A message from a small island by Oliver Pitts, Environmental Science BSc
Back in 2018 when I was in my second year at Bath Spa University, I began to consider my dissertation options for the fast approaching third year. I knew I wanted to do something a bit out of the ordinary and when an opportunity presented itself through the Biology Department to conduct professional research abroad, I was very interested. Ian Thornhill, my Environmental Management lecturer was offering an opportunity to go not only to the Caribbean, but more specifically to the lush green Island of Dominica. After a long hard think about the trip, considering logistics and costs, I decided to go for it. A fantastic way to not only get all my data for my dissertation wrapped up before third year, but also an opportunity to go and explore the tropical beauty of the Caribbean for myself. This dissertation trip was run through Operation Wallacea but organised by Ian Thornhill who had been previously researching tropical stream leaf decomposition in tropical ecosystems in Dominica. The finances needed for this trip were helped by being awarded a Biology grant from Bath Spa University. Arriving in Dominica, after a long-haul flight to Antigua followed by a short connecting flight and having a chance to settle into the new campsite (The Three Rivers Eco-Lodge) run by Jem, we quickly got the experiment underway. I had to collect two different types of leaves to place in leaf packs that would be placed into 10 different river locations, all within walking distance of the camp site. 6
They would slowly degrade over time, so I had to make sure that the initial weight of 2 grams of Candle Wood and 5 grams of River Tree was as accurate as possible before being placed in the river. After six weeks of collecting data, comparisons could be made between the rates of decomposition of different leaf species. Further to this, the role of microbial communities was also analysed. Two leaf packs with fine mesh and two leaf packs with coarse mesh were analysed from every site every week to assess the impact of invertebrates and microbial communities on the breakdown of leaf litter. The coarse mesh pack allowed invertebrates and microbial communities to degrade the leaf litter whereas the fine mesh pack allowed only the microbial communities through, keeping the invertebrates out. This allowed us to focus more closely on the role that invertebrate communities play in the decomposition of leaf litter. After careful collection and processing, the invertebrates trapped in the coarse mesh bags were then collected and put into containers of 100% ethanol to keep them fresh for future laboratory analysis at Bath Spa. The fine mesh bags were put through a different process. The bags were opened, and the content deposited into a plastic bag filled with 10ml of distilled water that was heated on a gas hob to kill any bacteria that could contaminate the water.
