June 4- Ants!

It's been another busy few days here, with lots of experiment setup.  My project for the summer focuses on Azteca ants, and how the refuse from their nests has a wide variety of impacts to the forest ecosystem.  Of course, to be able to study this, I need to have refuse from the nests.  Jane (the awesome graduate student acting as my mentor this summer) has worked on similar projects before, so she showed me how to rig buckets under several good nests.

I made the rookie mistake of standing with my shoulder too close to a vine near one nest.  Big mistake.  I spent the next half hour trying to pick off biting ants crawling up my neck, in my hair, and in my shirt.  I will be more wary of the vines next time.  At least Azteca bites aren't very painful.  Their nests are incredible- they can be huge!  

Today was the first day since I've been here that it hasn't rained.  It means that it was hotter, but the view over Gatun Lake and the canal in the sun is beautiful!