tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44409886601448616692024-03-16T04:09:14.008+03:00Adventures in the MaraAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03497348603118361295noreply@blogger.comBlogger861125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4440988660144861669.post-76174175185066220872018-05-22T22:35:00.003+03:002018-05-22T22:35:56.504+03:00Hypoxic Floods and Fish Kills<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Our latest paper was just published in Nature Communications!<br />
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<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-04391-6">Organic matter loading by hippopotami causes subsidy overload resulting in downstream hypoxia and fish kills</a><br />
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<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-04391-6"><img border="0" data-original-height="1052" data-original-width="802" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWmBNVHst3jzeNBS_Ahl2C9WlPMVzEvyr-hqM7fCEtZM1tpz1PKz5e3Q6o5N6AIMvxGWrKCo8SRSpSAiYnVXJN138oGMtSx6QZfAzEGgVpIRqcWcZfdW5PK6eaXFIF3uPlxJ_qKeQyL00/s320/NatureCommPaper.png" width="243" /></a></div>
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From the first fish kill we witnessed almost a decade ago in the Mara River, we have painstakingly been tracing the fish kills and hypoxic floods to the flushing of hippo pools. We're happy to get this paper in an open access journal so that anyone can access it anywhere. </div>
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Here are some popular press pieces about this work:</div>
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<li><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/05/hippos-poop-so-much-that-sometimes-all-the-fish-die/560486/">https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/05/hippos-poop-so-much-that-sometimes-all-the-fish-die/560486/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/05/excess-hippo-dung-may-be-harming-aquatic-species-across-africa">http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/05/excess-hippo-dung-may-be-harming-aquatic-species-across-africa</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks/may-19-2018-psychadelic-science-understanding-kilauea-up-close-hippo-poop-kills-fish-1.4667264/flushing-hippo-toilets-smother-fish-in-african-rivers-1.4667344">http://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks/may-19-2018-psychadelic-science-understanding-kilauea-up-close-hippo-poop-kills-fish-1.4667264/flushing-hippo-toilets-smother-fish-in-african-rivers-1.4667344</a></li>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03497348603118361295noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4440988660144861669.post-54271143555572557482017-07-29T13:56:00.001+03:002017-07-29T13:56:10.523+03:00First drowning of the season<div dir="auto">We recently published 5 years of research on wildebeest mass drownings in the Mara River. We plan to continue studying this phenomenon for the foreseeable future, both to document the occurrence and size of the drownings and to continue understanding their influence on the river ecosystem. On July 19, 500 wildebeest were crossing the Mara River near the lower bridge, and 150 drowned. This is a relatively small drowning compared to some others we have seen and compared to the annual mean of 6,250 we have documented over the years. However, we're still early in the migration season, and the river has been unseasonably low, making it easy for the wildebeest to cross without incident. So, we'll see... We're in the field until the end of the migration in November, so we'll keep count.</div> Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08240169217041249801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4440988660144861669.post-12002743224647951822017-07-25T11:45:00.001+03:002017-07-25T23:03:50.047+03:00Car parts and cappuccinos<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6dPcCxNRfOTDLRBtsfVpXBVmdU39_wvToiqqTF-scbz72zp_3uRosKkE7Zn8kIhHdhpoZdjLfwrKgb4dSLcpKHaJ2oPXEgY3czAhpU-tq2Tzm9a6qEequQb7panVwI0aHq4bAmLcbuSI/s1600/angama.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6dPcCxNRfOTDLRBtsfVpXBVmdU39_wvToiqqTF-scbz72zp_3uRosKkE7Zn8kIhHdhpoZdjLfwrKgb4dSLcpKHaJ2oPXEgY3czAhpU-tq2Tzm9a6qEequQb7panVwI0aHq4bAmLcbuSI/s400/angama.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Often an errand that should take an hour or two ends up taking half a day. Rarely is that half day spent so enjoyably as having a cappuccino overlooking the incomparable view at Angama, a new camp perched over the edge of the Mara Triangle. When we arrived at their airstrip to pick up our car parts and found out we'd been given the wrong time and would have to wait several hours, Tyler, the manager at Angama, graciously let us wait at the lodge and enjoy a cappuccino. While there, we met a guest from NYC who had just read about our research on wildebeest mass drownings. What started as a short errand turned into a lovely morning! One of the joys, and frustrations, of working here is never knowing how each day will end, but this time it was definitely a joy!</div>
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Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08240169217041249801noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4440988660144861669.post-49878569542282484002017-07-25T10:47:00.002+03:002017-07-25T10:51:21.428+03:00450 lbs. of gear<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO9EXCf0MehaMDYkxmS7hkJiQmOZQlFa40akFWLJwUxTwfqph4WY_wBsL4sisVwjr_I_j6NrWl9lsqseU7Xj7H74U9BLJc4NqwSTQmut3pUGH9mDiuPuwaMKCyDcIFMCGL8udtL39L_Wo/s1600/IMG_20170620_170634-700770.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" height="300" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_6446612778785315122" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO9EXCf0MehaMDYkxmS7hkJiQmOZQlFa40akFWLJwUxTwfqph4WY_wBsL4sisVwjr_I_j6NrWl9lsqseU7Xj7H74U9BLJc4NqwSTQmut3pUGH9mDiuPuwaMKCyDcIFMCGL8udtL39L_Wo/s400/IMG_20170620_170634-700770.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13.696px;">We headed back to Kenya in June for a 6 month field season. We had to purchase a plane ticket for Lily this year, since she's now over 2. The one upside... 3 extra bags on her ticket! Of course, about 2 of those bags were filled with her field wardrobe and clothes, but we managed to get an extra field bag in there!</span></div>
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Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08240169217041249801noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4440988660144861669.post-45950027450904165722017-07-25T10:47:00.001+03:002017-07-25T10:51:02.432+03:00The Mze<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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After 8 years of faithful service (okay, maybe not always faithful, but certainly adventurous!), our old, white Land Rover was finally due for a new coat of paint. Here she is, looking pretty sharp in her new dark green coat. Now it's difficult to tell this one apart from our newer Land Rover purchased last year, which is also green, so we've taken to calling this one the Mze (the elder) and the newer one the Kijana (the youth).</div>
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Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08240169217041249801noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4440988660144861669.post-28775521269395514702017-06-23T16:18:00.000+03:002017-06-23T16:18:00.654+03:00Publishing our Research on Wildebeest Mass Drownings<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This week our scientific paper on wildebeest mass drownings in the Mara River was published in the <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2017/06/13/1614778114" target="_blank">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>. It is so exciting to finally publish this research, which essentially began with our first observations of wildebeest carcasses in the Mara River in 2008. Over the years, we have spent hundreds of hours (at least!) observing wildebeest crossings, counting carcasses, collecting water and tissue samples, measuring nutrient chemistry and stable isotope signatures, analyzing data, and writing up this manuscript. After completing the paper, it then went through a rigorous peer review process and months of edits and additional data analyses. Throughout this process, our understanding of the scale of these drowning events and their ecosystem effects has continued to evolve.<br />
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We have now shown that mass drownings occurred in 13 of the last 15 years in the Mara, bringing an average of 6,250 carcasses into the river each year. These carcasses equal 1100 tons of biomass, which contributes 107 tons of carbon, 25 tons of nitrogen, and 13 tons of phosphorus to the river each year. About half of the carcass is soft tissue, which decomposes within weeks to months. The other half is bone, which decomposes over 7.5 years, slowly leaching nutrients, especially phosphorus, into the river. The carcasses alter nutrient cycling in the river and provide important resources for a range of terrestrial and aquatic scavengers. When carcasses are present, they comprise up to 50% of the diet of fish in the river. Even months after carcasses have decomposed, the biofilm that grows on bones continues to be an important food resource.<br />
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This paper represents our efforts to understand the natural phenomenon of mass drownings in one of the few places left on the earth where you can study the impacts of large animal migrations on unregulated rivers, and it helps give us a window into what other rivers may have looked like when large animal migrations and unregulated rivers were still common features of our landscapes. It also charts a course forward for us in terms of the next set of questions to investigate. As we take a moment to reflect on all that has gone into the development of this paper, I thought it would be interesting to look back at some of our old blog posts as we studied these events.<br />
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<a href="http://maraadventure.blogspot.co.ke/2012/09/483.html" target="_blank">The first time I witnessed a drowning happening</a><br />
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<a href="http://maraadventure.blogspot.co.ke/2012/11/wildebeest-drownings.html" target="_blank">Some videos of avian scavengers using carcasses </a><br />
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<a href="http://maraadventure.blogspot.co.ke/2013/09/3857.html" target="_blank">Chris's observations of a huge drowning happening</a><br />
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<a href="http://maraadventure.blogspot.co.ke/2012/11/river-of-bones.html" target="_blank">Early thoughts on bones in the river</a></div>
Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08240169217041249801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4440988660144861669.post-31605270245187619522017-01-20T05:27:00.002+03:002017-01-20T05:27:56.642+03:00The Dry Season<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
We're heading into the dry season in the Mara, which generally runs from January until early-mid March when the long rains come. Geemi just sent us some pictures of the Mara River, showing how low the river is. You can actually see the river level on the real-time river gauge on the top right of our blog (under Mara River Water Level). Chris built this river gauge using low-cost Arduino sensors, and it uploads real-time data on the river every 15 minutes. When the arrow is in the red zone, the river is lower than the minimum sustainable flow levels that were identified in the Environmental Flow Assessment for the Mara. You can tell from looking at these pictures that the river is well below where it normally is, and the dry season is just getting started. Hopefully we'll get a few big rains to help fill things up before we head into February...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcNhki72TCsVZWowoZqhBOKBaiiCMSakTJ6xSOGZAXcBz7-_1d9WNtEmA9kmpMbl43T18QxMtGiD3CFuqQFyMA1xsdZRSNJzTehRnUcy9ukDZaJNp1jSIxRtp9RZd0NGLFU85cDY8gd2w/s1600/Jan+2017a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcNhki72TCsVZWowoZqhBOKBaiiCMSakTJ6xSOGZAXcBz7-_1d9WNtEmA9kmpMbl43T18QxMtGiD3CFuqQFyMA1xsdZRSNJzTehRnUcy9ukDZaJNp1jSIxRtp9RZd0NGLFU85cDY8gd2w/s400/Jan+2017a.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking downstream into Tanzania from the Purungat Bridge</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking upstream from the Purungat Bridge</td></tr>
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Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08240169217041249801noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4440988660144861669.post-50814983252602866162016-08-25T07:11:00.000+03:002016-11-16T07:11:40.544+03:00Kwaheri Mara!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
It's always bittersweet leaving the Mara. This place is our second home, and we have a beautiful camp, good friends and an amazing river we hate to leave behind. On the other hand, after several months of no running water, limited solar power, and the same 4 outfits, you do start to long for modern conveniences. I usually crave salad, hot showers, a nice cappuccino, and a leisurely morning spent on my computer with the screen at full brightness. Nevertheless, the time has come to return to the US-- we have a lot of samples to analyze in the lab, lots of papers to work on writing, and Chris is a teaching assistant for a class this semester. It's going to be an exciting year... We'll be working with Ella and James to write up their senior research projects. Chris and I both have several papers we're working on publishing from our research. And we have a super exciting field season we're planning for 2017! Already excited to think about heading back here.... Until then, kwaheri Mara (goodbye)!<div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hippos on the bank of the Mara River</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkuK4ZseQVvgwHoCKUhANnXaql8rABq4ds5dmTbC5KnKTfzF-rvXURKN4LtiOvTZIalkalLaOfhyphenhyphenEg1XlNpxsyMHsKRKTgsos6irdQItYjWIL_LpCUW-32oHwDLAW0Gd98V6OaEbKyB1k/s1600/DSC_0157.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkuK4ZseQVvgwHoCKUhANnXaql8rABq4ds5dmTbC5KnKTfzF-rvXURKN4LtiOvTZIalkalLaOfhyphenhyphenEg1XlNpxsyMHsKRKTgsos6irdQItYjWIL_LpCUW-32oHwDLAW0Gd98V6OaEbKyB1k/s400/DSC_0157.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our home in the Mara</td></tr>
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Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08240169217041249801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4440988660144861669.post-7345882897918111642016-08-20T06:52:00.000+03:002016-11-16T06:52:54.606+03:00Why we need wiper blades on our sensors<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
It's really important for our research to be able to measure water quality in the river on a continual basis over long periods of time. To do this, we have some pretty amazing water quality sensors made by <a href="http://www.waterprobes.com/multiprobes-and-sondes-for-monitoring" target="_blank">Eureka</a>, that can measure lots of different water quality variables and store the data for weeks or months at a time. We have had these sondes for 6 years, and we have put them into some of the most challenging conditions I can imagine, and they just keep plugging along. Our model has the extra benefit of a wiper blade that cleans the surface of each sensor just before taking a new measurement, which is critical in the Mara for preventing biofilm or dirt from fouling the sensor and compromising the measurement. However, we still have to pull the sonde out of the river every few weeks just to clean off all the bugs, hippo poop and biofilm that accumulates.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpWk7giG0VQYzyKcFxeLDdK5ansarnLnzQqbIwhKvI9X0c6h6hggKvPVgvifPOPL85nJowD29BsyyjkzVItGTfwyGmaWmPr-OjYe7UVQyXtDnpn30uCSQpVLNratMMC8FMmOykhnBMXnw/s1600/IMG_8746.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpWk7giG0VQYzyKcFxeLDdK5ansarnLnzQqbIwhKvI9X0c6h6hggKvPVgvifPOPL85nJowD29BsyyjkzVItGTfwyGmaWmPr-OjYe7UVQyXtDnpn30uCSQpVLNratMMC8FMmOykhnBMXnw/s400/IMG_8746.JPG" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our water quality sonde after 3 weeks in the river</td></tr>
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Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08240169217041249801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4440988660144861669.post-46135974601194856742016-08-18T06:38:00.000+03:002016-11-16T06:43:10.061+03:00Where is all the algae going?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Hippos and wildebeest load a lot of nutrients into the Mara River... like, <i>a lot</i>. All of those nutrients should fertilize the river and produce a lot of algae. It's what the textbooks say should happen, and it's what research in other rivers show should happen. We see it happen in some portions of the river where there are only moderate levels of hippo inputs. However, it is not what happens where the hippo and wildebeest inputs are highest. Why not? I don't know. </div>
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This-- getting results that don't fit your expectations, that surprise you-- is simultaneously the most exciting and the most frustrating part of science. It's the part that makes science addictive, that keeps you coming back for more, that makes you think grand discovery is on your doorstep. It's also the part that can drive you crazy and make it difficult to publish your research. If you're getting an unexpected result, you need to 1) be absolutely sure it's a real result and not an artifact of something you screwed up on accident, and 2) figure out why you're getting it. "This is weird, and I don't know why it's happening," will only get you so far. </div>
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So, back to our algae... Why don't we see more in the river? Is it not growing in the first place? Or is it growing and going somewhere? I have been asking this question a lot over the last year as I have been working on the final papers from my dissertation, and this summer I was able to run a pilot experiment to test what is becoming my primary hypothesis... hippo and wildebeest inputs provide so much food for bugs and fish that their populations increase and they then graze down the algae. This would be really cool if it turns out to be true, because it would show that animal inputs can enter the river food web through various pathways, and which pathway they follow determines how those inputs shape the river ecosystem. Or I could be wrong and it could be something else entirely... See? Exciting, and a little frustrating. </div>
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So, to test this hypothesis, I set out a grazing exclusion experiment this summer. I basically grew algae in the river on glass discs (the white circles in the picture below). Some discs were protected from grazing (either by a cage to restrict fish or by insecticide to restrict bugs) and others were not. If there was more algae growing on the protected discs than on the not-protected discs, that would suggest that algae can grow in the river, but it doesn't accumulate there because it gets grazed down. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8uplP3fx_xUQnZS10gN860BTNcuvYDdh4fiYiODzeZEURO4YymrakX8vMeEAe0ILyyWfuAD7f1K4fH2It5-_b6Y4zn9fskePKMO9dABXuOXWXYR85z-cFAccAsT7SBQy3oqtXHGJ2mK0/s1600/DSC_0353.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8uplP3fx_xUQnZS10gN860BTNcuvYDdh4fiYiODzeZEURO4YymrakX8vMeEAe0ILyyWfuAD7f1K4fH2It5-_b6Y4zn9fskePKMO9dABXuOXWXYR85z-cFAccAsT7SBQy3oqtXHGJ2mK0/s400/DSC_0353.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Before deployment in the river</td></tr>
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I wasn't originally planning to run this experiment this year, as we already had a full schedule, but I was excited to be able to put this together almost completely with supplies we had stored around our camp. I built two of these that I deployed at two different sites in the river. I left them out for two weeks and hoped they didn't get stepped on by a hippo, washed away in a flood or collected by an enterprising Maasai person with a need for some glass discs. I always consider it a major win when we put something out in the river and return later to find it still there. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After 2 weeks in the river</td></tr>
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After two weeks, we collected the glass discs and measured the chlorophyll on them as an indication of how much algae was growing there. To my excitement, the discs protected from grazing by insects had more algae than the discs that weren't protected, supporting my hypothesis! To my frustration, the cages protecting the discs from fish caught a lot of hippo feces which influenced those data, and the variability was so high that my insect results weren't statistically significant. Ah science... the perfect career for those who love a good challenge! So, I can't say I've solved this mystery yet, but I'm getting closer, and I'm already excited about getting back to the field next year to try again. </div>
Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08240169217041249801noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4440988660144861669.post-74108494292572660352016-08-15T05:38:00.000+03:002016-11-16T05:44:34.894+03:00Sundowner farewell<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
One of the great traditions in East Africa is the sundowner, where you head out into the savanna, armed with a box of wine or a cold Tusker and some cheese and crackers if you're lucky, and watch the sunset. It's hard to describe the splendor of this moment, with the grassland turning golden in the last moments of light; the streaks of red, purple and gold reflecting across the wide open sky; the silhouette of elephants in the distance. It seemed the perfect way to send Ella off after a great and successful summer of field research. Kwaheri Ella and thanks for a wonderful summer!<div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKTGXBBceCe4qrBz7IxSgPg3aA1J-1-2q3nTB7ZRKoc8JuG3Bwx6MjkZHMTlCV1W3QgJIZDXURJQ7lSM_zGi_S3aabr_qSU0HNiF-od42ZvTGr59PrKz9vI9XJeIE3zrdC4sQ9bemflwU/s1600/DSC_0098.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKTGXBBceCe4qrBz7IxSgPg3aA1J-1-2q3nTB7ZRKoc8JuG3Bwx6MjkZHMTlCV1W3QgJIZDXURJQ7lSM_zGi_S3aabr_qSU0HNiF-od42ZvTGr59PrKz9vI9XJeIE3zrdC4sQ9bemflwU/s400/DSC_0098.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ella watching the sunset from the roof of the Land Rover</td></tr>
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Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08240169217041249801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4440988660144861669.post-5695595794030284312016-08-12T05:31:00.000+03:002016-11-16T05:33:19.119+03:00Testing hypotheses in artificial streams<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Ella has been able to collect detailed data on gas emissions from 13 hippo pools, in addition to the 12 hippo pools we sampled last year. This will give her a nice range of hippo density and river flow level in order to test how these two factors influence gas emission levels. However, all the variability often present in the field can often make it difficult to accurately determine the influence of various factors, so Ella designed an experiment in the artificial streams to test her hypotheses more directly.<div>
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She added blackwater from the bottom of a very concentrated hippo pool to the artificial streams in varying concentrations.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCWUL1DaMqUNtAYku4ZFtNjCDjYZ57nXAkXc8h9mYCpBxshi7YTBman6Y5wdMmPNmuv-v0vT7r57e-lyv_n8fDU8CBgilszhe6DOqtFuk6Si9jv2FJjHNj3IlgnMIkFhMqIP6p2sske_U/s1600/IMG_8596.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCWUL1DaMqUNtAYku4ZFtNjCDjYZ57nXAkXc8h9mYCpBxshi7YTBman6Y5wdMmPNmuv-v0vT7r57e-lyv_n8fDU8CBgilszhe6DOqtFuk6Si9jv2FJjHNj3IlgnMIkFhMqIP6p2sske_U/s400/IMG_8596.JPG" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ella adding black water to the artificial streams</td></tr>
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Then she ran the streams at different velocities.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSbWJHnVmjLP1-zU5ML2CT50GvoPtpTpAJ0MpQHIwLtrA7jPE9ZVdtCe20JMu9X7rm8pwmS7nFdXMBLC_v0bub0yRalzW-sWQ-eOXPVJa1SkLoGHPCkD3s7YXYJ8WR39wg4tDd411dVlU/s1600/IMG_8614.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSbWJHnVmjLP1-zU5ML2CT50GvoPtpTpAJ0MpQHIwLtrA7jPE9ZVdtCe20JMu9X7rm8pwmS7nFdXMBLC_v0bub0yRalzW-sWQ-eOXPVJa1SkLoGHPCkD3s7YXYJ8WR39wg4tDd411dVlU/s400/IMG_8614.JPG" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ella's artificial stream experiment</td></tr>
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At various time points, she collected water samples from each stream and collected dissolved gases from each sample into vials which will be analyzed back at the Cary Institute. Actually, we had a team of 4 people working as fast as possible every 45 minutes throughout a whole day to collect the water samples at specific times. Again, we were lucky to have a great team!</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBAckdEpt2QtOTJTOzCDLSgSUNgj6C0qQ82Qj_ThYSVbVzSNeOwNlwamL0qAtKbeZx0wHcZAFiwtVh-Y6B_kJCR1htQ5bB9qYLJu_vHqOHR9f1fJKXIPSwUPcIHscZjj1umgzgLFfO-vs/s1600/IMG_8603.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBAckdEpt2QtOTJTOzCDLSgSUNgj6C0qQ82Qj_ThYSVbVzSNeOwNlwamL0qAtKbeZx0wHcZAFiwtVh-Y6B_kJCR1htQ5bB9qYLJu_vHqOHR9f1fJKXIPSwUPcIHscZjj1umgzgLFfO-vs/s400/IMG_8603.JPG" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ella collecting a gas sample</td></tr>
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We couldn't analyze any of the gas data in the field, so we won't know the results of this experiment until the fall, but all of the dissolved oxygen data from the streams suggest we were successful in capturing the range of conditions we were hoping for. Can't wait to see how all of this comes together!</div>
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Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08240169217041249801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4440988660144861669.post-30363853638326357002016-08-09T05:16:00.000+03:002016-11-16T05:17:28.828+03:00Greenhouse gases from hippo pools<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Over the last few weeks, Ella has been collecting water samples from a lot of different hippo pools in order to measure how hippo pools may contribute to the emission of greenhouse gases. Hippos load a lot of carbon into pools through feces, and as that feces decomposes, it uses up the oxygen in the water and the decomposition process emits greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane. Ella is studying how the number of hippos and flow of the river influence the quantity of greenhouse gases being emitted. <div>
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To collect these data, Ella has had to collect water samples from a lot of different hippo pools, which can be a... let's say... <i>exciting </i>adventure. Hippos are the most dangerous animal in Africa, and it is particularly dangerous to get between them and the river. The easiest way to access a hippo pool in the Mara is to follow a hippo trail down to the river's edge, and crouch there while you fill your sample bottle, keeping an active lookout for hippos and crocodiles. We always hire an armed ranger and spend a lot of time scouting a hippo pool before we collect samples there, and we always make conservative decisions about which pools we feel we can sample safely, but it is still an activity that really makes you feel alive. Ella handled it like a complete pro!<br /><div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhavIolhdFdxWwQDcxoy6YnTlxux9cc_ASocwQJt6YUfOGHNRQM4JnXOsxPtB4aZYl6vlKaP-ZEXLG1YNTj7KRT8IsTUFW7q9HFZveOBd75DLPs3b7APv3ZJyTV4yny8Jcevvemgy9w6Gw/s1600/IMG_20160724_083915.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhavIolhdFdxWwQDcxoy6YnTlxux9cc_ASocwQJt6YUfOGHNRQM4JnXOsxPtB4aZYl6vlKaP-ZEXLG1YNTj7KRT8IsTUFW7q9HFZveOBd75DLPs3b7APv3ZJyTV4yny8Jcevvemgy9w6Gw/s400/IMG_20160724_083915.jpg" width="296" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ella collecting a water sample from a hippo pool</td></tr>
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Much of the sample processing needs to be done as soon as possible, so we take a mobile lab in our Land Rover and do a lot of chemistry in the field. However, some samples need to be analyzed later in our lab tent (affectionately called the Lady Cave, because of all the hours I have spent doing chemistry in there, it's small cave-like interior, and the tendency of bats to roost in and around it). Here's Ella busting out some serious field chemistry in the Lady Cave, late into the evening, equipped with a head lamp to see the readings. Epic!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Late night chemistry in the lady cave</td></tr>
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Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08240169217041249801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4440988660144861669.post-44963030684616333782016-08-07T06:55:00.000+03:002016-11-16T19:00:11.070+03:00Low cost sensor course in Tanzania<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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In August, Chris taught a course on low-cost sensor technology for the Tanzania water resource management authorities. This course was part of <a href="http://maraselva.fiu.edu/en/home/" target="_blank">SELVA </a>- the Serengeti Lake Victoria Sustainable Water Initiative for the Mara River - which is run by our friend and colleague <a href="http://faculty.fiu.edu/~epanders/Home.html" target="_blank">Beth Anderson at FIU</a>. Chris taught the course participants how to build low-cost water depth and water quality sensors using the open-source <a href="https://www.arduino.cc/" target="_blank">Arduino </a>platform, and then the team was going to deploy various loggers at sites throughout the basin. This technology is so powerful, especially in places like East Africa, because it allows people on the ground to build and maintain their own sensors, rather than relying on expensive "black box" instruments that have to be shipped off for repair at great expense. Chris has already done some really great work training people in Arduino sensors in the Kenyan portion of the Mara Basin as part of <a href="http://www.mamase.org/" target="_blank">MaMaSe</a> - the Mau Mara Serengeti Sustainable Water Initiative - and this is an exciting new extension of that project. Ella was interested in learning about low-cost sensor development, so she attended the course.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ella at Lake Victoria</td></tr>
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For me, this meant a lovely week off hanging out with Lily in the charming lake-side town of Musoma. I love this town! It's right on the shores of Lake Victoria, so there are beautiful beaches, delicious fish, and a laidback beach town vibe. Musoma is located very close to the Mara Wetland, where the Mara River flows into Lake Victoria, so we have visited here a number of times. We currently have an ongoing project with WWF analyzing sediment cores in the Mara Wetland, so it was a great opportunity to visit the wetland as well and check in with our colleagues.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beach on Lake Victoria</td></tr>
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Musoma is also an amazing place to shop for kitenges, the brightly colored and boldly patterned African fabrics that many women wear. I love shopping for kitenges, and I was excited to get Ella into it. We couldn't resist having a few outfits made for us in the market.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Abej-OVP1g1rEmh60UOXyBMudBdpb08vE5F4A1TIq5xkV_exREn4RjIa7CkyuqWSCnWO9s5y9XXAayrAr2BassmA8POq_Y-B0JR9cFrgCtAQl91OLaONUTGn2Kr4xUGLuC9XM3Ay-Qo/s1600/DSC_0388.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Abej-OVP1g1rEmh60UOXyBMudBdpb08vE5F4A1TIq5xkV_exREn4RjIa7CkyuqWSCnWO9s5y9XXAayrAr2BassmA8POq_Y-B0JR9cFrgCtAQl91OLaONUTGn2Kr4xUGLuC9XM3Ay-Qo/s400/DSC_0388.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ella visiting with a seamstress in the market</td></tr>
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Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08240169217041249801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4440988660144861669.post-42171257879610723472016-08-03T06:35:00.000+03:002016-11-14T19:57:35.798+03:00Can we make a hippo pool in a bottle?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This summer Chris set up one of the big experiments for his dissertation. He is interested in studying the influence of the microbial community on biogeochemical cycling in the bottom of a hippo pool, and the interacting effects of carbon loading and microbial community structure on those effects. He came up with a really clever way to test this by developing small "hippo pools" in 1 liter bottles, which allowed him to have lots of replication across different treatments. In total, he set up around 150 bottles!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chris weighing hippo poop into a bottle</td></tr>
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We sampled the bottles for about 12 different parameters at various time points over a few weeks. We could see some of the results immediately in the field as we collected the data, and it was really exciting to watch the changes in the different treatments over time. A lot of additional data will be analyzed from this experiment back in the lab at Yale. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The team at work</td></tr>
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It was a ton of work, but the preliminary results are really interesting. We saw some of the changes we expected to see, and others that were a complete surprise. Unexpected results are often the most exciting in science because they suggest new hypotheses and mechanisms you may not have considered already. We also had a great team, which makes all the difference. Everyone had a job, James played DJ on his ipod, and we had a lot of fun!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKbmiDMyn9R-V-dFcZaKl9QubHtU_ECa-Y4_tEdSQodr-xTAVwtrzU9WcitY7vDMEDcziVeX95-GJfDfK7HTGqteF5pczcqUaASnoSyK7zANrRsQVuE9oVk-H3KuOwamiCCoS-gnyIOmk/s1600/IMG_8483.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKbmiDMyn9R-V-dFcZaKl9QubHtU_ECa-Y4_tEdSQodr-xTAVwtrzU9WcitY7vDMEDcziVeX95-GJfDfK7HTGqteF5pczcqUaASnoSyK7zANrRsQVuE9oVk-H3KuOwamiCCoS-gnyIOmk/s400/IMG_8483.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Team Hippo Pool</td></tr>
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Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08240169217041249801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4440988660144861669.post-85855135571727682902016-07-31T08:02:00.000+03:002016-11-10T08:02:44.969+03:00The migration<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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We drove up to the Old Mara Bridge today and could see huge expanses of the wildebeest herd as far as the eye could see, meandering across the savanna in straight lines, as they follow individuals they've seemingly randomly picked as the leader. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk3fwHxE27jhwcfY9IjGvzk9XEhYF7jNRoyuPYqPxk4LkfKQIh3qEBIDE3L67PnLaSNol_CfovVgb8PTKVO1roIrl0kOn6X-tftbggfkxPaheoavmbhgl9JV6URpMCQAES1geWsVmZo1g/s1600/IMG_8539.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk3fwHxE27jhwcfY9IjGvzk9XEhYF7jNRoyuPYqPxk4LkfKQIh3qEBIDE3L67PnLaSNol_CfovVgb8PTKVO1roIrl0kOn6X-tftbggfkxPaheoavmbhgl9JV6URpMCQAES1geWsVmZo1g/s400/IMG_8539.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh4QvBVjWsglZswy4TaG5svRD_dcArZjwMHKXg6tHI981KOwtRxdd6QOKWuHIOPsb9KKup77IfciD5loQ5AA7vSrebNRgdzrSJjpxwjjdu61MTU6puk2QEGjqpNKLY_kDzUtI5fX0Y-EY/s1600/IMG_8550.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh4QvBVjWsglZswy4TaG5svRD_dcArZjwMHKXg6tHI981KOwtRxdd6QOKWuHIOPsb9KKup77IfciD5loQ5AA7vSrebNRgdzrSJjpxwjjdu61MTU6puk2QEGjqpNKLY_kDzUtI5fX0Y-EY/s400/IMG_8550.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08240169217041249801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4440988660144861669.post-71818875401771377942016-07-30T07:55:00.000+03:002016-11-10T07:56:02.939+03:00James' Farewell<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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After 6 weeks of studying, sampling and running an experiment in the Mara, it's time for James to head home. For his farewell dinner, we pulled out all the stops with bacon cheeseburgers and cold Tuskers! </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnrYBShp3-YOa4mxLnkN610EJ9SuO953KqotulN2dRyrhm7M-S2NWVI8e4q0qnQ5MJxCa1qKcGGllOOQTxRztbMyKhB90ZRgB2Pb83F-s0yp59TcolDORTIy2jW9co34z9aVEwleCy-7c/s1600/DSC_0328.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnrYBShp3-YOa4mxLnkN610EJ9SuO953KqotulN2dRyrhm7M-S2NWVI8e4q0qnQ5MJxCa1qKcGGllOOQTxRztbMyKhB90ZRgB2Pb83F-s0yp59TcolDORTIy2jW9co34z9aVEwleCy-7c/s400/DSC_0328.JPG" width="225" /></a></div>
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Thanks for a great summer James! See you back at Yale!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMaAQ-uSjlBl2HnIUPuUO12-cUJU2Z-1AJMV2B5T2hRx1DA57BVd944Ap0twOeLCuKsv2bKvHTzn0JEhkFKk9W9C97L9t8a8tf1_fr39xRHBLlJbtwSANNZAT6AgyoMolKPeSNdwb4xmU/s1600/IMG_8527.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMaAQ-uSjlBl2HnIUPuUO12-cUJU2Z-1AJMV2B5T2hRx1DA57BVd944Ap0twOeLCuKsv2bKvHTzn0JEhkFKk9W9C97L9t8a8tf1_fr39xRHBLlJbtwSANNZAT6AgyoMolKPeSNdwb4xmU/s400/IMG_8527.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08240169217041249801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4440988660144861669.post-18819693736876055782016-07-25T07:01:00.000+03:002016-11-14T19:56:27.039+03:00Emergence<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Our little streams continue to run beautifully, and so far nothing has disturbed them. Geemi and James have been taking turns spending the night there to help further deter wildlife, and they have both awakened on different nights to find elephants and buffalo grazing remarkably close to their small tent. The other night I received a text from James, telling me that he had gotten out of his tent to start the generator (that runs the streams when Serena power is off), and he had found a buffalo just a few meters in front of him, between him and the streams. He asked if he should go ahead and leave the tent. That's a dedicated student! For the record, I told him no:)</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">James and his streams</td></tr>
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James is interested in how hippo feces and wildebeest carcass influence the river food web, so he has stocked the streams with different animal inputs and aquatic insects from the river. He is sampling the insect's body tissue over time, to see what they are eating. He also has set up nets over each stream to catch the insects after they metamorphose and leave the water as winged adults to see what emerges from different streams. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">James sucking bugs out of stream nets with an aspirator</td></tr>
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Each morning is a hunt for insects inside each net, which James sucks out into a bottle (or sometimes your mouth on accident!) through a handheld aspirator. Each stream gets its own bottle for storing the emerged insects. At the beginning of this experiment, we weren't sure whether we would be able to successfully rear any insects, but James has been catching tens to hundreds of emerging insects each day, and already has started to see some interesting emergence patterns between treatments. So exciting!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Emerged insects from different stream treatments</td></tr>
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Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08240169217041249801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4440988660144861669.post-61040583997235669892016-07-18T19:55:00.000+03:002016-11-14T19:57:54.144+03:00Thank you Caitlin!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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It's been a really busy few weeks! James's experiment is underway, Ella is busy collecting samples in the field and Chris is getting ready to start a big experiment. Fortunately, our friend Caitlin Staley came in to help with fieldwork this week. Caitlin is a senior in high school in Nairobi, and she is interested in pursuing a science degree in college, so we were excited to give her some field experience in ecology... and super grateful to have her help!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPJ6lH7NIg5kJPgMz0N2DOf7-7iBz1o3GKMvG4p-ghSFurvpXeMfbQXvjv5sJcV7pSAwQ3E8CqDd34v_fqWuvBXlOFcgVJMqcmg7vl7OioCrq9buW6qdsq21Z8ew7Qo8mbDuxoyeXhs6E/s1600/DSC_0262.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPJ6lH7NIg5kJPgMz0N2DOf7-7iBz1o3GKMvG4p-ghSFurvpXeMfbQXvjv5sJcV7pSAwQ3E8CqDd34v_fqWuvBXlOFcgVJMqcmg7vl7OioCrq9buW6qdsq21Z8ew7Qo8mbDuxoyeXhs6E/s400/DSC_0262.JPG" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Caitlin doing chemistry in the field</td></tr>
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Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08240169217041249801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4440988660144861669.post-22726318691798369692016-07-16T07:27:00.000+03:002016-11-10T07:27:52.337+03:00The Yale Mara Field Crew<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
We have had a great team of folks in the field this summer. David was able to come for 3 weeks, to help teach the food web course and start two big experiments, and it was so great to have him in the field for that long. His visit also overlapped with both Ella and James's trips, so we had our full Yale team together. Good folks make all the difference in fieldwork, and this season, we truly couldn't have had a better team.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmWPq2n4pBwPlvimkj2uxWw8A5bJ5WkAKzp5NiQx0wwIk4PdvaBogGEZ0iHPDU570-fpgtJh2v9nmag4pXzphTU6aIn_Y4kBZNb3WnwpyNdlQofUmo-n3YWZ1LAR2EY6ruyufEijEVraY/s1600/IMG_8408.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmWPq2n4pBwPlvimkj2uxWw8A5bJ5WkAKzp5NiQx0wwIk4PdvaBogGEZ0iHPDU570-fpgtJh2v9nmag4pXzphTU6aIn_Y4kBZNb3WnwpyNdlQofUmo-n3YWZ1LAR2EY6ruyufEijEVraY/s400/IMG_8408.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ella, David, James, Amanda and Chris</td></tr>
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Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08240169217041249801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4440988660144861669.post-82335319027454393112016-07-16T05:57:00.000+03:002016-11-10T05:58:19.536+03:00Freshwater oyster or crocodile eggshell?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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One of the beautiful but lesser-known creatures who lives in the Mara is <i>Etheria elliptia</i>, the freshwater oyster. We often find their shells on the river bank, but we've only ever found one alive, despite many hours spent kicknetting and digging around in the river. They are a type of freshwater mussel, which play important roles in river ecosystems as filter feeders and natural filtration devices. They can form a cement-like attachment to rocks or other shells (like the two attached shells in the photo below), which is remarkably strong and difficult to break (a friend broke a wooden rungu trying). They lay down their shells in layers, and I have long been interested in analyzing the elements in the different shell layers as a type of data recorder over time for conditions in the river. However, in order to date the layers, we would have to find live specimens. </div>
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We have been told by several Maasai that they think the shells are crocodile eggshells, a description which I love, as it is exactly what I would imagine a crocodile eggshell would look like if I didn't know that they are actually flexible and almost paper-thin. But couldn't you just imagine a little crocodile, with bony scales and needle-sharp teeth, crawling out of one of these?</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpfnoGCxOgKCY5IUusfEMB3Uj9bhVB6IGBHbdygNj-xP2gxpAs8Xevhsbunz2zDv-Y4hSRq1SfYqFyd5vzkp_mq8YMC3upmkqEaLwjAgH4isxa-sH2ObDir4BvYw7Y8dyGO7j7fWi9iU8/s1600/DSC08659.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpfnoGCxOgKCY5IUusfEMB3Uj9bhVB6IGBHbdygNj-xP2gxpAs8Xevhsbunz2zDv-Y4hSRq1SfYqFyd5vzkp_mq8YMC3upmkqEaLwjAgH4isxa-sH2ObDir4BvYw7Y8dyGO7j7fWi9iU8/s400/DSC08659.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Etheria elliptica </i>shells on the bank of the Mara River</td></tr>
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Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08240169217041249801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4440988660144861669.post-74150544363211318712016-07-12T06:02:00.000+03:002016-11-10T06:03:10.619+03:00Welcome to the Mara, Ella!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Ella Jourdain, an undergraduate student at Yale and a participant in our NSF-funded Research Experience for Undergraduates program, just arrived in the Mara. Ella will be doing research this summer on the influence of hippos on greenhouse gas emissions from the river, using both field and experimental approaches. Ella is from NYC and has never been camping before, but she is excited to spend her summer in a remote field camp with no electricity or running water-- pretty awesome! Karibu Ella!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy3bux7V24eYaezrIZ-CER6wG0673nrJV_MgzsL6B-0ubmB4MdV_5I7BfTQxNMyXs4N7HQXfrgw_aIrF4h3imcrxlLCbn2giHWeaXeCLdSdsskxvvJS3XntW5eZMyMMCr6r1wmUMJ5IYU/s1600/IMG_8631.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy3bux7V24eYaezrIZ-CER6wG0673nrJV_MgzsL6B-0ubmB4MdV_5I7BfTQxNMyXs4N7HQXfrgw_aIrF4h3imcrxlLCbn2giHWeaXeCLdSdsskxvvJS3XntW5eZMyMMCr6r1wmUMJ5IYU/s400/IMG_8631.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ella Jourdain</td></tr>
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Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08240169217041249801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4440988660144861669.post-28637670702616834392016-07-11T08:04:00.000+03:002016-11-08T08:05:22.683+03:00Streams up and running!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="text-align: center;">We set up our streams on the concrete pad, filled them with water, lined them with sand and gravel, and plugged in the motors. We watched the water start to lazily move around the 18 little rivers, riffling over cobbles, moving sand around the bends, and we took a moment to celebrate. We got our artificial stream experiment up and running in the middle of the Maasai Mara! </span><br />
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<span style="text-align: center;">Will they survive for the duration of the experiment? No idea. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEwbGUQJDsbowBSUFgpEbkDYoQxYf9oI_hvBSk8O8sQCZ0dCZzkuzCSwV0AkGnMXQCXtzpA6fruArW_IOaYTkBYrw39_vaJlQxxLK2F1Yqf9I-WCNOJ3VUHn9ZHIfMSj8GkVYvkcJYaBs/s1600/DSC_0161.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEwbGUQJDsbowBSUFgpEbkDYoQxYf9oI_hvBSk8O8sQCZ0dCZzkuzCSwV0AkGnMXQCXtzpA6fruArW_IOaYTkBYrw39_vaJlQxxLK2F1Yqf9I-WCNOJ3VUHn9ZHIfMSj8GkVYvkcJYaBs/s400/DSC_0161.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">David, James and Chris celebrate</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnXJMiU3diH6QFFpQ9FvnbXdAM0sns2dhBmcbwjWIrjAiAW8oXudtk47yIYtH0qPgFN_c_nnx4CgufKxovx3CLFzNZk04ENjF7-xLBcLZfOuZTI4_Qh2qL14NKXREcLqlYwqU9gqzp3BU/s1600/DSC_0162.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnXJMiU3diH6QFFpQ9FvnbXdAM0sns2dhBmcbwjWIrjAiAW8oXudtk47yIYtH0qPgFN_c_nnx4CgufKxovx3CLFzNZk04ENjF7-xLBcLZfOuZTI4_Qh2qL14NKXREcLqlYwqU9gqzp3BU/s400/DSC_0162.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our artificial stream array in the middle of the Mara</td></tr>
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Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08240169217041249801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4440988660144861669.post-72307782425478275362016-07-10T07:43:00.000+03:002016-11-08T07:54:53.031+03:00And some fencing....<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
We were planning to set up 18 artificial streams in the middle of the Maasai Mara, fill them with water, put rotting wildebeest meat in several, and run an experiment for several weeks during which three rows of propellers had to turn 24 hours a day to circulate the water and nothing in the streams could be disturbed.<br />
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There's a lot of very large wildlife in the Maasai Mara, including a lot of animals that might be attracted to either water or the smell of rotting meat.<br />
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These two statements seem to be incompatible with one another. However, Brian assured us it could be done, and he's never been wrong before. We figured we would at least need a good fence and maybe some cowbells for good measure.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvHKnN1CZvcPXPfoyhu_MYD5Wv613kGe3OAofgAgVdlTT8VSGLr0o_AHHP3Z6kRdBnNqrxnHha0T2pSDYWP8R1BQJC9Zv6VTJNriXIMrIx2q8JyL4ENnunhh8eTSB_fEoteabsdh_hCNM/s1600/DSC_0153.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvHKnN1CZvcPXPfoyhu_MYD5Wv613kGe3OAofgAgVdlTT8VSGLr0o_AHHP3Z6kRdBnNqrxnHha0T2pSDYWP8R1BQJC9Zv6VTJNriXIMrIx2q8JyL4ENnunhh8eTSB_fEoteabsdh_hCNM/s400/DSC_0153.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">James helps set up the fence around our streams</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6J7SQyUeRQbEuX9E6Ulya6vJJdSSXbgsnqWDi0UIBW1k4xROg6Ii5jMtVjwRQzag1sGe8Ypr6nyXuzh7n8qF2UXUB1Z1LdvvmEK2Dz_MWIgvafy-ID0mwhJKyIq3Xr367MbYTVC20HP0/s1600/DSC_0152.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6J7SQyUeRQbEuX9E6Ulya6vJJdSSXbgsnqWDi0UIBW1k4xROg6Ii5jMtVjwRQzag1sGe8Ypr6nyXuzh7n8qF2UXUB1Z1LdvvmEK2Dz_MWIgvafy-ID0mwhJKyIq3Xr367MbYTVC20HP0/s400/DSC_0152.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">James is really excited this is coming together</td></tr>
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Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08240169217041249801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4440988660144861669.post-13938191442318671322016-07-09T07:29:00.000+03:002016-11-08T07:54:42.650+03:006,500 liters of water<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Water, water everywhere, and not a drop for our artificial streams...<br />
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This is how I felt as we embarked on the next challenge - how would we get enough water to fill our 18 streams with 60 liters each and conduct a 50% water change every other day (kids, take note... this is why math is important!). There was water at the Mara Conservancy headquarters, but it came from a borehole and is salty, and we weren't sure how that would impact our experiment. There was water in the nearby Mara River, but it was in the realm of large wildlife and thus full of hippo poop. One thing we were planning to test was the influence of hippo poop on the diet of aquatic insects, so we needed control water that didn't already have hippo poop in it. There was freshwater in a nearby borehole, but many people rely on it for drinking water and it occasionally runs low, so they weren't comfortable with us using so much water from it. There was water in the Mara upstream of hippos, but that was a 2.5 hour drive away on terrible roads, so it would be a logistical challenge to get it into our camp. Did you say logistical challenge?! We're in!</div>
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After about a million phone calls to everyone we know, and all of their friends, and all of their acquaintances with trucks, we finally found someone willing to sell us some water tanks that they could transport to the Mara, and someone else willing to drive a water tanker 2 hours from Narok, fill it up from the Mara upstream of hippos, drive the water 2.5 more hours to our camp, and fill up our tanks. I'm pretty sure everyone thought we were crazy, but we were on our way to having 6,500 liters of water!</div>
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Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08240169217041249801noreply@blogger.com0