Fiddler Crabs

Acknowledgments   Thank you to Ms. McDonald for mentoring the scientific process for this experiment and the writing of the scientific research paper. Thank you to Mrs. Zrada for mentoring the statistical analysis of the data collected.

What I've Done I practiced my presentation and made an outline for it so that I included everything I needed to say. Plans for Today I will present my formal progress update and watch other people present. After everybody presented for the day, I wrote a mentor contact for when Mrs. McDonald went over my materials & methods. I also wrote my acknowledgments portion of my paper. Plans for the Future I will watch other people's present for the rest of the week.

Contact with Ms. McDonald Date of contact:  March 23, 2018 Contact:  Ms. McDonald Reference:  Writing the Materials & Methods Portion of my Paper Discussion:  I showed Ms. McDonald my materials & methods and she wrote on my paper the necessary changes that need to be made. Conclusion:  She said that I write too much like I'm writing in a diary, not a scientific research paper, and that I cannot have a preposition starting or ending my sentences. I omitted what she said I should and added the things she told me to add.

What I've Done I did not start my discussion. I handed in my materials and methods, abstract, and results to be checked over by Mrs. McDonald. I have completed my progress poster, as well. Plans for Today I plan to meet with Mrs. McDonald to revise my abstract, materials and methods, and results. I will make the necessary corrections. Plans for the Future I will write a mentor contacts for my meeting with Mrs. McDonald. I will also practice my presentation that takes place on Monday. I will update my progress poster with corrections prior to my presentation.

A correlation between the temperature of the counting day in Celsius and the amount of Uca minax fiddler crabs counted on both sides of Spermaceti Cove concluded that they have a slightly positive correlation of .31056. Evidentially, on a warmer day, more fiddler crabs will be spotted, as past counting sessions have shown (see Figure 1).   Figure 1: Above is a table of the date the crabs were counted, with the amount of crabs counted and the temperature in Celsius. It is shown that a higher temperature also yields a higher amount of fiddler crabs counted the majority of the time. Mean, standard deviation, and variance of the 2016-2017 baseline data set and the 2017-2018 data set were calculated in order to determine the spread of the data. (see Figure 2).  Figure 2: This table breaks up the data from the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 data collection sets, which are then further broken down into the amount of crabs counted on the North and South side of Spermaceti Cove d

What I've Done I decided I should work on my results and statistical analysis portion of my paper next. I read up on what goes into a results section and discussion section of a scientific research paper and took detailed notes. Plans for Today I plan to write the results portion today. Plans for the Future I will start my discussion portion of my paper and then work on my progress poster Wednesday-Friday, as it is due this Friday.

Plans for Today I will start researching what goes into writing a discussion part of a scientific research paper. Plans for the Future I will continue to research about how to write a discussion until I feel I have enough information to write my own.

What I've Done I uploaded my press release onto my blog by taking screenshots of the PDF file. Plans for Today I will write up all of the mentor contacts I have for this marking period and post them to my blog. Time permitting, I will look at my future assignments and determine which I should do next. Plans for the Future I will work on whichever assignment I think I should tackle now.

Materials and Methods This longitudinal study began in June 2016 and studies the changes in population of the Uca minax fiddler crabs on Spermaceti Cove at Sandy Hook, New Jersey. Materials for this experiment include Microsoft Excel to organize data and conduct statistical analysis and a blog on Blogger.com. Tide charts were procured from nj.usharbors.com . All data is in a binder for organizational purposes. Electronic versions of the data are in Excel spreadsheets. The data was collected at low tide during full and new moons from June 2016 to October 2017. The crabs are most active during low tide. New and full moons and low tides ensured fiddler crabs were out of their burrows for counting. Fiddler crabs were counted once every two weeks. Counting took place at Spermaceti Cove on Sandy Hook, New Jersey during the Uca minax fiddler crab breeding season, from June to October. After October, counting sessions ended. Spermaceti Cove was divided into northern and southern parts, w

What I've Done  I completed my press release. Plans for Today I have to figure out a way to upload my press release onto the blog, as I am having difficulty doing so. I thought the best way to do this would be to take screenshots of the document; however, there are lots of symbols from Microsoft on top of the document, so those would be shown if I did this. if I saved it as a PDF, I don't think these symbols would show and I would be able to take screenshots of it then.   Plans for the Future I will submit my press release on 9 March and begin working on my next assignment.

What I've Done I wrote the paragraph about how the data for this experiment was conducted. I also fixed the figure numbers because I realized a few of them were wrong. Plans for Today Diana, Joey, Ms. McDonald, and I are going to take GPS coordinates at Spermaceti Cove today. We will use this data for more information in our paper.  Plans for the Future I will submit my press release on 9 March and begin working on my next assignment.

Contact with Ms. McDonald Date of contact:  March 6, 2018 Contact:  Ms. McDonald Reference:  GPS coordinates Discussion:  Diana, Ms. McDonald, and I went to Spermaceti Cove to take GPS coordinates. Conclusion:  While at Spermaceti Cove, we took GPS coordinates, as well as several photographs and videos of the cove. Due to a big storm that happened prior to our visit, the cove looked very different from previous visits. The area where there was sand and beaches was now inundated with ocean water, and there was a lot of washed up trash.No fiddler crabs were spotted.

Contact with Ms. McDonald Date of contact:  March 2, 2018 Contact:  Ms. McDonald Reference:  GPS coordinates Discussion:  Diana and I asked Ms. McDonald which date would be best for us to go to Spermaceti Cove to take GPS coordinates for more specific data. Conclusion:  We will all go to Spermaceti Cove on March 6, 2018, weather permitting, in order to use the Garmin GPS to take coordinates.

What I've Done I made final revisions to my press release. Plans for Today When I revised the paragraphs I wrote for my press release, I realized that I would like to write another paragraph that talks about how the data was collected. I will write that paragraph today. Plans for the Future I will ask Ms. McDonald to look over my materials and methods. I have to put all of the paragraphs I wrote for the press release into a newspaper format and add photos with captions and figure numbers.