Dr. Cash labeling vial of stickleback fish.
Laura constructing fish traps in the lab.
Anna with the bag of fish traps (hand-made from recycled material, see above).
The guys in the field (nice toques Spencer (we think he's the random guy) and Chris!).
Erica in the lab... no words for that....
by Spencer
I’m riding a polar bear through the campsite, then buzz, the alarm sounds. It was only a dream preceding my first day at work in the field and labs. Its 06:50, but the window light seems more of an 11:00. I get dressed and go to breakfast, prepared daily by the wonderful staff at the research center.
Our group is fairly groggy as we line up for oats, cereals, fruits, muffins, and other choices of continental breakfast. As we sit to eat, we discuss what lies ahead for us in the day, and whether putting sugar on toast is normal. This topic of cultural differences is an ongoing and fascinating one as we find out what our friends from across state lines and from across the pond live like. We finish breakfast, wash dishes, and head back to our dormitories to pack our daypacks. As we’re doing this, I look at the time and ask, “Don’t we have briefing in three minutes?” to which I get a reply of rushed packing and running down the hall to get into the classroom on time. 5 minutes late. We’ll do better next time.
We get information on the three types of data we will be taking. We split into teams, myself paired with Chris. Back to the rooms once more to make last minute clothing changes, then back to the lab to get fitted for hip waders and booties. After that we get our data collecting devices, measurement tools, sample containers, and other miscellanea, then we’re out. Chris, Dr. Fishback, and I get started in the first pond with a water sample, then 15 probes measuring temperature, pH levels, conductivity, percent saturation, depth, and GPS locations. Continue this process for 5 more ponds and we find ourselves hungry and ready to go back to the research center. We, along with the groups measuring and collecting other data and samples, head to the van, then back to the center. We clean up and go to lunch, with a bit more lively conversation than our early morning one. We still have some free time, so we go back to one of our rooms and play cards and bananagrams. After many attempts of understanding the language of the banana, we reconvene in the classroom at 13:30. We learn a bit about field notes, then we head into the lab to process our samples and data. Chris and I, working on water quality, process the samples of water we took by filtering them to send to labs. Even though many filters got clogged and our gloves got infected changing the iPhone from K’naan to Tom Petty, we finally get it done. We then go to download the data from the YSI, which was a difficult process that ended in manual data entry due to a full memory on the main computer. Thanks to work experience though, this was done efficiently, allowing us to join the group working on the blog setup.
We upload Erica’s photos and write captions. Once more some leisure time, then dinner, followed by a lecture. This lecture, led by a professeur from the University of Oklahoma, spoke to us of his studies with the Daphnia plexus complex. An interesting lecture about the loss of full melanic daphnia, to mixed, non-melanic, and full extinct ponds. We found about how the temperature rises are a direct cause of this. After our lecture, it was off to the upstairs classroom to work on the blog once more, check out Google Earth images of our next day, and watch videos on Earthwatch Institute. Our last 30 minutes until bed is filled with talking once more about our favourite Skins characters or where our parents met. Bed time.
I’m riding a polar bear through the campsite, then buzz, the alarm sounds. It was only a dream preceding my first day at work in the field and labs. Its 06:50, but the window light seems more of an 11:00. I get dressed and go to breakfast, prepared daily by the wonderful staff at the research center.
Our group is fairly groggy as we line up for oats, cereals, fruits, muffins, and other choices of continental breakfast. As we sit to eat, we discuss what lies ahead for us in the day, and whether putting sugar on toast is normal. This topic of cultural differences is an ongoing and fascinating one as we find out what our friends from across state lines and from across the pond live like. We finish breakfast, wash dishes, and head back to our dormitories to pack our daypacks. As we’re doing this, I look at the time and ask, “Don’t we have briefing in three minutes?” to which I get a reply of rushed packing and running down the hall to get into the classroom on time. 5 minutes late. We’ll do better next time.
We get information on the three types of data we will be taking. We split into teams, myself paired with Chris. Back to the rooms once more to make last minute clothing changes, then back to the lab to get fitted for hip waders and booties. After that we get our data collecting devices, measurement tools, sample containers, and other miscellanea, then we’re out. Chris, Dr. Fishback, and I get started in the first pond with a water sample, then 15 probes measuring temperature, pH levels, conductivity, percent saturation, depth, and GPS locations. Continue this process for 5 more ponds and we find ourselves hungry and ready to go back to the research center. We, along with the groups measuring and collecting other data and samples, head to the van, then back to the center. We clean up and go to lunch, with a bit more lively conversation than our early morning one. We still have some free time, so we go back to one of our rooms and play cards and bananagrams. After many attempts of understanding the language of the banana, we reconvene in the classroom at 13:30. We learn a bit about field notes, then we head into the lab to process our samples and data. Chris and I, working on water quality, process the samples of water we took by filtering them to send to labs. Even though many filters got clogged and our gloves got infected changing the iPhone from K’naan to Tom Petty, we finally get it done. We then go to download the data from the YSI, which was a difficult process that ended in manual data entry due to a full memory on the main computer. Thanks to work experience though, this was done efficiently, allowing us to join the group working on the blog setup.
We upload Erica’s photos and write captions. Once more some leisure time, then dinner, followed by a lecture. This lecture, led by a professeur from the University of Oklahoma, spoke to us of his studies with the Daphnia plexus complex. An interesting lecture about the loss of full melanic daphnia, to mixed, non-melanic, and full extinct ponds. We found about how the temperature rises are a direct cause of this. After our lecture, it was off to the upstairs classroom to work on the blog once more, check out Google Earth images of our next day, and watch videos on Earthwatch Institute. Our last 30 minutes until bed is filled with talking once more about our favourite Skins characters or where our parents met. Bed time.
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