Matt's Headed Back

Hi everyone. Sorry I have been a non-participant in the blog for the past few weeks but it is called "Carrie and Matt's NZ Trip" and I have not been in NZ. My visit home has been really great. Of course it would have been better to have had Carrie with me but it was sure fun to see my family.
I'm getting on a plane tomorrow afternoon and arriving in New Zealand on Wednesday morning. Carrie will be there to meet me (she says) and we will begin the celebration of her birthday (December 27th)! She's turning 25, that seems so old. I'm sure glad I'm not 25 yet.
Ok, I just wanted to say farewell to those of you I've seen and see you soon to everyone. I'm headed back to summer!

I hope I get accepted to grad school

I've now submitted applications to six schools and the National Science Foundation. I met my goal of finishing before Christmas.

-U of Michigan Ann Arbor
-U of Massachusetts Amherst
-U of Texas Austin
-U of California Berkeley
-U of Illinois Chicago
-U of Connecticut Storrs

I like to think of them as AAAABCC. Or AAAABCS if you want to stick with the pattern.

Carrie

Electrofishing

On Thursday afternoon Kerry and I went out with the forestry company's environmental planner to do some stream monitoring. This meant electrofishing! While wearing waders for protection, you put on a backpack with a probe attached that delivers electric shocks to stun the fish in the water. Someone else holds a net downstream from the shocks to catch the stunned fish. We found heaps of macroinvertebrates (insect larvae that are developing in the water), crayfish (koura in Maori) and two kinds of fish, including a long-finned eel!


Kerry is wearing the shock-delivering backpack while the environmental planner holds the net and I take pictures.

The two species of eels in New Zealand have an interesting life cycle. They grow up in the freshwater streams, then as adults they migrate 5000 km to TONGA where they breed. Then the tiny elvers (baby eels) make their way back to NZ to grow up. In the Maori language, eel is a delicacy called 'tuna.'


This long-finned eel was about 26 cm long. They get much larger! Mature ones are as big around as your arm!

Carrie

P.S. In case anyone was wondering, it doesn't feel like summer here. We've had hail twice in the past three days and some mountains even had snow. I hope it's warmer at the beach for Christmas!

Have you ever toured a paper mill?

On Tuesday Kerry and I got a tour of the paper mill about 3 km down the road from us. Many of the trees harvested from the pine forest we're working in end up in paper products at the mill. Matt and I toured the Speights brewery and Cadbury chocolate factory in Dunedin, but those are tourist tours of food factories. When I was in Russia with the Tahoe Baikal Institute we toured the waste water treatment system of the pulp mill that discharges into Lake Baikal, but we didn't really get to see the factory at work. This paper mill tour was my first time in a huge, industrial factory. Cameras aren't allowed inside, so the best I could do was a picture from the road.

Factories are fascinating to me because they're so massive and automated. Some of the machines make you feel positively insignificant like a tiny ant walking by. I'm afraid of them, in fact, and I have to rationalize with myself that the machines aren't going to fall on me or explode.

The environmental manager of the plant led our tour. They recently drastically reduced the amount of material that they were sending to the landfill by using the wood as fuel in one of their burners. It was fascinating to learn about the way materials are moved from place to place within the factory and how the waste products are reconsituted and then reused.

The mill produces paper and bleached pulp. What the heck is pulp? What do you do with it? I wondered that too. Basically it's thick paper-like sheets that are sold to companies who further process it into things like tissue and toilet paper. The only paper they produce right now is the brown paper bag type. The paper mill also recycles paper on site that they incorporate into their brown paper.

The wood is chipped and then put through an enormous digester with various chemicals under high pressue to break down the wood fibers into useable pulp. Then the pulp gets washed and bleached (the safety video convered what to do in case of a chlorine gas leak). The easiest part of the tour for me to understand was watching the paper go through its final stages. They quish out the water on enormous rollers and the paper is spun onto enormous rolls and then cut to appropriate size. A huge machine suspended from the ceiling lifts the rolls and moves them around.

Another remarkable aspect of the mill was how few people we saw. Almost all of the people we saw were sitting in front of the computers running the machines.

If you've ever driven through Gary, Indiana then you know that paper mills don't smell nearly as dear as a chocolate factory. Walking through the mill was even worse and just driving near it. There were places where I felt like I couldn't (or shouldn't!) breathe in the air. The smell permeated our clothes and hair.

I am in incredible awe of the people who design such huge and complicated facilities. I have even more respect for the people who are designing factories to be as energy and resource efficient as possible, and those people who are finding ways to make older factories (such as this one) more efficient and environmentally friendly. While I definitely think that everyone should be using less paper, we still need paper factories, so we should make them as well as we possibly can.

Have you toured or worked in a factory? A paper factory?

Carrie

Where has Carter gone?

Tonight was our third night in a row without a beep from Carter. When we got to Carter's favorite road on Sunday, he wasn't at either of his previously known roosts (or more precisely, we did not pick up a signal from his transmitter at the roost sites). We failed to pick up any signal at all anywhere in the area on foot or by driving around, but we did hear him foraging later Sunday night. Monday and Tuesday nights he also went to this unknown roost location and it was raining, so we were not surprised that we didn't hear him fly past his favorite spot. Bats will sometimes opt to stay in for the night if the weather is bad. Tonight, however, was clear. We still didn't hear him. At this point we suspect he may have lost his transmitter in a place where we can't pick up the signal (like at this unknown roost location). Tomorrow night we're going to stake out his two previously used roost sites to listen for bats leaving the roost, since he appeared to be the only bat in those trees last week. We'll see what happens. Hopefully he wasn't eaten by a morepork (NZ owl).

Tomorrow night will probably be our last night tracking (or trying to track) Carter. Then things get REALLY exciting. On Christmas Eve I'm going to Kerry's parents' house and then on Christmas Day we're going to her grandparents' beach house for their big family celebration. I get to experience a real Kiwi Christmas at the beach!

On December 26th I'll drive to Auckland where I'll meet up with two professors from Earlham, Bill Buskirk and Jay Roberts. They're doing a 13-day whirlwind tour of NZ because Earlham is launching a NZ program in Spring 2008! I am SO excited to see Bill because he is one of my favorite Earlham professors and he's writing my letters of recommendation for grad school. I'm going to stay at the Auckland Friends (Quaker) Center with them on Dec. 26th, then pick up Matt at the Auckland Airport at 5 am on my birthday (Dec 27th)! I think Matt and I will celebrate our Christmas together on December 28th. It will be a change to have Christmas and my birthday the other way around. Then we're off to Wellington where hopefully we'll be able to spend a little more time with Bill and Jay before they cross over to the South Island.

Carrie

Clever vegetarians born not made

Kerry found this interesting headline in the New Zealand Herald today. The article basically says that smart people are more likely to become vegetarians. I got quite a kick out of this. Read the article yourself.

Carrie

Adventures in Radiotracking

Since there are probably about 3 people reading this blog who know what radiotracking is like, I thought I should describe it. When we catch a bat, we glue a little radiotransmitter to its back. It has a tiny battery that will allow it to emit beeps every second or so at a certain frequency until the battery dies (about 2 weeks later). We use an antenna attached to a receiver to detect the beeps and thus determine the location of the bat.

The strength of the radio signal is influenced by distance and objects (such as trees) between us and the bat. Bernie foraged extensively along the highway, where we often had a clear 'line of sight' and thus a nice strong signal. Carter, on the other hand, does not forgage much along the road where we caught him and instead forages in a valley with many trees between us and him. When we have a signal for him at all, it's usually weak and difficult to hear.

Radiotracking generally goes something like this: We drive along with the antenna out the window. When we start to hear beeps instead of just static, we stop the car, jump out, and turn the antenna around 360 degrees. As we turn, we determine in which direction the signal is the loudest. Then we take a bearing with a compass and record our position and the bearing to the bat. If possible, we try to move closer to the bat and take another bearing.



This is me using the radiotracking gear to find Carter's roost tree. He has roosted for the day in three different locations and we have been able to find two of them. Both were in dead standing pines quite close to the road where we caught him.

We often lose Carter's signal for minutes at a time. He usually reappears after about 10 minutes without us going anywhere, but if he's gone for much longer than that then we hop in the car and drive down the road to see if he's at one of his roosts.

Last night we were driving along searching in the rain for his signal when we suddenly heard it again. Kerry stopped the car and I jumped out to take a bearing. I landed in a squishy spot and moaned about my misfortune to land in a muddy spot along the road. The Carter's signal was really strong and it sounded like he was quite close to us and actually flying down the road. I stepped aside to take the bearing when I smelled something terrible. I looked back at where I had been standing and saw a big pile of entrails writhing with maggots! Of all the places to stop along the road, I had stepped smack in the middle of a three foot (1 m) wide mass of possum guts. It smelled so foul.

Possum trappers can get permits to trap in the forest. Then they pluck the fur to sell to textile manufacturers or sell the skins. A few days ago we met a possum trapper who'd set heaps of traps down this particular road. I'd stepped right into his gutting pile where he'd dealt to all the possums he trapped.

Carrie

We Had Ourselves a Merry Litlte Picnic

On Saturday night Kerry and I had a dessert picnic at our radiotracking site. We have to get to the site before dark in case Carter has changed roosts, but if he hasn't then we have plenty of time to stand around waiting for it to get dark. So, we thought cheesecake would be a good way to pass the time.



A stick insect also came to our party.

Carrie

Ana Bat

We decided to posthumously name the female bat Ana Bat. Kerry thought it would be better to start over at A for the females because then you can quickly tell how many males and females have been caught/found. We're calling her Ana Bat because Anabat is the name of a fancy bat detector, and we don't know anyone named Ana Bat.

Carrie

D for Dead :-(

Unfortunately, the unnamed 'D' female died tonight. I wasn't there; I was off following Carter but Kerry radioed to tell me. Kerry unsuccessfully tried to release the female. Bats have a very high metabolism when they are active but they go into topor (mini hibernation) during the day to conserve energy. Kerry thinks that the bat used up too much of its energy today when it got disturbed by the loggers. It was roosting in a dead tree that was felled, so I'd imagine that's pretty stressful. Kerry offered it moths but it wasn't interested, so she drove to Hamilton (over an hour away) to get mealworms from another grad student who is studying bats. Kerry is staying the night in Hamilton.

Carter has now used two different day roosts right by the road where we caught him. I was all prepared to stake out his roosts tonight to find out when we is coming back for the night. I had my sleeping bag and pillow in the back of Kerry's station wagon. But, with Kerry in Hamilton I'm not comfortable spending the night in the forest alone, so I came back when I lost his signal and was falling asleep.

I think we still need a name for this bat, since Kerry similarly came upon'Alfred' after a logging incident. He died shortly thereafter, but he started the alphabetical theme. It's a real bummer this one died because females usually roost in groups instead of alone like males. A second bat was found with this female, but it disappeared before we arrived at the site.

Carrie

Names that start with D

Some loggers found a female bat today, so we've got a new one! Kerry will track her tonight while I track Carter. We need D name for a female! Suggestions, please! I'll post pictures of her tomorrow.

Carrie

What we do once we catch a bat

Welcome Carter! We're naming the bats in alphabetical order.

We did a better job photodocumenting Carter than we did with Bernie. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring our camera that night, but Kerry had her camera so these are all from hers. I hope you enjoy reading about what we do when we catch a bat!

At 11:45 Kerry and I were both sitting at the net for the last watch shift. We heard a bat (using a bat detector) flying down the road and the sound suddenly changed to buzzing as if a large mosquito was hovering in front of the bat detector. Kerry went to check the net and lo and behold- there he was, a little lump in the mist net about 7 m above the ground. We caught Bernie at approximately the same height.

As we lowered the net, the buzzing started again on the bat detector, so then we knew that noise was coming from him. We didn't hear this from Bernie.


We lowered the net and Kerry easily removed him. He wasn't nearly as tangled as Bernie was.


We put him in a little cloth bag in the ute (pickup truck) while we took down the mist net. We also use the bag to weigh him (I forgot to take pictures of this). Then we measure his forearm length (shown above).


Next we trace around one wing. This is pretty difficult, but the area and aspect of the wing can tell the speed and maneuverablility their flight.


Bats can be sexed externally. Here's a picture of his boy bits.


Age (juvenile or adult) is determined by shining a light through the wing membrane and seeing how much cartilage is present. Carter is an adult.

Next we put a tiny band on his wing. It isn't actually a ring so the ends lie along the wing membrane on either side.

Then we have to trim fur from a spot on the back for the radio transmitter. The trimmed fur is kept for later analysis.


Once the transmitter has been securely glued on, he's pretty much ready to go. We were hoping to collect a fecal sample from him for diet analysis, but he didn't produce. Before he could fly off, we had to warm him up. Kerry put him inside her shirt for a few minutes. I got to release him by holding him in my hand up in the air. He decided to climb up my jacket right before taking off.

We managed to track him for about 2 hours, until 4:30 am. This evening we'll hopefully find his roost and track his foraging!

Carrie

FINALLY!

After 3 weeks, 20 net nights, 100 huhu beetles, 6 songbirds, and an owl, we caught another bat! I never imagined it would be so difficult to catch bats here, but at least we've got one now! It's another male and we're calling him Carter. We tracked him for 2 hours after releasing him. I took lots of pictures, but it's getting light outside now so it's time for me to go to sleep. I'll post more about Carter soon!

Carrie

My Weekend in Rotorua

Matt and I were planning to spend the weekend in Rotorua, but since he had to fly home I went on my own. Kerry and I took a break from trying to catch bats on Friday and Saturday nights, so I drove to Rotorua, a popular tourist spot about 40 minutes away from Tokoroa. I checked into a backpackers' hostel (abbreviated to 'backpackers' here instead of 'hostel' for some reason) and spend the rest of the afternoon walking around Rotorua.

The town of Rotorua is next to Lake Rotorua. The area is covered in thermal pools, bubbling mud, and geysers. It's quite the little hot spot! Kuirau Park in the middle of town is pockmarked with signs that they're on a volcano. The park- the city park- even had a minor eruption in 2001 that lasted 15 minutes. This is the most amazing little park I've ever been to. There are steam vents, bubbling mud, thermal pools, and steam drifting through the trees. It felt like some kind of enchanted place from a movie!



Me at a thermal pool. I had tons of fun using our tiny tripod and the timer setting on the camera to take pictures of myself.



While New Zealand has its share of hot springs and such, I hear that Yellowstone has half of the world's geysers and has lots of bubbling mud. Gotta visit Yellowstone sometime.

The hostel I stayed at had its own thermal pool. It wasn't terribly hot so I spent hours in there on Saturday night hanging out with some other travelers. I forced myself to go to be early (12:30) only to be repeatedly disturbed by the coughing and snoring of my unfortunate dorm mate. There were only two other women in that room, and one of them was a snorer! What are the odds? Of course, I always travel with earplugs but conveniently left them in Tokoroa for this short trip. I made do with tissue in my ears.

On Sunday morning I visited the Quaker meeting in Rotorua. There were 7 people there including me. They met at someone's house. It was great to be among Friends. They were very curious to hear about my adventures with bats in the pine forest! Dan and Donna, a couple from New York who are now New Zealand residents, invited me to their house for lunch after meeting. It was delightful! Then Dan and I went for a walk in the redwood forest near Rotorua. Yes, there are very large redwoods growing in New Zealand and no, they aren't native. These are California redwoods. They've become quite a popular tourist attraction and exercise area.



This is a slice of a 96 year old redwood. I think the tree was about as wide as I am tall. Quite a few of those growth rings are an INCH or more, which means this tree was growing TWO INCHES in diameter each year. I imagine the redwoods in their native range have 10 or more growth rings per inch.

On my way back to Tokoroa on Sunday afternoon, Lu's odometer rolled to 390,000 km. I think that's 243,750 miles. Go Lu!



I'm looking forward to visiting Rotorua again when Matt comes back to New Zealand. He's arriving in Auckland at 5:30 AM on my birthday (December 27). Then we'll have to pick another day that's not my birthday to celebrate Christmas together. Matt will get to celebrate Christmas at home with his family before hopping on a plane while I will be experiencing a real Kiwi Christmas at the beach with Kerry's family.

Carrie

For Those of You Who Have Not Heard

For those of you who have not heard my (Matt's) grandmother Hilda (Grand) Dennis passed away earlier this week. She would have been 95 years old this Christmas Eve. Those of you who knew her know that she was an incredible woman whose life has touched and changed so many around her. For a bit of perspective on 95 years it means that she was born several months before the Titanic sank and an awful lot has happened since then. She will be sorely missed but forever remembered. I have returned to the US for the services in New York. I will be staying with my Mom here in DC until Christmas Day. So those of you who are in the area should get in touch. Please keep Grand and all of her family and friends in your thoughts.

Matt

Possums and Opossums

Many visitors to our blog have noted that the picture we posted of the possum raiding the Christmas party buffet bears little resemblance to the marsupial seen crossing the road in the U.S. The Virginia opossum (North America’s only marsupial) was introduced to New Zealand (heaven only knows why), but for whatever reason it hasn’t made a pest of itself. We have yet to see a Virginia opossum here, dead or alive.

The common brushtail possum from Australia is the possum we see all over New Zealand. In spite of shared colloquial names, the Virginia opossum and Australian possum are not very closely related but are distant relatives (they are both marsupials, but they are in different Orders). There are many other species in South America, Australia, New Guinea, and Sulawesi that all share the common name (o)possum.

The brushtail possum has positively flourished in New Zealand after being introduced to establish a fur trade. The other night when we were returning home from our attempts to catch bats, we saw 9 on the road in our 15 minute drive! They’re much cuter than the Virginia opossum, but so destructive!

Carrie

P.S. If you want to read more about marsupials or possums, Wikipedia has a lot of good information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Possum

Applying to Graduate School

I’ve submitted my first three applications to graduate school at:

University of Michigan (Ann Arbor)- Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
University of Massachusetts (Amherst)- Organismal & Evolutionary Biology
University of California (Berkeley)- Environmental Science, Policy, & Management

It feels good to have those out of the way. I had to spend over an hour on the phone with my mom in the U.S. to complete the U of M (Michigan) application online. I was having trouble getting it to work here in New Zealand and the U of M tech people told me that their system is not compatible with dial up so their solution was that I should go find a faster internet connection! Well, I would if I could without paying heaps more money. Do they really think I’d choose dial up if there were a faster option? So my mom filled in questions on their forms and uploaded the appropriate documents for me over their fast connection in Dayton (by the way, that’s my parents winning our unofficial blog viewing contest :-). U of M had other annoying features on their online application site, so if I had to grade them, they would get a D-. They should’ve asked my opinion on their site before putting it online. I’d give them an earful.

The UMass online application was much simpler. I only had trouble when it came to paying the application fee, so they get an A-. UC Berkeley’s site was actually fast to load over dial-up but it had a few quirks, so they also get an A-.

Carrie

P.S. Still no more bats.