time I was choosing it for it’s strategic value: centered around desirable trees, high enough so as to allow swinging from plant to plant, and itself possessing desirable epi-flora. As it turns out this was false thinking.

To sum up my interactions with this tree via rope I will say that it was too tall to climb effortlessly, and too broad to be useful. The point at which we attached to the tree was too far from the trunk, or from any other desirable points. It was also approximately 95 feet off the ground, requiring multiple vacations for tired arms and multiple adjustments for numb legs before the zenith was reached. My three vertical hikes, attempting to tie in secondary lines and reach desirable points not only yielded zero dragonflies, it did not once result in me touching the green fingers of any epiphytes.

Although I could see all the way to the nearby river, could overlook many of the treetops, and had a good time swinging about and zipping to the ground, I feel most ashamed at failing my first attempt. Next time I will know better...