All Island Ant Survey

Every CAST tour, that is, every six months, a survey is conducted called the All Island Ant Survey. The purpose of the study is to find out where the infestation of Yellow Crazy Ants is located. Perhaps the infestation area has grown, gotten smaller, shifted, a random spot popped up outside the infestation area, or it has remained the same. Another reason the survey is completed is to find out if there is an infestation of a new species of ant. And the last reason for the survey is to get an idea of all of the ant species on the island and their placement and numbers. This will help us to determine the kind of response the other ant species may have with the future removal of the Yellow Crazy Ant Species.

Now the island is set up with a grid system. A number and letter grid system, to be exact. Every 50 meters there is a flag to indicate that spot. If you were to be at one of these flagged locations, you could look at the flag and see that it is labeled with its grid number. For instance, this is 32G. If you were to walk South, 50 meters away from its location, you would find 32H. If you kept walking, the next flag you would hit would be 32I. Now, if you took a turn to the east, you would find a flag 50 meters away that was labeled 33I. You get how this works? Anyway, the whole point of this grid thing is to tell you that during the All Island Ant Survey, all of these points will be part of the data collection process. And there are 1,053 50 meter points on this island.

The day prior to starting the survey, we wrap aluminum foil around 15ml centrifuge tubes. The foil is there to keep the inside of the tube cool so that ants will be more likely to enter a normal temperature tube as opposed to a sauna tube. We foiled about 80-100 tubes per person, or 400-500 total tubes the first day. We also fill out our notebooks. We have a spot for the 50 meter point name, the time we put the tube down, the time we pick up the tube, and, again the 50 meter point name, but this time in permanent marker. We cut between the labels so they are tear-able. These will be going in the tube with the Spam and ants.

The night before the survey, we have a Spam party. Katrina is the Spam cutter. She cuts the Spam into little cubes. The rest of us, me with my fondue fork, put the Spam into the tubes. We close the tubes immediately so the Spam will not dry out and will be as fresh and smelly as it can be in the morning. And I do mean morning. I get up, grab my 80-100 foil wrapped tubes filled with Spam, and am at my first 50 meter point at six-thirty. I open a tube, make sure there is in fact Spam in it, tear the appropriate label from my notebook, put it in the tube, then the tube gets put by the flag; I write down the time and move to my next point.

Once I have been to all of my points, I head back to my first one. For this survey, we wait two hours to pick up the tubes. So, I put my first one down at six-thirty, so I can pick up at eight-thirty. There is a twenty minute buffer if I am late. Good thing, because if I was over the two hour mark, and past the twenty minute mark for picking up the tube, I would have to resurvey the points I overshot the next day. Good thing I was never late getting a tube! When I do pick up the tube, I approach slowly and quietly. I do not want to scare the ants. Then I grab the tube and close the lid, being careful not to smash any ants in the cap. Once I have picked up all my tubes, I count them to make sure I have not forgotten one. Before I head back to camp, I make sure I don’t have any Yellow Crazy Ant hitchhikers. We don’t want to be providing them rides to make a larger infestation area, especially in camp.

Once at camp, we take off all the foil wrapping, but doing it gently so they can be reused. Then we check to make sure we have ants. We make piles. A “Yes ants in tube” pile and an “empty tube” pile. Our empty tubes have to be double checked by one other person just to make sure.

For preliminary data, we document the tubes that are empty “none”, the tubes with other ant species “OAS”, and the tubes with Yellow Crazy Ants, “YCA.” Then the tubes get put into Ziploc bags according to their transect numbers. For example, all the tubes that are collected along the 32 line get put into the “All Island Ant Survey, Transect 32, July 14, 2014” bag. Then all bags are put into the freezer for 48 hours. This will most nicely kill the ants. It has to be done pretty soon or else they could start eating each other. The first day, we did 25 of the 64 transect lines of the island. The rest of the day was filled with putting the recycled foil on new tubes and, that night, another Spam party. The next day we did 27 of the remaining 39 transects. The last day, we finished the last 12. That was a lot of walking. But we did get to see a lot of the island that way. Lots of new things to discover! My second day I had a bunch of Short Eared Owls following me! My first day, I found a nasty centipede stealing a Spam cube from one of my tubes.

Once the 48 hour freeze time was complete, we were free to start Ant ID. Of all the 1053 tubes we collected, 736 tubes contained ants.

Some reasons there were no ants in some tubes could be because the point was in the middle of a concrete parking lot or the tubes were close to the ocean and was too wet for the ants liking. But still, 736 tubes is a lot of ants to ID. The first step is to label the tubes. That kind of got to be my job. I use the label inside the tubes that were torn from notebooks to tell me what to label the outside of the tube. I didn’t do them all at once. I just stayed ahead of people grabbing them to ID the ants inside.

At first, we would do Ant ID two people at a time as the Ant ID table held two chairs and two microscopes. We first pull out the ants from the tube using paint brushes or probes. Then we spread them out and count them.

Some of the ant species cooperate. Some don’t. Some separated nicely. Some stick to your probe and won’t come off. Some like to cuddle and mess up our count. Some big ants like to hide smaller species of ants. Some are imbedded into the Spam. Some like to be ripped apart unless you are extremely gentle. Some are squashed in the cap and have to be peeled off. I guess what I am trying to say is that they are not always helpful. We do what we have to do to separate the ants from each other and lay them out in a tray. Then we count them. Then it is time for the microscope. We use a key to help us make IDs. Like one step is, “How many antenna club segments are present? If 3, go to step 6, if 2, go to step 20.” It doesn’t say exactly that, I made that up, but it is very similar. When we follow the steps, it gets us to the right species.

Then we write the information down. The station (the 50 meter point), the observer (who counted and IDed it), the species of ant, and the number of ants. Then the tray gets put aside until the other person can double check it. They recount and re-key out the species of ants.

Once everything is confirmed, the information can go into the official Ant ID notebook to be used to enter the data into the computer.

I was noticing that we were having a hard time coming up with the same number of ants when we double checked. It could be counted four times and four different numbers of ants would be counted. Some of the tubes contained hundreds of ants and some of them are pretty tiny. It is hard to count that many. Then I had an idea. What if we arranged them neatly? I tried it without saying anything. I put my next tube’s ants in rows of ten. When it came time for the other person to double check, they were able to count them so fast and they came up with the same number as me! It saved so much time. I don’t think I actually said anything about my idea, the others just did the same thing after seeing how easy and fast it was. Like this picture, there are 774 Tapinoma melenocephalum in this tray. Could you imagine them just scattered about? What would be the odds that two people would come up with the same number the first time around? In this method, the second counter only has to verify that each row does, in fact, contain ten and then count the number of lines. Piece of cake, accurate, and fast.

Then another thing came to mind. Most of the time is spent doing Ant ID is counting all the ants, not IDing them. So why do we need to limit the man power by the number of microscopes? The answer is, we don’t. I suggested that we can all work on Ant ID at the same time.

Making it five people instead of two. This sped up the process by an amazing amount. Some sat at the “Ant ID” table and some at the kitchen table counting out the ants. Then, when it was time to ID the ants, we just walked them over to a microscope, spent a maximum of five minutes there, and went back to count a new tube. Towards the end, though, we were getting really good at IDing the ants without a microscope. We are like ant species experts or something!

I guess the most important thing to learn from this is that of the 736 tubes that contained ants, we have zero left to count and ID. After spending three to four hours a day counting ants, a total of 498 personnel hours, we finished! I am told that no crew, since the first one back in 2010, has completed the All Island Ant Survey Ant ID. Go CAST VIII! And a special woop-woop to Colin for counting the largest number of ants in one tube…ever. 993 Monomorium pharoanis. That was a lot of rows of ants! I would also like to thank our Team Leader, Katrina, for listening to my ideas. Team work…I like it!

Unsuspected Enemy

During the Marine Survey, Steve had to stop swimming to count a large group of fish so I stopped as well.  I was just staying in one place, trying to fight the current when I felt like my hand scraped across coral . . . hard.  I gasped, grabbed my hand, and looked to my right.  It was a damn Grey Chub.  He BIT me!  What the hell?  I kicked at him to scare him and he swam away.  I looked at my hand and I had a mark!

What the hell?  I say again.  I continued to swim and noticed that the bastard was following me.  He was getting close too.  I waving my hands and feet at him, but he had so much confidence that he didn’t move.  I had to swim looking backwards to keep my eye on him.  He was totally freaking me out.  He wasn’t big, maybe ten inches long, but he is not a pleasant looking fish.

These fish remind me of piranhas and thus remind me of those movies.

I did not want to find myself in the middle of a red food coloring pool of blood so I kept my eye on him.  As we were nearing shore and the end of the coral, I turned as saw the Chub hovering at the end of the coral, staring at me.  We was totally giving me the stare down.  Then he slowly turned and went back.  What did I ever do to him?  I hope he is not there when we do the survey again . . . jerk!

Ferdinand

I run the Karo Syrup station during ant baiting.  It is one of the ingredients to our bait mixture.  I have to pour in bottles of the stuff to each bucket of bait we make.  The stuff is sticky and in no way am I going to get all of it out.  So after I dump most of the bottle out, I do a sort of drip method to get the rest out.

I balance one bottle upside down on a right side up bottle and let the leftovers drip into the bottle.  This way I can use it for the next batch without wasting it!  The whole point of this background information is so that you will understand why I need an assistant:
Ferdinand.

Ferdinand is a gecko.  She was there during the crew change over.
Jane told me all about her, except her name.  So I had to ask Jane what it was.  On the spot, she came up with the name Ferdinand.  Now, I don’t know about you, but she looks like a girl to me.  So she is Ferdinand the gecko.  Isn’t she precious?  She is there to help me when I spill.  She is the cleanup crew.

Sometimes, Ferdinand finds that the bottles of Karo are too full.  She worries of a future spill.  So she will take time from her busy day to reduce the amount of Karo to prevent a future spill.  She is thoughtful that way.  Geckos can’t get diabetes, right?

Island Slack

Over the weekend, we decided to do something a little different with Slack Lining. We put it over the water. We suspend the line between two docks.

The docks are not all together pristine. To get to the action, we had to balance beam on the remaining skeleton of a dock. Don’t worry about falling. It’s just water. The water was a perfect greeny-blue.

And there were distinct clouds there only to provide beauty, not shade. It was a beautiful day. And we spent it falling into the water attempting to slack line. Well, not everyone fell. Colin was slack lining backwards making us look bad. And Katrina was there taking pictures.

Kyle is getting pretty good. He can make it about half way before falling. Steve can take one step before falling. And I can do about two or three steps before falling to a watery demise. Colin and Kyle like to have battles. They start at opposite ends and walk towards each other. The one battle they had this weekend ended with Kyle losing and getting “upset” and shaking Colin from the line to join him in the water.

And did I mention how unbelievably clear the water was?

It was mystifying. It was all the things you feel when you are speechless. It was a good day.

Please note: These photos were taken by Katrina!

Ramona

I was sitting next to my first survey point last week, just waiting for the correct allotted time to elapse before continuing my survey.

So there I was, just sitting there, eating a granola bar, when she landed right next to me. Ramona. She is a White Tail Tropicbird. We do not have many here. We see them flying occasionally, but we hardly see them on the ground. But there she was. She landed and waddled her way deeper into the Iron Wood tree. I took a few pictures and then I had to finish my survey.

She was there an hour and half later when I was finished. She was even there the next day. I had an early morning at the internet, like at 5am, and she was still there under the tree. We were all thinking it, but didn’t want to jinx it . . . nest . . . shhhh. Later in the week was Tropicbird Mean Incubation Counts (MICs), how convenient. And this bird was in one of the sectors we had to check. We all wanted to see if she had an egg, but now, in the name of science, we were required to check. Nice! During the MICs, we find active nests. That is nests with chicks or eggs. To check for an egg, you have to tip the adult who is sitting on it to see if she is in fact sitting on an egg. And that is what I got to do. I got to tip her. As I approached her, she was taking a nap. So freaking adorable.

I started to talk to her so that I wouldn’t wake her up with a poke.
That would have been rude. Once she was awake, I noticed how small she was. These birds are much smaller than the Red Tail Tropicbird.

She is the size of a pigeon. She also has two amazing white tail feathers. I continued to talk with her while I tipped her. She had an egg! It was a dark purple and very pretty. I put her back down on her egg and she is still there today, just sitting on her baby. We are avoiding pre-naming the chick. We wish her success and happiness!

Watch My Six

So Steve and I were doing the Marine Survey, minding our own business, when I saw something out of the corner of my eye. It was so huge that it made my heart jump and I gasped – which is a weird thing to do with a snorkel in your mouth. It was a Yellow Fin Tuna. Why on Earth does something need to be that large? This guy was over six feet long and, according to Wikipedia, these things can weight up to 400 pounds! He was also very round. Like, I would not have been able to wrap my arms around him. He must have been about fifteen feet from me.

Unfortunately, I was unable to overcome my excitement and was not able to take a picture. I was, however, ready for what followed shortly after. A Grey Reef Shark.

She was beautiful. She came from behind, checking us out. Why do they always come from behind? Steve was looking at some tiny fish and had no idea what was right beside him. I sped up my kicking and tugged on Steve’s fin. He turned around and all I did was point, as I was still watching the shark. She swam past us and then turned around to make another sweep.

She was about five feet long. She made about six passes as Steve and I just watched. She was so curious. She got a little closer, probably within six feet of us on some of the passes. We could see her eye examining us. She took one last loop and then continued on her way. Very cool!

Internet Café

This is the Internet Café. It lives about a mile from camp. We have to bike there or walk/run if you are crazy. So every time I want to check my email, look for jobs, or Skype with my family, I bike here. There is only so much work load the internet can handle. So you can’t ask too much of it, like loading two things at once, or having more than one device hooked up to the internet at one time. Therefore, only one person uses the internet at a time.

Inside you will find a chair and table, as well as the all-important fan. It gets well over a hundred degrees in this thing. I could sit outside, the wireless will reach, but I can’t see the screen of either my Nook or laptop. There are Goal Zero batteries that are hooked to the solar panel to get charged. We run the fan on that. We can also charge our devices. Things are slow to load. I was sent a seven minute mp3 and it took forty minutes to download. I am able to Skype, which I am still amazed at. Some days are frustrating because the call keeps dropping. Other days it works so well that we can get video to work. But most of the time, it is just voice calls and I usually have to type. My family says that I sound like a robot and they can’t understand me. Facebook is also hit and miss. Some days work fine, others, I can’t even get the page to load, let alone write something. The Internet Café has taught me a life lesson in patience.

Pictures don’t take too long. Once I compress them, it takes only about five minutes to send. That is how this blog is even existing.
I can’t get into the blog site half the time, and uploading a picture to the site . . . forget about it. Instead I send all of these blogs and pictures to my administrative assistant on the main land, my sister, and she posts them for me. Let’s all take a moment and thank her for her hard work. Thank you, Kelly!

Now Accepting Applications!

Hey everyone, if you have been enjoying my blog posts from Johnston Atoll, then apply to come here to experience it yourself.  That is the only way to get to this island.  It is not open to the public.  If you have any inkling of a desire to apply, then do it!  Deadline is coming up fast so get working on it.  If you don’t apply, they can’t say yes.

The requirements are not outrageous.  I mean I have a degree in aviation and I made it!  If you qualify, you could get yourself six months on a beautiful remote island in the middle of the Pacific Island.  Plus a month in Hawaii!!!  Have you ever been?  You could, if you make your resume pretty and apply!  Life is full of regrets.  Don’t let not applying be one of them.

http://wfscjobs.tamu.edu/jobs/johnston-atoll-9th-crazy-ant-strike-team-cast-ix-volunteer-positions/

Kyle “Kiki”

Kyle “Kiki”

Turned 23 on island in July
Hometown: Winter Springs, FL, which is near Orlando
Education: BS in Environmental Science with minor in Russian from University of Alabama

Jobs on the island: Gator maintenance, tide station cleaning, weather recording, and compost toilet duties

What do you do on the island for fun?

Kyle likes to talk about what kind of wine would complement the meals here.  He loves to eat cheese, meat, (food in general) and moans when he eats it.  Kyle is often heard laughing out loud while he reads.  He enjoys playing card games – he really good a learning new games . . . fast.
He was our Tetris master when we had to stock the freezer with our 7 month supply of frozen food.  We have bike trailers here, and for some reason, Kyle loves to pull them around.  Any job that is normally done with the gator but can be done with a bike trailer is done with a bike trailer.  He also enjoys smashing our empty cans.  He’s like our island Hulk.  In the evenings, he can be found doing bike laps on the runway, lifting weights, and doing yoga.  He watches the sunset and absorbs the infinite shades of blue of the ocean.  He also enjoys watching Boobies being antagonized by Great Frigate birds.  He and Steve have a love relationship over Star Trek.  Kyle found a hidden gift from a past teacher in an old journal.  The gift?  Star Trek episodes.
He tells us all about how great they are.  Kyle also enjoys petting his fluffy as a kitten beard.

Why did you apply for the job?

The job description stuck out to him.  At the time of applying, it was nearing the end of his past internship.  He started to look for jobs in February.  This job was the first one he applied to.  It was the most extreme he had ever seen.  He said that it seemed improbable that he would get the position.  But it was too cool not to apply.  He was completely shocked when he was offered the job.  Kyle has no expenses, he’s not tied down to anyone, and everyone told him to take it because it may not be able to take it later in life.  And now he is here!

What do you hope to get out of island?

The lifestyle this job described in the interview appealed to Kyle a lot because there are too many things are about the real world that bother him.  Being away from civilization is a turn on.  He feels that it is a way to get back in touch with life.  Kyle wants to get intimate with this piece of land and all its inhabitants.  You can’t find this stuff anywhere in the world.  He is finding that he is trying new things, like the food he would never had tried at home.
Kyle is looking forward to going back home with a knowledge of new experiences from the island.

What’s next for Kyle?

He has no idea.  Kyle has in his brain to take a nice road trip when he gets home, maybe some place up north.  His girlfriend is going on a study abroad in February, and he would like to take this road trip with her go before she leaves.  Kyle plans to start looking for jobs in September from the island.  He is interested in Student Conservation.
Maybe joining a trail crew.  Kyle would also like to do to be a part of WOOFING.  That’s the World Wide Opportunity in Organic Farming.  He would love to work on a Vineyard maybe California, or somewhere on West coast.

What do you miss from home?

Wikipedia – looking up random things.  He misses the girlfriend.
Being able to have literal human warmth and companionship.  Fresh food and to be able to purchase from a store and farmers markets.  Wine tastings (exasperated cry).  Sleeping in (too hot to sleep in here).

What is the first meal you want when you get back home?

Brandy Alexander.  Tender organic pork chops.  Glass of red wine.

If you could be any super villain, who would it be?

Syndrome from The Incredibles, because I respect his confidence with tech gadgets.  And, think back about his ultimate goals, they are truly nefarious.

What is your guilty pleasure movie?

        Avatar.

Would you rather cry or flirt your way out of a speeding ticket?

        Flirt.  That would be more interesting.

Colin “White Tail”

Turned 24 on island in July
Hometown: Wall, New Jersey near Asbury Park
Education: BS in Wildlife Biology and Natural Resource Ecology (double majored) from the University of Vermont

Jobs on the island: Ant Farms, Bike maintenance

Why did he apply to this position?

It seemed cool. There was no cost coming from him, like a plane ticket or food, so he was all for it. The fact that it was work with breeding birds on an island was a really exciting to Colin. He has experience banding birds but he wanted to do more. He has a friend who was part of an earlier CAST crew and he said it was cool experience. It was also cold when Colin applied and the thought of a being on a warm tropical island was nice. Colin also has a friend, Jack, in Hawaii. He was able to visit him while we were in Hawaii.
Colin’s entomological experience with mosquitoes gave him confidence in applying to work with ants. The fact that the whole island is surrounded by coral reefs was another reason for applying for this position as the snorkeling was calling him.

What does he do for fun on the island?

Colin is often found slacklining and reading lots of books. He enjoys playing games and teaches us games we have never heard of. The man has good taste in games. If he is not sleeping, he is whistling, singing, making bird sounds, or saying something in an accent. He is our champion beard grower. It is getting out of control. During our working times, he is our D.J. Even when we aren’t working, we are usually listening to his music. He is working on his tan and has found snorkeling – although his weird pruny finger condition doesn’t allow him to stay out as long as he would like. He is our official New Jersey representative with his phrases. We all recall him being honked at in Hawaii and his response of “Blow it out your ass!” At the beginning of the trip he was a vegetarian, then flexitarian, and is now a carnivore. While Reggie the Tropicbird was here, Colin had a love/hate relationship with him. During Colin’s personal time, he is doing yoga, lifting weights, doing Insanity and applying coconut oil to his beard.

What do you hope to get out of island?

Colin would like to achieve maximum beard growth, learn all about the birds here, tan, obtain muscle definition. He likes that he is working for federal government. It may help him land future jobs.
There is also a nice concentrated chunk of field experience that he will get to experience. He is glad this is not an office job; being outside is much better.

What’s next for Colin?

Something in wildlife. He really enjoys working with birds. Colin possibly wants to go to school…but in the future. His most immediate concern is shopping for Christmas when he gets home.

What do you miss most from home?

Dogs – Rooney, World Cup, beer, family, friends, summertime things like Jersey Beach, Strollo’s (Italian ice place), having people serve him food, driving and listening to music really loud, the woods, and thunderstorms. Also he is bummed he missed Doug’s wedding.

How long has it been since you have worn underwear?

Some point over the changeover period…like since day one.

What is your spirit animal?

A Mockingbird because I am always whistling.

You are on death row, what do you have as your last meal?

Turkey club sandwich on pumpernickel bread from Hincks Turkey Farm, Chocolate dessert, Brownie a la mode, lots of beer and whole milk, but in separate glasses.

You have one day to live, what do you do?

I would go to Six Flags with Liv Tyler and ride all cool rides with her. She would meet my family on the plane ride to a fjord. We would be married by the time we landed. I would slackline over the fjord with a Peregrine Falcon sitting on my shoulder. Mid slackline, we would both shot gun a beer that is in my parachute pack. We would both jump and eat Leonard’s malasadas that my parachute pack is full of. I would then fall into my funeral crater. I would D.J. my own funeral.
Then the falcon, wearing a veil, would give a eulogy as Liv consoles him. Everyone would get super drunk after…the end.