Hello Everyone!

I think it would be better if everyone sent their questions to Lindsey, rather than trying to post them on the blog themselves. If anyone disagrees with this, let me know but I was thinking about having so many people accessing the blog and thought it would be more orderly this way. Any thoughts on this are welcome.

I am going to suggest to Jen that she use the edit feature for each post, go to your question and answer it directly on that post (maybe in another color or something), instead of answering it on another post…it will put the answers and questions together and keep the discussion more orderly. (For those of you who have blogged a lot you know what I mean…if we have a lot of questions posted and pushed down the page, Jen’s answers will be disconnected from the questions)

After Jen answers the questions, I would like the children (and adults for that matter) to write a quick paragraph about what they learned in that session that really impressed them. It will be interesting to see what everyone loves the most and what they learned at the end of each week.

So to recap: 1. We will receive a field report from Jen weekly. (which Lindsey will post)

2. Read the field report

3. Come up with questions for Jen about the report (write out questions and email to Lindsey who will post on blog)

4. Then write what we learned. (and send it to Lindsey who will post again)

5. We hope to set up a skype account or online classroom so that we can actually interact with Jen once a month or so as well!

Any thoughts or questions would be welcomed! This is going to be fun!

Christy

Lindsey, here are my two questions for Jen…1.) Are you camping above near the treeline? It is so funny to see the top of the mountain with no snow on it but no vegetation either.
We are not above the treeline, but will be going up there next week (the 28th of June)--still staying below the treeline, but surveying right up to the treeline. We don't think there are any frogs up at the treeline, but we will survey up there to make sure we know how high the frogs go. I agree--coming from North America, it's strange to see high peaks without snow!
2.) I also noticed, in the googled pictures that I saw, that the vegetation on the lower parts of Mt. Kinabalu aren’t as lush as I imagined it. In fact, I have been on hikes near Arlington where the vegetation is lusher and greener. Is it really more sparse on Mt. Kinabalu than in Washington?
There are parts of Kinabalu that are really lush and green, and parts that are dry and sparse. A lot of the mountain is National Park, and so it's protected, but there are some parts of the slopes that are outside of the park. Where it's not protected, most of it has been cleared for settlements, rubber trees (which are subsidized and can bring good income), agriculture, and the like. So it all depends on which part of Kinabalu you're looking at. I'll try to send some pictures of the more lush parts of the forest soon.
Or maybe there is a drier time of the year where the forests aren’t as lush? I know you haven’t seen the pictures I have seen but could you compare the vegetation on Mt. Kinabalu to the vegetation in the rainier parts of Washington?
There are definitely rainy & dry periods which affect how the forest looks here. When it rains it can be really crazy wet. But it can also dry out pretty fast. So it all depends on what the weather has been like lately. The vegetation in WA is mostly evergreen forest with lots of moss. Here, because the mountain spans such a steep elevational gradient (from sea level to 4000 m), you get huge variation in the vegetation. Down below about 800 m, it's what you would think of as lush jungle--huge dipterocarp trees, lots of small vegetation in the undergrowth, some moss, and tons of rattan. As you go up, mosses become more prominent, and above about 2000 m the forest becomes shorter--the trees are stunted (they are about as tall as I am), and you get more pitcher plants (Nepenthes) and mosses. You can also get variation when you have tree falls which create light gaps in the forest--this allows smaller plants to flourish and creates patches of variation in the forest. You will see this in Washington State as well, but the plants in each location (here vs. there) will be very different. I'll try to send some pictures of this in the coming weeks.