6/24/2024-6/28/2024

This week was busy overall, which I liked. The week started off with removing my samples from the Berlese funnel. We also had a meeting within our lab. One of the lab personnel taught us meta-analysis from research papers. It was very different from just reading and understanding the paper. We have to dissect graphs and data on a research paper. It can be really confusing especially as the papers we had to analyze are very technical in their language. I also had a meeting with one of the grad students to teach me how to use R with the script that we have. I also asked her to teach me how to do the meta-analysis. It is nice to know that there are people who will help and teach me when I am struggling. Afterwards, another lab personnel taught me how to process my samples. This means that I need to identify and  count the arthropods in my sample. I will be using a microscope to be able to see and identify them. It takes a while since they are very tiny and sometimes can also be transparent, making them hard to distinguish. Overall, it is nice to be able to make progress with my project. I hope to finish strong with my REU!