Student Research Reports

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. 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 bottom dwellers or hiding in debris. Taking more than one sample at different levels in the guzzler would increase the diversity of organisms you find. 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. It’s 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 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 pursuing 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 study 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. (e.g., Did you sample all 3 sites each day of investigation? 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 FreshH2O Group in the future!

Dr. Renee Clary, Professor of Geology, Mississippi State University