Back in New Orleans

Both yesterday and today were very busy days and thus I have not been able to post to this blog. Yesterday I went out in the Kayaks again with Mike and Saleta. We put in over in Mississippi and then paddled up the East Pearl river to a couple of plots that were quite remote and rather interesting in their contrast to most of the other collection sites we had bee into thus far. Before we set up our first collection plot, we explored some swamp areas looking for some dry ground that we could work from. On our first excursion into one of the little channels, we did not find any dry ground, but it was very interesting to kayak through.


After our adventure paddling, we set up a plot (10 meter circle) on some dryer land and proceeded to search the plot for caterpillars and survey all of the vegetation in the plot. In order to survey the vegetation we count all of the individual species of plants in our plot AND count the number of leaves on each plant. We enter this data into a spreadsheet on a hand-held computer so that the researchers can know how much vegetation there is in a given area. This survey then helps the researchers better understand what the ideal conditions and carrying capacity are in any given part of the Management Area.


One of the more interesting caterpillars we did find in this first plot yesterday was a Nason's Slug. Nason's Slug is of course the common name and the scientific name is Natada in the family Limacodidae. This particular caterpillar is very toxic and I know this because I found it after it fell into my shirt and stung my neck. The caterpillar did not really sting me, more the toxic components in the fuzzy hairs on its back and sides stung my skin. It felt like I was being both burned and stung at the same time...not a good feeling, but very interesting to know what a caterpillar sting feels like. Her is a picture of the little guy and he is only about a half inch long.

After recovering from my encounter with the stinging caterpillar, we explored some more of the swamp on foot to try to find an interesting and dry place to set up a plot. We found a lot of swamp and some interesting vegetation, but no dry ground and no caterpillars.

Following this trek through the swamp and after washing the mud and muck off of ourselves a bit, we hopped back in the kayaks and did find a good place to survey and collect some caterpillars. When we finally finished, it was almost 7 o'clock and we were treated to a beautiful sunset as we paddled back to the truck.

The Other Hunters

Just thought you all would like to see the teachers who are here with me in Louisiana. This photo was taken by a professional who came to take a few pictures the other day.

Rebecca, in the back and third from the left, is the tam leader and leads the research components of the project. The swamp in the background is just outside our back door. Here is another photo of what things look like when we are working in the field. The orange vests are because there is hunting in the swamp, no open seasons right now, but a good idea!

While the work in the swamp is interesting we also spend a fair amount of time in the bunkhouse, our lab, identifying, cataloging, photographing and caring for the caterpillars that we have collected. Once we have taken the bulk of the data down, we also need to be zookeepers for the caterpillars. We clean their bags and make sure they have plenty of food.

Floating and Collecting

One of the ways we hunt for caterpillars is to seek out areas that are away from roads or man-made trails. We are also looking for areas that vary in the amount of damage from hurricanes over the past few years. By looking for areas that have high storm damage, we can better understand how populations of caterpillars, and the parasitoids that prey upon them, fair when their habitat is damaged. The video below shows me kayaking out on the Pearl River. We use the river to get to remote areas of the swamp and forest.



What do we do with all the caterpillars that we find and collect?

We collect the caterpillars in zip-loc bags and we put them in with some foliage from the tree or plant we fond them on. On the bag we mark where we found it, what it was on, what stage of development it is in and the date. The caterpillars stay in the bags and are “reared” until they pupate and then eventually hatch out into a butterfly or a moth. While they are in the bag and developing, we can then see if there are parasitoids that have laid their eggs in the caterpillar. Parasitoids are insects, such as wasps or flies, that lay their eggs inside a caterpillar. The eggs develop and eventually consume and kill the caterpillar when they hatch.

Video Overview of PRWMA

Here is a test video that shows our surroundings here at the Pearl River Wildlife Management Area. The brown building that you just see the side of is a garage that also has the bunkhouse attached to one side. I promise to get some better and more interesting video up soon.

Technology On Now

Finally... the folks at BellSouth have gotten to us and our internet is up an running and we can now skype and upload from here without hauling into town.

Our First Day in the Field

OK…It is hunting! We all got out into the field today and did some real hunting for caterpillars. What we do is we select a circular plot with a diameter of 10 meters and then do a systematic search to try to find every caterpillar that we can. So we search every branch, leaf and twig. We open up curled leaves to see if there are caterpillars and when we are done with all of that, we beat the plants. Really, we beat the branches and bushes with a stick and catch anything that falls off in our “beat sheet”. A “beat sheet” is a simple cross of sticks with some white fabric over it measuring about 2 feet square. Some bugs and leaves fall onto the sheet, bet we also get caterpillars.

Here are two caterpillars we found today. The names are long and I can’t spell too well, but the one that Stephanie is holding on the leaf next to her face is known as a saddleback. Wonder why?

Yeah, this is a swamp and we did see an alligator today too…

He was basking in the sun on a log and we spotted him as we drove the van over a bridge on the way back from our time in the field.

More tomorrow.

Arrived in New Orleans

Up this morning at 5am and spent the better part of the day traveling. Made it safe to New Orleans and met up with the team. Here is much of the same message in video: