Completed Experiment!-

I completed my 6-month long experiment this week and figured this accomplishment deserves a blog entry!

The moss was collected in May and carved out into two-patch metacommunities with different levels of connectivity.

In May and August we subjected select patches to Tulgren funnel extraction (which removes a bunch of the mites and collembolans) for  synchronous and asynchronous disturbance treatments.

Finally, in November we sampled all 168 patches by putting them through Tulgren funnel extraction. Now, just another 6 months sorting mites under the microscope and I will have my data for my Masters thesis!

Many thanks to all the people that have helped make this experiment possible. I was on crutches when setting up, so it literally would not have been possible to start this experiment when I did without many of the following people’s assistance:

– Olga Lansdorp – official driver and field hand extraordinaire

– Jiichiro Yoshimoto – field and lab helper, moss waterer

– Youhua Chen – field and lab helper, through set-up and all 3 extractions

– Seane Trehearne – Totem field contact

– Rebecca Taves – helper for final extraction and take-down, skilled mite sorter

– Pamela Matute – helper in final extraction and take-down, mite sorting whiz

Finally, much thanks to Diane Srivastava for guidance and for providing me with so much help!

 

-Gennifer Meldrum, November 13, 2010