Panama Canal Amplification: Making the best of a clearcut situation

In Neotropical moist forests the transformation of wood biomass into animal biomass is initially mediated by wood-boring beetles. When trees are first cut, beetles are among the earliest visitors. Adults typically meet and mate on a selected host plant; the females then lay eggs that hatch into larvae. The larvae create feeding galleries in the wood, and deposit microbe-laden frass. Because the beetles create openings in the bark and jump-start the decomposition of wood, they facilitate colonization by other insects (including predators and parasites) and fungi. The host plant associations of wood-boring beetles, which reveal information about both insect microhabitat and diet, are poorly known. Data are especially difficult to acquire for wood-boring insects associated with tropical trees. The amplification of the Panama Canal will lead to partial inundation of several forested islands within, and banks along, the manmade Lago Gatún. Prior to inundation the forests are being clear-cut, and this provides an unparalleled opportunity to investigate the wood-boring beetles associated with a diverse group of trees, along with their predators and parasites.

En los bosques húmedos Neotropicales la transformación de la biomasa de madera en biomasa animal es mediada principalmente por escarabajos xilófagos. En areas de árboles que han sido taladas recientemente, los escarabajos adultos son los primeros en llegar. Despues de seleccionar una planta para hospedarse, los escarabajos se aparean y las hembras depositan huevos que generan larvas. Debido a que estos escarabajos crear aperturas a través de la corteza e inician el desglose de la madera, ellos facilitan la colonización por otros insectos (incluendo depredadores y parásitos) y hongos que descomponen la madera. Las plantas hospederas, que revelan información sobre los micro-hábitats de los insectos y su alimentación, han sido muy poco estudiadas. Los datos son especialmente difíciles de obtener para los insectos barrenadores de madera asociados a los árboles tropicales. La tala de árboles previa a la ampliación del Canal de Panamá ofrece una oportunidad sin igual para estudiar una diversa poblacion de árboles incluyendo las faunas de escarabajos xilófagos, y de otros organismos asociados.

21 April 2010

Preparing to Rear Beetles!

Before leaving Panama, we searched for a good spot to keep the rearing cages. We found a nice shady spot in Gamboa, right next to the STRI frog facility. According to Raineldo Urriola, the Scientific Coordinator, this area is protected from contemporary insect spraying. 



I believe it, because I looked underneath the bark of a nearby fallen tree, and found cerambycid larvae!




Joyce Fassbender, a CUNY Ph.D. student who will be collaborating with Hector on the weevils, is cutting out no-seeum netting that will be used to construct hundreds and hundreds of rearing cages! The linoleum floor at AMNH makes a great grid for measuring the netting...
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05 April 2010

Panama Canal Amplification Sites 6 & 7



Within one month of my first email communications with Hector, six of the eight sites scheduled to be inundated had already been clear-cut, but we obtained permission from the Panama Canal Authority to conduct our study at "Site 7," which would not be clear-cut until July 2010. The first time we visited our research site Hortensia Broce, from the Canal Authority, came along to show us where to work. 
The top photo shows "Site 6" after it was clear-cut. The second photo shows "Site 7," our research site, covered by secondary forest approximately 80 years old.
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Amplification Work Crew


Our Amplification work crew included Chris Roddick (Brooklyn Botanic Garden), Teofilo (Master tree cutter), Andreas Hernandez (botanist from Barro Colorado Island), Basilio (Teofilo's son and assistant), Hector Barrios (University of Panama, STRI), and Amy Berkov (City College, AMNH, taking the photos).


Andreas identified trees 
and lianas representing 
36 species in 25 families.






















Teofilo and Basilio 
beat the bulldozers to the punch, 
and cut down more
than 60 trees.
























Chris and Hector worked together












...to suspend 60 "canopy snacks" in three nursery trees.



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Plant Vouchers


We prepared plant vouchers to be deposited at the University of Panama and STRI, and collected wood samples to use for measurements of wood density and moisture content.




Amy pressed plants




















Basilio collected the wood samples
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But would the beetles come???

My job was to fret. I had received warnings that in Panama insects would not be active until the rainy season started. The forest was much drier than others where I've worked, and did indeed seem poor in insects-- other than ants. I remembered that when I went for my travel shots, I learned that the CDC didn't even recommend malaria prophylaxis in the Canal Zone. I wondered what had happened, because didn't many canal workers die from malaria and yellow fever? How could they have managed to eradicate the mosquitoes so efficiently without affecting other insects as well???

WHAT IF THE BEETLES DIDN'T COME TO OUR TREES???





As usual, I was fretting for naught. Three days after we started the cut we saw, among others, Zygops cf histrio (on Terminalia), Megacyllene cf nevermanni, Neoclytus cf columbianus (also on Terminalia), and Steirastoma histrionica (on Gustavia).

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