Category: Field Work

Blog Slacker Gives Peak into Real Life

Meridith and I were commiserating yesterday that we had been STS Slackers.  But, y’all, real life (RL) got so real these past few weeks.  Meridith is studying for her qualifying exams, and my lab mate and I have been racing against phenology to get our projects in the field.  We study the same invasive plant and have actually been experimenting with an amazing work sharing system.  More on that later, probably.
Anyway, all that to say, getting two blog posts out a month is pretty much where we are at these days.  We, of course, have tons of awesome plans and big ideas, but all those take time.  Time’s a bit of a commodity these days.  So, in lieu of completely disappearing from the internet, I give you a peak into my RL, as seen from my iPhone.
Continue reading “Blog Slacker Gives Peak into Real Life” →

A Day in the Life: Summer Field Work

Restored marsh area.

Despite what Starbucks is trying to tell you, fall doesn’t officially start in the Northern Hemisphere until September 22nd at 10:29 pm (equinox party anyone?).  And yet I felt now might be a great time to reflect on the summer.  At this point, if you’re a semi-regular reader you probably know a bit about my interests, but today I want to share a peek inside my summer work.  It was fun, it was muddy, and it was also just a ton of work!

I’m just for scale, look at the height on that hybrid Spartina!

But before I can really tell you what I did, I need to tell you why I did it.  As a PhD student, I’m nurturing a little research agenda that I hope will mature over time.  Right now, it’s at that horrible tween stage where it wants to be a grown up research agenda, but I keep driving it to the mall and embarrassing it in front of its friends.  Regardless, when people ask about my work at parties or family functions, I tell them I study the impacts of invasive plants in tidal wetlands.  Tidal wetlands are hugely important in terms of impacts to biodiversity (nursery habitat for many organisms) and ecosystem services (carbon storage, flood abatement, water filtration, and the list goes on…).  Ironically, in California, only about 10% of our historic tidal wetland area remains, and to add insult to injury wetlands are one of the ecosystem most impacted by invasion.  

But, why invasive plants?  Plants are primary producers, hanging out at the base of the food web, and when they change, other things change in really interesting ways.  My master’s research focused on the impacts of an invasive plant on songbird food webs.  I found the plant impacted the insects, which the birds ate, thus impacting the birds.  I was intrigued!  That’s how I knew a PhD was right for me, after my MS, I have about 1,000 more questions.  In my current research, I try to understand:  How do changes in invasive plant density impact the effects these plants have on ecosystems?  How does restoration approach impact ecosystem recovery after the removal of an invasive plant?  How does understanding the function of invaders in ecosystems impact management choices?  I have approximately a billion other small questions that I try to address, but those are the biggies.



Now, what does a work day in the life of someone trying to answer these questions look like?  For about 6 months out of the year, it looks like me sitting at my desk, at my computer.  But during the field season, especially the summer, things are very different.

Studying Restoration in the Low Marsh

Restoration site types:  Native Spartina foliosa (top left), actively replanted (top right), passive eradication (bottom left), invasive hybrid Spartina (bottom right).
Tidal marsh plant communities are structured largely based on environmental stresses associated with inundation by the daily tides.  When I’m working at my restoration sites, I’m down in the lowest elevations where plants persist.  That means I need to be in the marsh, ready to work when the tide is low enough.  Each field day, I rise at least two hours before the low tide level I need to get my business accomplished.  Most of the time this summer, that meant being up at 4 am.  I’ll admit it, it was a bit of a drag being up that long before the sun.  I would change into my field clothes, make some coffee (so necessary), grab the lunch that I (hopefully) pre-made the night before, and head out the door.  I jumped in my car, which is (again, hopefully) pre-packed with all the gear I’ll need for the day, and swing out of my parking lot to pick up my employee and potentially a few volunteers.  Once we are all loaded up, we start the hour and a half drive out to one of my six sites in the San Francisco Bay Area.  These awesome people are really what makes all my work possible, so if they fall asleep approximately 20 minutes into the drive, I focus on NPR and coffee.

Two all star members of the wetland field crew!
Once we arrive, we pull on our waders and prepare to get muddy.  For this restoration work, I’m very interested in how invertebrates living in the soil are impacted by the different restoration approaches, specifically active replanting of native plants versus just eradicating the invasive and letting things passively progress.  So, I take a lot of soil cores.  Soil cores for grain size, soil cores for water content, soil cores for inveterate identification, soil cores for benthic algae analysis.  So.  Much.  Mud.  I also get to play with adorable crabs and watch the sun rise up over the bay.  In the end, it’s always worth the early wake up call.  Depending on the site and the day, the tidal window could be open for 4-7 hours.  As the sea creeps back up toward the land and my transects, we pack up our gear and lug 30 pound buckets of mud back to my car.

Muddy gear ready to be rinsed.
*Cue very obnoxious pop music and more coffee to make it through the drive home*

What happens back at the lab that evening really depends on the time of day and what the plans are for the next day.  Generally, we spray off all our gear (salt water = gear death), preserve and store all the samples we took, and go take showers.  Lather, rinse, repeat for about 20 days spread out over 1.5 months.  

Studying Management in the High Marsh

My other experiment this summer examined how different densities of an invasive plant might have different impacts to the ecosystem.  This plant, (Lepidium latifolium, or white top) can occur in several different elevations in the marsh, but my master’s work showed the largest impacts were in the high marsh zone.  Thus, I’ve concentrated my current work in that area.  So, unless the tide is really high during the middle of the day, I’m generally not very tidally restricted for this work.  I’m super interested in the impacts of invasive plants at different densities because we generally know about what things are like when these invaders are absent and when they are really bumping.  That middle stage?  A bit foggy.  That’s where I come in, or so I hope.  

Marsh full of Lepidium.
On Lepidium mornings, I wake up at 6 am, which feels like a luxury, let me tell you.  I make coffee, grab my lunch, and head out to pick up my helpers for the day.  Once we arrive at the field site, we set to work counting stems.  I’m attempting to hold stem density constant between the different treatments, so a lot of this summer was spent driving out to the site and clipping out any extra stems that had sprouted up from the time of my last visit.  These little suckers resprouted so aggressively!  I learned a lot about how often I need to actually do this reclipping.  I piloted this experiment this summer, so I didn’t take all those lovely soil cores in this case.  I’m stoked for this February when I expand this project to three sites and really go for it!
___________________  

Crab lovin’.
When I look back over this summary and compare it to my feelings after my first field season in the winter, I know I’m starting to make progress down my research path.  In all honesty, during the winter I was simply trying to keep my life together.  This time around, I felt I could breathe more easily, reflect more often, and make much better decisions over all.  I also felt like this summer I actually have a lot of fun in the field!  Sure, logistics are still difficult, and I definitely have a metric ton of mud still in the lab fridge to work through this week.  Overall though, I feel like I can say things went well!

For those of you who are getting ready to start this graduate school journey, just remember that no one has it all together.  Anyone who pretends that they do is absolutely full of it.  This is a learning process, and learning is way scary!  Talk to people you trust, take breaks when you need to, and remember why you signed up for this in the first place (cause you totally volunteered, btw)!  Trust me; it’s always confusing, but navigating that confusion will become much more of a fun adventure!   

Until next time!  If you need me, I’ll probably be in the lab.     

Beakers and stuff, like a real scientist.

What’s in Her (Field) Bag

Summer is a funny time for an ecologist.  As a student, my classes have all wrapped up (I’m actually all done with class now, forever!!).  My social media is full of people’s summertime adventures.  My partner, who teaches communications courses at community college, is in full on vay-cay mode.  Me?  This is my busy season.  I have been up to my eyeballs in marsh mud for most of the month, and for the month before that I was prepping.  
China Camp State Park.  Maybe my favorite site.

Ah, the field season.  The first day of the each sampling period, I’m always a huge stress ball.  By the time I visit my last site, I feel like Queen of the Marsh.  One thing I always do to minimize my first day jitters is prepare a packing list for each project I’m working on.  This helps minimize those “Oh crap, I left that sitting on the lab bench” moments.  This packing list is mostly full of project specific items (thermometer, pH probe, redox meter, etc.).  In addition, I have a mental checklist of things I never like to don my waders without.  These items reside in my trusty field bag, and today I’m giving you the grand tour!

I know we have an eclectic readership, from PhDs, fellow students, teachers, and amazing high school science enthusiasts.  Though you might not all be headed out to do field work anytime soon, I hope a look at my “must have” items gives you a taste for what a day in the life of a field scientist can be like.  Think of this as the field biologist’s version of those posts by lifestyle/mom bloggers about what they keep in their purses/diaper bags.*


Trusty field bag!
For Real Essential Things
Most of the things in my bag are things I find randomly useful, or things that keep me safe and comfortable while working.  There are a few absolutely, 100%, totally essential things in my bag.  All my official permits live in their own protective plastic baggie.  I’m not trying to become a marsh bandit, so I want to have proof of my officialness.  Next, for those just starting their ecology journey, field notebooks are your friends!  I have two, both made with write-in-the-rain paper (necessary).  You can even buy special write-in-the-rain pens that will write on the paper under water.  My former lab mate and I may or may not have spent a good 20 minutes doing this in the sink when I was gifted one of these pens.  Pencils work too, and you should have several!  Also, permanent markers.  Always, always, permanent markers.
Stuff to Keep Your Stuff Clean
In case you can’t tell by the state of my bag, I work in the mud.  Mud means water.  In addition, my muddy water is salty.  So, even though I don’t bring anything out into the marsh that I’m not willing to risk destroying, I like to take a few precautions.  A tarp allows me to place bags and equipment on the mud, not the vegetation, but keep them clean and dry.  I purchased that blue dry bag when Meridith and I were about to hike the Narrows at Zion National Park.  I usually keep my lunch in there, but it’s just a good thing to have on hand.  Occasionally, one of my undergrad crew will realize they tottered out on the mud with something electronic, and I’ll toss it in there for safe keeping.  On top, you’ll see my Lifeproof iPhone case.  I always bring my phone into the field with me for safety reasons.  Also, marsh selfie reasons.  I’ve been really happy with this case overall, though it does make the keypad a bit less sensitive and it can make charging difficult, depending on the charger.  Thus, I have a non-field case for daily use.  Apparently you can literally dip this case in the water and take phone pictures, but I just can’t live that life.  I think my camera itself also fits in this category.  I sport an Olympus digital camera.  This sucker is shockproof, waterproof, freezeproof, and dustproof.  Basically, Rachel-proof.  I bought an older version of the camera I have now when I broke my previous digital cammy by dropping it from a height into water.  I’d say each one I’ve purchased has lasted about 3 years.  Not trying to give a product review here, but that is three years of snorkeling, being dropped on the floor of canoes, hiking up mountains, and generally marinating in mud.  They aren’t the best cameras for capturing vibrant colors, but I’m still a huge fan.      
  

Safety and Well being Essentials
 

The next group of things living in my bag are there to keep my happy and safe during the whole day.  My Platypus hydration bladder was also purchased when Mer and I were on our road trip.  This system  makes it easier for me to carry enough water to actually stay hydrated all day.  A water bottle or two just doesn’t cut it for 7 hours of physical labor.  Sunscreen is also essential for a long day.  I usually have the lotion kind to apply first thing in the morning and the spray kind for reapplication when my hands are covered in mud.  It’s also a good idea to have a chapstick with sunscreen in it, as the skin on your mouth can easily get burned too! Bug spray, enough said.  Mosquitoes love me, but it’s not mutual.  The first aid kit I’ve put together is by no means extensive, but I think it has most of the essentials.  I love the spray antibiotic ointment (thanks Meridith’s mom!) especially.  It’s good for after you have a chance to wash off, usually in a gas station bathroom, and you notice all the wee cuts that were covered in dirt.  I also always have a headlamp with me, just in case.  The last, and maybe most awesome, thing isn’t pictured…because I thought that might be weird.  This is a lady specific item, called the p style.  Basically, it allows women to pee standing and without having to totally drop trow.  This is 100% amazing for me as I work in a system with zero trees, and my sites are often ringed by running trails.  Maybe you think it’s weird, but don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.  My sister, who hiked ~300 miles of the AT last summer, was gifted one by yours truly and told me it was amazing to be able to pee without having to take off her heavy pack each time.  You’ll thank me for this one day.


Things I Need Surprisingly Often
This is the category of odds and ends things that I often need, but I’m never really sure what I’ll need them for from one day to the next.  These are maybe a bit specific to my own work, so I’d love to hear from other scientists about the odds and ends that are always randomly helpful to them!  I carry a trowel for digging up things.  I also have a hammer, usually for banging PVC into the ground.  Spray paint is great for marking the ends of the PVC that show where your study areas (transects, blocks, etc.) begin and end.  White PVC seems so visible when you first put it in the ground, but when you come back months later and the grass has grown, and your PVC is dingy, a little red spray paint can really help you find things.  Rubber bands (or zip ties depending on what you have), extra ziplock baggies, tape (electrical pictured, but duct tape is awesome!), and a ruler are great things to have on hand.  I literally cannot even list all the uses of these items.  Last, I think every person who works in the field should own a good knife, preferably a multitool.  Seriously, so many uses!


On My Person (but sometimes in my bag)
Lasty, there are a few things that are sometimes in my bag, but usually just on my person.  I almost always wear a hat or a bandana.  I also generally have on polarized sunglasses.  Your retina can get sunburned too!  Additionally, polarized lenses help you see through glare.  Layers are essential as well.  Even in the summer I have a tank top, a light shirt, a long sleeved shirt (or sweater in the cooler months), and a waterproof layer.  Last, always always wear a watch.  You need to know when the tide will be coming back in, or how long till sundown, or how much longer to leave that instrument in place to get a reliable measurement.  A waterproof watch with seconds displayed will only cost about 20 bucks, and it’s totally worth it.
I’m not kneeling, I just have one leg sunk in mud up to my knee.
Shew, so you have gotten this far and you are now wondering “Holy crap, Rachel why do you carry around so much stuff?!”  True story, one time I got lost in the woods.  My little sister, my college roommate, and I went on a short hike that turned into a 15 mile hike.  It made an impression on me.  While lots of the stuff detailed above is to help me with my work, there are a few things that I now refuse to go without if I plan to be outdoors for more than an hour.  So, for those who maybe aren’t as obsessively over prepared as me, here is the Reader’s Digest Version of what I think must go in your field bag/day hiking pack.


Don’t Hit the Trail Without    
– Enough water to hike twice as far as you plan to go
– Several energy dense snacks
– A headlamp
– A watch
– A map
– A first aid kit containing at least a compression wrap for sprains and an emergency blanket
– Your phone.  Maybe you won’t have service, but maybe you will.


And there you go.  A full tour of the inside of my field bag!  I’d love to know what you keep in yours.  Any hikers or backpackers out there?  What do you refuse to venture out without?
* True confessions.  I adore both lifestyle and mommy blogs.  Sorry, not sorry.