Blog for 2009-06-19

From BiodivBorneo09

Today was our last day at Lambir. In the morning we made the final presentations of our projects. It was obvious to see that our sweat and blood (literally) went into the Lambir projects; they turned out great! Gooooood work everyone!

• Abigail and Kristina found a correlation between butterfly coloring and habitat type. More neutrally colored butterflies stick to the forest, whereas brighter butterflies are more likely to be found on the forest edge.
• My group (CHYEA!), Andrew, Douwe, and I, discussed how bark type is correlated with the number of lianas growing on a tree; we are more likely to find lianas on non-peeling bark and fissure versus smooth bark.
• Fae, Shana, and Serena discovered significant differences between size and insect yields of nepenthes in locations of varying disturbances.
• Team water strider, Mindi, Jess, and Alex, discussed the potential effects of population densities and water levels on water striders territorial behavior.
• Sreekar, Ridwan, and Agri compared two gecko species of Lambir, Cyrtodactylus pubisulcus and Hemidactylus frenatus, and found that there seem to be sexual size dimorphisms in tail lengths of both species, most likely due to their mating practices.
• Dita and Le found a difference in diversity and abundance of Basidiomycota in forest and gap regions. They also showed, using a phylogenetic tree, that basidiomycota species found in the forest seem to be most closely related to other species of basidiomycota they documented in the forest as opposed to the ones they found in gaps and visa versa.
• Nuwan and Aywen told us about their interactions with the Iban community. They found that the Iban people seem to have mixed feelings about Lambir Hills National Park. I just can’t believe anyone would eat poor little primates AH!

Sadly, after we finished our presentations we had to say goodbye to Lambir.  :( We headed to Miri where Lambir became a distant memory as we became mesmerized by MEGA hotel. Wowzers! Hot showers... buffet breakfast... pool... internet... heaven on... Borneo! Everyone explored the city. We checked out the mall, street venders, restaurants, and various other thrilling spots, probably eating waaay too much (or maybe that was just me?) Miri and Mega blew us away for the most part. Off to KK tomorrow for even more FREEEEEE time!!!