Major Fieldwork Update! Video included!

I hope that everyone is doing well, since I’ve last checked in with you. After an extensive wait period, with delays involving permit acquisition and numerous logistical challenges—I was able to travel to Jamaica to collect my sediment cores!

My trip to Jamaica lasted from February 2-10, 2018. My travel partner and trusted field assistant was Andrea Nurse, Paleoecology Research Associate at the UMaine Climate Change Institute. Andrea and I travelled to the field site close to Black River, Jamaica, where we met up with Romario Anderson and Kadane Coates, two graduate students currently pursuing studies at the University of the West Indies-Mona Campus. Romario and Kadane study physical geography and create environmental change reconstructions as part of work they conduct with Dr. Michael Burn—Lecturer in Climatology at the University of the West Indies-Mona Campus. Andrea and I were relieved to have arrived safely in Jamaica—after our flight had been cancelled coming out of Bangor Airport in Maine—and also to hear that all of our checked luggage and field equipment had arrived on the island.

We settled into our accommodations at the Port of Call Hotel after a quick trip to our field site at Wallywash Great Pond. During this trip, we scouted our coring location and marked target coring areas using buoys. I was in awe at how diverse and vibrant the lake ecosystem was: herons stood at the water’s edge waiting for their prey to swim by, hundreds of small forage fish darted in the shallows among the water lilies and other aquatic plants, and the silver streak of large tarpon flashed at the surface as they traversed the water column. The chatter of song birds permeated the air, and we even learned that crocodile sightings were not uncommon at the lake!

Two full days of sediment coring followed. We collected several meters of sediment from a shallow area of the lake, and also from a deeper basin—sediments which we hope will be rich in scientific clues that will help to assess the human and environmental history of the island. These sediments were shipped to the National Lacustrine Core Facility in Minnesota, USA (LacCore), where I will obtain whole and split-core scanning data (e.g. magnetic susceptibility and electrical resistivity) and conduct initial physical description of the core sediment.

After our final day of coring, we were greeted to a wonderful dinner at our lodging, where some project members and participants ate jerk chicken with rice and peas and freshly prepared local vegetables, while others preferred to have Jamaican-style escoveitch fish with boiled ground provisions, or flavorful curried goat. We thank the staff of the Port of Call Hotel in Black River , Jamaica for their excellent service and hospitality throughout our stay!

I woke up to an impressive view of the cerulean blue, clear Caribbean Sea washing invitingly at the white sand beach behind our lodging. As Romario and Kadane (expert corers!) returned to Kingston, Jamaica, we were joined by Patrick Lewis, Keeper of the Herbarium at the University of the West Indies-Mona Campus. Mr. Lewis assisted us with our field vegetation survey, and plant identification. Proper characterization of the modern plant community around Wallywash Great Pond gives us an idea about the pollen types that we should expect to find in our sediment cores. We hiked around the lake, carefully cataloguing different plant species and noting their relative abundances. This also involved quite a lot of bushwhacking, which was no problem, as we had stocked up on bug spray, and a newly sharpened machete from the hardware store earlier that day. The flora of Jamaica was beautiful, and from Mr. Lewis, I enjoyed learning not only about the identities of the plants, but also about their historical and cultural importance and uses.

I am extremely excited to begin sample processing and analysis in the lab. Our shipped samples have actually already arrived in the USA! By assessing the abundance and types of pollen, diatoms, charcoal and other proxies preserved in the sediments, in conjunction with determining its physical and geochemical characteristics, I will be able to piece together the main drivers of vegetation change in Jamaica over space and time, and evaluate the relative impacts of natural drivers, such as climate change, versus human drivers, such as agricultural land clearance, on the island’s landscapes.

Thank you very much for all of your support as I progress with this project! I greatly appreciate your time, help, words of encouragement, and valuable insights. Please take a few minutes to watch the video linked below, which contains clips and images that highlight my trip to Jamaica.

Enjoy!!!

A sincere thank you to Andrea Nurse, Romario Anderson, and Kadane Coates for fieldwork assistance and technical support during lake coring. Thank you to Patrick Lewis for assistance with the field vegetation survey and plant identification. Thank you to Dr. Michael Burn for technical and logistical support during fieldwork planning. Thank you to the Jamaica National Environment and Planning Agency, and the Jamaican Government Mines and Geology Division for the provision of necessary permits and documentation to conduct the work. Funds to support this project were provided by LacCore (National Lacustrine Core Facility, University of Minnesota), the Dan and Betty Churchill Exploration Fund (University of Maine, Climate Change Institute) and 195 amazing and awesome donors via Experiment.com!

I look forward to updating you again soon!!

Cheers, Mario