Project days

I guess I haven't updated in awhile, but it feels like a very short time. All of the days between these posts have been spent on our independent project, briefly described previously. Luckily, our (Mike, Forest, and I) project has required much less fieldwork than others, and really much less effort in getting the data. Some of our classmates have been less than appreciative of that fact.

Basically, our four days of data collection ran like this: Get up at 6am to pack so we can leave directly after eating breakfast at 6:30. Around 7am, we get dropped off at our study site around a mile from HQ. We then search the area to see what buds have bloomed that day on our plant of interest, whose flowers only for one day. We have to find three plants with varying density of flowers around them, that have at least one flower at both a small and a great height (around .75m and 2m). At 7:30 we begin observing pollinators visiting the flowers. Each of us is stationed at a different plant, and we count the number of bee visits, alternating flowers every five minutes. We switch plants every hour, with ten minute breaks in between, until 10:50. Observing requires a combination of focus and relaxation, one so you are accurate, and one so you don't go crazy. Three hours of observation a day is plenty for me. After that, we measure flower heights, flower density, and some other variables, then head back for lunch. Where our project gets easy is that in the afternoon, we really have nothing to do except a little data entry, and the opportunity to get ahead on our paper/presentation.

With this data, what we have tried to investigate is the effect of various spatial factors on which flowers are chosen to entered by the pollinators. After some analysis today, we've found that flower density doesn't influence visitation, but flower height does, and more bees visit high flowers. However, height only as a categorical variable, as in we label each flower "High" or "Low," matters, while height as a continuous variable (all the actual numbers) doesn't matter. We've decided this means that in general, flower height doesn't independently influence bee visitation, but the categories matter because when a bee reaches an individual plant, it tends to pick the "High" flower over the "Low" flower. Does that all make sense? Maybe. Not the most clear explanation, I know. Maybe once I write my paper, I'll post something better and more concise.

Speaking of which, the next eight days is pretty great. As in we have a group presentation to make on our projects, an individual paper to write on the same project, a midterm exam, a plant test (involving creating a dichotomous key for ten species), and then our ten identified insects are due. At the end of all that, I'm highly looking forward to chilling in San Jose, doing intense language study instead of intense science. I'm hoping to find some cool music stuff to do/go to. Also, playing ultimate with some people that I'm in email contact with since January.

However, leaving Palo Verde will be sad anyway. Something about the general aura here is much more welcoming and homey than Las Cruces ever was. Cooler fauna to see here, too. I've walked among crocodiles in the marsh at night. Awesome. And today we saw a jabiru, a very rare stork that is known for being present at Palo Verde, and is totally huge (1.5m height, over 2m wingspan). Monkeys are also constantly fascinating to watch.