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Lauren Morrow
Shannon Smith
Dylan KirbyReps & Amps
Feb 27th, 2012
In the Rara Avis expedition of 2012, the reptiles and amphibians
team is
concerned with the recording and cataloging of any reptile or
amphibian it encounters.
One key focus is on theBufo Marinus, also known as the Cane
Toad. This enormous
toad releases toxins from glands behind its eyes. Another topic
of interest would be
the study of Anole lizards, which have exotic defense behavior.
When agitated, Anole
lizards change color, bob their heads and extend a throat fan to
ward off their predators. It
is believed that this head-bobbing could be a form of
communication between the lizards.
Another species of focus is theAmeiva Festiva, which is a lizard
that is believed
to be able to regulate its own body temperature by moving itself
into certain positions.
Other rain forest expeditions have done research to validate
this assumption.To study the
population dynamics of certain poison-arrow frogs, sections of
forest were sectioned off
to determine the male to female ratio in a given area.
Previous teams have worked extensively to devise methods to
capture and study
the animals of focus. Some methods used to execute these
experiments are pitfall traps,
glue traps, and harnesses. A pitfall trap is simply a bucket
submerged under the soil
surface to catch reptiles and amphibians that are difficult to
catch by hand.
This year, the team will try to improve the harnessing technique
for the Bufo
Marinus toads. A more toad-friendly design could include an
elastic and magnetic
harness secured in front of the rear haunches of the toad on
which the spool of tracking
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string could be mounted. With this design, the toad would not
have to wear the harness
for life if it should escape, because the magnets would come
apart when the toad flees
from a predator. A possible future study could be on the
striking habits of different
snakes. This could be studied by first capturing a snake, then
putting it in a chicken-wire
crate and introducing live bait. The striking position of a
snake would yield important
information regarding its own hunting practices. If it stayed on
the ground, it probably
feeds on small non-climbing animals. If it curled itself around
a stick before striking,
it probably feeds on climbing animals in the canopy. If it does
not try to hunt the prey
immediately, it may hunt in the water. Further research could be
done on the Anole
lizards by analyzing the reactions between two males, two
females, and a heterosexual
pair. The head-bobbing and throat fanning could be either a way
to attract a mate or a
way to warn other members of the species to back off.
Throughout the two-week period the team will be going on daily
hikes, filling
out data sheets with important information on the animals that
we catch, their habitat and
behavior. The data sheets will be cataloged together with
photographs of each animal
for later research by project leader Dr. Twan Leenders, a
herpetologist with 20 years of
experience working in Costa Rica. Information gathered during
this trip will be included
in forthcoming field guides to the amphibians and reptiles of
Costa Rica that Twan is
producing.
Weather Charts
Reps/Amps
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Date Humidity Temperature Lunar Face
WindSpeed
Rain Fall CloudCover
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