Designing and carrying out an experiment as well as writing a paper utilizing a lot of academic research has given me much more of an appreciation and understanding of the scientific method and the development of ecological theory. Finding quantifiable patterns in nature is an extremely difficult task due to the amount of variables (confounding, hidden, and obvious ones) that are inherently affecting everything, and the difficulty in creating a controlled sample area outside of a lab. The study design was a lot more important and difficult to create than I had previously thought it would be. It took me forever to figure out what I wanted to study and how I could actually quantify an observable pattern. But once I finally figured out what to do, I had a great time designing and developing my own research project. It was an exciting experience to be allowed to focus on a project of my own design that reflected my own interests. I did have to change my design along the way, as I had to slightly move the locations of my study zones to minimize confounding variables (which through more research realized I may have not even succeeded in doing). In the end I should have researched a lot more about the method I was going to employ for the data collection in order to increase the accuracy of my results. I learned a lot about the limitations of what you can infer from your research. In the beginning I thought I could show direct relationships between certain variables (nutrition, cover), that after more research found that I did not really have data to directly support those relationships at all. This inspires me to continue learning more advanced chemistry and biology in order to one day hopefully employ certain advanced techniques in sampling and analyzing data. I learned a lot about the natural history of the Roosevelt elk and the Columbia black tailed deer, as well as their relationship with the forestry industry in BC in the process of this study. I am now more interested in wildlife and forest biology than I was before taking this course.
Category: Post 9: Field Research Reflections
Blog Post 9: Field Research Reflections
The fieldwork this class has allowed me to perform was very engaging and motivating in my biology undergrad journey. I enjoyed applying all this theory to my field research. It gave me a glance at what this biological work I have been dreaming of is all about. Conducting my own study was a challenge. It was the first time I had ever done a full project of this sort fully by myself. I loved the freedom we had in the beginning as to what we would be studying. Having very limited experience in research, I had a few flaws in my initial plans. For example, my first ideas were way too grandiose and hopeful. I quickly understood the extent of the work necessary to drive research in the field. What I loved about this, is that it motivated me for future potential larger-scale studies in my career instead of simply discouraging me. I lowered the scale of my research here in order to create quality work but I simply cannot wait to participate in larger, more important work. Another flaw my initial plan had was the lack of a control in my idea of assessing the gradient in flower abundance. I have greatly learned from this experience and as I said cannot wait for the next. I greatly appreciated the systematic way ecological work is done. I believe that to understand such an intricate system that is a community or an ecosystem, empirical work is necessary to formulate a more informed guess as to what is really going on. I think the scientific method is a great way to understand greater scheme problems and ecology showed me a fun way to systematically work on a problem as complicated as a field full of seemingly random flowers. I love finding patterns!
Blog Post 9
The creation and implementation of an experimental design was a new experience for me. I had a pretty difficult time coming up with a design, and went through a few versions of experimental design to test my hypothesis. When I finally did come up with a feasible experimental design, I did not find it difficult to implement.
While I definitely have an interest in ecology, I think it is just that; an interest. I definitely gained an appreciation of ecological theory, but I will not be taking part in a career that leads me down that road.
I struggled immensely with all of the literature reviews involved in my study. I am more of a hands-on type of person, not designed to read peer-reviewed articles. I think I’ll stick to firefighting for a bit, and then re-join the military. Thanks BIOL-3021, you made the decisions for my future easier.
Post 9 – Relfection
I found this project to be very difficult. I think the most difficult part was coming up with a subject to study and a hypothesis. I made several changes to my research, and actually completely changed my location, hypothesis, sampling method, and pretty much everything after my first attempt at data collection. Furthermore, it may have been beneficial to go and collect more data, but due to CoVid, the park is now closed.
This research did teach me more about how ecology theory is developed, but I think I actually found the assignments in which I needed to assess others people studies more helpful. My study itself was too limited, and eventually just got to the point of needing to be finished and out of my life. Regardless, though not necessarily my best work, it was a new experience that will further help me develop my education are career.
Post 8
I created a few graphs, but in general they show how many conifer seedlings were browsed, or not browsed with the presence or absence of red-osier dogwood. My data was simple, so making graphs was not difficult. However, I have yet to decide which table and graphs I have made will go into my actual report. The results did mostly show that conifers were less browsed when red-osier dogwood was present, however, this varied with tree species. This had led to question of is there is diet selection of conifer species as well as diet selection of shrub vs. conifers for ungulates. It would appear that they prefer subalpine fir, however, much of literature I have read suggests that ungulates prefer Douglas-fir.
Blog Post 9: Field Research Reflections
Completing my field research and searching through scientific papers for more data confirmed and reinforced what I had just suspected to be the case when it came to completing ‘proper’ science, especially in the outdoor environment rather than in a more controlled environment. My four major takeaways were:
- Truly attempting to account for all potential variables in a dynamic environment rather than a lab setting is very time consuming! I found the comments from this blog and my instructor to be very helpful in finding holes that would render my observational results less reliable as well as learning from other field studies I read. In my opinion, from my experience with this small trial in an ecological field study, communicating with other members of the scientific community would be critical in producing good work; sharing information, giving constructive criticism, and accepting criticism.
- This field study really helped me understand just how much a research project in the field is a constant work in progress, continually revisiting and adjusting the hypothesis as new variables were recognized or pointed out to me. I believe this may be a taste of what the term “Physics envy” means. It is especially apparent when I think of all the potential anthropogenic influences that may be unaccounted for. I wonder where is the line between time/money accounting for every little variable and it being ‘good enough’ to be accepted as evidence?
- The actual physical terrain made me adjust my methods twice. I had to account for the ocean tide so I could actually reach my sample locations, in some areas the slope was too steep to traverse, and in others it was too thick with vegetation to access. I also felt this was a great example of a study that could not be done in any season except the dormant one, as once everything buds out, it would be very difficult to find any Alnus rubra seedlings among the blackberry and rose.
- More samples would be better! I’m taking a statistics course as well and feel that the combination of of the two courses made it clear that more samples=more accurate data. Unfortunately due to working full-time and other commitments (not to mention everything is budding out now) I did not generate more replicates to do so.
This project made it very clear to me just how much time (including the researchers personal time!) and money can be required to produce good scientific studies within the field of ecology. This is necessary in order generate honest and reliable evidence that ecological areas need to be preserved, protected, and reestablished where possible, especially in an age where everything is scrutinized so intensively.
The sooner I can get involved the better!
Blog Post 9 – Field Research Reflections
Blog Post 9 – 03/04/20
Throughout the duration of this course I designed a field experiment that had the objective of determining if soil moisture levels impacted abundance and distribution of three tree species (white spruce (Picea glauca), aspen poplar (Populus tremuloides), and white birch (Betula papyrufera)) in Kinsmen Park. I used a Stratified Random Sampling design to carry out this experiment and overall I felt, upon completion, that the design I chose was well suited to this type of study. Incorporating randomization into the study through selecting various locations to sample from within the designated strata allowed for bias to be completely eliminated. Furthermore, the randomization allowed me to come across some unexpected results that caused me to pause and really reflect upon my hypothesis, the patterns I saw, and the predictions that arose. There were no issues implementing the design. Some days were colder than others, making the ground slightly difficult to sample from, but overall the implementation of the stratified random sampling design went well. Engaging personally in the practice of ecology has certainly deepened and enhanced my appreciation for how ecological theory is developed. My study design was relatively simple and took place over a smaller area. It looked at very simple variables and factors and their impacts on each other. Through conducting my study as well as reviewing previous research for my annotated bibliography, I gained a much deeper appreciation for ecological studies that span years over vast distances and look at multiple variables. The effort that goes into planning and executing these types of studies is immense and the work these researchers are doing to advance ecology is incredibly important. I can’t help but marvel at their dedication to their research, to their field, and to ecology as a whole. Taking this course and performing a field experiment has allowed me to step into the shoes of a ecologist, albeit in a much smaller way, and has allowed me to develop a deepened sense of respect for how ecological theory is developed.
Blog Post 9: Field Research Reflections
I appreciate how ecological theory is developed more after conducting my field research. I found it useful to tabulate and interpret the data right after it was collected in the field. I found this useful because it allowed me make changes to the for the upcoming sampling. I also found the preparation of an annotated bibliography very useful for interpreting the results in the discussion.
On the technical side, I had a lot of trouble identifying lichen even after return from the field. I chose the topic initially due to my inherent interest in lichen and background in fungal endophytes, but it presented much more difficult than I imagined. I adapted to this by grouping lichen into the traditional structural categories. This still allowed me to collect data, based on a structure-function relationship with their substrate.
Blog Post 9 Reflections
For my research project I counted the abundance of ferns in three different light gradients. The lighting zones were No Shade, Partially Shaded and Shaded all varying in canopy cover. My results did not agree with my original hypothesis that I would find more ferns in the shaded zone. From my research I learned that the fern was likely within its optimal growing conditions under the Partially Shaded Zone. I also researched into why I had almost no ferns in the no shade zone. Originally, I thought it may be the ferns dislike of sunlight; however, from my research I learnt that it was likely a combination of factors. The reasons I think the fern did not grow in the No Shade zone was 1) because the No Shade zones were the consequence of human disturbances; blechnum spicant (deer fern) is known to not respond well to disturbances, 2) the fern was not able to compete with the early pioneers in the disturbed zones. From my research I also found that I my conclusions were limited because I did not know the moisture content of the soil the ferns were growing under, relative humidity and the trees the ferns were often growing around. The project was still a very positive experience for me. Never the less it was a bumpy ride for me for the following reasons which one would do well to consider in their project:
- Originally I was studying a fungi that was very hard to find so I had to change to a more manageable organism to count and study.
- My study area is Barnaby mountain and I had originally chosen sites very high on the mountain which made the process of making observations not only time consuming but very difficult to conduct measurements on a steep incline.
- I had a really hard time finding relevant scientific articles to review for my paper. This could be avoided by an extra hour of or two of research at the beginning of the project to determine if the organism of interest has much written on it.
Blog Post 9: Field Research Reflections
My research investigated the changes in vegetation and percent species composition along a slope located in northern British Columbia. The results of my research supported my hypothesis in that the vegetation grew more complex at higher elevations, possibly due to varying amounts of light and differing microclimates. In terms of study design, I did have to change my quadrat sampling size from 1 m2 to 25 m2 to account for the increasing size of plants, however this could have introduced some bias so I converted all area measurements to a percentage in order to compare percent coverage of species between quadrat sizes. After reading the literature on my topic I definitely became more interested and in further courses may pursue more research in this area.
I did find designing a study challenging at first. I found it difficult to spot a pattern in nature and choose an element that I wanted to explore further. After choosing my phenomena of interest, the research design and data collection were fairly straight forward. I definitely gained a stronger appreciation for the development of ecological theory and for those who make a career out of it.
