Hi folks,

I spent the first two weeks of the summer at the Cocobolo Nature Reserve in the Madrona region of Panama. To get a better idea of where it is located, open this file with Google Earth: file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Nora%20Purcell.NORA/Desktop/Coco_outline_improved.kmz
It is an outline of the reserve that I made by integrating GPS field points (courtesy of my research advisor David Abernathy's nine hour perimeter hike!) into a georeferenced, digitized topographic map.

During my visit, I was able to meet Michael Roy, the biologist who founded CREA (Conservation, Research, Education, and Action), the non-profit group that administers the reserve. They have a really neat site that you should check out. I also got to meet Emilio Espino, a Panamanian student doing forestry research at Cocobolo. He shared his incredible knowledge of the rain forest flora and fauna, and I helped him put his data into GIS. Over all, I feel like I gained a much deeper and broader picture of the pressures facing the region, the culture, and the incredible natural history.

Right now, a student I work with is putting external sensors on to the wireless network infrastructure (courtesy of Sun Microsystems SunSPOT project). This had been a large stumbling block, but with that complete we are one giant leap closer to getting accurate, real time data from the reserve. Another piece of great news I just received is that Engineers without Borders wants to get involved by providing Cocobolo and the surrounding area with internet access. This is invaluable to our project because it means that we would be able to program the sensors in Panama while sitting in our lab in North Carolina! Next question: how to maintain a power supply. Solar would be great, but it is unreliable below the canopy and it would have to be able to withstand fierce rain storms and curious monkeys. In this photo, I am outside CREA headquarters recharging a sensor using a prototype solar pack:




Here's a link to some more photos from Evan Wantland, one of the professors with whom I was traveling.

While at the reserve, I had a lot of time to consider the interaction between the health of the environment and the health of the community that depends on it, the focus of my CMAP. My latest long term goal is to figure out the best way to integrate the data I generate on micro climate of the forest understory with an understanding of Chagas disease ecology. Never heard of it? Check out this site that gives on overview of this neglected tropical disease.

As for me personally, I am spending the summer in the Texas Panhandle doing toxicology research through the National Science Foundation's Research Experience for Undergraduates program. I have been looking at endocrine effects of a common herbicide on Gambusia affinis. I present in one week, and then I'm flying home to Vermont. I have a brief break before the next semester begins. If you'd like to know more about any aspect of my research, please send me an email and I'd be more than happy to chat.

Take care!