Photos by Cindy Skeie II: Flowers of Laguna de Apoyo

Cindy Skeie is not only a capable photographer, she is an enthusiastic nature lover, with an eye for the beauty found in all scales of nature. Below is a sampling of her photography taken during the dry season of 2011 in Laguna de Apoyo Nature Reserve, reminding us of the special offerings each season brings us. She worked with our botanist, Pablo Somarriba, to photograph flowering plants. Here we present a few of the flowering plants she photographed.

Sapranthus palanga (Annonaceae) Spanish common name: Palanco. Does this flower give the impression of a smell of dead flesh? Its odor is distinctly fetid, and it is pollenated by flies! This species was recently separated from Sapranthus violaceus, on the basis of coliflory (flowers emerging from the side of stem instead of shoots).

Quassia amara (Simaroubaceae) Spanish common name: Amargon. This bush harbors many chemical properties, and is used in fever medications, insecticides, and in flavoring for liqueurs.

Jacquinia nervosa (Teophrastaceae) is called Burrito locally. Its range is from Mexico to Panama.

A cluster of Yellow Trumpet Flower, Tecoma stans (Bignoniaceae), called Sardinillo in Nicaragua. This species easily colonizes disrupted areas with degraded soils, making it an excellent species for reforestation. The tree makes broomsticks for a socioeconomically important sector in the Laguna de Apoyo area, it makes high quality firewood.

Aphelandra scabra (Acanthaceae) Spanish common name: Papamiel. The stems of bush were used by the indigenous people of the area for arrows.

Barleria oenotheroides (Acanthaceae).  

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Flowers of Laguna de Apoyo Nature Reserve

Here we present the flowers of just a few of the more than 500 species of plants documented in Laguna de Apoyo Nature Reserve.

Anoda cristata (Malvaceae). Range from Mexico through Central America. This species is an important weed in some places but is sometimes harvested as a food and medicinal plant. Known in English as spurred anoda or crested anoda.

Cascabela ovata (Apocynaceae). Range from Mexico through Central America. Most of the petals have fallen from this flower, and two fruits are also present.

Achimenes longiflora (Gesneriadeae). A trailing vine with large, beautiful flowers. Over its large range (southern US into South America), several varieties are found.

Rytidostylis gracilis (Cucurbitaceae). Called "chanchito" locally, this annual species is common throughout most of Nicaragua and the neotropics.

Gonolobus barbatus (Apocynaceae). Common in open areas in Nicaragua's Racific region. Flowers in June-October (rainy season), annual.

Tecoma stans (Boraginaceae). Yellow trumpet-flower. Found from southern US through South America. Whereas it is little more than a bush in the northern limits of its range, it is a common and fast-growing tree in Nicaragua. This tree is very important for the ecological recovery of deforested natural areas in the Pacific region of Nicaragua, and is among the most common trees in Laguna de Apoyo Nature Reserve.

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Black Iguana in Laguna de Apoyo Nature Reserve

The tropical dry forest habitat found in Laguna de Apoyo Nature Reserve is ideal for the Black Iguana (Ctenosaura similis). The Black Iguana is much more numerous here than the Green Iguana (Iguana iguana). These animals can easily be found in the late morning, taking sun on limbs of tall trees. Here we find a refuge for the animal in a hollowed trunk of a dead palm, in the yard at Estacion Biologica.

The animal slowly leaves his hole, so slowly that he is almost not noticed. It's morning-time to get some sun to raise the body temperature.

The black iguana is far more common in Laguna de Apoyo Nature Reserve than the green iguana (Iguana iguana), and is hunted for its delicious meat throughout its range in Nicaragua. Although it spends most of its day still or moving very slowly, it can move explosively, and is the fastest moving of all lizards.

Iguana hunting peaks during the dry season, because many unscrupulous hunters use fire as a weapon, setting fires to hollow trees with iguana nesting holes in them to make them jump out. These fires often spread to remaining forest and go out of control. These fires destroy habitat for many animals and plants, and destroy numerous environmental services of a forest: soil quality and integrity, water capture, and carbon fixation are all compromised by forest fires. As a result, we recommend to avoid consuming iguana.

Wildlife photography is not difficult in Laguna de Apoyo Nature Reserve. We can arrange a professional guide to accompany you to the forest and help you find wildlife. Several members of our staff are professionals involved in studies of the wildlife in the area.

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Salvin's Spiny Pocket Mouse (Liomys salvini) I

The most abundant of the terrestrial rodents (mice and rats) in Laguna de Apoyo Nature Reserve is probably Salvin's Spiny Pocket Mouse (Liomys salvini). Near houses, their principal competitor appears to be the House Mouse (Mus musculus), which is an exotic, invasive species. Liomys salvini lives in underground burrows with many entrances, and the terrain of the volcanic crater interior in Laguna de Apoyo Nature Reserve is ideal habitat for this species. We even have a family living in the yard of Estacion Biologica!

Pocket mice can be identified by the foot pads, as shown above. Pocket mice can carry food in pouches in their cheeks, allowing for rapid foraging with ingestion occuring later. We are investigating the diets, population, and distribution patterns of this species in Laguna de Apoyo Nature Reserve.

We are seeking volunteers who would like to assist in our studies of the rodents of Laguna de Apoyo Nature Reserve. Would you like to participate? Please contact us.  

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Video-endemic fish species in Laguna de Apoyo

Six fish species are known to inhabit only Laguna de Apoyo. Our research group at FUNDECI/GAIA in collaboration with scientists from US and Europe discovered five of those six, and we have a few other taxa targeted for species recognition from this lake. We are conducting a long-term fish population monitoring project in Lake Apoyo, in part to provide information about the populations of each species in order to assure their continued existence. We gather this date while SCUBA diving. See the film of one of those dives, below.

Volunteer divers participate in monthly monitoring of fish transects in Laguna de Apoyo.

The fish species found in Lake Apoyo are:

Amphilophus astorquii^

Amphilophus chancho^

Amphilophus flaveolus^

Amphilophus globosus^

Amphilophus supercilius^

Amphilophus zaliosus^

Parachromis managuensis

Poecilia sphenops

Atherinella sardina

Gobiomorus dormitor*

Oreochromis aureus*

Oreochromis niloticus*

^-endemic to Laguna de Apoyo

*-recently introduced by human activity

The volunteers and staff at Estacion Biologica FUNDECI/GAIA are conducting long-term fish population monitoring in a program that encourages "citizen participation". Certified divers can join us in the dives and help us collect data. 

Our work has led to more than a dozen scientific publications on the fishes of Laguna de Apoyo, and five species of fish have been discovered by our staff in this lake. Furthermore, one of these species, the arrow cichlid (Amphilophus zaliosus), has recently been listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List.

Would you like to help us monitor and protect the endangered fishes of Lake Apoyo? Certified Open Water divers are welcome to join us in this vital work to protect the natural heritage of this beautiful lake. Please contact us for more details.

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Scenes from Laguna de Apoyo by Cindy Skeie

Cindy Skeie is a professional photographer and nature lover. She studied Spanish at Laguna de Apoyo Spanish School, and then volunteered with us several days in the documentation of the awesome scenery in Laguna de Apoyo Nature Reserve. We hope you appreciate her photos.

See more of Cindy's great photography at http://www.skeiescapes.com/. To see more about our research on butterflies, click here. 


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