Earthwatch Ecuador

This summer, I was fortunate enough to participate on an Earthwatch Teacher Fellowship to Ecuador.  The fellowship is organized, administered and funded through the Earthwatch Institute, an environmental advocacy organization whose mission is to engage citizens in the scientific research process and raise awareness of critical environmental issues. One of their most popular initiatives is teacher education and outreach. This means fully-funded trips for educators to experience scientific research in the field with the hopes that they return to their classrooms and teach their students. 

Our Earthwatch trip embodied the idea of citizen science. The idea is simple:  anyone, with the guidance of a professional scientist, can participate in and contribute to the scientific research process in meaningful ways. This symbiotic relationship between researcher and volunteer provides increased data collection and manpower for the scientist, and an unforgettable, empowering experience for the volunteer. In the case of my colleagues and me, the experience also meant innumerable teaching opportunities for our students.

Myself and 12 other teachers spent a week at the Yanayacu Biological Research Station in Napo Province, Ecuador to study the effects of climate change on the caterpillar population. Anybody can rent space at the station, which provides room and board facilities as well as research equipment. The station sits on the edge of one of the most biologically diverse cloud forests in the world, providing ample opportunities for research. While we were there, a number of teams from various universities were simultaneously carrying out their own research projects as well. 

The Yanayacu Biological Research Station

This was home sweet home for a week

The weather was rather unpredictable, but consistently cold and wet. Torrential downpours would spontaneously appear and disappear. The weather never rose above a chilly 60 degrees, and we didn't see the sun for a week. 

This was the view from my dormitory balcony

Our group was assisting a longitudinal study about caterpillars in Ecuador. The actual research aims are complicated to explain, but the Earthwatch website did a wonderful job summarizing our project: 

"The Climate Change and Caterpillars project in Ecuador examines factors that affect interactions among plants, caterpillars, and their natural enemies. This is an important area of study for both agricultural and basic ecology. This three-tiered study system allows for insights into “tri-trophic” interactions— in other words, it examines the relationships among three distinct levels of the food web. 

The natural enemies of caterpillars that the project studies are called “parasitoids.” They include many species of wasps and flies that kill caterpillars by depositing their eggs on them. This ensures that the parasitoids’ offspring will have both a safe environment in which to grow (inside the caterpillar) and a good supply of food (caterpillar tissue). We are rearing caterpillars of over 300 species and recording the mortality caused by the parasitoids. In addition, we isolate specific chemical compounds from some species of caterpillars and food plants to examine them as potential defenses against parasitoids.

The white worm-like creatures on the top part of the photo are parasitoids. They lay their eggs in the body of the caterpillar, and feed on it's host from the inside out. Parasitoids were the inspiration for the most famous scene in the movie "Alien," where the alien pops out of the guy's chest.

In order to collect the caterpillars, we hiked through the cloud forest, and searched high and low for these furry little guys. The biodiversity was absolutely breathtaking: 

Hiking through the cloud forest in search of caterpillars

We routinely crossed these wood bridges. They're covered in moss and quite slippery!

The flora was so thick that sunlight barely reached the ground

The plants that inhabit the forest floor are forced to grow larger in order to capture the little sunlight that reaches the bottom

Below are a few photos of the various species of caterpillars we collected: 

After the caterpillars are collected and bagged in the field, they are taken back to Yanayacu. From there, they need to be photographed, catalogued, and reared: 

The caterpillars need to be photographed to document their current instar, or pupation period. It's tedious work that requires  great attention to detail.  I was not particularly good at this.

The caterpillars live in a plastic bag until they pupate into moths. Naturally, they defecate in the bag, as any living creature would. This necessitates regular cleaning, or "rearing" of the caterpillars, which includes stocking the bag with fresh leaves and cleaning their feces. I was very good at this.

Notice those round brown pellets below the caterpillar? Those things are poop. For reference, that caterpillar is the size of your index finger.

After the caterpillars pupate into moths, they are then placed into the freezer to meet their demise. Afterwards, they are pinned for display. This is the first step of pinning a moth. Much like photographing, this is tedious, detail-oriented work. I was not very good at this either.

The finished product. Many of these moths are sent to the Natural History Museum in Quito, Ecuador to be displayed!

Much like the caterpillars, the diversity and vibrancy of the moths was astonishing: 

While the Earthwatch trip was an incredibly enriching personal experience for myself, the true aim of the project is to increase awareness of global environmental issues in K-12 classrooms. In order to receive our reimbursements for the trip, we need to plan, design, and carry out a lesson plan that related to our Earthwatch experience. I taught a lesson about descriptive language and moths:

First, I gave each student a picture of a moth from my Earthwatch Ecuador trip. I then taught them the different anatomical parts of the moth, and had them identify each part on their own moth

Next, using a teacher provided graphic organizer, I had each student describe their moth in detail. For example, this student said that "the hindwing has a zig zag along it and it's faded yellow and green." 

Finally, I gave the description to a student who hadn't seen the original moth picture. Then, they draw the moth according to the description provided. Afterwards, I hand the drawing, along with their description back to the original author. The original author then compares the drawing with the picture. What could they have described in more detail? 

Overall, the students very much enjoyed working with moths, and found the Earthwatch trip to be quite interesting. We had an insightful discussion about the man-made and natural threats to moths and butterflies, and they used lots of Tier III, content-specific vocabulary as well. Hopefully they also learned something about moths along the way!


In addition to my lesson plan, I also published an article about my Earthwatch trip. Check it out!

http://laschoolreport.com/commentary-a-caterpillar-curriculum-the-importance-of-environmental-education-in-k-12-urban-classrooms/


Until next time...


Until next time...