Day One of our Eartwatch Institute expedition began at a leisurely pace. After rising from a restless night, our last of four at Hotel Quito, I showered and then strolled the grounds of the hotel, again impressed by the mild climate, expansive views of the Inter-Andean valley, and the manicured landscape and inviting amenities of the property at which I had just spent my first few nights in Ecuador.
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| Hotel Quito |
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| Hotel Quito, view from Mr. B's balcony |
By 8:30 a.m. I was meeting my teammates in the 7th Floor restaurant for a buffet breakfast and some excited talk about our coming adventure in the cloud forest. In less than two hours we'd be loading a small bus and then bounding through the Andes en route to the Yanayacu Biological Station and Center for Creative Studies. Our 3.5-hour trip took us on a climb out of the city and up the mountains, reaching a peak of 14,000 feet before descending the eastern slope of the Andes.
At the summit, our expedition leader, Dr. Tom Walla of Colorado Mesa University, asked our bus driver to pull over. Dr. Walla wanted us to experience the elevation and to enjoy some wildflowers and other vegetation. Perhaps the most interesting plant amid the tundra-like vegetation was the gunnera. At that elevation, the plants leaves were small and resembled a small geranium, growing low to the ground and no larger than a silver dollar. Dr. Walla told us to later be on the lookout as we neared the 7,000-foot level; here the same plants would be huge, growing taller and fanning out to the size of a large beachball.
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| Dr. Tom Walla |
While our little pit stop atop the mountain was educational, it was also a rather miserable experience; the elevation brought cold temps and freezing rain that soaked our ill-prepared team and stung our faces. We scampered back to the awaiting bus and made our way down the eastern slopes. The drive was beautiful as we found ourselves surrounded by lush, green mountainsides covered by ferns, bamboo, countless trees, roaming cows, small villages and outposts, and a few llamas here and there. We made two more pit stops (one for gas and one for snacks) in small towns and then turned off the main road onto a rougher and windier gravel road which would lead us 5 km to Yanayacu.
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| Baeza |
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| Baeza |
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| Baeza |
Once settled into our cabin-like rooms of single or bunk beds, we assembled for a late lunch and then donned our rain gear for our first hike into the cloud forest. In rubber boots, we gingerly walked down the slick drive toward the muddy main road and then walked about 100 yards to the trailhead. After a quick orientation on our general mission, the work that has been down for the past decade, plant types, and snakes and insects, we entered the moist and mossy wonderland of the cloud forest, one of the most important and impressive in the world, with more than 30 genera of plants.
As raindrops worked their way down vines and elephant ear-sized leaves, I was overwhelmed by the lush surroundings. We were being enveloped by ferns moss, and a variety of palms and other tropical trees. An active stream criss-crossed our path, and we slid across several wooden bridges, each no wider than a foot or so. Along our nature hike, Dr. Walla was sure to stop and identify various plants and evidence of caterpillars, the stars of our research project. He identified the piper plant with its knobby stems and venous, large leaves. He overturned one leaf and revealed a tiny Eois caterpillar, what he called the prize of the cloud forest and our expedition. It's hard to believe that one of our focal points of study is merely millimeters in length!
As we finished the hike and prepared to head back to the station, the rain picked up and really showed us why everything around us was so moist and green. While we were damp explorers, our spirits were certainly not dampered. We were exhilarated and anxious to find out what Day 2 of the expedition would bring!
QUESTION: How can studying just one community or ecosystem teach us something about climate change?
