Exciting morning!

After a rough start of cold weather and an uncooperative pH meter, we (Leanne and I) sighted three otters in Sugar Creek! We thought they might be beavers at first, but then they came into full view, and they were definitely otters. Quite the exciting morning! But back in the lab, we got a little frustrated when we ran out of our usual filters and had to use the smaller filters. The filter paper was too big for them, but we shoved them in there anyway and hoped that it worked… We came back this afternoon and did some gram staining on samples that Dr. Fader collected last week for us.

Turtle data

Now we are looking at all of the data from the past few years.  We are looking for patterns and other info that could be helpful.  We will be presenting next semester at a conference.

feeding the geckos

We have learned that feeding geckos isn’t as easy as it looks.  We always have to be aware of where the geckos are in the cage especially if they hide in the upper corners!! They could easily escape if we lift the cage, but usually the light in the room causes them to hide in their pots.  We feed them small crickets that we have recently started “gut loading” the crickets so the geckos obtain more nutrients.  We have found out that “gut loading” is a common practice with gecko owners.  It is a combination of dry milk, fruit, dog food, and oatmeal.  There are several different ways to do this.

gecko environment

We have three tanks for the three species of geckos.  We started them with a turf substrate, but then decided to change it to a soil environment.  It was definately hard switching them over to change the tanks.  They are very quick! Luckily, we haven’t let one escape yet!  We have kept them separate this semester to get used to the environment and their feeding habbits; next semester we are starting our behavior experiments when we introduce them to one another.

geckos are moved in!

We have had our geckos for a little while now and they appear comfortable in their new environment.  We have three diffeent species with about ten of each.  Some even arrived pregnant! We now have three eggs which is very exciting. 

Third week of sampling

This week was my third week of water sampling and identifying bacteria. Previously, I had just incubated all of the bacteria samples at the same temperature for the same amount of time, but then I looked back at last year’s study and found that the plates were at different temperatures for different amount of times, so this week I used last year’s method. I’m gram staining the rest of my plates tomorrow, and hopefully I will be able to identify them easily.

Flower ID

The flower specimens that were collected during the semester were all identified and stored for future botany students.  Maybe a few more work days this semester in the wetlands but mostly the project consists of writing at this point.

Cruching numbers

We’ve completed our rounds of turtle trapping, some time ago, and are now exploring the woderful world of data entry. Didn’t do too bad this semester, but not as well as I expected. We need to pick up a few more traps so we can trap in any season. At least that way we’d stay out of the lab.

Wetland Work

Last Wednesday, Dr. Fader and myself sprayed the around the ponds and wetlands.  We worked for about two hours and covered the unwanted vegetation with herbicide.  The flowers are of course not as bright now that the weather is colder.  All work is going good.  Now just to put it on paper!

Wetland Flowers

Research with the wetland flowers continues to go well.  We dug most of the pokeweed out of wetland one, and the flowers that were collected have been identified.  Soon, we will spray to clear out some of the unwanted or harmful plants.  All is well that ends well.