Category: Nancy Elliot

Blog Post 2!

TRU Open Learning Leave a comment

The article is called, “Fearful effects of ecological competitors,” written by Oswald J. Schmitz a member of the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University. The source that I chose is non peer-reviewed academic material which is an article that was published in Nature on the 6th of June 2019. I was able to classify the source as academic material because it is written by an expert in the field, it includes in-text citations and contains a bibliography. The source however was not reviewed before publication, therefore, is non-peer reviewed.

Schmitz, O.J. (2019). “Predators Affect Competitors’ Coexistence through Fear Effects.” Nature, vol. 570, no. 7759. pp. 43–44., doi:10.1038/d41586-019-01712-7.

https://www.nature.com/magazine-assets/d41586-019-01712-7/d41586-019-01712-7.pdf

Blog Post 1!

TRU Open Learning Leave a comment

Date: 06-06-2019

Time: 14:50

Location: McNeil Bay Beach. Victoria BC. (48.4116919,-123.3157538).

Weather: Partly sunny, 15ºC.

McNeil Bay Beach- Landscape View
McNeil Bay Beach- Aerial View from Google Maps

I am interested in marine ecosystems since I live a block away from the ocean in Victoria, BC. I am most interested in the intertidal zone at McNeil Bay. As a young child, I really enjoyed looking in the tide pools and seeing what sort of organisms lived in them. I am now able to notice that the pools fluctuate in size and abundance of life. The area that I chose to study is a rocky seashore stretching 200 meters along the West Coast of Victoria.

3 questions that came up during my observation were:

What are the most common inhabitants of the tidal pools? The barnacles and anemones stay constant but do the fish stay in the same pool?

How many different species live in them? Are there more of one type of species in a pool and why is this? Does this change when looking at pools further from the ocean?

What factors contribute to the harsh environment in the tide pools? Such as, dry conditions or too much rainwater. Would this account for the unique species in each pool?

Large Tide Pool
A closer look at the tide pool.

 

Post 6

TRU Open Learning Leave a comment

I have established 5 permanent sampling plots with 30 replicates (Western Red Cedar trees).  To date, I have had no difficulties in the field implementing my sampling strategy, but I did have to change my predictor variable from continuous to categorical.

I am beginning to think that my hypothesis is false, but it should correspond with another hypothesis.  My research has been monitoring the response of immature Western Red Cedar from the recent removal of the adjacent mature forest.  I predicted that the trees with the most sun exposure, as a result of logging, would die. Further research into the silvics of Western Red Cedar is helping to clarify my understanding of this organism. The reddening of the foliage after abrupt exposure to the sun is different than red flagging from drought conditions.

Frequently at work (as a harvest monitor) I observe that the equipment operators will retain a few understory trees as a “best practice” for clear-cut silviculture systems; However, usually, the Cedar trees die within the first few years of being exposed to full sun.

My question was:

Why wouldn’t the understory Cedar trees begin to thrive?  The trees have more available light, moisture, and nutrients after harvesting.

My other question which formed the focus for my research is:

What will happen to the immature trees when industry harvests next to an established plantation?  Harvesting can occur next to plantations as early as 7 – 10 years after the plantation has been planted.  Will the Cedar trees established along the boundary of mature forests be able to withstand the abrupt change?

Currently, it seems that I have underestimated the resistance of the immature Cedar.  Western redcedar is considered a stress tolerator with the ability to grow over a wide range of conditions (Antos et al, 2016).  It is the beginning of July and only a few trees are showing more than 1% of their foliage to be scalded from sun exposure.

Reference:

Joseph A. Antos, Cosmin N. Filipescu, Roderick W. Negrave (2016).  Ecology of western redcedar (Thuja plicata): Implications for management of a high-value multiple-use resource.  Forest Ecology and Management, Volume 375, Pages 211-222.

Blog Post #9 – Field Research Reflections

TRU Open Learning Leave a comment

Having wrapped up my data collection and started writing my paper, I can honestly say I’ve learned a lot about the design and implementation of ecological studies.  My study design changed many, many times from my initial ideas to the one I finally settled on.  I found my main problem in study design was aiming higher than my knowledge, skills, and available equipment would permit.  Counting songbird species?  “That sounds doable” I’d think to myself after reading a study on bird behavior during the initial brainstorming for my project.  But then I’d go to my study site and realize I was in over my head.  With limited experience identifying birds, I quickly realized that I’d need to narrow my focus to a couple easily identifiable species in order to maintain accurate, high-quality observations. (Even then, I suspect I’ve likely misidentified the odd duck or 2….females without males present are still tricky!)

Then came all the things I hadn’t considered in my initial design. What if a bird flys away in the middle of an observation period? What if they wander into the bushes and I can’t see them any more? What if there are no birds on the pond when I arrive? All these things I couldn’t plan for required little adjustments as I went along.

My replication targets proved overly enthusiastic as well and by the end of June I realized that I’d need to adjust my goals in order to complete my data collection in a timely manner.  That said, I managed to collect 90 individual bird observations, for a total of about 3600 usable behavior observations.  Its been fun playing with the data to see what patterns I can find, though without proper statistical analysis I have no idea if what I’m seeing is significant or not!

Reading studies that are similar in design to my own, but seeing how many more birds the authors observed for their data collection, gives me a new appreciation for the work that goes into these types of projects!

I really enjoyed visiting my study site. This artificial wetland is located about 5 minutes from my house but I’d never been before now!   I’m used to walking through natural areas in a rush, usually while walking my dogs. I was amazed by the number of different bird species I saw when I finally sat down quietly and just observed.  While adamantly not a morning person, my favorite observation period ended up being my morning hours.  The pond was always so still and quiet, undisturbed by human presence.  The songbirds were so loud!

Conducting this experiment has given me a different view of the natural areas I frequent for recreation purposes. I look forward to returning to my site in the future and being able to recognize the different species I’ve identified during my research observations!

Post 1: Observations

TRU Open Learning Leave a comment

The field journal location I have chosen is a medium sized wetland, located on the south side of Champlain Lake, Papineau-Cameron, Ontario Canada. I have decided on this location because I have an interest in wetland conservation. Wetlands are generally high in biodiversity and offer unique habitat to numerous species which, has always seemed to peak my interest.

Field Journal Pg.1 Krysta Warkentin
Field Journal Pg. 2 Krysta Warkentin
View of small channel from my observation location
View of open area and stagnant water from my observation location

The Champlain Lake south Wetland features a high spread of a thriving cattail species, shorter shrubs along the perimeter, and backs onto a larger forested area that predominantly features coniferous tree species. A small channel allows the water from Champlain Lake to gently feed into the wetland, however, the water is very stagnant and is sheltered from the breeze by the surrounding trees.

Questions I have noted from my first documented field observation on 26-06-2019:

Q1: A large beaver dam is located in a more open area of the wetland and is not restricting or blocking the natural flow of the wetland water. This particular beaver dam does not appear to be a contributor the wetland’s stagnant water. I wonder if the presence of beaver species establishing permanent residency within a wetland, positively contributes to the overall health of a wetland and it’s degree of biodiversity?

Q2: There appeared to be a common species of bird swooping back and forth over the thicker cattail areas throughout this observation sitting. The bird is known as a Red-Winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) and a vibrant orange patch located across the top of their wings can identify the males. I couldn’t seem to understand what these males were doing? Do male Agelaius phoeniceus prefer to feed in more stagnant wetlands? Or is this specific location an ideal nesting ground where the females are more dominant? Why are there so many Agelaius phoeniceus here?

Q3: I noticed one Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) fluttering around the small section of shrubs on the other side of the small wetland channel. Certain butterflies are considered pollinators and there was a high amount of pollen collecting on the surface of the stagnant water. Is this particular wetland considered pristine habitat for pollinating species? Was this sighting of the Papilio glaucus a sign of a healthy wetland? Is this species of butterfly attracted to the area because of the ample amount of pollen being produced?

I am really looking forward to digging in deeper and find the answers to some of my wonders.
– Krysta Warkentin

Blog Post # 8 – Tables and Graphs

TRU Open Learning Leave a comment

Create a blog post discussing your table or graph. Did you have any difficulties organizing, aggregating or summarizing your data? Was the outcome as you expected? Did your data reveal anything unexpected or give you any ideas for further exploration?

Finally finished my data collection and got it all organized into an excel spreadsheet!  I had to re-evaluate my target of 150 bird observations.  Between working full time, balancing other commitment, and good ol’ Alberta weather systems, finding opportunities to get to my observation site within the time criteria I had pre-defined proved more challenging than anticipated!  I did manage to get 90 birds though, (30 for each time of day) so I feel like I still have a good set of data to work with.

I started playing with my data this weekend, sorting it by species, gender, time of day, occurrence along my gradient (land, shallow water, deep water). I tried to emulate graphs that I saw in some of the studies I’ve been reading as part of my literature review, as well as playing with various functions available on the excel graphing software.   Luckily I’m pretty comfortable working with excel, so aggregating data wasn’t much of an issue. I think my main challenge will be focusing on exactly WHAT aspect of the data I will use in my paper.

Is there such thing as too much data?

I do find myself going off on tangents…lets see what happens when I add up this data, or graph these groups together.  I come from a medical background (Clinical Pharmacist) and was always taught that bad statistics can be used and abused to say whatever you want (many a large pharmaceutical company has published questionable trial results that are in their favor!) and I can see how this could occur as I think up different things to graph, and look for patterns that pop out.

My plan is still to stick to comparing my birds’ behavior patterns to that of dabbling ducks published in existing literature.  So far nothing has really jumped out at me as “unexpected” but I’m still compiling my literature so we’ll see what happens!

An example of some of my graphs so far:

`

 

 

 

Blog Post 9: Field Research Reflections

TRU Open Learning Leave a comment

This field research project has been very enlightening, both because I conducted a field research project from scratch and learned first hand the results and observations of my study of the effect of ambient temperature on bird activity, but also because it was the first field research project I ever completed and I learned along the way many errors that I had made that could have potentially affected the study. First of all, when I had first made my observations in my garden about bird activity in warm weather I didn’t take into account other variables such as migration timing. I began my observations in April when bird migration was beginning but conducted my field research in May and June when some bird species may have been fully settled. I wish that when I first noticed a potential pattern that I had done more research into what previous studies have shown as this would have helped me to properly form a hypothesis. My initial hypothesis was incorrectly formulated, mostly because I was inexperienced.

Next, I had some trouble during my field research as I had a hard time identifying some of the bird species. Woodpeckers, blue jays and cardinals were easy to identify but I often fumbled with my identification of smaller species such as sparrows, wrens and nuthatches, all of which are common in New Jersey.

Other variables affected my research, predominantly competition for food with other species. Although the bird feeder I used for point count research was squirrel proof, within a few days the squirrels did learn how to use it and it appeared that certain species of birds would not approach the feeder when squirrels were present. However, while this may have affected the number of birds that were counted and thus may affect the results regarding bird abundance and ambient temperature, competition for food sources is a real threat for bird species and needs to also be evaluated.

In hindsight, I feel as though my field research project would have benefited by having conducted thorough research at the beginning which would have aided me in my hypothesis. Secondly, finding an alternative way to identify species would have helped. Perhaps if I had first spent time becoming more accurate in this regard it would have helped. Lastly, if I had been able to better control competition with the squirrels, it would not have had a potential affect on the results.

Blog Post #7: Theoretical Perspectives

TRU Open Learning Leave a comment

In my study, I seek to compare the daily behaviours of dabbling ducks in an engineered urban wetland to similar species in natural environments.  Urban wetland areas (both natural and constructed) provide important benefits by filtering pollutants and pathogens from wastewater, mitigating flood risk, absorb carbon from the atmosphere and providing aesthetically pleasing recreational areas.  While beneficial to human-kind, these areas are also incredibly biodiverse, especially compared to surrounding urbanized areas. Urban wetland areas are often targeted for development in cities looking to squeeze what they can from the available land, putting diverse ecosystems at risk of destruction.

The ecological processes my research focuses on would be behavioural ecology and resource ecology. While the scope of my study obviously isn’t comprehensive enough for a “real” ecological study, I hope that by comparing the behaviours of ducks living in urban wetland environments to those in more natural settings I can provide an argument for the protection of existing wetlands, and perhaps for increased development of new wetland areas in urban settings through my hypothesis that the ducks I study will exhibit similar behaviour patterns to their comparators in natural environments. Significant differences in behaviour between populations may produce additional hypotheses for future investigation into the construction/design techniques employed.

 

Keywords: Engineered Wetlands; Dabbling Ducks; Time-Energy Budget

Post 4: Sampling Strategies

TRU Open Learning Leave a comment

Using the virtual forest, I sampled the Snyder-Middleswarth Natural area first systematically, then randomly, then haphazardly. Each of the different sampling strategies had a sample size of 24. The most efficient strategy was area-based systematic sampling, which was estimated to take 12 hours, 6 minutes to sample. Area-based random and haphazard sampling would take 12 hours, 48 minutes and 13 hours, 9 minutes respectively. Percentage error was calculated using the estimated and true values of species density.

Area-based systematic sampling:

Eastern Hemlock: 21.5%

Sweet Birch: 27.7%

Striped Maple: 100%

White Pine: 100%

Area-based random sampling:

Eastern Hemlock: 39.2%

Sweet Birch: 14.9%

Striped Maple: 100%

White Pine: 142.9%

Area-based haphazard sampling:

Eastern Hemlock: 13.2%

Sweet Birch: 19.2%

Striped Maple: 0.09%

White Pine: 100%

 

Based on these percentage errors, the most accurate sampling method for the Eastern Hemlock was haphazard sampling with only 13.2% error, and random sampling for Sweet Birch with 14.9% error. These are the two most common species of trees in the Snyder-Middleswarth Natural area. The two most rare species, Striped Maple and White Pine, were most accurately sampled using haphazard and systematic/haphazard sampling respectively. Haphazard sampling of Striped Maple resulted in only a 0.09% error and both systematic and haphazard sampling resulted in 100% error as there were no White Pines recorded. In random sampling, White Pines were over-represented and had an error of 142.9%.

Accuracy increased with abundance of a species, as seen by the significantly lower percentage errors in the more common species vs. the rare species. Although each strategy used 24 samples to gather data, White Pine was undetected in both systematic and haphazard sampling, suggesting that the total number of samples was insufficient to truly capture the number of species in the community and their abundance. Of the three strategies, haphazard sampling seemed to most accurately estimate the abundance of each species in the area, as the percentage errors for the common species were relatively low and Striped Maple (rare species) was present.

Blog post #6 – Data Collection

TRU Open Learning Leave a comment

So far I’ve collected behavior data on 18 birds, with a goal of 150 (50 in the morning period, 50 midday, and 50 in the evening).  I’ve run into a few problems along the way and have made small adjustments to my sampling design as a result.

  • Initially, my study was going to focus on Mallard ducks only. I’ve noticed however, that at times I cannot find a single mallard on the pond.  The Mallard is just one of several species of “dabbling duck” present in the pond so I’ve expanded my data collection to all dabbling duck species. Thus far I’ve found Blue Winged Teal and Gadwall, in addition to Mallards.
  • It’s June in Alberta – Nothing makes you remember how quickly the weather can change for the worse around here than sitting on the far side of a pond without shelter!  I’ve had 2 data collection periods cut short by sudden bad weather so I’ve started taking advantage of “good” collection periods (ie: good weather AND a good number of ducks on the pond) by taking extra readings when the opportunity arises.  I still plan to collect the same number of replicates (150), will still keep my time frame to the same 3 hour windows previously stated, and will still strive to collect data on unique individuals at each visit,  however I won’t be strictly sticking to the “10 day: 3 collection periods: 5 birds per period” structure I’d previously designed.

I’ve noticed some interesting patterns in my observations.

  • The ducks I observe are frequently in pairs, usually a male and female, but occasionally 2 females.
  • In the evening collection period, I’ve been having a hard time finding ANY mallards to observe. I wonder if they live elsewhere and have returned “home” for the night?
  • The PM observation period is associated with a lower number of all birds, including species that I am not studying.

I don’t have enough data yet to draw any comparisons to my hypothesis yet, but I look forward to seeing if my ducks exhibit similar behavior patterns to ducks in natural wetland habitats.

Blue Winged Teal
Gadwall
Mallard