Ulleungdo and Beyond

I was able to finish all of my data collection on Ulleungdo about two weeks ago and come back to the mainland. Since then, I've just been working on data calculations and analysis, including calculating biodiversity metrics for all of my plots. My analysis has given a couple of interesting results, including an inverse relationship between introduced species and distance from human development, and some other relationships between species cover/biodiversity and proximity. However, most of these results are fairly weak (even if they are statistically significant). I have yet to run my data through PCORD, so we'll see how that turns out once I get back to the states.
Otherwise, I am starting work on Phytolacca insularis very soon, which will include PCR and chloroplast DNA analysis. Should be exciting! Also I am visiting the National Institute of Ecology in about a week, so I am very eager to learn about their research and what they do there.

Grey Heron (it was hanging out near the pier and it flew closer so it could pose for me)

Some guy who's probably important

View from Bukhansan hike

True bug

Another view from Bukhansan hike

Jungle Crow (Corvus macrorhynchos)

Gochujang Dragonfly

Doenjang Dragonfly

A cool beetle

Daurian Redstart female at Deogyusan National Park

Another view from a Bukhansan hike

Butterfly on Lysimachia

Pale Thrush (on Ulleungdo, there were so many of them everywhere)

Scene in the forest on Ulleungdo

Field Work and Data

Hello! I haven't been posting much lately since I've been really busy with field work and such. I've been able to cover a lot of ground in two weeks, so I'm planning on finishing up here in about a week and heading back to the mainland. So far I have been able to hike Seonginbong and even Nari ryeong. Today I hiked from Tonggumi to Namyang and found a new Trail that I haven't heard hiked before. And then I spend my nights doing data entry. I am also working on a project with Phytolacca insularis so I have been collecting and preserving specimens of that plant. All in all it has been an interesting 2 weeks so far and I have been working and learning a lot. I'm looking forward to going back to the mainland and working with on my data and hopefully I will find some interesting things.

Aster pseudoglehni

Cool moth thing

White Backed Woodpecker

Cirsium nipponicum

Stairway of death

Some kind of bunting

Aster spathulifolium (oharai)

Blue and White Flycatcher

Cotoneaster wilsoni in the wild (kind of)

Dragonfly

Egret

Japanese wood pigeon

Me on the trail!

The trip so far

Well I've been in Korea for about two weeks now (wow! that seems so long!) and quite a bit has happened. The first week was dedicated to flying in, getting acclimated, and doing the EAPSI orientation. I even attended some Kpop events, and as a result my personal life has taken an interesting turn. I will spare the details of that though. After orientation, I met my professor over here, and then traveled over to Ulleungdo.
So I got to Ulleungdo over half a week ago, and my housing situation got a little messed up and I ended up bouncing around until I got the key for my place yesterday. I hadn't been able to pack my field bag until then, so my data collection got a little delayed. However, I went out today and got four sites done. My goal was five a day, but today I got a bit of a late start and ended early (mostly because I forgot to charge the batteries for my camera). So I think I will be able to collect all the data I need. I also decided to tweak my design a bit so that I will not be picking and choosing sites based on whether I think I can survey without falling down a steep hillside. Instead I will be randomly placing my quadrat frame within 10 meters of where I take my GPS point, which may or may not end up being right off the trail.
After I finished in the field, I hiked over to Bongrae Falls and headed back to my room for data entry and GIS. Fun stuff!
Anyways, I've seen a few cool things the past couple of weeks, so I will share them here.

Lonicera (japonica?)

Temple in Gyeongju

They're supposed to be guardians of something (can't quite remember what)

Queen Seondeok's Astronomical Observatory

Schizophragma hydrangeoides

Dodong from Dokdo Observatory

Temple on Ulleungdo

Houttuynia cordata

Varied Tit

Japanese Wood Pigeon

Sympetrum infuscatum

Thymus quinquicostatus (or Thymus magnus)

The view from where I ate lunch today

Berberis amurensis var. latifolia

One of my sample plots!

Preliminary Schedule

June 4 (early evening): land at Incheon airport
June 5-6: free time??
June 7-10: EAPSI orientation
June 10-14: Sungkyunkwan in Suwon to talk project details
June 15 - July 20: research on Ulleungdo!
July 21-31: Sungkyunkwan in Suwon for lab work and other (?)
August 1-29: stay in Seoul, travel the country a bit, lab work, data analysis

Costa Rica March 12-14

I arrived in Costa Rica a couple days ago and we stayed in Alajuela for one night before traveling down to Piro Research Station on the Osa Peninsula. So far it's been a lot to take in and a lot to see, but the jungle is very cool and the food has been amazing.
Yesterday we stopped at a bridge and were told why we should never go swimming in rivers in the tropics (crocodiles). I also got a new hair stick (binyeo) that has a little iguana on it and says "Costa Rica." I've decided that since I'm so terrible with jewelery I'm going to collect hair sticks wherever I go.
We started out today with a morning birding session which included Red-lored Amazons (parrots) and Yellow-billed Caciques building their nests.
After breakfast we hiked to the beach through the jungle. We saw some cool birds, lots of buttresses, and other cool jungle stuff. Among other things, we saw a gnatcatcher in an interspecies flock which our professor was particularly excited about. On the beach we got to see some flocks of Brown Pelicans flying south along the shore. On the way back I snapped a picture of a really nice Passiflora flower.
Tonight some of us are headed down to the beach to see if we can see some turtles. We won't be back until about 1 am though, so I'll have to update tomorrow.