Our time here has gone by much too quickly. Now that we only have about one week left, everyone has realized that it is crunch time when it comes to completing our projects. For our conservation biology course, Callan and I have decided to conduct a project which assesses the water quality of streams below human impact sites and above these sites. Due to recent dredging in Nicaragua, we decided that we want to focus on the effects human can have on water quality and species abundance when they directly impact a water source. Coming up with a project idea was rather simple because we have similar interests. However, deciding what methods to use and what kind of analysis to record became a little more difficult. We didn’t realize how tricky it would be to conduct an experiment which incorporates all of the factors we were interested in testing, but allows us to test each of these factors in a feasible way. In addition, I don’t think our bodies were prepared for waking up every morning at 5:30am and working all day in 96% humidity. However, after a few days of locating streams and finalizing our methods, we have been able to collect all of the data we need for our analysis, especially with the kind guidance of Dr. Debra Shier.
In our study, we have decided to focus on ten different pools: five below the sites of human impact, and five above the sites of human impact. Of the five pools below the human impact, three of the pools are located downstream from a generator, which is used to supply electricity to the Rancho, while two pools are located downstream from a pipe, which leads from the kitchen into a stream. With the help of Dr. Greg Grether mapping all of the streams using GPS coordinates, we have discovered that the stream that is affected by the generator and the stream that lies below the kitchen are not connected. Therefore these sites can be treated as independent. The five pools above the human impact sites have been chosen randomly.
Our data consists of taking water samples to analyze, recording the dimensions and characteristics of each pool, and recording species abundance in the pools we are extracting samples from. Our water analysis focuses on the amount of dissolved oxygen pH, and the presence of bacteria. For our species abundance tests, we are focusing on animal species directly affected by the pollution of water such as different species of fish, water striders, and damselflies, just to name a few. During our species abundance analysis, we have seen a large variation in the presence of species depending on the location of the pools. We have also confirmed the presence of bacteria in pools affected by human impact. Hopefully once we have completely analyzed our data, we will find statistically significant results. These results will allow us to contribute to the goal of developing a conservation strategy that involves depleting human impact on rainforest streams.
P.S. Hi Papa! Tell Mama that I have been making lists every night of animals I saw and things that have happened to me, so she will get a detailed description when I am back home. Counting down the days until I can tell you about all of my adventures! (Also, happy belated birthday). Sending all my love!