Relationship Status: It’s Complicated
Jessica Murray: Resident Naturalist
Wind roars in your ears, gravel crunches beneath your feet, and morning fog shrouds the world around you; but you aren’t alone. You, along with 22 of your new best friends, are now entering the San Camino Trail.
Backwards.
Jessica Murray is a big believer in looking at things from a new direction to expand our knowledge and understanding of ourselves, the environment, and how we work together. Not long into our hike, it becomes evident that what we’re seeing is not the whole story. The seemingly random placement of Ebony Trees, Strangler Figs, fungi, and leaf cutter ants (just to name a few) are not random at all. The forest relies on itself to survive, and we are the only unnecessary part of this whole ecosystem.
However unnecessary is not the same as unimportant, and Jessica is quick to be sure we know that. What we do leaves an impression. Using what we witnessed and learned on our journey, we have the opportunity to choose what type of mark our life will leave on the natural world around us.
Finding where we belong and making our lives significant to our environment is a matter of relationships. There’s no arguing the current relationship between most humans and their environment is at best “complicated”. To turn this around and make things better, and healthier, for all parties, involved we should look to the relationships present all around us to see what they’re doing right.
1) Plants & Fungi
What would a tropical forest be without trees, vines, and all the other plants that seem to cover every surface? It is estimated that 80–90% of plants you see on the San Camino Trail, and across the world, have mycorrhizal associations; this means they can’t survive without a fungal partner. The plants benefit from the efficient nutrient uptake the fungal hyphae provide, and they in turn produce sugars to feed the fungus. This is along the same lines of us and plants; they provide us with oxygen, and we in turn should value and protect the land they need to develop properly.
2) Fig Trees & Wasps
Wasps buzz, enter through a tiny hole, and lay their eggs to keep their species alive. Since only half of the offspring ever emerge; how is this a good example of a mutually beneficial relationship?
Fig trees produce one small opening to the outside world called a ostiole. A female wasp squeezes through the tiny bract- lined opening and lays her eggs by the flower. The male wasps then hatch, fertilize the female eggs, and die; without having seen the light of day. The female wasps hatch, already pregnant, and exit the through the same small hole that is now coated in pollen. The cycle continues and both figs and wasps survive. We are the wasps in this sitation. The forest gives us materials and space to explore and live the lifes we have, and in turn we should make sure it doesn’t die out.
3) Jessica & us
The desire to learn and discover drives Jessica. This blue eyed, brown haired Biology major graduated from of the University of North Georgia in December of last year. She knew she wanted to explore the world outside the United States, and through the suggestion of a professor she was close to, decided to apply to be a Resident Naturalist for UGA Costa Rica. In her 6 weeks she’s been here, she has developed a reputation for her adventurous spirit and willingness to dive into local culture. Lindsey, the director of this campus, shared with us the story of her trying to strike up a conversation with a man shaving his beer belly off the side of the main road; we were instructed not to do this.
Jessica goes above and beyond her assigned responsibilities here. From volunteering in the kitchen to going out of her way to make students studying here feel comfortable and cared for, Jessica is the role model for any want- to- be intern at UGA. She’s already won over the heart of our very own Ricky.
Without Jessica, we would be walking through the woods with a lot less information. Without us, Jessica wouldn’t need to be giving a tour and maybe wouldn’t even be in Costa Rica. Together we both benefit, and learn what we need to know to begin treating the world around us with the respect it deserves all while finding our proper place in it.
“Environmentalism is a humanistic issue… Once humans are gone the Earth will be fine. I want the forest to be beautiful and diverse for future generations.” –Jessica
We are all interconnected in this crazy web of relationships. It’s not always easy to see the effect we have on the world around us, but that doesn’t mean one doesn’t exist. The evidence of our lives will be etched into the natural world long after we are gone, and it is up to us to determine what future generations learn from us. By the time we are walking out the entrance, the trail is not the only thing you’ve seen in a different light.
