Fiddler Crabs

What I've Done I have continued to write my annotated bibliography paragraphs. Plans for Today I will research for more primary sources and continue to work towards my 40 annotated bibliography sources (not due until November 6). I will also continue to prepare for my presentation on November 2. Plans for the Future I will practice my presentation and find more primary sources.

What I've Done I have completed 24 of the 40 annotated bibliography source paragraphs as of today. I have also continued to prepare for my progress presentation. Lastly, I uploaded my progress poster to my blog and emailed it to Ms. McDonald and Mr. Zrada Plans for Today I will continue to find primary sources and writing paragraphs for my annotated bibliography (due on November 6th). Plans for the Future I hope to be done with my annotated bibliography by Friday. I will continue to practice my presentation, as I present on Wednesday.

June 5, 2017 July 7, 2017 October 6, 2017

July 7, 2017 September 15, 2017 October 13, 2017

What I've Done I have outlined my progress update presentation that is taking place on the 26th of October. I have also scheduled a meeting with my partner D. D'Albero for Wednesday, October 25th to go over my presentation and practice it. I finished my progress poster, as well (due on the 24th of October). Plans for Today I will upload my progress poster to the blog. I will continue to finalize my presentation, and continue to write my annotated bibliography paragraphs (due on the 6th of November). Plans for the Future I will continue to work on my annotated bibliography (due on the 6th of November) and practice my presentation.

What I've Done I have written several more annotated bibliography paragraphs and found a handful more sources. I have updated my statistical analysis with the final two counting sessions, as well. Plans for Today I will start to work on the progress poster (due on October 24). I also want to find the remaining eight primary sources for my 40 annotated bibliography. Plans for the Future This weekend, I will finish the progress poster and begin to organize my blog for my progress update presentation on the 26th of October. I will also continue to work on my annotated bibliography.

  A Population Assessment of the Uca minax species at Spermaceti Cove on Sandy Hook, New Jersey   A male Uca minax fiddler crab (Michael Rosenberg)   Bri Astorino Ms. McDonald and Mr. Zrada Directed Field Research Period 5/6

What I've Done I have written a log about the last counting session of this year. I have also gathered 27 of the 40 required sources for this project. I have written 4 of the 40 paragraphs for the annotated bibliography (not due until the 6th of November). Plans for Today I plan to find some of the remaining 13 sources I need, as well as potentially take notes on a few of them in order to write a paragraph about each source. I also want to look over what is required for my progress update presentation (on the 26th of October) and begin planning how I would like to present, as well as what information I want to say. Plans for the Future Throughout the rest of the week and into the weekend, I would like to get at least half of the annotated bibliography paragraphs completed. I would also like to plan in-depth for the presentation. Today, I simply want to come up with a rough outline of my presentation and later I want to input detailed explanations into it.

A photo taken by B. Astorino of the reddening salicornia and other flora on the south side of Spermaceti Cove. A photo by B. Astorino of the south side of Spermaceti Cove. It was 14 degrees Celsius with 15 mph ENE winds. There were no crabs on either side of the Spermaceti Cove, thus making this the last counting date for the 2017-2018 school year. There were deer tracks on the north side and raccoon tracks on the south side, as well as litter all throughout the cove. The salicornia was turning red, while the seaside lavender was returning back to seed. Wax myrtle was also spotted on the south side.

Contact with Ms. McDonald Date of contact:  October 13, 2017 Contact:  Ms. McDonald Reference: Annotated Bibliography Discussion:  I asked Ms. McDonald what sources should be about, besides fiddler crabs, their biology, and ecology and coastal wetlands. I also asked if sources about how to write a research paper would count towards the forty sources I need. Conclusion: Ms. McDonald advised me that primary sources were to be the only sources I use and that sources telling me how to write a research paper, although very helpful for my project, do not count as part of my sources. She did, however, tell me that sources about statistics and statistical analysis do count. Lastly, she provided an example on how to easily find primary sources on the internet about the Uca minax species.  

A photo taken by B. Astorino of the north side of Spermaceti Cove. A photo taken by B. Astorino of the south side of Spermaceti Cove. It was 23 degrees Celsius, with a 9 mph NNW wind. There were no new animal or human footprints on the north side of the Cove, although litter still remained. D. D'Albero counted seven fiddler crabs on the south side, while B. Astorino counted zero on the north side.

Contact with Ms. McDonald Date of contact:  October 6, 2017 Contact:  Ms. McDonald Reference: Hypothesis Discussion:  Ms. McDonald and I, along with D. D'Albero, met to discuss what my hypothesis should be. She explained that this project is a longitudinal study, so the hypothesis for this year should be the same as the hypothesis from last year. Conclusion: My hypothesis was changed from trying to prove that the fiddler crab population will change as a result of variables such as weather and lack of food to that the Uca minax species will increase over the years.  

What I've Done Yesterday I completed my statistics log that is due today. Throughout this week I have started compiling many different primary sources and taking notes on them to work towards the 40 annotated bibliography (not due until November 6).  Plans for Today I will continue to find primary sources. I will also write up a blog post summarizing how the counting session for today goes, which will include the amount of crabs on each side, the weather, and any other observations.  Plans for the Future I will find more primary sources and start putting the notes taken on said sources into annotated bibliographical paragraphs.

Statistics Many different types of statistics are used when conducting a population analysis. Normal distribution will be use to show the outliers in the data, since normal distribution shows what 'normal' data points would look like. Standard deviation can be used hand in hand with normal distribution to measure how the data points are distributed; the higher the standard deviation, the more spread out the data points are. This means that if my data points were 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, the standard deviation would be much smaller than if they were 1, 29, 39, 74, and 299. Continuing, variance measures how far each data point is from the mean of the data set; as a result, I will need to calculate the mean. Variance also shows how spread out the data is. After all the manipulation of the data sets are complete, I will need to use these calculations to determine whether my null hypothesis or hypothesis is correct and how much error I have. In regards to testing my hypotheses, I wi

What I've Done I have redone my background information and started to research the statistics necessary for my population analysis. I wrote a blog post about the counting session that took place last Friday. Plans for Today I will complete my Data Collection blog post with several different tables and graphs (not due until October 6). I will continue to research the different types of statistics needed for this project so that I can complete the statistics blog post (not due until October 6).  Plans for the Future My main focus for the rest of the week is to write up my statistics blog post (due on October 6). 

Data Table 1 shows the date of each count, the amount of crabs on either side of Spermaceti Cove, and any additional observations taken by either B. Astorino or D. D'Albero. The three graphs below show the relation between the amount of fiddler crabs counted against the progression of the summer. Generally, as the season goes on, there are less and less fiddler crabs spotted on both sides of Spermaceti Cove. This is due to the fact that fiddler crabs burrow underground during the winter months. A line graph that plots the amount of fiddler crabs counted on the north side of Spermaceti Cove against the counting session. See Data Table 1 for exact dates and observations of each counting session. Counting session 6 denotes the end of the 2016-2017 sessions. A line graph that plots the amount of fiddler crabs counted on the south side of Spermaceti Cove against the counting session. See Data Table 1 for exact dates and observations of each counting session. Counting sess

Contact with Ms. McDonald Date of email:  October 2, 2017 Contact:  Ms. McDonald Reference: Background Information Discussion:  Ms. McDonald advised D. D'Albero and I that our background information should be different between the both of us and that it needed to be redone by October 5. She also told us that the species we are researching is Uca minax , not U. pugnax. Conclusion:  I will rewrite my background information tonight on my own.