Today was the last day for both boats to explore Lago de Atitlan. The smaller boat continued its near-shore survey and collected samples of the water plants around the perimeter of the lake. The larger boat finished a transect of the lake to collect water samples, with a focus on invertebrates.

The chemistry group is working really hard to keep up with the many samples that are brought to them each day.

We hosted another community workshop this afternoon in our ‘home town’ of Panajachel. This is one of the larger communities around the lake, so its management practices could be important for setting an example for other communities. Attendance was great, including media representatives who conducted video interviews of many people participating in the expedition.

Each person interviewed had the opportunity to share his or her view of Lago de Atitlan. Uniformly, interviewees stated that 1) the “sickness” of Lago de Atitlan is at an early stage and changes can happen to keep it healthy, 2) long term monitoring will be critical to fully understand the lake so information-based decisions can be made, and 3) coordination of everyone who impacts the lake is necessary. 

Photos: Sudeep Chandra (University of Nevada, Reno), Charles Goldman (UC Davis), Eliska Rejmankova (UC Davis), and student Hugo Villavicenio giving interviews. Interviewer: Ivan Azurdia.

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The race to the finish has begun. Everyone is really tired, having gotten little sleep and worked very hard during the waking hours, but there is still a lot of motivation and curiosity. Ideas for new research and teaching collaborations continue to emerge.

The large boat went out sampling until the winds came up. Like yesterday, the winds came very early today. The near-shore team spent a second morning touring the edges of the lake.

The focus of the day, however, was in the laboratories. The processing of the numerous samples gathered has reached a fever pitch. We are near the end of our adventure here, so water samples need to be filtered, soil and invertebrate samples need to be stored in a way that’s conducive to transport, etc.

Photos: students working hard to process samples in the chemistry lab

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Mark Grismer (UC Davis) and Robert Collison (UC Davis) were unable to stay until the end of the expedition, so the watershed group has changed its focus a bit. With the addition of Marion Wittmann (UC Davis), this group has begun a near-shore survey. Marion, Eliska, and students are boating around the perimeter of the lake to sample invertebrates, algae, water, sediments, and plants. This is expected to take three days to complete.

Photo: plant samples from near shore survey are identified, labeled, and packed safely for transport (Marion at right)

The large boat continued sampling for water chemistry, phytoplankton, and invertebrates in different parts of the lake. The afternoon winds came very early today, which made sampling a challenge.

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