As you might probably guess, I'm back from my first field trip! As some of you might wonder: "What do you mean field trip? What are you exactly up to in Colombia?" Well, I will explain it to you right away! ;)
So, as I told earlier, I'm not just here on holidays, but for doing thesis research. The overall objective of the project is to develop best practice guidelines and complete, practical and generalizable protocols for the ecological restoration of the Tropical Dry Forest in Colombia and Latin America, which explicitly consider the future effects of climate change. This work will be conducted in the framework of a two-year project led by Bioversity International. Below is a link of the overarching project:
http://www.bioversityinternational.org/e-library/publications/detail/tree-based-restoration-of-the-floristic-and-genetic-diversity-of-tropical-dry-forest/
My thesis in particular will contribute to this bigger objective through environmental, phenotypic and genotypic characterization of prioritized tree species in a set of different relict areas of tropical dry forest. Through sampling, characterization and analysis of the vegetative material of enough individuals per species and population, the acquired results will be used to identify priority populations of the species for in situ conservations. At a later stage, the data I will collect will additionally be used to identify appropriate seed sources for site-specific restoration of tropical dry forest (see picture below, que bonitooo :D).
You might wonder: "Huh, Tropical Dry Forest? I've already heard about the tropical rainforests and the problems they're having with climate change and deforestation, but haven't heard of that one yet. What's the difference and you are talking about restoration, so is it endangered too then?"
Well, to answer the first question: The big difference with tropical rainforests is that these forests have long dry seasons which last for several months. Consequential, this phenomenon has a great impact on the fauna and flora the TDF harbours, depending on the geographic location. And sadly, I have to confirm the presumption that the TDF is an endangered ecosystem. The Tropical Dry Forest is one of the most threatened ecosystems in the Neotropics, it is estimated that in Colombia only about 8% of the original cover remains. So, this is a serious problem since the Tropical Dry Forest fulfills numerous important ecosystem services for many people, both indigenous as common.
In order to bring this project to a good end, I'm part of a field team that's responsible for the sampling of vegetative material of the prioritized tree species of different relicts of the TDF. I'm being accompanied on this amazing field experience by, from left to right: Jorge (blue shirt), Claudia, me, Álvaro, Carolina and David.
Our first assignment took place around Santa Fé de Antioquia, an amazingly beautiful, little town.
We were just passing by for lunch, but if you're around and have some time, definitely worth visiting! There's a beautiful church, cozy marketplace, antique white houses, and so on.
Eventually, we arrived wednesday afternoon at a building of the National University of Colombia where we could settle for the coming 2 days.
Apart from the bedroom and the bathroom, I was also very pleased with the presence of the freezer :P Indeed, freezing water the night before going in the field sure wasn't a luxurious option :P. In the early afternoon of thursday, the mercury rised up to 42 °C in the sun and 38 °C in the shadow. "¡Qué calor!" was something that passed our lips a couple of times during the field trip. In the early afternoon, right after lunch, we had to wait until 2 pm for the sun to go a bit down. So, in the meanwhile we could have a little siesta underneath the shadows of the trees :D
After all the heat on thursday, nothing felt so good as taking a cold shower after a full day of work, and even better a couple of fresh beers :) But no worries, nobody got borracho (drunk) - aawwnnn :P -, so we were all fresh for the next day.
Friday was then the last day of the excursion and for that we visited a finca, which is (usually) a farmhouse with a piece of rural or agricultural land, often surrounded by woodland or plantations. It's a typical property that can be found in Latin-America and varies in size (they count here in hectares!).
However, it wasn't really our lucky day. Jorge cut his finger quite deep and had to go the hospital. And when we almost finished the sampling work over there, we lost the drill for the tree cores: "Too bad, but that's part of the job when working in a forest" has been going around :P
Eventually, Jorge got taken care off and we got another drill. So we're all ready for the next adventure! :D At the end of next week, we will be going to Santa Marta, a city at la Costa. Another different culture, different types of food, different people. And apparently they "eat" their words, which means as much as they talk fast - oh boy :P. Nevertheless, another amazing experience awaits me, no doubt, which I'll gladly share with you guys.
But until that, there's something cooking here in Medellín!
- What? Rice?
Nope, no rice this time! From the 1st until the 10th of August it's the renown Feria de las Flores (Festival of the Flowers) in Medellín, thé most iconic event in Medellín. I'm so excited for this, because there's a lot of stuff to do during those days...cannot wait! :D It compensates in some way the miss of the music festival "Lokerse Feesten" that's being held in my city now ^^ (also from the 1st until the 10th, I just keep encountering coincidences here in Colombia :P)
So yea, you'll be hearing from me again soon ;)
¡Entonces, hasta la proxima vez muchachos!
