Fiddler Crabs

A photo by B. Astorino, showing the many footprints, deer tracks, and raccoon tracks spotted on the north side of Spermaceti Cove. A photo by B. Astorino of the budding Seaside Lavender and Ulva lactuca . No crabs were spotted on either side during this counting session. This could be potentially due to the fact that fiddler crabs go into their burrows during the winter months. It was a sunny 16 degree Celsius day, with a 6 mph NNW wind. There was lots of Seaside Lavender and Ulva lactuca  on both sides of the Cove, which could have caused the lack of fiddler crab spottings. Lots of trash littered both sides of Spermaceti Cove.

Contact with Mrs. Zrada Date of email:  September 29, 2017 Contact:  Mrs. Zrada Reference: several questions regarding the type of data and statistics this project requires Questions:  In order to give Mrs. Zrada a better understanding of my project, she asked questions such as the type of data I have, what my research question or hypothesis is, and what type of statistics I think I will need for the project. Discussion:  I answered her questions in the following ways; I have quantitative data, I copied and pasted my hypothesis (refer to my hypotheses blog post), and said that I have a general idea of what statistical analysis this project requires, though am confused on which would be best for describing a certain relationship.

Contact with Ms. McDonald Date of email:  September 28, 2017 Contact:  Ms. McDonald Reference: October counting dates Discussion:  I sent Ms. McDonald the following dates that would be best to count fiddler crabs in the month of October. These include the 6 at 3:12 pm, the 12 at 7:45 am, the 18 at 1:41 pm, and the 30 at 11:10 am.  

What I've Done I have come up with the October fiddler crab counting days based on the full and new moons, as well as the low tides. These include the 6 at 3:12 pm, the 12 at 7:45 am, the 18 at 1:41 pm, and the 30 at 11:10 am. I emailed these dates to Ms. McDonald, as well. Continuing, I found the average, variance, and standard deviation for the fiddler crab counts based on the school year the data was collected in and whether or not the data points were from the north or south side of Spermaceti Cove.  Plans for Today I will count fiddler crabs at Spermaceti Cove at 10:15 am today and write a blog post about it. I will also continue to work on the statistics and formulate questions to both look up in trusted resources and ask Mrs. Zrada at our meeting on October 2. I will write a mentor contact for my email to Mrs. McDonald regarding the October counting dates. I received an email from Mrs. Zrada regarding the kind of data I have for this project, so I will respond to her ...

What I've Done I finished writing my hypothesis and null hypothesis. I established a meeting date for D. D'Albero an I to meet with Mrs. Zrada on October 2 to talk about the statistics part of our project. I made graphs for the data points, as well. Plans for Today I will begin working on the data collection (not due until October 6) blog post by compiling the graphs and tables I have created and adding commentary to explain what they represent.  Plans for the Future I plan to finish the data collection by tomorrow and start coming up with questions to ask Mrs. Zrada at our meeting, as well as working on the statistics (not due until October 6).

Contact with Mrs. Zrada Date of email:  September 22, 2017 Contact:  Mrs. Zrada Reference: potential in-person meeting date Questions:  In order to help D. D'Albero and I with the statistics portion of our project, Mrs. Zrada suggested we meet one day during class. Discussion:  We both decided that meeting at 8:00 am on October 2 works best for all three of us. Conclusions:  D'Albero and I will work to get as much done as possible and compile questions for Mrs. Zrada to answer at our meeting

Hypotheses Being Investigated Hypothesis: The Uca minax fiddler crab species located at Spermaceti Cove on Sandy Hook, New Jersey will increase as the years go on. Null Hypothesis: There will be no difference in the  Uca minax  population at Spermaceti Cove on Sandy Hook, New Jersey over the years.