Data Analysis Continues! It's Crunch-Time!

May 31, 2024

Today was a relatively quiet but nonetheless jam-packed day. With this being the second to last class (BTW how did time pass that quickly?!), most groups had already wrapped up the last few trials of their experiments and began venturing into data analysis. With only one class period left, it's officially crunch time!

This was the predetermined schedule for today:

May 29th Tentative Schedule:

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

Marshall started us off with a brief walk-through of how the gut microbiome data retrieval and analysis worked. Basically, he broke down how the lab would be analyzing the raw material we sent them and what the lab will be giving us in return. What I understood is that the lab will be sending over 1 big R studio package containing the different bacterial strains as organized in different columns in their base pair format. From that, we can classify the different strains. This is something that Marshall will be helping us with. What's super exciting is that after all this sequencing, every group can tie this information into their cohort's independent study as well. 

After this, we split off into groups and worked semi-independently to analyze all the data from our individual experiments. Of course, every group had a slightly different working process but for the most part, it was a day full of computer work, analyzing data and writing practicums. Throughout this, we were consulting fellow cohort members and Marshall for guidance with analysis, help with writing and understanding our results.

Let's hear it straight from some of the groups themselves:

Dissection Group: Today the dissection group took some time to look over the results from our dissections and cultures. At first we were a bit confused on interpretation, but we think we got it. First, we found that the length of M4 was significantly different between soapberry bugs and boxelder. As we found the symbiotic organ present in Boxelder, this makes sense that Boxelder had a greater M4 (where the organ is attached to). Another finding was that bacteria density between species seemed to be statistically significant. But we didn’t find evidence for correlation between bacteria density and M4 length. With these findings, we have started writing our paper and hope to also use the sequencing data.

Palatability Group: Today the palatability group started statistical analysis with the data we collected with the ants. We ran ANOVA tests with R using different categories of our data. We also talked about how we would write our individual papers. 

Color Group: We did mostly data analysis and practicum writing, although Stella and I did break for a while in order to photograph some Soapberry bugs! Stella and I collected and photographed female Soapberry bugs that were on opposite ends of the color variance spectrum. While it was difficult to photograph them accurately, we were able to get 2 good examples. Stella also pinned a Soapberry bug that didn't make it. 

While this was going on, one of our group members, Alice, was working hard to handle the R studio analyses. She measured distance of the shades we painted onto the bugs from true red, as well as how much variance there was and if there was any statistically significant association between choosing to mate and a particular color. 

Very excitingly, we started hearing back from the lab while in class. So we ended today off with Marshall giving another mini presentation on the data we got live in class and what it meant. What's super cool is that a preliminary look at the data shows that it supports our original assumption that the insects are diverging. What's also super cool is that we can actually culture those same bacteria strains found in the gut microbiomes we sent off and extract their DNA as well! We're finally beginning to see the fruits of our labor! 

Remember, notebooks are due the next time we meet! And the practicum is due the Friday after that! continue analysis. Try to have the majority of the practicum finished by then so that you aren't stressing last minute with only 48 hours left to write the whole thing. Bring any big questions that you might still have to take care of Wednesday. I know it's a lot of work but keep grinding y'all, we got this! 

Here's the schedule next Wednesday, our very last meeting:

9-10:30 Work out any kinks in analysis, last time for group work

10:30-11:30 Clean out the classroom!

11:30-12 Snack Break 

12-12:30 Short, informal presentations about your group's work over the whole quarter

12:30-12:50 Tearful goodbyes 😓