Herbivory

Goals

The pilot study accomplishes two important things:

1. It introduces you to your study system. Your observations and experiences from the pilot will help you develop your model and plan your experiments.

2. It helps you get a dataset early in the course. These data will be included in your paper, and you’ll also use them when learning about statistics and graphing.
   

This project requires that you work outdoors (can be on campus or off-campus), using smartphone apps to identify species and measure insect damage to leaves. For the pilot, each student will individually make a scouting trip to several sites (Phase I), and then a separate data-collection trip to a single site (Phase II).

A COVID-19 practical note

We have opened campus for residential life, and I sincerely hope we make through the entire semester in person. However, the reality is that the COVID situation could worsen and we could be sent home at any time. The experimental portion of the course takes 6-8 weeks, and requires access to outdoor natural areas. Identifying these study sites is a big part of the pilot experiment. You will return to one or more of these sites throughout your project.

As you immerse yourself in this study, think about creating flexible plans that you could continue from home, if necessary. If you live near campus, consider exploring off-campus sites closer to home. If you live to far away for that, just think about natural areas you know about near your house, and consider whether any of them might be good stand-ins for areas on or near campus. Rest assured that I’ve intentionally chosen this project because it is doable from just about anywhere, so if we need to transition into remote learning you'll definitely be able to complete this project. I am confident that this framework is flexible enough for you to be successful no matter what happens this semester.