From Mountain to Sea: A Breath of Beauty

It was another beautiful morning on the island of Moorea and the group headed out for another day of adventure. With a partly cloudy morning sky, a cool breeze blowing, and a quick breakfast satiating our stomachs we proceeded back up to Belvedere lookout. This hike, however, was no short jot up to the lookout but a near four hour trek up and down the façade of a mountain. As the morning progressed the air grew hotter and the humidity climbed under the canopy while we slowly gained in altitude. Finally, we reached a point where the path turned into a steep, winding trail. “Oh, it’s just like stairs from here” Rich said. I don’t know what stairs he is used to but I would not want to climb those on a daily basis. As we inched out of the forest the breeze was a relief on our faces and the view took our breath (or what was left of it) away. What little discomforts we faced on the trail were wiped away tenfold as we gazed at the mountains, oceans, and forest around and below us. These are the moments that bring a new exuberance to life.

After our exhilarating trek, many of the men headed up to the Three Pines path as apparently they had not had their fill of hiking for the day. We ladies, however, cleaned ourselves up, fiddled with some data entry, and took a quick run to the super market (thanks to our most gracious leaders Rich and Peter).

At supper the usual conversation about planning the evening ensued over salad, white beans, and a bit of mutton. The divers then geared themselves up and headed out for a chilly night dive in the ocean, lionfish and all. Alas, due to a shortage of dive lights, the snorkelers must wait for another night for that venture.

Once the chilled divers return, it will be business as usual for the lizard group. We will be racing more geckos on candle stick leaves and preparing for our last precious days in this tropical dreamland.

The end is creeping up on us steadily.

~Sara A. Elefritz

As we approach the halfway mark..

The work at CRIOBE research station continued today with each group focusing on their respective projects. After breakfast the divers set out on an early morning dive. The remaining members of the fish groups headed out to the public beach with snorkeling gear in hand. Some from the UV group were there to spear butterflyfish for UV photographing and fish eye analysis, and others from the pair-bonding group went to continue observing the grazing patterns of their chosen species. A member of the UV group caught the group's first Raccoon Butterflyfish, a fish that has been elusive to the group until now. The lizard group finally crunched the numbers they had gotten from their lizard census and found exciting news, their data sported their hypothesis! Their hypothesis being that the invasive house gecko would be found more on buildings then the native gecko species.

-Mitch

Where has this week gone? Time really does fly when you travel halfway around the world, snorkel, and dive through coral reefs by day. Even more so when you creep around buildings and bushes to capture nocturnal lizards that defy gravity by night. The nights have been especially “vivacious” for the lizard group. The lizard group has been hard at work staying up late to collect data for a few projects focusing on the interaction between the local gecko species. One species, the Indo-Pacific House Gecko, Hemidactylus frenatus is invasive, adding extra competition for food and what not for the native species, so we’re hoping the results of our project can tell us how the native species are faring.
One project consists of the lizard group conducting a census around the research station and around several bushes, known as the candlestick bush, Senna alata. We looked at these bushes because we noticed them to be a hotspot for geckos; for some reason the geckos love this plant. As part of the protocol, the lizard group must walk around a census site and search and identify the species of any gecko we see. For every gecko we spot, we must sweep around the site 2 more times. This made particularly large sites quite interesting. There was this one site which consisted of a very large candlestick bush in we had to walk a total distance of 62 meters (about 190 feet). Gecko would appear out of nowhere. Sometimes we would walk around the bush barely completing our two sweeps when at the very end of the walk we spot another gecko, resulting in the group having to walk around the bush yet another two times. One night we (the lizard group) spent over an hour and a half spotting geckos on that one bush!
With all that searching we managed to come up with a theme song for our census:
♪ “This is the bush that neeever eeeends. Yes it goes on and on, my frieeend! Some people started searching it, not knowing how much we’d find, and geckos will keep showing up forever just because…this is the bush that neeever eeeends…♫


Anyways, so the census went on for four nights, with the lizard group usually finishing around midnight. They’ve all been successful – we got lots of data! Most of the group fantasize about sleeping in after a long night. The hunger for breakfast and the urge to scuba dive in the morning overrides that tendency. And it is always worth it when you’re enjoying your meals in good company and getting the chance to potentially dive with sharks!  Plus I mean, come on – we have to savor this trip in Tahiti as much as possible. Every moment here in Tahiti has been amazing!

Oh, as for other updates. The fish groups have been observing and spearing fish (Andy and Mitch have been warriors at it) while shifting more of their time in the lab conducting protein assays and dissecting eyeballs. Also, the guys managed to get their chance to do some grocery shopping (a relief the shop was able to accept US dollars).

From here on in the lizard group will be catching geckos and run them on a vertical racetrack on different substrates as part of our second project.

Well I’ve got to fly (or…swim). Going to catch the next boat for scuba diving!

Peace,
Eddie

Stay tuned

The lizard group will be blogging next, but they have to work tonight. The next blog will be up in the morning (afternoon in the states).

Island in the Sun

Today was a Tahitian blast. There was a boat dive just outside of Cook's Bay in the morning. The divers saw some blacktip reef sharks and got some great pictures. After a fantastic traditional Tahitian lunch the group split up. The fish crew went over to the public beach to dive and snorkel, spearing 11 butterflyfish for the UV project. The lizard group drove up toward Belvedere and hiked a new trail to look for the gold dust day gecko(Phelsuma laticauda) that may have been introduced to the island. After dinner Michael and Steve did natural history presentations on the longnose butterflyfish and the cowfish respectively. Then the fish people got to dissecting eyes and testing UV aborbance with the spectrophotometer- wait- the preliminary results are just in- the retinas are potentially sensitive to UV wavelengths! The lizard people are currently out in the jungle using headlamps to take a census of lizards in the transects they set up earlier in the week. Oh yeah- the girls went off to the market this afternoon to get all kinds of goodies without telling the boys. The Gelato store is up near "the dude ranch" though so we win anyway. So much science to do, so little time- more fun in the sun tomorrow.
Andy

Dr. Londraville photographing one of many black tip reef sharks from the afternoon dive.

What an incredible day! The morning was marked by an incredible snorkel at coconut grove, a reef in the surge zone of Oponohu Bay. Three of us ventured out amongst the breakers to search for butterflyfish. The waves crashed overhead while we dodged coral heads left and right and tried to keep an eye on the fish we were following.

Meanwhile, the UV fish team homogenized their ocular media (ground up their fish eyes) for testing and continued analyzing UV reflectance patterns of their specimens. Team lizard spent the morning compiling their data and scheduling their field studies for the week. All of the groups have been designing preliminary statistics and getting a rough sketch of their write ups.

The afternoon was the truly exciting part. The divers suited up to head out to the outer reef. Our guide, Franc, reported that the sea was relatively calm with a little chop. Clearly Franc is much more robust than we students from Akron as we were all trying not to wretch between pitches and rolls. Once moored to the buoys we all made haste to get in the water and out of the waves to avoid any seasickness. As soon as we got under the water we were immediately confronted by schooling black tip reef sharks which circled us through the entire dive. The surface swells translated to current and surge while on the bottom which moved us about as it pleased, we had little control over where we were taken. The dive was short, but not without highlights: emperor angels , flame angels, and unicorn tangs.

What a great day on Moorea!

-Stephen McNulty

Today was the first day, besides the checkout dive that divers could get into the water and dive, and it is also the first day we truly hit the grindstone. Each group spent their day collecting data and setting up research. The three groups in Team Fish and one group in Team Lizard each worked on their own projects.

Team Fish:

Group 1-
While diving, the ultraviolet light (UV) group spent the morning using a spear gun to catch butterfly fish (mostly nonlethal). After catching five fish, several photos were taken to test the UV camera and to see the UV-reflectance patterns on the fish. The pictures came out promising. (See Right - Bright spots indicate UV-reflectance and darker violet spots absorb UV).

Group 2-
While diving and later snorkeling, the larvae group spent their day looking for Indo-pacific sergeant major nests to gather eggs. Unfortunately, none were found.

Group 3-
While diving and later snorkeling, the pair-bonding group, spent their day observing butterfly fish and analyzing how they spent their time if they were a pair of fish or alone.

Team Lizard

Group 1-
The lizard group spent their day marking the Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates of several bushes/habitats and measuring their perimeter. Later in the night, the group set out on a gecko hunt to catch several geckos to race on various substrates.

The day was not all work and no play. We found time to get some gelatos (Italian frozen desert) from a local shop.

La Fin.

- Michael J. Decker

Sharks and Rays and Fruit...OH my!

Today was an exciting day in Moorea. Our group got to swim with sharks and rays after breakfast. The rays were close enough to touch and so were the sharks. We have many pictures and we all had a good time. After lunch we split up in to our research groups and got busy deciding if our projects would work. Group lizard went off and found candle bushes which is where we have found most of our geckos. The fish groups went snorkeling and some have collected fish while others are revising their proposals. When eveyone returned it was time to take pictures of the sunset. We then had dinner which was followed by the most unique fruit we have ever had for dessert. The way this fruit can be described is "fermented cat hairballs," "the texture of vomit," and "remove the spooge and chew the center then spit out the seeds" as you can see dinner was a fun time had by all. After dinner we worked on our proposals and it was time for ukulele lessons. We will see you tomorrow! -Angela

After some much needed sleep...

Today was our first whole day on Moorea. It started with breakfast at around 7 o'clock at CRIOBE. After we ate Dr. Londraville suggested taking a group into town. I was really excited to see the town that we only briefly drove through on the way to CRIOBE from the ferry landing. The first stop we made was the bank to exchange our dollars for French Polynesian francs. After that we got to hit the shops. The stores around town were amazing, we passed through 4 or 5 of them just mostly browsing, from high-end jewelry stores to knick-knack stores and even a surf shop. On the way out of town we stopped at a flea market and saw a lot of good deals. I bought necklaces for my girlfriend, mom, and grandma from merchants at the market.
We got back to the base an hour or so before lunch and I decided to take a walk down to the beach to kill some time before we ate. CRIOBE is about a 2 minute walk from Opunohu Bay. The beach of the bay is dark, volcanic sand. I headed back to the base and had lunch with the group and we all began talking about our projects. After lunch was a brainstorming session in the library. After discussing our research idea, we decided the best thing to do would be to go snorkling and test our ideas. Everyone that was scuba diving had to do their check up dives to gain approval to dive in Tahiti, so we snorkled alongside them and enjoyed our first sunny day. After a quick rinse of our gear, the guys headed back to our house up the road.
The girls are staying in a dorm on the CRIOBE campus while the guys are all sharing a dorm style house up the street on the campus of an Agricultural school. A few of us hung out on the porch and met some of the locals. I don't speak french, so anything beyond introductions was virtually impossible. I met a man named Ari who looked like a student at the school. Him and his friends were playing soccer in front of our house. I talked to a man and his son because I saw his son skateboarding. I skated with the little boy for a few minutes, his father spoke some english and asked me about school and what I was studying here on Moorea.
A short while later we headed back to the base for dinner. The lizard group headed out into the dark to search for geckos and skinks to catch for their projects, and the fish groups met back in the library to polish up our research ideas. We're still not 100% sure on our project, but I'm excited to see what we end up studying. Today was just a start to our adventure here, and I'm looking forward to our trip to see the rays tomorrow!
- Ryan Miles

Sand, Shopping, and Story Telling Pineapple Beach Owners

Though few left, today was another wonderful and beautiful day on Moorea. The morning kicked off with a hearty breakfast of eggs, bread, ham, and off-brand cereal. With delicious food in our stomachs, we were ready to start the day. The whole class hopped in the Mercedez van (I didn't know they made vans) and rental car to go on a drive around the entire island for pictures and to go on a short hike to see the Afareaitu waterfall. On our way to the waterfall, we saw parts of the island that we had not seen yet. It was all beautiful. Almost to the hiking spot, we made an unexpected stop at a statue of a tribal-esque man kneeling. Of course, we needed to get pictures in front of him. A nice man offered to take a picture of the whole class, and it turn out that he was the owner of some nice beach front huts called Pineapple Beach right next to the statue. It also turned out that the statue was of him when he was eighteen (he must've shrunk with age because that was a big statue). Pineapple Beach was amazing. He told us tales of the Tahitian god of creation and gave us a little history about the beach. His stories were very interesting. He has owned the beach for around twenty years and he showed us views from a spot on the beach he found left us speechless at how nice it was.

After the short stop, we arrived at our hiking destination and began the hike. The hike was shorter than the previous hike, but still just as beautiful. It took around fifteen minutes to arrive at the waterfall. The waterfall went up very high and the view was great. Everyone pulled out their cameras and enjoyed the sights. The water below the falls caught the eye of some of the students. It was full of life and some students tried to photograph the eels, while others just went in for a cold dip.

After the hike, everyone got back in the cars to continue the island tour. Our next stop was a Tahitian supermarket called Champion. We all went in and browsed around for a short while. People bought everything from tropical juice to pizza bagel bites. With some much needed snacks after the hike, we left the supermarket and continued the island tour. Our final stop was an amazing lookout called Temae beach. We all got our cameras out and took in this amazing spectacle. It was clear blue water with a white sand beach and on-water hotel huts. It was an amazing view.

As soon as we got back, we had a delicious lunch and the groups continued to work towards finishing the projects. The UV group continued to run protien assays and test the absorbance of the dissected fish eyes to test for UV pressense. All the dissections were completed and the parts separated for comtinued processing. The pair bond observations group finished the data collection part of the experiment and began to write the first draft of the final paper. The lizard group finished their data collections as well and are working on their research paper.

With time winding down on beautiful and amazing Moorea, we are all savourng our last few days and working very hard to make our projects come out great!

-David Paternite

Welcome to Paradise!

After several weeks of hard class work and many hours spent flying, we have officially landed in Tahiti! We were greeted by three men playing ukeleles and a woman passing out flowers for our hair. After flying from Cleveland to LA then on to Tahiti, and after making it through security and claiming our backage, we were officially welcome to Tahiti when we were each given flower lei's. After catching a ferry over to Moorea a little time to relax before it was time for lunch and we were off on our first adventure! We drove to Belvedere, a gorgeous outlook over the entire island, and then hiked around the mountain sightseeing and taking pictures. However, a hike was just not enough for our first afternoon abroad, so we decided to go snorkeling! After snorkeling we went back to the base, ate dinner and went on a night hike. Our main goal of the night hike was to see what species of geckos were out and about. We also ended up finding three giant centipedes, a humongous spider and a four foot long eel! It was a great first day and we cannot wait to see what the rest of the trip has to offer (after a good nights sleep that is :))! -Lexi Milan

Welcome to the Tahiti blog for 2011! Right now students are hard at work refining their research proposals. Our goal is to plan, as much as possible, how to address a specific research problem while we are there. In the past, some students have published their work in peer-reviewed journals (that is our goal-but it doesn't always happen). This stage involves digging into the literature and thinking hard about experimental design, contingency plans, etc. On Saturday we get on a plane in Cleveland, and we land in Tahiti on Sunday. We will try to have an update Sunday night. Thanks for reading our blog-pass it along.

Dr. Richard Londraville

Dr. Peter Niewiarowski