Any attempts to unravel nature’s complex web face
challenges, and in the 5 months since my last post, I have faced my fare
share. In aiming to understand Amazon forest floor ant community structure, I
have dug 460 pitfall traps, sieved through 360m2 of leaf litter, and sorted
around 30, 000 insect samples, two thirds of which were ants. These ants were
sorted to morpho-species level and around 3000 were mounted onto pins for
determination, resulting in a collection of roughly 250 species. Needless to
say I have been busy, and needing a break from the microscope.
But when muddying waters, you cannot help but wait to see
what is revealed when things fall back into place. I have glimpsed the complex
world of insects within tropical forests, but I still have little insight into
how these incredible pools of diversity come together to provide the functions
necessary to keep the cogs of the world’s most biodiverse regions turning. Any
attempt to do so requires a brave step towards whole systems analysis, steps
already undertaken by fellow researchers across the world. The SAFE project in
Borneo in addition to the DIADEMA programme in French Guiana are collating the
work of big teams of researchers to attempt to understand the responses of
biodiversity function and structuring against the twin threats of habitat
destruction and climate change.
Others are using novel ways to explore nature’s
machinations, through the use of model systems. Rather than stretching often
thin resources, scientists can focus their efforts on small discrete ecosystems
which can reveal the forces shaping natural communities at all scales. The Srivastava
lab at the University of British Columbia, and EcoFog in French Guiana use epiphytes
as models to explore environmental variation on food web structure, and over
the coming months, inspired by their work I hope to do the same. I am about to
embark on an incredibly exciting PhD project, which will enable me to push my
boundaries, and hopefully those of others too!
