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Out of the field and into the fRying pan

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Blog Notes: ABI 150 Section 001 We are rapidly nearing the end of the quarter and are one week out from our paper due dates. We ended data collection last Thursday with a… drumroll… 1333 observations of stilt behavior. Each of us knows what a tremendous, hard-fought dataset this was. It turns out, birds are pretty good at moving around and they made us really work for that number. Just as an example, we recorded more than 5000 foraging beak dips. Wow! To get the most out of our data set, Heuijae asked us to come prepared for today’s session with portions of our manuscript completed to allow us to focus on data analysis. Our goals for today were: A clear/refined research question Confirmed x and y (predictor and response variables) Graph type and possible analyses Some progress on R We have a canonical class dataset, aptly named “dataset” on the Google Drive. In addition to our tremendous effort in the field, this dataset represents a stunning example of ...
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It's an R bonanza! DistRessed Damselflies...

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Our last long session began with a recap of where we are (we’ve finished data collection!) and where we’re going (rapidly toward a finished paper). The stated goal of the session was to make progress on our individual R analyses. The data present some particular challenges and offer many perspectives from which to analyze. Students were told beforehand to identify their primary analytical goals for the session. What figures did they want in their paper? What analysis naturally pairs with these figures? And perhaps most difficult, who cares? Our goal is to use our dataset to write an impactful ecology paper… how exactly do we do that? Arianna reminded everyone of the predictor-response framework and provided a rough structure to the session with scheduled working and break times. A one-hour lunch boosted morale, and a 39-question Kahoot pushed the boundaries of effective team building. Team built! But all this was lipstick on a damselfly — the main purpose of the...
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ABI 150 Section A - Farewell Stills, Hello R

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The Final Data Collection Day Date: May 28, 2026 Location: Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area (Lot H, Lot F) Morning Group: 6:30 am - 12:30 pm Afternoon Group: 10 am - 4 pm Today was the last day we went to the Yolo Bypass to collect data. This means we are officially done with field data collection, and now we are only left with suffering through R and writing the actual paper! Morning Group Kicks Off the Day 06:47 After gathering at the parking lot at 06:30, the morning group arrived at Yolo Bypass and united with Harvey. The rain stopped on our way, but the weather was still much chillier and cloudier than last week. Huge thanks to Marshall for bringing donuts. Starting the early morning with some glucose definitely helped us stay awake. 07:00 The crew broke into two groups of four and started wandering around in search of stilts.  Group 1: Hannah, Carissa, Josie, Marshall Group 2: Harvey, Heuijae, Liliana, Sam Since each group had four people instead of three, and the data tables are ...
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ABI 150 Section B — Analysis Brainstorming & R Troubleshooting Day

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Today’s class focused heavily on data analysis, troubleshooting in R, refining ideas for our final scientific papers and collectively trying to survive RStudio 😭. The overall vibe of the day was collaborative problem-solving: figuring out what our data can actually tell us, helping each other defeat the ancient evil known as error messages , and narrowing down research questions into analyses we can realistically complete. Starting the Day ☀️ Mario went straight to business as we started right at 10:00 AM he began by thanking everyone who went to the Yolo Bypass yesterday on Memorial Day to collect extra data for the class 🫡 Shoutout to everyone who spent part of their holiday doing fieldwork instead of relaxing. Mario then checked in with everyone about how we were doing in R. The emotional state of the class could probably be summarized as: “Define doing .” 😭 He walked us through useful R jargon, functions, troubleshooting strategies, and plotting basics. Honestly, very much need...
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