Off to the Amazon – two weeks ago Dr. Luiza Aparecido and I headed to eastern Ecuador to start a new ecophysiology project.

We are working with Dr. Renato Valencia, his student Emily Guevara, botanist Pablo Alvia, and Dr. Rafael Cárdenas (all at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador) to better understand tradeoffs underlying herbivory in diverse tropical forest canopies.

The journey to our field site was a small adventure, taking us through cities, forests, farms, oil concessions, and some beautiful forests.

Fortunately our gas analyzer did not sink in the Rio Napo on a canoe crossing, so all is well in the field – more stories to come soon!