ABI 150 Section B - Hunt for the Promise Land

After Tuesday discussion, we set out to find ideal areas of study for our proposals. The class was split into 4 groups, each with their own proposal ideas. 

Groups: 

• Froggit about it

• Damselflies in Distress 

• Pillbug Personality Test 

• We are the Waterstriders

With those groups in mind Kaya, out MC for the day, provided the class with two options, either go to the Yolo Bypass or Quail Ridge, in hopes that those areas will aid in creating the proposals. 

So the class split into 2 sections: 

Froggit about it, We are the Waterstriders, and half of the Pillbug Personality Test headed to Quail Ridge. While the Damselflies in Distress and the other half of the Pillbug Personality Test groups went out to The Yolo Bypass. 

Quail Ridge, and many more: 

Quail Ridge started off very promising, after the long drive, the group reached the parking spot, they discussed what the plan was for the day. However before anything could be done, they were interrupted by a sneaky fellow, a common sharp tailed snake. After that interruption, they decided to seek out the ponds in hopes of finding water striders or tadpoles. 

Pond number 1: 

After a short walk, the group reached the first pond. 

All expectations, however, were diminished, as the pond was not as expected. There were a few water striders and tadpoles around, but it was difficult to get around the pond, so not much else could be done. 

Pond number 2: 

In hopes of getting a little more out of Quail Ridge, the group decided to head to another pond. Prior to arriving, Crystal, our TA, had told us that the pond was temporary, so expectations were low. The pond was up on a hill, somewhat away from the hiking trail, so two volunteers, Caelan and Eric, followed by Kendall, Alan, and Alejandra. While on their way up, Caelan and Eric unfortunately spooked a wild deer, creating an exiting little event. The pond, however, was nothing to talk about, but that was to be expected. So after two uneventful locations within Quail Ridge, the group decided to go to other places. 

Putah Creek and The Arboretum: 

The group decided to hit up locations along Putah Creek. Some of the locations had nothing of interest in regards to tadpoles and water striders. However in most spots the Pillbug group was able to collect some specimens after turning over a few rocks and logs. The final spot of Putah Creek was the best location the group went to that day. The group saw everything that they were looking for, water striders, pillbugs, and much more.

The final stop of the day was at UC Davis arboretum. Although we had only a few minutes to check it out, it seemed like a promising location considering its on campus. 

Yolo Bypass:

The other half of the class headed towards Yolo Bypass decided to do things a bit different. Once arriving at the bypass, they split up into their proposal groups. 

Damselflies in Distress: 

When compared to the groups at Quail Ridge, Damselflies in Distress seemed to have more luck with spotting their species of choice. In all it seemed that they had spotted over 75 damselflies and over 15 other odonata, even having some success in capturing about 30 individuals, and marking about four individuals. Marking the individuals is part of their methods portion of the proposal, they aim to come up with a feasible means to conduct a capture-mark-recapture experiment of damselflies at multiple site locations. They are deciding on colors to use in marking individuals, and the means of holding the damselflies, pinching towards the base of the wings. After a minor mishap of someone losing their phone for a bit, they headed back to campus with their heads held high. (Shout outs to Jessica for the summary of their group).

Pill bug Personality Test: 

Last but not least, the Pillbug group at the Yolo Bypass had mixed results. In search for their roly pollies they headed towards the riparian section of the bypass. Unlike their partners near Putah Creek and Quail Ridge, they didn't find many pillbugs near the bypass. They did however find many other isopods, including powdered woodlice, other under moist and dark sections. With this knowledge in mind, the group decided to pivot their study organisms to both species of isopods, using both the Putah Creek and Yolo Bypass research areas. (Thanks to Mia for their summary). 

Agenda for Tuesday April 21:

Tuesday will be a big day for the groups. We will be spending about an hour of our time doing presentations. We will have 15 minutes for each presentation, including time for questions. In addition to your proposals, make sure you add a works cited at the end of your slides. After presentations we will have time to vote on which proposal was the best, most interesting, however you would like to rank them. After voting, we will finally have our question we want to answer for the rest of the quarter!

Things to do Before Tuesday:

Have your presentations done and submitted on the google docs file titled: Proposal Presentations. Also remember that we have an R studio assignment (R3 assignment) that is due as well. 

Best of Luck.