Things are going well out here on Barro Colorado Island! Peter, Jasmin, Keiana and I have been working on the endophyte project for the past month, and we’re making great progress so far. Every morning we go out to hike in the jungle for a few hours to collect environmental data on the different tree species we’re studying (we measure things such as canopy cover, diameter of the tree, number of leaves damaged by pathogens or herbivory, etc.) We also collect leaves that have been damaged by pathogens, and process them in the lab in the afternoons. Essentially, we cut up the leaves and sterilize them in ethanol and Clorox solutions before placing them into agar slants, which we will ship back to our lab to process later this year. ||||We’ve been having a great time exploring the island, as well! We’ve seen howler monkeys, toucans, coatis, agoutis, capuchin monkeys, spider monkeys, and an amazing number of plant and fungal species. It’s a great experience to be doing research on an island as beautiful as BCI.

Courtney Pellegrini