This past week, I ventured into the depth of the mangrove forests. Over the course of about a week, I traveled to three different mangrove field sites to collect samples for my research project.
In order to learn about the nutrients and characteristics of the forest, I have to collect soil and leaves from these forests. You guessed it: yes, I got super dirty!
Although my research question is about the plants and nutrients in the mangrove forests, my project is completely dependent on the local communities. My journey to the research sites is via a small boat, which is usually the boat of a local fisherman.
One of the sites at which I collected samples is an island called Bellavista, which is in El Oro province. This is located at the very southern end of Ecuador, super close to Peru! To go to Bellavista, I fist needed to wait for the tide to become higher so that the boat would not get stuck in the mangrove mud. Once the tide was high enough, a local crab harvester brough me and my co-worker to the small, remote island.
