So what did we actually do for a week on Aotea/Great Barrier? The field trip was for a Terrestrial ecology course, which meant a lot of looking at trees, looking at shrubs, looking at wetlands, looking at wildly rotating coprolites, looking at mangroves, looking at more trees, and writing things down. At the moment I’m shuffling through the data we gathered to write my last assignment for the year (hooray!), and making lots of graphs. Instead of showing you all that stuff, I thought I’d put together a quick rundown of the week in photos. Enjoy!
Why are we here? To learn things! Things about wetlands! And forests!Look at this place!Seriously, this place is beautifulWindy Canyon is kind of amazingJust hanging out in the canopy of a Kauri, no big dealI wish I could take photos all the timeForest fieldwork is great until the transect tape winder breaks and you have reel it in by hand…Collecting shells before breakfastTiny worlds of Tōtara! Photography has the awesome application of measuring canopy cover.
Fun fact: A hemispheric lens is the wort possible tool to use for selfies.
Also fact: We did it anyway.
Dunes! The swathe of stones is the remnant of a massive ancient tsunami tearing up the bottom of the ocean which is pretty neat (but wasn’t back then, obviously)Sampling carbon fluxes in the estuarySkinks! This little dude is a Moko Skink (Oligosoma moco)Professor Perry’s post-peat-perusal perambulationsSunsets and silhouettesA still morning boat-ride through Port FitzroyI couldn’t leave the dolphins out!In fact, you get two dolphins.I could have done with another week out there, but the trip home was pretty stunning too.
Linn
16 Oct 2016Amazing. Field trips are hard work and great fun!