Posts

Results

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After sorting and compiling all my data into tables I decided to display this information using graphs so I could better interpret my results. Out of the 8 parameters I tested, only chlorophyll, dissolved oxygen, specific conductivity, and temperature had noticeable differences among the channelized and natural portions of Conejo Creek. But, in almost every parameter Calleguas Creek showed an additional separation  of values signifying even lower water quality. Here are some of the graphs I created showing the disparity between channelized and natural Conejo Creek.

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Training Undergrads in the Microplastics Lab!

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Today I had a great group of undergraduates in the Microplastics lab learning how to process sand.  They all helped me organize and catalog the 100 plus samples we have gathered from all over the globe!  A few of them are thinking about continuing the project into their senior capstone and investigating the abundance of plastics across our global sandy beach ecosystem.

AAG & Data Extraction

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I have been working on extracting data for Water Canyon watershed for the American Association of Geographers conference held in San Francisco this year. I have also finished a rough graph. Showing the change in veg. class from 1993-2015.

RoughGraph

 

Spring Break in New Orleans

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Spring Break was spent in New Orleans with Dr. Sean Anderson. Dr. Anderson has been taking a class to NOLA for the last ten years to do wetland restoration, build community gardens and farms, and learn about the history and culture of the city. We spent eleven days in NOLA, and it was a remarkable experience.

Amazing trip to New Orleans

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After a little over 10 full days in New Orleans, I am having a hard time getting back into the swing of things. The trip was amazing, to say the least. I learned so much about the ecology, history, culture, and cuisine of such a unique place. We worked hard and the days were long but it was so much fun and such a rewarding experience. You can go to our class blog here, to read more about our adventures in the Woodland Conservancy wetland forest, building food gardens, and experiencing NOLA culture/food.

There are about 6 weeks left in the semester and it is crunch time! Next week I will be headed to Santa Rosa Island for my last data collection which I am looking forward to. More project updates to come next week after I decompress from New Orleans!

 

Back to GIS and Field Work

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I am looking in to using Kernel Density Vs Buffer zones to delineate possible grove expansion in the future. The March 11-13 was good even though it rained the first day I got another 200 trees complete. the next trip is on April 1-3 and i should be able to do something similar that trip.

Germination

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Today was a good day!  i went to the greenhouse to water and found five seeds that had germinated.  I was getting a little worried because it had been about three weeks with no changeIMG_20160218_235152_628

Getting close to the end

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It’s been a slow couple of weeks. Two weeks ago I finished up for the most part being with the high school. The only thing left to do with them is to take them out to the island and to get them to really see what it’s like to be out doing research. Last week was spring break, I used that time off to do some reading for our big paper that we are working on. There is a lot of papers out there about citizen science so that is always good.

Today I have finally started to work on getting all of my stats together. So for my stats I am working with an excel sheet that Kahoot.it makes for me when the quiz is done. That is the nice part so a lot of stuff is already put into place I just need to add some more stuff to it and make a nice bar or plot graph. Over all my project is coming together nicely I just need to get it all in place and have a few people look it over for me.

One of many graphs that I am working on
One of many graphs that I am working on

Common Garden Update

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There seems to be more and more new Torrey pines sprouting, but there are still only a few, so far, that have germinated. Although, I believe that they take longer to germinate due to the shell being thick and hard to break open (Image 1). Right now, majority of the growth is the leaf litter and high water. There is only one in zero leaf litter and high water, and no growth in the rest (Image 2).

Image 1: You can see how thick the shell of the seed is.
Image 1: You can see how thick the seed shell is.
Image 2: Zero leaf litter and high precipitation.
Image 2: Zero leaf litter and high precipitation.

Data Collection Wrap Up

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This past week, I spent my spring break on Santa Rosa Island collecting data. I now have both my watersheds complete sets of data!! I will continue crunching the numbers the rest of my weekend. By the end of this weekend, I will have all my Water Canyon data analyzed and ready to be presented.  On monday, I am printing my poster for the AAG conference.

This past week was a bit bitter-sweet. It was my last trip to Santa Rosa Island for my capstone. It was the most beautiful I have ever seen the island. I also got my data collected and finalized. Both of which are positive and exciting. I am sad to see the field work end and not know when the next time I will see the island again.

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