Finalizing Data Collection!

Today we finalized data collection in our small groups! As usual, we started our class with a debrief and discussed maintenance for the soapberry and boxelder treatment groups. After a class poll, we decided to "call it" on maintenance due to the limited amount of live bugs and mostly nymphs. YAY! Here are the results: (Thanks Marshall for creating the visuals!)

With the remaining bugs and nymphs, Marshall set them aside for more testing later. As for data, we can use any of the survival data that fits our paper best, or not at all :)

Since the end of the quarter is approaching (🤧), also look out for end-of-quarter class evaluations. They should be coming out sometime next week. It's important to help give feedback for the future of this fun & exciting class, so please set aside some time to fill those out!

To prepare for writing papers, we will be setting some time to discuss & present informal data/analysis for individual groups. This will help others understand what each group found & give others information to use in their papers. The first half of class will be for finalizing data &/or discussing analysis "presentations". After the break, each group will have ~15 minutes to discuss their findings, so come prepared with some ideas. Remember nothing formal. 

As always reach out to your group mates, classmates, or Marshall, if you need any help with writing papers or understanding data! We got each other's back!

May 24th Class Schedule:

Time	Activity
9:00 am	Meet at Briggs Hall
9:05 am	Announcements/Poll
9:10 am	Group Work/Data Collections
11:10 am	Break
11:30 am	Continue Group Work
12:40 pm	Group Debrief/Next Meeting Plans/Clean Up

Group Updates:

Boldness Group

For the boldness group, we are almost finished with our tests. We just need to finish boxelder bugs reacting to bird noises, but the Soapberry and Boxelder did show some differences in their behavior. Chelsea has also started to map out the walking path of the bugs with some software, so we can see what directions they walked in response to different stimuli. We noticed key differences during certain points of the experiments, however, we still need to analyze the data to determine if our findings are significant.

Palatability Group:

Today we collected our data! We have completed 24 trials thus far. We recorded the trial number & the box number, then took a picture with a ruler & noted the viral number & the nymphs for measurement. Next, we recorded the time of various events (first contact between ants & nymphs, recruitment among ants, time to move the nymphs, & time for them to enter holes). Sometimes, the ants fought over dragging the nymphs to different ant holes. So far, only one nymph was rejected; the rest were accepted. We observed that ants were active in the early morning between 10-11am under shade, & the temperature of the day did not seem to matter much. Therefore, we plan to complete the remaining trials at our next meeting. 

Coloration Group:

We are wrapping up with data collection! We collected more female soapberries to put them in preference trials. After an hour, several males in the trials went without mating, leaving our experiment unsuccessful and results inconclusive. Next time, we will collect fresh males and females and retry these trials to see if this affects their desire to mate. We also started inputting/organizing data, so we should be able to start analyzing on Wednesday!

Dissection Group:

Today the dissection group focussed on dissecting the remainder of the boxelder bugs. We dissected a total of 6 and were again struggling a bit with the identifications of the guts. Today we ran into the trouble of identifying males since we weren't able to find the testis. But we looked at other factors to help determine sex. Near the end of dissections, we plated the guts on petri dishes and only plated the 4-fold dilutions. Otherwise, we are glad to be finished with dissections! Next time we will focus on counting the colonies on the petri dishes we made this week and last week.

(the picture might be from last time but still the same procedure, oops)

Homework:

-Prepare to discuss analysis procedures with class (will also have in-class time)

-Continue writing paper

-End of Quarter Course Evaluation (if posted)

May 29th Tentative Schedule:

Time	Activity
9:00 am	Meet at Briggs Hall
9:05 am	Announcements
9:10 am	Finalize Data Collection/In-group Analysis Discussion
11:10 am	Break
11:30 am	Informal Group Presentations
12:40 pm	Group Debrief/Next Meeting Plans/Clean Up

Hope you all enjoyed your Memorial Day weekend!

~Natalia