Plants and Ants

Today we traveled on the Kozhov to a Zona pokoia (a "quiet zone"
within Pribaikal'skii National Park) north of Bolsh'ie Koty. Here,
Andrei Lishtva and Sergei Kaliuzhnyi -- botanists from Irkutsk State
University -- gave us a tour of the local flora and fauna. It was a
beautiful hike along the lake through fields teaming with local
flowers. Selina's favorite was the yellow aconite. Aconite produces a
deadly alkaloid poison that is hard to trace. I (Sarah) am concerned
for our team's safety. If any of us mysteriously die, you know who to
look to.
At the end of our hike was a grouping of stromatolites that are 2.7
BILLION YEARS OLD! That's many times older than Lake Baikal! These
stromatolites are a fossilized grouping of cyanobacteria whose
chemosynthesis helped create our original atmosphere.
Moving on from the ancient plants to modern, not fossilized plants, we
also took transects of local plants. We were attempting to test out
our new found plant identification abilities. Thankfully, Andrei and
Sergei were there to help facilitate our efforts. One group found 18
species in just one square meter! Biodiversity in the National Park is
amazing!
In addition to learning the flora of the local area we also adventured
around a small valley. The botanists led us up a very steep slope to a
large cave, where many of us braved our claustrophobia to find a huge
limestone cavern with stalagmites inside. The cave was a hard hike;
after we were tired, hungry, and covered in ants (we don't want to
talk about it). In an attempt to clean and rejuvenate ourselves we
decided to go for a dip in the lake. A cool and cleansing swim was a
great end to the day. Afterwards we were all so tired we fell asleep
on the deck of the Kozhov on our way back to the biostation.
Much love,
(A very tired) Selina and Sarah