Longleaf Pine Savanna Drought Study
As a senior, I helped a Ph.D. candidate to set up several 10x10 drought shelters in a Longleaf Pine savanna. We constructed these shelters, equipped with a drainage system so that we would ensure the simulated drought would continue for our plots. While there, I and several other students helped her to identify plant species in the savanna using percent cover species composition. We also collected Longleaf Savanna Arthropod species using SweepNet and D-Vac sampling, as well as legume samples so that we could study their nodules. Legume Gas Exchange Chromatography After aiding the Ph.D. candidate in her field research, I began to aid her in processing the gasses from the legume nodules she had sampled. Using gas chromatography, I analyzed the gas samples and created graphs of the data collected. Tall-Grass Prairie Arthropod-Cattle Herbivory As an undergraduate student, I began to identify unknown Arthropod samples as one of my first duties. For much of my time as an undergraduate researcher, I processed these samples for a Ph.D. candidate. As I neared the end of my undergraduate career, I was approached by the head of the lab and the Ph.D. candidate and offered a place on their upcoming research trip to the Midwest. I excitedly agreed and participated in field research that concerned Arthropod-Cattle herbivory relationships. If these two groups shared the same food resource, how would they affect each other? When drought was involved, what effect would it have on these two groups? Arthropod Collection Methodology Differences My undergraduate independent research focused on the collection of Arthropods. The year before, one of the Ph.D. candidates collected Arthropods using both methods. The question that I was attempting to answer was if the method of collection had any meaningful impact on the data gathered, and if you could target specific species based on method of collection. Using R to analyze the data led me to this conclusion: In terms of influencing the data, the method of collection has a negligible impact on species richness, but a great impact on relative abundance within the samples. It is also possible to target the Orthoptera order, specifically, as their abundance within the Sweepnet dwarfed their number within the D-Vac. |
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