Community Ecology, Week 2

By Sarah “Webbie” Webster,
Graduate Student

Our second half of Community Ecology was riddled with excitement.

Dr. Dale gave a great summary of how to do statistical tests for different types of studies. We were all feeling pretty confident with t-tests, ANOVA, “Turkey Tests”, Regression Tests and Chi-Squared. He then challenged us to read a number of studies and determine the best statistical test for each situation. Despite the fact that the studies were fictional, we did a pretty spectacular job of applying tests to them. We then had the mouthwatering pleasure of playing with M&Ms to hone our skills. If we hadn’t been warned that they’d been handled so many times, we may have skewed our data and filled our stomachs.

After this wonderful synopsis of statistical analysis, we divided into groups and were sent out to do research. Team JPP (Jill, Peter, Pippi) headed out to learn about Aspens and Woodpeckers, while Team ASW (Aliesje, Sara, Webbie) headed to the waters of Flat Creek in Jackson. I cannot recount the stories of JPP, because I was not there, though their research presentation showed some excellent learning. They were trying to determine Woodpeckers’ preferred Aspen stands: early, middle, or late succession, and whether they were using these stands for food storage or as homes, based on the size of the holes. Their results suggested that Woodpeckers prefer early and late succession, but tend to select against middle succession stands.

Team ASW was trying to determine whether the town of Jackson affected the water quality of Flat Creek by looking at temperature, turbidity (clarity) and a number of chemical components of the water. We had some problems on the first day of research, because we ran out of test supplies, which forced us to move into a second day of testing and forfeit some of the time that was allotted to analyzing our data and creating our presentation.

A highlight of the second day was probably when a small dog appeared on scene, saw our data sitting on the ground, lifted his leg, and marked his territory. Luckily, the data didn’t suffer. Our results showed that the stream actually got clearer as it flowed through Jackson – much to our surprise – and that the temperature rose as the stream flowed through town. Because the sites downstream were tested later in the day as the sun warmed the valley, our temperature data was questioned. None of our chemical tests gave us significant results. We probably should have been counting macro-invertebrates as a water quality indicator, but all of us were a bit tired of them.

Presentations at the end of the research were well done. It was wonderful to have some other members of the TSS community come to our presentations and know that they truly care about the group and want to know what we have been doing and learning in our academic courses. Many thanks to Dale for another fabulous week of learning!