Seven Plots in One Day

Spring term began this week and the BCEs hit the ground running. Okay, technically, after morning data collection and sit-spots at our micro-wildernesses… they levitated above the ground, slowly. What? We got a slack line!

No injuries yet!

After morning data collection, we got to work. Ruani needed to visit five plots to check his ACOs (artificial cover objects) for herpetofauna. This week was the first week of data collection, to be repeated each week for six weeks. Because it was the first time, I thought it best we do it all together. Some of the sites still needed flags, and all the bark pieces needed to be measured. After those tasks are done, it will just be checking for critters.

Meanwhile, Terran wanted to collect soil moisture data for his soil project- and the ambitious goal was to get this data all on the same day. That’s five plots, three flagged locations at each plot to collect moisture and temperature data using the Verneir sensors we bought with the grant he wrote.

Ambition was the word of the day. I warned them that the work required on this first day back after spring break would be harder than normal and a stretch (if not impossible). One thing we had going for us was that both experiments required data from three of the same plots, meaning we needed to visit seven plots total, not ten. Which is good, because we don’t even have ten plots yet.

We carried our lunches and all the science equipment and followed a logical route through the forest, collecting the required data at each stop. Everyone volunteered to help with various tasks to increase efficiency.

One perennial challenge for me is that I always have more ideas for data collection than is realistically possible. In my head: we’re visiting most of the plots on a single spring day, wouldn’t it be amazing to collect wildflower data? The answer is yes, it would. Also, have we established protocols for doing this yet? No, we have not. I needed someone focused and not already committed to a project to help me start this process, and I was grateful that Juniper volunteered. She carried our copy of Pojar and counted, identified, and sketched wildflowers in most plots. Amazing. We’ve got some photos of new species to ID and camas lily counts for several plots.

Look what I found in the stream during our lunch stop! What is it??

I wasn’t sure if we’d find anything under the ACO’s that we placed last winter. Ru and I talked about this at our last meeting- a null result is a real thing in science. But guess what! In plot 6, they found the cutest little guy.

First thought was maybe a clouded salamander, but the folks on iNat did not agree. What do you think?

Stay tuned for our analysis, or chime in with your ideas. Sadly, we had some technology failures and the only images that actually saved were the ones I took on my phone. Our set of old smartphones turned research phones are, unfortunately, starting to fail us one by one.

Some folks’ data collection focus was starting to fade after five or six plots. Besides the work at each plot, we got turned around in the woods and had to do a significant amount of bushwacking. (Note to self: we still need to build trails between the plots.)

It was understandable that the last plot had equal parts monkeying around and measuring. Still, we did it! With about 15 minutes to spare before time to head back into town. I promise next week will not be quite so science-packed or ambitious. We’ll make sure there’s skill time and free time. But our team of researchers showed they can do some heavy lifting when need be- quite impressive!