I am Abbey Heide and I am in Gothic, Colorado, working with ten other students at the Rocky Mountain Biological Labs, learning about field biology and ecology. This week we were introduced to several different deviations from ecology. We started with zen ecology, doing more observational work in the field, taking field notes without actually manipulating our surroundings. We were also introduced to botany, where we identified and counted specific plants in a meadow and an aspen grove to figure out their differences in biodiversity. While the aspen grove had a high species abundance, it was the meadow with a higher species richness. On Wednesday, our main focus was stream ecology. By identifying the quantity of different invertebrate species within the water, we were able to calculate the habitat quality of the creek. The next morning, we had a chance to go into a meadow and observe the data collection of rodents that had been trapped over night. It was necessary to get them released before dawn because they are nocturnal animals and may die if they are left in the traps. I was unable to handle the rodents, however, because vertebrate handling requires specific training and a permit. The last day of the week, we got into small groups or pairs and designed our own one day experiment to practice collecting data and using excel for next week, when we will be spending the entire week on a larger experiment.
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