Today we took the last sample of our Ecuador field effort, though we have a few days left in-country. Right now we are in the town of Mompiche, just down the coast from our second field site near Muisne. Tomorrow we’ll be sorting out gear and getting ready for a few days of meetings in Guayaquil. Then its time to fly home and start working up some data! I’m too tired to write a coherent post on the last two (intensive!) weeks of sampling, but here’s a photo summary of our work in the Cayapas-Mataje Ecological Reserve, where we spent the bulk of our time. Enjoy!
Pelicans congregating along a front in the Cayapas-Mataje estuary.
The town of Valdez, near the mouth of the Cayapas-Mataje estuary. The Reserve is right on the border with Columbia, and up until a few years ago Valdez had a reputation as a trafficking hub. Drug trafficking is still a problem throughout the Reserve, but with the conflict with FARC more or less over I understand that tension in the local communities has gone way down. Valdez seems okay, and the people we met there were friendly.
Another view of Valdez.
Shrimp farm in the Cayapas-Mataje Ecological Reserve. You can’t build a new farm in the Reserve, but old shrimp farms were grandfathered in when the Reserve was created.
The R/V Luz Yamira, at its home port of Tambillo. Tambillo was a vibrant, friendly little town where we spent a bit of time. The town is struggling to hold onto its subsistence fishing lifestyle in the face of declining fish stocks.
ADCP, easy as 1-2-3
Birds of a feather…
Morning commute from the city of San Lorenzo.
The Cayapas-Mataje Ecological Reserve has the tallest mangrove trees in the world.
I took this picture just for the good people at UCSD risk management.
Team Cayapas-Mataje. From left; Jessie, Natalia, and Jeff. We are standing in front of Jessie’s house in Tambillo. Many thanks to Jessie and his wife for letting us stay a night and get away from the craziness of San Lorenzo!
A very full car ready to head to Muisne. Its a good thing Natalia and I are both fairly short.
A large shrimp farm near Muisne. The area around Muisne has been almost entirely deforested for shrimp aquaculture. By comparing this area with the more pristine Cayapas-Mataje, we hope to better understand the biogeochemical consequences of coastal land-use change.
Jeff,
We are interested in microbial sampling from Ecuador – can we contact you for advice…?
cheers
Colin
Yes of course, shoot me an email (address on website home page).
Dear,
My name is André Lima, I am a researcher at the Federal University of Pernambuco, and together with Mário Barletta, we are writing a book chapter whose title is below:
“Protection of Estuaries in Developing Countries – Case Study from SA”
In this sense, we would ask you permission to use two images to be part of an example image of our chapter. The image is an unplanned urban settlement in Cayapas-Mataje, a study area of our chapter.
We hope you can your help us to disseminate what is the importance of preserving our wetlands, especially in relation to sustainable use of these ecosystems.
Thanks for listening!
I await your contacts!
André, I just contacted you via email for further discussion.