So this time I hao investigate palm seedling recruitment and communities in
framented vs. intact forests in San Juan Biological Corridor, part of the
Mesoamerican Biological Corridor in Costa Rica. I have to travel through areas
covered by forests, try to look for paired fragment vs. intact forest to sample.
I have the basic GIS coverage data of the area, however, land use changes very
quickly and reality always differs from maps! After being so freaked out by the
robbery (we heard more stories of robbery after we arrived my research station),
we've given up the idea of campingin middle of nowhere plus the tent was gone.
I started looking for all public and private natural reserves, canopy tours,
research sttions, and eco-lodges for the visit. Again and again I had to ask their
permission to allow me working in their lands. A lot of time we had to drive around
to look for doable plots, then crawed under metal fenses to enter private lands.
Driving is another pain-in-ass. A lot of time we not only drove a lot on highways
, we had to go through so many bumpy roads or dirt roads with a lot of mud that only
trackters could go through. Too much shaking on the roads everyday and so much driving
plus fieldwork really drove us crazy and tired us up. Furthermore, when there was
no way we could commun from the research station, we had to sleep in the hot, steamy car
for the night since the tent was gone. In the field, of course we suffered so
much from mosquitos (a lot wrose than anywhere I've been!).
To reach the sites, we basically risked our lives everyday to welcome a flat tire,
or car broken down, or some other danger such as robbery, or bad roads. We had to
drive across wooden suspension bridges, and really narrow bridges with only
pieces of wood to support, and half-way sunken/broken gravel roads. We had
to walk across pastures with angry bulls around, or just simply nasty lands.
A lot of stream crossing in disgusting swamps too.
Well, we rushed so hard and finally got all the fieldwork done today. I
posted this article to memorize this once-in-a-lifetime peoject, because I'll
visit those sites again, nor I'll conduct anything like that by myself with
very little funding again.
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