Writing on Boardwalk to delineate plot boundary
1AOT, 1AOI, 1ANT, 1ANI: do you know what that means? Looking at the letters and numbers, you can tell it's some kind of code. Scientists need to keep track of a lot of different treatments or variables for an experiment. These codes help everyone use the same descriptors to locate and orient ourselves to our place in the plot. This particular code has a lot of information in it. It tells what plot we are on, whether or not the plot had fabric placed on it to advance the snowmelt, whether or not the area has an open top greenhouse or not, and whether or not you are looking at tussock or intertussock.
Did you figure it out now? So, 1AOT means that we are in plot 1, it had the Advanced snowmelt treatment of the fabric cloth to cause the snow to melt sooner than it would have naturally, we are looking at an area with an open top greenhouse, and the particular space we are working with is characterized by tussock (remember the tundra cottongrass, Eriophorum vaginatum)?
tussock cottongrass
What was it if not tussock? Correct! intertussock! With six scientists and all the research assistants, grad students, and undergraduate students working at various times on the project, everyone knows the common language that is used to talk about the treatments and data. This is important for so many reasons, not the least of which is to understand what has occurred that may or may not be affecting the data you are looking at. Soil samples are followed with the same labeling scheme throughout processing
weighing tussock soil for analysis
Additionally, we map the areas of treatment so that everyone knows what everyone else is doing. For example, in this final year of the project, we are digging out core samples of the soil. Although this is pretty invasive, we are careful not to step on or disturb other aspects of the project.
Anthony Darrouzet-Nardi with soil core
The Snowmelt Project, as it is called, is designed to study the effects of advanced snowmelt and increased warming on the tundra environment. From these manipulations, the study is looking at how changes in temperature and timing of snowmelt affect plant growth timing and nutrient availability. The black fabric cloth is used in the snowmelt plots to move the snowmelt earlier in the season
fabric cloth on the advanced snowmelt plot
and the open top greenhouses (OTC's) are set out to study the effects of warming temperatures on a small portion of the immediate tundra environment.
Anthony adjusting a mantis array over an open top warming chamber
The OTC's are set out on both A (advanced snowmelt), and C (control plots, no treatment with fabric cloth), and areas of each plot are also studied that do not have the OTC's. This gives the scientists data about warming temperatures on areas that have had an earlier melt off, and areas that melted off naturally. It also gives data about areas in each plot so that one can see the effect of warming and not warming in a control plot, and the effects of warming and not warming in an advanced snowmelt plot! Easier done than explained, likely! Most of us have heard about the need to establish controls on an experiment…the need to look at an area unaffected by our manipulations to see how it is responding naturally. Another key factor in experimental design is to have replicates. On the advanced snowmelt project, we have five plots total, which are really 10 subplots of treated/untreated areas. When I go to collect the microlysimeters, for example, I need to end up with 40 when I'm done. That's because there are four per subplot, meaning two within and two outside of the OTC's. Guess where the two are located each time? That's right, one is in tussock, and the other is in intertussock.
microlysimeter sampling tubes installed inside the OTC
Each experiment has its own subset of data: just a few examples include: four insect collection cups per plot,
insect collection cup on Snowmelt Plots
five plants each of sixteen different species checked in two subplots per plot (map locating individual plants marked for phenology)
and there are two OTC's per plot, plus two mantis arrays logging environmental conditions per plot.
A thing that goes un-noticed is the dedication of the researchers. Although working in a beautiful place which not many folks ever get to see; the work can still sometimes be repetitive and the weather can be less than cooperative. Yesterday and today were prime examples of bad weather, and although I was excused from today's outside work, I got a good taste of it yesterday during a soaking, cold fog event. Unless scientific equipment is at stake, or you can't collect data because of conditions (like leaf out data when the plants are covered with snow), the researcher is bound to get out there. Much like dairy farming, where the animals can't wait for you to come out on a warm sunny day and feed them or milk them, the researcher needs to get out rain or shine to continue their study. We all like the great sunshiny days, but all days do not work out that way.
a wet,foggy day in the field
Of course there are much worse field conditions than this that people work in; but I thought you might enjoy a taste of the field on a foggy wet day at Imnaviat!
I hope this has helped you understand that the mysterious looking codes researchers use are not mysterious at all, and has given you a little insight into daily field research.
Back to work!
good gear makes the day more comfortable!