*Greenhouse Greatness!*

Last week, I began the greenhouse portion of my research project. I was extremely happy to start this experiment. On Monday, I made sure that my methods were precise and exact. Also, I prepared all of the materials that we needed to start the experiment. I conducted the experiment on Tuesday at Southside High school in Rockville Centre, Long Island. There were about 4 students present and they were really involved. As a result everything went smoothly. We first mixed soil with activated carbon and placed it into the appropriate treatments of the five species of plants. We did the same for non-invaded soil to avoid potential confounding effects of soil disturbance and mixing. We then added 6 seeds of five different treatments into 40 pots each, totaling 200 pots. We then placed all of the pots randomly in the greenhouse. The plants were watered to saturation with 50 ml of tap water. They will be watered every other day with the same amount and I will check on them periodically throughout the upcoming weeks. When they germinate, I will have all of the students return and assist me in measuring the germination rates.


I also began the revisions to the methods of the bulbil dispersal experiment to make sure that there was no room for error. I created all new data sheets, used all new bulbils and set up stations to ensure that everything would run smoothly. I had two assistants that helped me and we began the project last week. This week, I completed the bulbil dispersal experiment and began to enter all of the new data. I will begin to analyze all of the data next week with the help of Dr. Sanford and Dr. Aronson.



On Tuesday, Dr. Aronson and I went to Alley Pond in New York City to help with a Forest Restoration project . Although, I am always looking forward to being out in the field, we were all eaten alive by malicious mosquitoes, literally! On Thursday, we went to a different site at Roy Wilkins Park in Queens to assist on the same project. This site was way more pleasant and we got a lot accomplished. We have some upcoming sites that I am looking forward to. This is such a great partnership! On Friday, Dr. Aronson and I went over to the high school to check on my plants. Everything looked pretty good and no plants have germinated as yet, except for two weeds. I will return next week to check on them again.