RE: Micro and Macro Invertebrates in Freshwater Guzzlers - Grade 9 - 12 - 2020 SRS - 2020 SRS

Project Title: Micro and Macro Invertebrates in Freshwater Guzzlers
School Name: Watsonville High School, CA
Teacher Name: Satina Ciandro
Student Name: Angel Garcia-Lopez, Jasmin Juarez-Gonzalez, Edmundo Luna-Diaz, Jacqueline Rodriguez-Riviera
Grade Level: 9 - 12
Project Description: The Elkhorn Slough is mainly saltwater with only a few seasonal ponds as a source of freshwater. We wondered: Does the species richness and abundance of macro and micro invertebrates change based on the location and water quality of the guzzlers?
Abstract: 

• The Elkhorn Slough is mainly saltwater with only a few seasonal ponds as a source of freshwater
• Guzzlers - man made source of freshwater for terrestrial organisms (Conducted study on 3 guzzler sites)
• Micro invertebrates - cold blooded organisms too small to be seen with the naked eye and do not have a backbone
• Macro invertebrates - slightly bigger than micro invertebrates and don't require a microscope to be seen
• Testable Question: Does the species richness and abundance of macro and micro invertebrates change based on the location and water quality of the guzzlers?
• Hypothesis: We believe we would find a higher species richness and abundance in a guzzler site containing water quality that is balanced, as well as a combination of both shade and sun

Atmosphere Protocols: Dissolved Oxygen, Water Temperature
Language:  English

My name is Melody Keena and I am a Research Entomologist working for the Forest Service in Hamden, CT.  My web page is https://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/people/mkeena.  I read your poster.  The poster was a nice mix of text and photos.  You asked good questions and designed the study well.  Taking multiple samples per site is very important.  Your methods were a little bit unclear to me.  Did you dip a sample of water out of the guzzler?  If so was it a surface sample or did you attempt to get the sample from lower down?  Many invertebrates that might live there are going to be botton dwellers or hidding in debris.  Taking more than one sample at differnt levels in the guzzler would increase the diveristy of organisms you find.  It looked like you ran some statistics but did not explain what or how it was done.  Assume the reader know nothing and wants to be able to repeat what you did.  Your graphs would have been better if you presented the means with standard errors (stanadrd deviation divided by the square root of the number of replications) for each guzzler so the reader could see the variation and lack of differnces.  You could also have shown stacked bar graphs for abundance that showed what proportions of the total fell into each class of organism.  Also you could look up what the organisms feed on and classify them as plant, animal or detritis feeders.  Some organisms also can serve as indicators of the level of water polluntion present so you might want to look at that too.  Nice job and I hope you continue being interested in nature and studying it.

My name is John Haskins. I do water quality research and monitoring at Elkhorn Slough Reserve and have been there since 1998. https://www.elkhornslough.org/profiles/john-haskins/. Great job on a nicely organized poster with clear captions. The guzzlers around the slough are so important especially that freshwater habitat is so scarce. Its nice to see you all were interested in them and took the time to do this work. You all collected a lot of data and I commend you on that. The graphs are a little busy so maybe taking some key parameters and graphing just those, phosphate seemed to be the one that changes the most. I am also wondering if you took replicates. Replicates are good to know the variability and to be more confident in each of the numbers for a specific site. The middle graphs may be more clear if you put the date. I see there were six days but does this represent six weeks, 6 consecutive days? I do like how you plot phosphate and temperature. Seems like from the first graph maybe there is a correlation there, as temperature goes down so does phosphate. This is much like many science projects when persuing one question many others come up.  I like how you added photos for each step of the methods.

Great work

Hi Angel, Jasmin, Edmundo, and Jacqueline,
My name is Eliza Balch and I am a master's student and the University of New Hampshire. I studying water chemistry and water resources. My research focuses on nitrogen pollution in freshwater and where, when, and how the nitrogen is processed. I also work at Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, which is part of the same network of estuary reserves as Elkhorn Slough!
You all put together a great research project that addresses some very interesting questions. I had never heard of a guzzler before but now I know what one is, and about how they might affect (or not affect) their environment! Your research is quite extensive, spanning water quality, species diversity and abundance, differences between locations, and hypothesis-driven science. You outline the motivation for your research well, and your hypothesis is clear. I am very surprised that water quality did not affect species diversity and richness! That is an interesting result. My favorite part about your poster is the visuals, especially the way that you wrote your methods with pictures for each part. That really helps me visualize your methods and sites. 
In future research projects, it is helpful to communicate why your research is important to your reader. 
Overall, I am very impressed with how your poster is presented. Your research is engaging and well done. Great job!

This is an interesting project!  I really enjoyed how you graphically illustrated your sites and data. 

Your poster taught me about guzzlers, and I wanted to know more. I suggest adding more details to your methods and results/discussions. (Did you sample all 3 sites each day of investigation? Were the sampling days consecutive?  Did you sample each guzzler for macroinvertebrates once, or more than once?  What do the data that are not associated with the seed/scuds in guzzler 8 reveal? Why are the sites numbered 5, 7, and 8? What did HOBO sensors reveal?)

I hope you will keep up your research and extend this project. I look forward to learning more about guzzlers from the FresH2O Group in the future!

Dr. Renee Clary, Professor of Geology, Mississippi State University
RClary@geosci.msstate.edu