Mistakes are part of the process! According to the mistakes, we can improve and modify the next experiment. During our Campus Pond evaluation, the way our team collected samples was different, which was a major variable. Because of Jackson's strength, he could swing the net faster than Zack and I could, which meant that the microbes and creatures he captured had less reaction time to escape. As a result, Jackson was able to capture the most abundant species each time.
Similarly, outside factors, apart from human factors, are also very much responsible for some of the variability. For example, once we collected samples after a rainstorm, it was raining lightly that day, which led to the increase of turbidity in the pond and the decrease of air temperature and water temperature. And for our abiotic tests, the weak acidity in the rain changed the pH values we measured. For our biological sampling, due to rain, the activities of the organisms in the pond may be different from the past, resulting in deviations between the samples and the normal conditions.
Nonetheless, I don't think these variables will have much impact on our sample results. We are very rigorous in many places. For example, Alan made a sampling survey from five places in the pond, which perfectly averaged the ecological situation of the entire pond, allowing us to get more accurate information.