Marie Trone, Ph.D., is a DCP collaborator (see her DCP page here). She left on June 8 for Peru. Because internet access is sketchy in the jungle, Marie will send Kathleen updates about once every week or two for posting to DCP’s field blog. So, stay tuned for updates from the Amazon on Marie’s studies of the boto (aka Amazon river dolphin)!
Cheers – Kathleen
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June 11, 2016
I made it! I am in the jungle now. I flew all night on Wednesday (8 June), and arrived in Iquitos on Thursday morning, totally, 125% exhausted. Then on Friday caught a boat down to Explorama Lodge (http://www.explorama.com/) where I am based for the summer. Internet is not reliable. I could not get on line Friday or this morning. It is also like dial up as far as speed. But, it does allow one to communicate without smoke signals and drums 🙂
I don’t have access to boats until Monday. I am grateful because I so needed to sleep. I have done a lot of that in comparison to normal, and I know I need it. I will put the two-hydrophone array together tomorrow. Thursday I plan to go back to Iquitos to get materials to build a four-hydrophone array. The additional hydrophones and DAQ should arrive with people from the Detriot Zoo on the 23rd.
Explorama has started building my lab space. They ran electricity and put in lights. They are making 2 work tables! So cool! Herve Glotin is considering putting out a full time hydrophone in the river to record 24 hours a day, but there are lots of logistical issues involved, like water levels chainging between 11 and 15 meters each year (low water and high water season), large debris flowing in the river, etc. We shall see on that one.
There are plans for me to go into the indigenous communities and work with the people there with the Adopt-A-School program, which is exciting to me! I also did a presentation on river dolphin natural history today for a school group from Michigan. All great stuff, and I LOVE doing it!
Anyway, that is all for now,
Smiles from the Equator,
Marie