Amazing how time flies! My summer came quickly to a close, and what an adventure it was! I am beyond grateful for the opportunity to grow as a researcher and as a person. Many thanks to the Morton Arboretum Center for Tree Science and Morton Salt for funding, and of course, to my mentor Dr. Meghan Midgley and my fellow URFs who made this summer such a wonderful experience!
Our four part summer series continues with the final phase of my project! After landing safely on the other side of Tinning Lake, we stood before a great moor, lined with perilous craters. Each well, full of solution, varied in intensity of color. The deeper the color, the greater the concentration of ammonium or nitrate. We watched our step and continued on our way.
Hi everyone, since my last blog post I have completed my URF program!
The past 10 weeks flew by so fast but I am fortunate enough to be sticking around the Arboretum during the school year. I am extrememly grateful to Dr. Alvarez-Clare for supporting me this summer and helping me gain a new appreciation for ecosystem ecology, I would also like to thank Nani and Mary, the two IMSA ladies who volunteered their summer days to help me with my summer reserach.
This summer I learned the importance of diversity. Not only in biological communities, but in human communities as well. One of the points of my project was that we need diverse ecosystems because they’re resilient, highly functional, and ultimately, can adapt in the face of challenges better than a homogenous community can.
Although the main purpose of my time here at The Morton Arboretum was to conduct research, I spent a lot of time outside of the lab visiting new places, learning new things, and talking to new people.
Well, time on the prairie is coming to a close. Alice finished her last day yesterday, and Marion will also be gone after tomorrow afternoon. Then, it will just be me for one more week before I have to go back to school.
But before this internship ends, we all made some interesting finds in our data analysis!
