Not as difficult as calculus though.
A whopper of a nudus
After a week of stats, stats, and more stats, I’m ready to go back out into the field. Not that I don’t like statistics, but man oh man am I glad there are programs to do the tests for me. So far I noticed some trends, especially with the speed of the crabs in sulfide water compared to clean water. Crabs seem to be slower and less responsive to a simulated predator in sulfide water than in clean water. And on that note, here is a video showing just that. Crab comparison
I wouldn't be able to pick this rock out of a lineup.
Back out in the field, I’ve started another part of my project where I transplant crabs from clean areas to sulfide seeps and monitor their survival. I have two containers at a sulfide seep, and two at a clean site. The containers are kept under rocks, so if you happen to be out in the intertidal zone and see some containers under rocks, that’s what they’re for. Another person working in the sulfide seeps, Riley, is also going to study the bacterial growth (or lack of) on the crabs contained in the sulfide. Killing two birds with one stone. The difficulty in this, however, is finding the rock that the container is hidden under. Also, taking a picture of the rock it’s under doesn’t help. I spent a good 10-15 minutes this morning looking for one because, well, all the rocks look kind of similar.
Yesterday the math and science department had a “nerd dessert” contest where lab groups made desserts that represented their research. Since Joel’s lab works on both sea stars and crabs, we decided to make a tide pool that could incorporate both. Our dessert won Most Aesthetically Pleasing, but that’s neither here nor there.