We had spent the weekend with Jerome’s family and after an evening of food and laughter we were ready to explore the island. Réunion has many different microclimates with landscapes ranging from arid forests to tropical beaches. On our way to the Piton de la Fournaise volcano we reflected on how these different microclimates reminded us of a mixture of places across the globe. We even found the moon!

Mountain or moon?

Piton de la Fournaise is a shield volcano and is one of the world’s most active volcanoes. It is around 530,000 years old and 2,631m high. Piton de la Fournaise is one of two volcanoes, the other being Piton des Neiges, that make up Réunion. Up until a few weeks ago, it’s most recent eruption was in 1986. Due to its activity, the hikes circling its peak were closed, but we were still able to get an awesome view of it!

Piton de la Fournaise!

Of course, we couldn’t have done any of this without our awesome matching hats!

Jerome’s mom outfitted us with matching hats to protect us from the sun.

Now that the weekend is over it’s time to get down to business. Monday came bright and early with birds chirping and the smell of science in the air! Like all good scientists we had our ritual morning coffee and then rolled out into the field. Spending the majority of the day sampling we were able to see most of the lagoon in Saint-Gilles. In the lagoon alone we were able to find five different clades of coral, a plethora of sea cucumbers and zero sharks.

A snapshot of some of the corals we collected! (Montipora sp., Porites cylindrica and Porites lichen)

The main thing that I have to say about Monday is this: weight belts. Even though we were in a shallow lagoon our buoyant weight kept on pushing us up, making it difficult – but not impossible – to sample. From shore I’m sure we looked like two poorly coordinated synchronized swimmers with our feet flapping in the air as we tried to stay down.

Today, we hopped in the car and went to a different section of the island in hopes of finding a more biodiverse reef. We struck gold and were met by beautiful reefs in crystal clear water. But there was one catch: strong currents (everyone’s favorite). The currents quickly introduced Ryan and I to the fire corals in the surrounding area and by the end of the field day I’d say we all became good friends.

Fortunately, we had brought Tiki with us so we weren’t scathed too badly. Tiki is the good luck charm of the Vega-Thurber lab and has been on almost every field trip the lab has gone on. That being said, Tiki has traveled a lot and spent many days in the sea (his black hair turned blond is proof). I’ll allow Tiki to introduce himself:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/131967103@N02/20690925201/in/album-72157651381609701/

And so folks, that concludes the past few days in Réunion!

Hi guys! My name is Amelia Foster. I’m currently an undergrad in Becky’s lab though I graduate soon (woo!). By the end of this summer, in fact, I will have finished my majors in Microbiology and International Studies. I started volunteering in Becky’s lab as a sophomore in 2012. Under her mentorship I have learned important molecular biology techniques associated with coral reef ecology. Recently, I have been given the opportunity to learn fieldwork techniques with Ryan and Jerome in Réunion Island, France.

Our flight pattern from Oregon to Réunion

After 30+ hours of flying, an inordinate amount of babies crying and lots of bread and cheese we arrived in Réunion just as the sun was coming up over the water. Originally named Bourbon, Réunion is a French department located in the Indian Ocean just east of Madagascar. Volcanic eruptions beginning 5 million years ago formed the island that today houses around 850,000 people. The island was uninhabited until 1643 when the French sent twelve convicts there into exile. In the mid 17^th century the island was further colonized. The settlers recruited a large amount of slave labor, from Africa, Madagascar, India and Tamil until the year 1848, which marked the abolition of slavery. Now, Réunion has a multi-cultural identity with people from all over the world.

Since arriving on the island just a few short days ago we have become fully immersed (though I still can’t speak at all) in French and have begun setting up field studies. From the house to the market to the beach, my daily life has become a game of charades. Picking up a few words here and there I can currently string together a few sentences that are inapplicable to almost all situations:

Je ne sais pas et jáime l´pomme et l´chat.  

Ryan is doing much better than I am and can almost carry a conversation in French. But Jerome, who is from Réunion, remains our savior in almost every situation.

Hanging out with Jerome’s family

Jerome has not only introduced us to his family and friends on the island but has told us of the terrifying homme-coq. The homme-coq has the body of a chicken and the legs of a man. It roams around the island, terrorizing the people and stealing children. So, we better watch out.

But even in the face of the perilous homme-coq -and not to mention the bull sharks– we have been able to begin the preliminary steps in setting up our fieldwork. Ryan has already given me a crash course in coral identification as we were scouring the lagoon near our house in Saint Gilles for different genera of corals. And the other night we helped Jerome collect water samples to later analyze for viral content.

La bobine beach, where we are currently sampling

Today, we are coordinating with local dive shops to acquire tanks and begin sampling a few of the corals we identified.